Institutionalizing Transformational Leadership Practices in the Performance of Marketing Co-Operatives in Kenya

Abstract

Uncertainty and unpredictability as a result of rapid technological, social, political and economic changes in the operational environment of many firms calls for transformational leadership that enables co-operatives to adapt to such competitive business environment, being an approach that causes change in individuals and social systems strategically. It develops followers into leaders. This study sort to establish the transformational leadership practices as exhibited in the Bass theory to improve - performance of marketing co-operatives .as business organizations and generate positive change in the co-operative movement. The return on investment of cooperative shareholders has not been realized as per shareholders’ expectations. The study adopted descriptive survey design and used purposive sampling to collect data from 45 cooperative committee members using structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and transformational leadership practices that influence performance of the marketing co-operative societies was established. The findings of the study indicate that committee members in high performing co-operatives employ competitive transformational leadership practices with inspiring a shared vision and challenging the conventional processes as two best practices that have the biggest effect on co-operative societies performance.