Influence of Strategic Performance Management on Service Delivery in Laikipia County Assembly, Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70619/vol6iss3pp43-56-887Keywords:
Strategic performance management, service delivery, county assemblies, devolved governance, strategic management, Kenya.Abstract
Service delivery remains a major concern within devolved governance because county assemblies are expected to provide effective legislation, oversight, representation, and accountability despite increasing public expectations and resource constraints. Strategic performance management has emerged as an important strategic management practice because it aligns organizational goals with employee performance, strengthens monitoring and evaluation, enhances accountability, and improves operational efficiency. Despite its importance, many county assemblies continue to experience weak performance monitoring, inconsistent appraisal systems, and inadequate utilization of performance feedback, resulting in suboptimal service delivery. This study examined the effect of strategic performance management on service delivery in Laikipia County Assembly, Kenya. The study was anchored on Goal-Setting Theory and adopted a descriptive research design using a quantitative approach. The target population comprised 143 Members of the County Assembly and administrative staff, and a census approach was adopted. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and simple linear regression analysis. The findings established that strategic performance management exhibited a positive and statistically significant relationship with service delivery. Regression analysis further demonstrated that strategic performance management significantly predicted service delivery (R² = 0.478, p < 0.05), indicating that it explained 47.8% of the variation in service delivery and leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The study concluded that effective strategic performance management strengthens accountability, improves operational efficiency, enhances institutional coordination, and promotes responsive service delivery. The study recommends institutionalizing structured performance management systems, strengthening monitoring and appraisal processes, integrating performance indicators into strategic implementation, and enhancing continuous feedback mechanisms to improve governance effectiveness and service delivery within county assemblies.
References
African Development Bank. (2023). African economic outlook 2023: Mobilizing private sector financing for climate and green growth in Africa. African Development Bank.
Aguinis, H. (2023). Performance management (5th ed.). Chicago Business Press.
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2023). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice (16th ed.). Kogan Page.
Chege, P., & Njoroge, J. (2023). Strategic performance management and legislative effectiveness in county assemblies in Kenya. African Journal of Public Administration, 15(2), 87–102.
Commission on Revenue Allocation. (2023). County government budget implementation review report 2022/2023. Commission on Revenue Allocation.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
Drury, C. (2022). Management and cost accounting (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Field, A. (2024). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (6th ed.). Sage Publications.
Gitman, L. J., Juchau, R., & Flanagan, J. (2021). Principles of managerial finance (8th Asia-Pacific ed.). Pearson Australia.
Government of Kenya. (2010). The Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Government Printer.
Gujarati, D. N., & Porter, D. C. (2021). Basic econometrics (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2022). Multivariate data analysis (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2020). The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy into action (Rev. ed.). Harvard Business Review Press.
Kilonzo, J., & Wambui, P. (2022). Performance management practices and service delivery in Kenya's public sector. International Journal of Public Administration and Management, 8(1), 44–59.
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.). New Age International.
Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2007). New developments in and directions for goal-setting research. European Psychologist, 12(4), 290–300.
Locke, E. A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 3(2), 157–189.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory of goal setting and task performance. Prentice Hall.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2006). New directions in goal-setting theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 265–268.
Muthoni, E., & Kiplagat, R. (2024). Performance appraisal systems and service delivery in devolved government institutions in Kenya. Journal of Public Sector Performance, 6(1), 31–47.
Mutua, D., & Karanja, S. (2023). Strategic management practices and organizational performance in county governments in Kenya. Journal of Strategic Management, 7(2), 58–74.
Nyabuto, P., & Kirui, S. (2023). Performance management implementation and institutional effectiveness in Kenya's public sector. African Journal of Governance and Development, 11(1), 65–82.
OECD. (2023). Government at a glance 2023. OECD Publishing.
Office of the Auditor-General. (2023). Report of the Auditor-General on county governments for the financial year 2022/2023. Office of the Auditor-General.
Omolo, J., & Onyango, P. (2022). Performance monitoring and service delivery in local governments in East Africa. East African Journal of Public Administration, 4(2), 76–91.
Osborne, S. P. (2021). Public service logic: Creating value for public service users, citizens, and society. Routledge.
Rees, C., & Fernandez, S. (2021). Performance management systems and public sector effectiveness: Evidence from local government. Public Management Review, 23(8), 1145–1165.
Ross, S. A., Westerfield, R. W., Jordan, B. D., Lim, J., & Tan, R. (2022). Fundamentals of corporate finance (Asia Global ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2023). Research methods for business students (9th ed.). Pearson.
Sibanda, T., & Moyo, N. (2023). Performance contracts and public service delivery in Zimbabwean municipalities. African Journal of Public Administration, 15(1), 93–109.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. (2022). Governance and public sector management in Africa: Progress and challenges. UNECA.
Wambua, J., & Mutinda, P. (2022). Strategic performance management and governance outcomes in county governments in Kenya. Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research, 14(3), 119–133.
World Bank. (2022). Improving public sector performance through governance reforms. World Bank.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Peter Ndirangu Hinga, Felix Chesigor, Susan Kambura
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
