What are the Key Constraints in Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Farmers in Africa? Empirical Evidence from Kenya

The idea that smallholder farmers are reasonably efficient has triggered much debate in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, efficiency of smallholder farmers has implications for choice of development strategy; reason being that Sub-Saharan countries derive over 60% of their livelihoods from smallholder agriculture and rural economic activities. This paper evaluates factors that promote production efficiency among smallholder farmers in Kenya as avenues for policy intervention. A production frontier function was fitted to a random sample derived from a survey carried in 2007. Results show that all conventional inputs had the expected significance. On the inefficiency indicators, ownership to farmland, attendance to agricultural workshops, access to credit and participation in self-help groups significantly reduced inefficiency, while age, market distance, female gender and formal education increased inefficiency. Our findings suggest that within the available technologies, farmers can improve on their productivity if they nurture teamwork as in groups where labour is shared. Besides, better roads would reduce transaction costs and promote higher returns, and training in agriculture would boost efficient resources use for better performance. Therefore, there exists opportunity to improve efficiency in production given existing farm technologies.Technical Efficiency, Smallholder Farmers, Africa, Productivity Analysis,

The Shrinking Grazing Fields of the Maasai Land Under the Changing Climate System in Kajiado County, Kenya

The Maasai pastoralists have in the last decade experienced disruptions in their economies and livelihoods following climate shifts. For instance, they have been losing up to 30 % of their herd annually to drought related disasters, yet information on the various land uses is still fragmented. This has been worsened by the shortening famine cycles which has impacted pastoral livelihood system as they highly depend on natural resource. Yet, these key resources have been dwindling over the past 30 years compromising their ability to meet basic need such as food. To address this gap, the study focused on long term evaluation of land use. The study’s objective was to determine land use transformations and their impacts particularly on the pastoral livelihood system. Keywords: Climate change, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, Natural resources, food insecurity, pastoral livelihood system, socio-ecological system

Determinants of Improved Maize Seed and Fertilizer Use in Kenya: Policy Implications

Maize is a key food crop in Kenya. While maize yields increased from 1.25 t ha-1 in early 1960s to over 2 tonnes in 1982, they fell below 1.5 t ha-1 in 2000. Given the limited land area, there is no doubt that Kenya will have to rely more on modern technologies for increased yields .Use of improved maize varieties and fertilizers will therefore continue to be critical inputs for improving productivity. To improve production, it is important to understand factors determining adoption and intensity of use of modern technologies. A stratified 2-stage sampling design was used to select 1800 households, subsequently interviewed by means of structured questionnaire. Econometric models were used to explore factors influencing adoption and intensity of use of the improved varieties and fertilizer. Access to credit was positively related to adoption and intensity of use of the two inputs. Extension contacts positively influenced the likelihood of adoption of improved maize seed, while amount of planting fertilizer used positively influenced both the adoption and intensity of use of improved varieties. Distance to market negatively determined the adoption and intensity of use of fertilizer. In addition gender and access to hired labour had negative impacts on the intensity of use of fertilizer. There is need to think of alternative sources of credit to farmers and also revamp the existing extension service (including privatization in the long term) for efficient delivery of information.Maize, adoption, improved seed, fertilizer, credit, extension, Kenya, Crop Production/Industries,

Influence of Supportive and Directive Leadership Styles on Employee Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of supportive and directive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted positivism research philosophy to guide the study and limited itself to descriptive correlational research design to analyze and provide responses to the research questions. The research design was preferred because it allows description and comparison of characteristics of populations based on data collected from samples through questionnaires. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Windows’ Microsoft excel programs. Results: From the findings of multiple linear regression analysis, it was established that directive leadership style had a positive and significant relationship with employee job satisfaction, R2 = .228, F(1, 362) = 53.396, p < .05; β = .454, p < .05. The results from multiple linear regression analysis also showed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction, R2 = .603, F(1, 366) = 278.269, p < .05; β = .716, p < .05. In addition, the study tested the moderating influence of environmental contingency factors and was confirmed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction, R2=0.090, F(5,364) = 35.04, p < .05; β= 0.229, p<.05. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study makes a contribution to the literature of the influence of directive and supportive leadership styles from Kenyan commercial banks’ perspective and adds an impetus to employees, management and policymakers to address issues that are impeding employee job satisfaction. The future researchers should include all bank employees in their study to determine the influence of directive leadership style and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction

Causes of Congestion in the Justice System. Does Macroeconomic Environment Matter?

Public services rendered by the justice system institutions are susceptible to congestion which arise from partial rivalry in consumption of these services. This paper investigated the causes of congestion in Kenyan justice system laying emphasis on select macroeconomic variables. A structural model was estimated using instrumental variable method, that entailed the use of data for the period 1960-2016. The findings were that increase in funding to justice system institutions, economic growth and enhanced resolution of cases reduces congestion. We recommend that the Government efforts to reduce congestion should cut across the demand and supply side of the justice market, and on environmental factors that affect the proper functioning of the justice sector. This should involve setting time limits, preferably through legislations, on the maximum period different types of cases should take to be finalized. Such a legislation could also specify the timelines that other players in the justice sector should take to finalize their legal tasks in relation to dispute resolution process. Further, allocation of optimal fiscal resources to justice system institutions would be crucial in financing congestion reduction programmes especially on uptake of technology and upgrading of capital infrastructure. Keywords: Congestion, Macroeconomic Variables, Cause

Influence of directive and supportive leadership styles on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in in Kenya

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of directive and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted the positivism research philosophy and descriptive correlational research design.  The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using a stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle-level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results of the study showed that a directive leadership style and supportive leadership styles positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction. The results of the regression analysis after moderation showed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction

Influence of Directive and Supportive Leadership Styles on Employee Job Satisfaction in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of directive and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction in commercial banks in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted positivism research philosophy to guide the study and limited itself to descriptive correlational research design to analyze and provide responses to the research questions. The research design was preferred because it allows description and comparison of characteristics of populations based on data collected from samples through questionnaires. The target population of the study was 15,030 employees in all the 43 commercial banks licensed to operate in Kenya as of June 2018. Using stratified sampling technique, the study drew a sample size of 386 employees reporting to middle level managers. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, which included factor analysis, correlational analysis, chi-square, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 and Windows’ Microsoft excel programs. Results: From the findings of multiple linear regression analysis, it was established that directive leadership style had a positive and significant relationship with employee job satisfaction, R2 = .228, F(1, 362) = 53.396, p < .05; β = .454, p < .05. The results from multiple linear regression analysis also showed that supportive leadership style positively and significantly predicted employee job satisfaction, R2 = .603, F(1, 366) = 278.269, p < .05; β = .716, p < .05. In addition, the study tested the moderating influence of environmental contingency factors and was confirmed that environmental contingency factors significantly moderated the relationship between path-goal leadership style and employee job satisfaction, R2=0.090, F(5,364) = 35.04, p < .05; β= 0.229, p<.05. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study makes a contribution to the literature of the influence of directive and supportive leadership styles from Kenyan commercial banks’ perspective and adds an impetus to employees, management and policymakers to address issues that are impeding employee job satisfaction. The future researchers should include all bank employees in their study to determine the influence of directive leadership style and supportive leadership style on employee job satisfaction. Keywords: Directive Leadership, Supportive Leadership, Path-Goal Leadership Styles, Employee Job Satisfaction. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-21-08 Publication date:July 31st 201

Adoption of Technological Innovations on Organizational Performance: Case of Commercial Banks in Kenya

Internet banking (IB) allows functional banking activities online. Adoption of IB varies significantly across commercial banks. Banks with large size tend to adopt IB earlier. In 2006, 96 percent of banks with assets over Kshs 24 billion had a website, compared to only 51 percent with assets under Kshs 8 billion. These observations raise important questions: what explains these variations of diffusion rates across banking groups?  This study reports the results of a descriptive survey on factors causing variations in adoption of IB.  A structured questionnaire was administered to all financial managers in all 46 commercial banks with a response rate of 70%. The SPSS was used to run simultaneous-equation regressions on data collected. Factors driving adoption of IB include increase average bank assets, non adopters imitating early adopters and loan specialisation in consumer lending. Factors hindering IB adoption include competition among banks and average age of a bank.  The study recommends that to enhance IB adoption, banks should; strive to increase their average assets size, non adaptors to carefully study early adaptors, specialize in consumer lending, feed off competition by forming strategic alliances finally new banks have the advantage of installing IB technology in a package with other computer facilities compared to old banks. The study is important because banks have been blamed for not initiating programmes that adequately satisfying demand for financial services. The research contributes to the debate on how to enhance access to financial services in Kenya. Key word: Adoption of Technological Innovation, Organizational performanc

The Maize Green Revolution in Kenya Revisited

The maize green revolution, which increased maize yields through the use of improved varieties and fertilizer, has stalled since the mid-eighties in Kenya. This paper examines whether the stagnation of yields continued in the 1990s in spite of the implementation of the maize liberalization policies by the Kenya Government. Analysis of farm level surveys from 1992 and 2002 indicates slight increases in the use of improved maize varieties and fertilizer, but a substantial decrease in the intensity of fertilizer use. The econometric analysis suggests that the intensity of fertilizer use has a major effect on yield. The use of improved maize varieties, however, did not affect yield, suggesting that there are local varieties for some areas that do as well as improved varieties. Research is needed to develop improved varieties for some areas, and also needed for the development of alternative affordable soil fertility measures.green revolution, maize, adoption, soil fertility, Kenya, Crop Production/Industries, International Development,