Influence of Leaders' Personal Attributes on Group Cohesiveness in Sustainability of the Goat Project by the Dairy Goat Farmers' Association in Central and Eastern Provinces of Kenya

Abstract

Among the many agricultural projects that development agencies have introduced to farmers in Kenya, the Dairy Goat Association in Central and Eastern Provinces of Kenya is a success  story in sustaining the Dairy Goat project introduced in 1992, in terms of outputs, capacity  growth and stability of the member groups. These dimensions of organisational growth have been  attributed partly to member groups' leadership effectiveness. Although factors that contribute to  effectiveness of leadership as a role, position or interaction process are generally known, not all factors  can be generalised to specific circumstances due to the situational nature of leadership. This study  examined influence of leader personal attributes on leadership effectiveness in member groups of  the Dairy Goat Association of Kenya. Out of 106 farmers' groups and 2199 members, 47 group leaders and 251  of their followers were selected through stratified random sampling. Structured interview schedules were used to obtain data from the group chairpersons and their followers. Chi-square was used to test the validity of the set hypothesis, at α = 0.05 level of statistical significance. Leader attributes that significantly influenced group cohesiveness were professional training and legitimacy  at p ≤ 0.05. There is therefore, need to encourage leadership to evolve from the groups to ensure legitimacy , and select leaders with some professional training.