Influence of Corporate Governance on Service Delivery: a Case Study of the National Cereals and Produce Board, Kenya
Abstract
Service delivery in public institutions has been under focus in recent years. Most public
institutions in the world have been under scrutiny for failing to deliver services to the
satisfaction of the citizens. Consequently, there has been a growing demand for public
institutions to comply with corporate governance practices. This study, therefore, was aimed
at evaluating the effect of corporate governance on service delivery; case study of the National
Cereals and Produce Board in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to determine the influence
of internal controls on service delivery, to evaluate the effect of transparency on service
delivery, and to establish the influence of risk assessment on service delivery. The study
covered a period of five years which is the year 2015 to 2019 according to the National Cereals
and Produce Board strategic plan period. There are various branches in Kenya but the study
was limited to the Head office since they have consolidated information that covers all
branches in the country. The study was premised on the stakeholder theory and the agency
theory. A case study research design was used. The population of the study was 307 comprising
the top managers, partners, and employees of the Board. The sample size was 154. The test for
reliability and validity was done the results for reliability using Cronbach’s coefficient was
0.870. data collection was done using the questionnaires mainly targeting the employees and
partners while interview guides were administered to top managers to get in-depth information
on the subject matter. Consequently, the rate of response was 60% for the questionnaires and
75% for the interviews. The outcome indicated that internal controls, transparency and risk
assessment, had a significant and positive effects on service delivery since the p values were
0.005, 0.000, and 0.002 respectively. To foster transparency, the study recommends that a clear
line of communication at the NCPB need to be established to ensure that information is
disseminated to all the stakeholders in a timely way. The study also recommends that
mechanism towards preventing the conflict of interest be put in place for instance proper
disclosure of the owners of the companies and businesses that supplies grain to the Board.
Whistle-blowing mechanisms also need to be enhanced to prevent fraud and corrupt practices.
The study recommends that employees at all levels should be trained on risk management
practices particularly on the market risks. The Board should also develop a comprehensive
mechanism for the identification of traders who are likely to pose a potential risk to the
organization in terms of illegal traders. Further, in liaison with the Ministry of Agriculture, the
Board should come up with a limit as to how much a single trader can supply to prevent illegal
traders and prevent the exploitation of small farmers. Lastly, the study recommends that the
Board should consider automatic its internal control systems to enable accuracy in the
transactions and efficiency in the processes like procurement.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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