County Public Service Board Functions,accountability Practices, Governance structures and Performance of County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

Internationally there is a growing recognition of the importance of boards for the success of a firm. Several countries have issued guidelines and recommendations for best governance practices and boards. Literature provides linkage of the board functions; accountability practices; governance structures, and firm performance. Public service board has influences on organizational performance more than any other factors. However, organizational performance cannot be explained by a single variable like the boards they possess. Most studies on organizational board functions and performance have either been conceptual in nature or purely depended on subjective data. The main objective of this study was to determine the link between county service board functions, accountability practices and governance structures on the performance county governments in Kenya. The specific objectives were to: establish the influence of county public service board functions on performance of county governments in Kenya, determine the intervening influence of accountability practices on the relationship between county public service board functions and county government performance in Kenya, ascertain the moderating influence of Governance structures on the relationship between county public service board functions and performance of County governments in Kenya and determine the joint influence of accountability practices as an intervener and county governance structures as a moderator on the relationship between county public service board functions and the performance of county governments in Kenya. This study was anchored in the positivism paradigm as well as a descriptive-correlational-crosssectional research designs. The target population of the study was all 47 county governments in Kenya focusing on the six county governance structures. Approximately 42 county governments were considered as five were used in pilot test hence excluded. Validity and reliability analysis were done to ascertain quality of data collected. The study adopted Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique in establishing the relationships. Hypothesis was tested at 5 percent level of significance. From the results, CPSB function increases county government performance at 5% level by 0.5505 holding other factors constant. Following the test of joint significance, the study established that accountability practices as an intervener and county governance structures as a moderator significantly influenced the relationship between CPSB functions and county governments‟ performance positively by 0.5934 and 0.6104 respectively. Lastly, for joint significance, the study established that both the intervener and moderator had a joint significant indirect effect of 0.5569 and thus a joint effect on the relationship between CPSB functions and county governments‟ performance in Kenya. Based on the findings, the study suggests for improvement of accountability practices and governance structures to perfect county governments‟ performances while maximizing service delivery and cost minimization. Best management practices should be enhanced in the public sector in Kenya to enable effectiveness, efficiency and performance of devolved units in emerging economies.