The aim of this study was to examine the influence of Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation on performance of staff in State Owned Enterprises in Kenya. The study intended to answer the following research questions: does idealized influence affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? and does inspirational motivation affect performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya? Positivism research philosophy and descriptive
research design were used in this study. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 163 senior managers from the target population of 275 senior managers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the selected members of top management team in SOEs. The study used factor analysis to
reduce data, correlation analysis to establish the relationship between staff performance and transformational leadership, chi square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression model to test the hypotheses. The study found that idealized influence was positively and significantly correlated with staff performance, r(138) = .64, p < .00. Multiple linear regression revealed that idealized influence significantly
predicted staff performance, β = .78, t (145) = 2.99, p< .004. Inspirational motivation was positively and significantly related with staff performance, r(140) = .73, p < .00 and significantly predicted staff performance, β = 1.1, t (145) = 4.54, p< .00. The study concluded that Idealized Influence and Inspirational Motivation positively and significantly increased performance of staff in SOEs in Kenya. The study recommended that top management teams in SOEs should work towards encouraging delegation of tasks, career mentoring and coaching, and creation of new learning opportunities alongside a supportive climate for their employees.
Keywords: Idealized Influence, Inspirational Motivation, Staff Performance, State Owned Enterprise
