STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP ON CUSTOMER SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY, INVESTMENT AND TRADE IN KENYA

Service delivery gaps, influence of technology and globalization not only make State owned corporations in Kenya to realign their strategies with changing business trends but also to rethink on strategic leadership in order to remain competitive. Given that little attention has been paid by researchers in relation to the link technological initiatives and service delivery in public service organization, this study aimed at investigating the effect of strategic drivers on customer service delivery in State owned corporations in the ministry of industry, investment and trade in Kenya. The specific objectives that guide the study were to determine the effect of strategic leadership on customer service delivery of State owned corporations in the ministry of industry, investment and trade in Kenya. Theories that informed this study were dynamic capability theory. Cross-sectional research design was adopted to collect data from respondents. The target population of the study comprised 557 respondents who were selected from the 13 entities in the ministry of industry, investment and trade in Kenya. The unit of analysis was State entities while unit of observation was employees of entities in the ministry of industry, investment and trade in Kenya. Stratified sampling technique was used to select respondents Israel formula was used to calculate the ideal sample size of 371 respondents. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires with open and closed ended questions. Secondary data was collected from Acts of parliament and service delivery charters on public service delivery and annual performance reports. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis method while Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 21 was used to analyze data quantitatively. Descriptive, correlation and regression methods were conducted to determine the effect between variables. Descriptive statistics such as mean scores, standard deviations, percentages and frequencies were used to describe general behaviour of data. The analyzed data was presented in form of tables and figures. The results revealed that there existed a positive significant relationship between strategic leadership and customer service delivery. strategic leadership (r = .642, p < 0.011) The study concluded that despite the fact that strategic leadership had a significant impact on customer service delivery, the extent of adoption of strategic leadership was extremely low in the ministry of industry, investment and trade in Kenya. The government should review policies of recruiting employees and invest resources to train workers thus improved customer service delivery.