Influence of Intellectual Stimulation on Organizational Performance of Private Universities in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Transformational leadership is a process in which leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation, creating significant changes in the lives of people and organizations. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of intellectual stimulation style on organization performance in private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The objective that guided the study was to: establish the influence of intellectual stimulation on organizational performance in private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study used Transformational Leadership Theory by Burns (1978) and the conceptual framework of this study was based on the relationship between intellectual stimulation style and organizational performance. The sample comprised of 288 lecturers and 7 Deans of Academic Affairs of the chartered private universities. Questionnaires and interview guides were used to gather data. Validation of the questionnaires were through Cronbach’s Alpha and use of expert judgement. The coefficient value was 0.891 at alpha = 0.05. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Regression analysis showed a strong relationship between intellectual stimulation and performance of private universities. The results revealed a positive and significant relationship between intellectual stimulation (β = .552, p<.05). It was concluded that stimulating creativity, promoting intelligence, delegating responsibility, and critical thinking influences performance. The following recommendations were made: the management of private universities ought to stimulate their employees intellectually, in that they talk about their needs to be accomplished; as well as ensuring that the universities have all the necessary facilities and resources to help in learning and improving their performance. In addition, the management of private universities should empower their employees to have a diverse perspective on getting solutions to problems; suggest new ways of achieving their set targets and re-examine important assumption.

Keywords: Intellectual stimulation, Transformational leadership, Organizational performance

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/15-7-10

Publication date: June 30th 2024