Influence of Directive Leadership Style on the Innovative Behavior of Senior Managers in the Manufacturing Sector in Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to determine the influence of directive leadership style on the innovative behavior of senior managers in the manufacturing sector in Kenya. Positivism research philosophy and descriptive correlational research design were used. The target population comprised of 802 senior managers in manufacturing firms in Kenya. Stratified random sampling method was used to determine a sample size of 267 senior managers from the total population. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data and a response rate of 85% was achieved. Descriptive statistical analysis techniques used were percentages, means, and standard deviations. Inferential statistics used for data analysis included; Pearson’s correlation, Chi-square, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Ordinal Logistic Regression. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 was used as the data analysis tool for this study.

The ordinal logistic regression (Nagelkerke Pseudo R-square) results showed that directive leadership style explained 4.4% of the variance in innovative behavior (R² =.044). The goodness-of-fit results showed that there was a good fit between the observed data and the hypothesized model, [X²(22, N = 228) = 0.008, p =1.000, p>.05]. The parameter estimates results revealed that directive leadership style positively and significantly predicted innovative behavior (β =.626, p =.003, p<.05), thus rejecting the null hypothesis that directive leadership style does not significantly influence the innovative behavior of senior managers.

This study concludes that directive leadership style influenced the innovative behavior of senior managers. The findings of this study will provide knowledge to the leaders in the manufacturing sector on the influence of directive leadership style on the innovative behavior of senior managers, to improve their performance. The study recommends that further research should be conducted on the influence of directive leadership on innovative behavior in small-scale manufacturing organizations in Kenya.