Corporate Governance Practices and Performance of Deposit Taking Sacco's in Nairobi City County Kenya

Abstract

Good performance of SACCOs is a key ingredient for its continuous existence and sustainability. The financial intermediation function carried out by SACCOs is dependent on how well they perform. Over the years, there have been various concerns by policy makers and academician over the SACCOs' dismal performance in Kenya. Despite the various corporate governance initiatives and measures implemented by important organizations such as the Centre for Company Governance, the issue of firm corporate governance remains unresolved, despite the involvement of the Capital Markets Authority and SASRA. The aim of this research is to determine how the performance of deposit taking SACCOs in Nairobi is influenced by corporate governance. The research focused on how stakeholder involvement, board composition, organizational structure, and control environment affect Nairobi-based deposit-taking SACCOs’ performance. The study's base was stakeholder, agency, stewardship, and resource dependence theory. The study employed a descriptive design. A census approach was used whereby all the deposit taking SACCOs in Nairobi were included in the study. The target population was 47 CEOs, 47 Sacco officers, 47 heads of finance and 47 heads of credit department. Data was gathered using structured questionnaire. In this research, to evaluate the construct and content validity, the researcher did a pilot test. Both descriptive and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the data. The findings showed that corporate governance factors (board composition, organization structure, control environment and stakeholder involvement) had a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.691 with an R squared of 0.477. From the ANOVA table corporate governance had a significant effect on performance of DT Saccos (F=28.513; p= 0.000). From the regression, corporate governance (board composition, organization structure, control environment and stakeholder involvement) had a positive effect on performance of DT Saccos. This study concludes that corporate governance (board composition, organization structure, control environment and stakeholder involvement) has a positive effect on performance of DT Saccos in Nairobi, Kenya. The study recommends that management of DT Saccos improve their corporate governance for increased performance levels. There is need for similar research based on other factors influencing performance, other measures of the variables, other Saccos & institutions as well as adopting secondary data.