INFLUENCE OF MANAGERIAL FACTORS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLANS AT NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE FUND, KENYA

Abstract

One of Kenya's long-term strategic goals is to enhance Kenyans' overall well-being and indicators by moving the focus from curative to preventative treatment and improving health-care services. Over time, the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has developed strategic plans to guarantee increased service efficiency. However, it remains unclear whether NHIF has been effectively implementing these plans owing to its reported unsatisfactory performance. This purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of managerial factors on implementation strategic plans at NHIF, Kenya. The specific objectives were to: examine the influence of leadership styles; assess the influence of resource allocation; evaluate the influence of managerial skills, and analyze the influence of staff motivation on implementation of strategic plans at NHIF, Kenya. The study was underpinned by the following theories; path-goal theory, dynamic capability theory, contingency management theory and expectancy theory of motivation. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 178 employees which comprised senior management, middle-level management, and technical staff from the three NHIF branches located in Nairobi metropolis namely; Nairobi region, Industrial area, and Westlands. A sample size was 124 respondents was determined using the Yamane formula. Stratified sampling technique was used for selecting participants in the study. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire which was administered using drop and pick method. Data analyses involved both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included means, frequency and standard deviation while inferential analysis involved multiple regression analyses. Research hypotheses were tested using student p-value approach at 95% level of confidence. The findings of the study indicated that leadership styles, resource allocation, managerial skills and staff motivation had a positive and statistical significant influence on implementation of strategic plans at NHIF, Kenya. Hence, the study concluded that implementation of strategic plans at NHIF, Kenya was influenced by leadership styles, resource allocation, managerial skills and staff motivation at various degrees across the different management levels. The study recommends that NHIF should focus on enhancing its leadership practices, allocate adequate resources, invest continuous managerial skills enhancement and adopt a working environment that fosters staff motivation in order to ensured successful implementation of strategic plans. The findings of the study are expected to; serve as a theoretical foundation for scholars, researchers and academicians undertaking studies in the area, formulation of relevant policies to enhance strategy implementation in public organizations and assist management at NHIF to focus on the key success factors for implementation of strategic plans.