Abstract
The study sought to examine the extent to which directive and achievement-oriented path-goal leadership styles influence employee performance of coffee trading companies in Kenya. The positivism philosophy was adopted and the design used was a descriptive correlational research design. The population for the study was 180 senior managers of coffee trading companies in Kenya. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics were mean and standard deviation while the inferential statistical analysis included correlational analysis, chi-square and multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis revealed that directive leadership style negatively and significantly predict employee performance, R2= 0.035, F(1, 114) = 4.141, p? .05, ? = -0.153, p? .05. Multiple linear regression analysis further revealed that achievement-oriented leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee performance, R2= 0.161, F(1, 116) = 20.686, p ?. .05, ? = 0.391, p? .05. The study provided a unique contribution to the theory and practice of leadership by contributing to knowledge in the application of Path-goal leadership styles in coffee trading companies. The study findings led to the conclusion that the use of a directive leadership style in coffee trading companies can adversely affect performance and leaders should exercise caution if they have to use this style.
Highlights
It is vital that organizations strive to continually improve the performance of their employees (Sougui, Bon & Hassan, 2015). Iqbal, Anwar, and Haider (2015) refer to leadership as a practice where an executive directs, guides and influences the actions and work of others to enable them to attain desired outcomes in the given circumstances
The results indicate that there was sufficient evidence to conclude that there is a statistically significant association between directive leadership style and employee performance χ2 (90, N = 117) = 311.439, p ≤
The multiple linear regression results indicated that directive leadership style negatively and significantly predicted employee performance R2 = .035, F(1, 114) = 4.141, p ≤ .05; β = -.153, p ≤
Summary
It is vital that organizations strive to continually improve the performance of their employees (Sougui, Bon & Hassan, 2015). Iqbal, Anwar, and Haider (2015) refer to leadership as a practice where an executive directs, guides and influences the actions and work of others to enable them to attain desired outcomes in the given circumstances. A leader exerts influence to improve the performance of followers by using strategies or tactics and by applying behaviors designed to change attitudes, beliefs, values or actions (Nikoloski, 2015). The path-goal-theory focuses on the behavior of leaders in motivating job satisfaction and job performance of the followers. The path goal theory has its base on the expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964) This expectancy theory poses that a person behaves in a certain way because of an expectation that the behavior will result in a particular outcome. The path-goal theory argues that managers motivate their employees to perform by using different behaviors appropriate to the work settings and subordinate needs, and the leader’s behavior will affect the amount of effort exerted by the employee and impact upon his or her overall performance. There are four leadership styles under the path-goal theory that a leader can apply and these are directive, participative, supportive and achievement oriented
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