Effect of Strategic Direction, Core Competence and Human Capital on Performance of Public Secondary Schools in Koibatek Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic leadership involves anticipating and envisioning a viable future for the organization and working with others to create such a future. A strategic leader possesses critical characteristics which include; future orientation, cognitive ability, ability to focus on the big picture, interpersonal relations, propensity to act and risk taking. Strategic leadership shapes the formation of strategic intent which influences successful strategic practices in an organization. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of strategic direction, core competence and human capital on performance of Public Secondary Schools in Koibatek sub-county, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive research design which tested variables the way they occur in natural environment without interfering with them. Purpose sampling informed the selection of Koibatek sub-county for this study because of below average school performance. The study used purposive sampling method to settle on utilizing principals for this study being in the pinnacle of strategic leadership and who are therefore believed to be reliable to this study (Kombo and Tromp, 2006).   The study targeted the thirty-five schools' principals of the public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County as the target population.   The study collected primary data from the respondents using structured questionnaire. Regression model was used to establish the combined effect of the four elements of strategic leadership on schools' performance. The study established that strategic leadership had influence on public secondary school performance. When principals' level of education was introduced in the regression model, it accelerated the relationship between Strategic Leadership and Performance. Two more elements of strategic leadership; core competence and level of education also had significant relationship on performance. It was only human capital that had no significant relationship with performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County. When principals' experience was introduced in the regression model it did not change the relationship between Strategic Leadership and Performance, two variables (core competence and human capacity) had no relationship with performance of public secondary schools in Koibatek Sub-County except strategic direction element.