Participative Decision Making and Organizational Performance in Central Government Ministries in Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t70112Abstract
This study determined the influence of participative decision making on organizational performance in central government ministries in Kenya. The study adopted a pragmatist philosophy and a correlational cross-sectional design integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches. Primary data were collected from 264 employees across three central government ministries using structured questionnaires, complemented by key informant interviews with fifteen senior and technical officers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings established that participative decision making had a statistically significant positive effect on organizational performance (B = .271, β = .300, p < .001). It recorded the strongest standardized effect and highest bivariate correlation (r = .701, p < .01) among the four strategic leadership dimensions examined. Qualitative findings further revealed that participation was most effective in operational and cross-functional problem-solving but remained limited in strategic and resource-allocation decisions. The findings imply that ministries should expand cross-functional participation beyond operational workflow decisions into appropriate budgetary and structural decision making. Broader participation provides a practical mechanism for drawing on distributed expertise and strengthening public sector performance. The study provides empirical evidence on the unique contribution of participative decision making to organizational performance within central government ministries, a context underrepresented in Kenyan public sector leadership literature. It further identifies the boundary between operational and strategic participation as a key constraint on the performance effect of participative decision making.
Keywords: participative decision making, organizational performance, strategic leadership, public sector, Kenya
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