Abstract

The organisational performance of Kenyan public enterprises has been reported to be below expectations. There was therefore a need to investigate ways of improving this performance. The study investigates the influence of perceived leadership styles and personality characteristics on the perceived organisational performance of Kenyan public enterprises. The study also investigates the influence of perceived organisational culture, strategic management and corporate ethics on the perceived organisational performance of these enterprises. Adopting a survey approach, research data were derived from questionnaires distributed to a sample of 256 executive managers from 53 public enterprises in Kenya. The empirical results reveal that transformational leadership influences organisational performance positively, while self-deceptive narcissistic leadership personality influences organisational performance negatively. The results further show that organisational culture (entrepreneurial and market orientation) and strategic management exert a positive influence on the organisational performance of these enterprises. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed.