Thomas Senaji

Work–Family Conflict and Employee Commitment: The Moderating Effect of Perceived Managerial Support

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between work–family conflict (work-to-family conflict [WFC] and family-to-work conflict [FWC]) and employee commitment (EC) in banking institution in Kenya. Furthermore, the study focused on exploring the moderating effect of perceived managerial support (PMS) on the relationship between work–family conflict and EC. This study was a cross-sectional survey of 334 employees working in banking institutions where data were collected using self-reported questionnaires. We found that WFC had a positive relationship with affective commitment (AC), continuance commitment (CC), and normative commitment (NC); and that PMS and gender significantly moderated the relationship between WFC and FWC and construct of EC. The moderating effect of PMS is explored to further elaborate on the relationship between work–family conflict and EC. This study provides valuable insights into the work–family conflict among employees with family responsibility in the banking institution. Applied implications for managers are suggested to minimize the WFC and FWC to ensure better work–life balance among employees. The study also contributes to the existing work–family conflict literature.

Leadership in Kenya

Kenya has a diverse culture with various nationalities. Despite efforts to create a nation state, its political leadership thrives on tribal/ethnic groupings rather than nationhood. This chapter examines the historical context, culture, and leadership in Kenya within the wider context of Leadership Effectiveness in Africa and the Diaspora (LEAD) project. The results of qualitative studies on leadership effectiveness and motivation in Kenya are presented. Overall, the findings suggest that effective leaders are described as visionary, team leaders, results-oriented, influencers, and change agents. Results also suggest that servant leadership and the need to serve are considered important drivers for leaders’ motivations in Kenya; while more generally people are primarily motivated to achieve dreams and attain self-actualization. Finally, the perspectives from both insiders and outsiders reveal that more effort should be placed on the role of leadership effectiveness and motivation in organizations. Our findings can be used to create leadership and followership development training and education that can improve the socioeconomic development of the country.

Engaged Leadership: Experiences and Lessons from the LEAD Research Countries

This chapter addresses the concept of engaged leadership in the under-researched context of African countries. It provides insights on engaged leadership based on the findings from selected Leadership Effectiveness in Africa and the African Diaspora (LEAD) research countries in Africa. The chapter utilizes qualitative data collected from leaders in business and public sector organizations using the Delphi technique, focus groups, and interviews. The findings from the Delphi technique and focus groups show that leaders who are effective are those that are perceived to be engaging, while the results from the interviews show that both local and foreign leaders view current African leadership styles as less engaging and hence ineffective. This has implications for the practice of management in Africa and similar contexts. Leaders in both business and public organizations need to be engaged to be effective in their leadership roles. Organizations, as well as universities that are involved in leadership development, need to incorporate concepts of engaged leadership in their training curricula in order to develop and foster leadership engagement competencies which would positively impact performance.

Perceptions of Leadership Effectiveness among the African Diaspora in Canada and USA

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the applicability of leadership effectiveness factors developed in Africa to the African diaspora and compares/contrasts perceptions of effective leadership in Canada and the USA. Using quantitative data from the LEAD project, our findings suggest that the African diaspora fully relates to neither Western conceptualization nor African philosophies of leadership. The factors that achieved a good fit in both Canada and the US related to being a knowledgeable leader and effective communication skills. This paper contributes to managing a more diverse and inclusive workplace in the diaspora, and informing leadership theory and practice in Africa.

Organisational Adaptability to Disruptive Technologies among Kenyan Commercial Banks

While organisations endeavour to meet the needs of ever-discerning customers, advances in technology elicit responses by organisations in order to remain relevant to the unfolding technological environment. Such responses constitute organisational adaptability. Drawing from the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, we examine the response to disruptive technologies, specifically, mobile phone banking technology by commercial banks in Kenya through a cross-sectional survey of 71participants from 42 banks in Kenya and find that commercial banks adapt to mobile banking through resource reconfiguration, knowledge management and organisational learning. Based on our findings we conclude that when faced with disruptive technologies, organisations should consider adapting by reconfiguring resources, learning and building knowledge management capability. These findings have implication for theory since they contribute to the understanding of how organisations are likely to respond to disruptive technologies.