TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM DIVERSITY AND PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA ANNE WAMBUI MUCHEMI A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI NOVEMBER 2013
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TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM DIVERSITY AND PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA
ANNE WAMBUI MUCHEMI
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRE MENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BUSI NESS ADMINISTRATION, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, UNIVERSITY OF N AIROBI
NOVEMBER 2013
ii
DECLARATION
This thesis is my original work and has not been submitted for a degree in any other
University or Institution.
Signed…………………………………………… Date…………………………………
ANNE WAMBUI MUCHEMI
Reg. No. D80/81121/2009
This thesis has been submitted with our approval as University Supervisors.
Signed………………………………………… Date…………………………………
DR. AWINO ZACHARY BOLO, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Department of Business Administration
School of Business
University of Nairobi
Signed…………………………………………… Date…………………………………
PROF. MARTIN OGUTU, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Business Administration
School of Business
University of Nairobi
iii
COPYRIGHT
No part of this thesis may be used or reproduced in any form, or stored in a database or
retrieval system without prior written permission of the author or the University of Nairobi,
except in brief quotations or references universally accepted for purposes of reviews, articles
or research papers.
iv
DEDICATION
This work is first dedicated to my Supervisor, Dr. Zachary Bolo Awino. No words can
describe you! You can only be an Angel that was sent to shape my academic life. It is
amazing the passion you have had to see me graduate. Your commitment to the completion
of this study went beyond the call of duty. You have become a household name and the
pillar of my academic success. Am certain that this thesis will outlive me and as long as it
remains, God shall surely bless you and your generations. Am so blessed to have met you!
Further, this work is dedicated to my Dad and Mum (Daniel and Esther Muchemi). Thanks
for teaching me the fear of God, indeed it has been the source of knowledge. Thanks for
teaching me the value of hard work. Thanks for believing in me and for loving me the way
you do! For the many days you woke up early to pray for me, for the phone calls you made
at every point of the doctoral programme, am sincerely grateful! May the lord God whom
you love and continue to hold close to, forever bless you.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis would never have been completed without the contribution of many individuals
whom I would wish to acknowledge. First and foremost I would like to thank God for his
providence and his faithfulness. This is another living testimony that you will bring to pass
that which we commit to you. “Great is your faithfulness, oh Lord my Father”. Special
gratitude goes to my two supervisors, Dr. Zachary Bolo Awino and Professor Martin Ogutu
who were both a source of invaluable guidance, mentoring and commitment to this study.
Their rigorous contributions, dedication, sacrifice and commitment went beyond the call of
duty. God is not unfair to forget the good works that you have done and am certain that he
shall continuously bless you and your generations. Special thanks also go to Prof. Aosa,
Prof. Pokhariyal, Prof. Kobonyo, Dr. Machuki, Dr. Njihia, Dr. Wainaina and Dr. Omoke
who encouraged me in the doctorial programme.
My deepest gratitude goes to my family who were the main source of encouragement,
potency and support. Special mention goes to my Dad and Mum for teaching me the value
of hard work and for constantly following me up to establish my progress in the doctoral
programme. Your prayers, love and encouragement kept me going even in the toughest
times. To my brothers and sisters Isaac Muchemi, Dr. Timothy Muchemi, Tabitha Muchemi,
Doris Kamau, Dr. Sammy Muchemi and my baby brother Thuku Muchemi, you will forever
be my best friends. When I feared to go for defence, you all reminded me am a great girl, a
genius and have God on my side. Thanks for praying with me, believing in me, making me
feel loved and appreciated and for constantly reminding me to be focused on my studies.
Thanks a million times Thuku for reading my work, teaching me Economics, helping me
understand and love figures and for assuring me that you will follow my footsteps. To my
sweet little nieces Faith, Joy, June and Purity, nephews Kanyi, Kevin, Ham, Isay, Dan, Kim
and Tim, always remember that hard work never goes unrewarded. Special thanks go to my
fellow doctoral studies colleagues and departmental staff for their contribution and support.
Special recognition goes to Dr. Ogolla and Linet who were with me at every point of this
journey. Thanks for keeping me on my toes and keeping me company even in the loneliest
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part of this journey. Dr. Bagire, George Kimani and Juliana further require special mention
for being a great source of inspiration throughout the doctoral studies. To my best friend
Wangeci Muriuki, I will forever thank God for the day I met you. Thanks Wangeci for
praying with me and standing with me at every point of this journey. This is the fulfillment
of the prayer we made when we enrolled in the programme and am certain your thesis will
be next to mine in the library. Special mention further goes to Dr.Beth and Pat
Mbuthia.Thanks for praying with me and reminding me that the promises of God are yes
and Amen. To my many other friends like, Isaac, Mungai, Wambua, Maina Rugami,
Karanja Nyingi, Kiiru, Dr.Kilika, Patrick, Dr.Ngari, Migwi , Leah, Irene, Helen and
Shadrack Bett, am forever grateful.
To my employer, Kenyatta University, thanks for the support you accorded to me. Special
mention to Prof. Wangari Mwai, my role model, Dr. Muathe (Chairman Business
Administration), Ms.Kimutai (Chairperson Management Science), Mr. Sang (Associate
Dean) and Mr. Atheru (Dean-School of Business), you all believed in me and supported me,
God bless you. To the KU Nyeri Campus staff and all my students, thanks for believing in
me. God bless you all.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration ............................................................................................................................. ii
Copyright ............................................................................................................................ iii
Dedication ............................................................................................................................ iv
The debate as to whether Top Management Team diversity influences corporate performance has continued to attract attention from scholars and practitioners. Among researchers fueling this surge, many have argued that higher levels of diversity lead to executive creativity, more effective executive decision-making, and more positive organizational outcomes. Other researchers, however, have argued that higher levels of executive diversity result in less communication among executives, less effective executive decision-making, and less positive organizational outcomes. Thus the question of whether diversity is advantageous to organizations still remains open. Therefore, this study sought to contribute to knowledge by assessing the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance while taking cognizant of the probable role of leadership style and firm innovation as moderating variables. The specific objectives were: to establish the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance; to establish the relationship between firm innovation and corporate performance; to establish if the strength of the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance is influenced by firm innovation; to establish the relationship between Chief Executive Officer leadership style and corporate performance; to determine if the strength of the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance is influenced by the Chief Executive Officer leadership style and to establish the joint effect of Top Management Team demographic diversity, leadership style and firm innovation on corporate performance. The study population comprised of all the 43 commercial banks as listed by the Central Bank of Kenya report. The relevant data was collected from 29 banks (representing 72.5%) response rate out of the probable 40 banks since 3 banks had already been used to pilot the questionnaire hence were not included in the final study. Organizational performance was measured using financial and non financial indicators. The data analysis and interpretation were based on descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression analysis. Hypothesis testing revealed statistically insignificant results for the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and organizational performance, firm innovation and organizational performance and on the relationship between Chief Executive Officers leadership style and organizational performance. In addition, both firm innovation and leadership style were found to influence the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and organization performance and their joint effect was established to be lower than the individual moderating effect. The study encountered some limitations such as the fact that the study was done in the banking sector, it was difficult to generalize results to other sectors and thus future researchers should include firms from other sectors in the economy. In addition, data analysis was done using regression analysis technique with the assumption that relationship between data variables was linear and it is probable that relations between variables are not necessarily linear. Future researchers should consider using some other tools for statistical analysis. This study has extended our understanding on the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance by introducing the moderating effect of leadership style and firm innovation. Similarly, the study has clearly depicted that different types of diversities have different effects on corporate performance. While providing a mile stone on pertinent Top Management Team diversity literature, this study has both theoretical and practical implications. From the study, it is clear that diversity has both positive and negative effects on organizations performance. Thus diversity should be managed to enhance organization’s performance. The need to establish other factors influencing the relationship between Top Management Team demographic diversity and corporate performance has been underscored. Similarly, the study has supported the complex nature of relationships between Top Management Team diversity and corporate performance and advocates for more research in this area.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background of the study and a description of the key variables under
study, namely Top Management Team demographic diversity and organization performance.
The chapter also briefly highlights on the two moderating variables, leadership style and firm
innovation. Further the chapter gives a review of the commercial banks in Kenya. In addition,
the chapter presents research problem, research objectives, value of the study and the
structure of the thesis.
1.1 Background of the Study The search to explain corporate performance variability has developed from what are
essentially inanimate variables strategy/structure relationships, a focus which shifted
towards the more animate problems of strategy implementation and more recently, upon the
impact of the dominant coalition within the top management team (Hambrick and Mason,
2007). Does, in fact, the Top Management Team matter? Despite the large number of studies
on TMT heterogeneity, research has yielded inconsistent results, and the question of whether
diversity in managerial backgrounds is advantageous for companies still remain open
(Canella et al, 2008) and hence the focus of this study.
The ongoing globalization and technological advancements have dramatically changed the
business landscape affecting business organizations. The challenge for organization’s
management team today in their quest to improve their performance, is how to deal with the
changed business landscape. Some scholars have argued that by applying theoretical
2
directions to their research in their attempt to explain performance of organizations, a
systematic analysis is achieved that translates into improved practical application (Nham &
Hoang, 2011). Arising from this proposition, this study just like most of the scholarly
investigations set the starting point as an assumption indicating that the TMT determines the
strategic direction the organization is likely to take (Child, 1972).
This necessitates employing a theoretical framework that incorporates ideas of the various
theoretical streams. These include the social identification and categorization theory,
similarity and attraction theory and information and decision-making theory. Other theories
guiding this study include the resource based view of the firm, resource dependency theory,
stakeholder’s theory, structural contingency theory, behavioral theory of the firm and the
upper echelons theory. According to Hambrick and Mason, (1984), top management team
members with diverse characteristics bring different perspectives in the decision making
process, thus influencing the performance of organizations and TMT in the commercial
banks are not an exception.
1.1.1 Top Management Team Diversity Top management team members have been defined as powerful decision makers who
consciously choose among diverse courses of action and thus determine the fate of their
firms (Weiner and Mahoney, 1981). Further, they are the primary unit that governs the
firm’s environment, makes strategic choices and evaluates feedback (Child, 1972). Some
researchers have defined TMTs in terms of constituent members and such definitions
include the CEOs and the people who directly report to the CEOs (Michel and Hambrick,
3
1992). According to Miller et. al, (1998), top management team refers to all executives who
report to the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Operating Officer. This study conceptualized
TMT as dominant coalitions in organizations, comprising the Chief Executive Officer and
other senior level managers in an organization reporting directly to the CEOs.
Diversity has been defined in different ways by different scholars. According to Cox,
(1993), diversity is the variation of social and cultural identities among people existing
together in a defined employment or market setting. Social and cultural identity refers to the
personal affiliation with groups and research has shown that this has significant influence on
peoples’ major life experiences. These affiliations include gender, race, national origin,
religion, age cohort and work specialization. According to Jackson et al., (2003), diversity is
the distribution of personal attributes among interdependent members of a work unit.
Further, diversity can be defined based on observable, surface-level demographic
differences such as race, sex or age, or on deep-level psychological differences in values and
ways of thinking (Harrison et al., 2002). Often there is an implicit linkage in that it is
assumed that organization members with different observable differences will bring along
different ways of thinking as part of their identity (Brickson, 2000).
Studies on diversity can be viewed in two perspectives which include demographic and
cognitive diversity. Demographic diversity includes variables such as age, gender, ethnic
background, tenure, functional background, religion, race and education amongst others.
Demographic characteristics have served as surrogates for measuring cohort behavior and
4
the advantages of using demographic variables include their objectivity, parsimony,
comprehensiveness, logical coherence, predictive power and testability (Hambrick and
Mason, 1984). Previous studies show that team demography influences team processes, such
as social integration and communication, and these processes in turn affect organizational
strategy and outcome. Specifically, the profiles of the TMT influence the selection of
competitive fields and the patterns of actions and responses in the chosen fields. For
example, firms with high TMT heterogeneity in demographic characteristics are likely to
compete in a dynamic environment where diverse capabilities of top managers are required
to outperform competitors (Michel and Hambrick, 1992).
Similarly, firms with low TMT heterogeneity may show dominant presence in stable
environments where group cohesion produces better results. Therefore, TMT heterogeneity
provides vital information on a firm's preference for environmental niches to compete and
on the likelihood of success in the chosen market niches. Further, TMT traits such as age,
organizational tenure and educational level influences the firm's decision-making process in
terms of receptivity to change and willingness to take risk, which in turn affects the degree
of corporate strategic changes (Knight et al., 1999).
Cognitive diversity is defined in terms of differences in beliefs and preferences held by
upper- echelon executives within a firm. More specifically, cognitive diversity refers to
variation in beliefs concerning cause-effect relationships and variation in preferences
concerning various goals for the organizations (Miller, 1990). Cognitive diversity includes
knowledge, values, perception, affection and personality characteristics (Peterson, 2000).
5
Such variation underlies differences in perspectives that tend to endure through time. When
TMTs are the unit of analysis, the demographic approach has the advantage of being more
practical than the cognitive approach (Hambrick and Mason, 1984) and thus this thesis used
the demographic approach. High diversity teams can improve the capabilities to identify
new strategic opportunities (Alexiev et al., 2010) but this may however also fuel conflicts
(Nielsen, 2010). Hence, the topic of TMT heterogeneity remains a highly controversial one
and thus the primary focus of this thesis. This thesis was based on the premise that TMT
demographic diversity influences organizational performance, but performance is moderated
by other factors such as a firm’s innovation and the CEO’s leadership style.
1.1.2 Firm Innovation Definitions of innovation abound, each emphasizing a different aspect of the term. The first
definition of innovation was coined by Schumpeter in the late 1920s (Dougherty, 1996) who
stressed the novelty aspect. Innovation is reflected in novel outputs, a new good or a new
quality of a good, a new method of production, a new market, a new source of supply, or a
new organizational structure which can be summarized as doing things differently.
However, Dougherty (1996), states that, “it is practically impossible to do things identically”
which makes any change an innovation by definition.
Tushman and Nadler (1986), define the concept of innovation as the creation of a product,
service or process which is new for the business unit. For Damanpour (1996), innovation
involves the adoption of an idea which is new for the organization which adopts it. Thus the
term innovation covers the creation as much as the acquisition of a product or service which
is new for the adopting unit. In general, three dimensions which underline the different
6
definitions of the concept can be established: innovation in results, which would be the
creation of a new product to the business unit (Damanpour, 1996), innovation in process
(O’Sullivan, 2000) and innovation as an attribute of organizations (Bantel and Jackson,
1989).
Innovation research has distinguished between innovation types because they have different
characteristics. The variety of innovation types notwithstanding, the best known and most
widely studied typology of innovation is the distinction between product and process
innovations (Light, 1998). Another widely recognized but less researched typology is the
distinction between technological (technical) and administrative (organizational and
management) innovations (Birkinshaw et al., 2008).
Meeus and Edquist (2006) offered a taxonomy that distinguishes between two types of
product innovations (in goods and in services) and two types of process innovations
(technological and organizational). Hamel (2006) distinguished between two types of
process innovation: innovations in operational processes (such as customer services,
logistics, and procurement) and innovations in management processes (such as strategic
planning, project management, and employee assessment). This study employs three
innovation types that are applicable to service organizations: service innovations, process
innovations (technological process innovations and administrative process innovations) and
the business model innovation.
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The role of TMT decisions is very relevant in innovation (Ireland et al., 2001). Innovation is
an accumulative, collective and uncertain process, a fact that management directs, promotes
and encourages (O’Sullivan, 2000). The preferences of its leaders can impose serious
restrictions on a company’s innovation, compromising its ability to identify and act on
profitable opportunities (Penrose, 1959).
1.1.3 Leadership Styles House and Aditya (1997) provide an extensive historical review of the scientific study of
leadership and the prevailing theories of leadership. According to their view, studies on
leadership in organizations have moved in several directions, but two approaches have
dominated the literature. The first approach has focused on the leader’s characteristics and
behavior, and the second on the circumstances necessitating the demonstration of leadership
and the possible results of different leadership styles. Their definition of leadership is based
on House (1995) who suggested that leadership is behavior that gives purpose, meaning, and
guidance to collectivities by articulating a collective vision that appeals to ideological
values, motives and self-perceptions of followers.
House (1995) further states that the outcomes of such behavior are heightened awareness of
organizational values, unusual levels of effort, and the foregoing of self-interest of followers
for the good of the collective. Today, the starting point of most studies on the topic is that
organizational leadership is first and foremost the ability to influence people to perform
tasks over a period of time using motivational methods rather than power or authority
(Kotter, 1996).
8
This definition emphasizes the subordinate’s choice to perform a task of his or her own free
will and largely rejects the use of power, force, or coercive actions by managers, who are
considered leaders. Such a definition also makes a clear distinction between leadership and
coercive rules. However, it relates leadership with the processes of informal influence,
power and to a lesser extent, formal authority, which comprises the political environment in
organizations. When people act out of obedience to authority, it is difficult to decide
whether they are acting of their own free will or out of fear of punishment by their superior
(Kotter, 1996).
Thus, modern theories on leadership are much more interested in transformational
leadership than in any other type of leadership (Wang et al., 2005). Nonetheless, the current
theory of leadership still focuses on transformational and transactional leadership as core
concepts in the field. These concepts were first introduced by Burns (1978) and developed
by Bass and Avolio (1993) to encompass the full range model of leadership. According to
this theory, there are two basic levels of influence evident in the interaction between the
leader and the led.
One influence comes from the understanding that the leader creates a cost-benefit interaction
in his constituency. Burns (1978) called this influence transactional leadership, meaning that
the employees will function in accordance with the leader’s wishes because they believe
they will benefit by such actions. The second influence of the leader is an emotional
excitement, which Burns (1978) called transformational leadership. This proposal will focus
on the moderating effect of transactional and transformational leadership styles.
9
1.1.4 Corporate Performance
Organizational performance refers to efficiency and effectiveness in utilization of resources
as well as the accomplishment of its goals. Organizational effectiveness is the measure of
how successfully organizations achieve their missions through their core strategies.
Efficiency is the cost per unit of output, describing the relationship between the goods and
services produced by a programme or activity and the resources used to produce them
(Richard and Tomassi, 2001). Corporate performance is a complex and multi-dimensional
phenomenon in strategic management literature (Balta, 2008).
Measuring performance is essential in allowing researchers and managers to evaluate the
specific actions of firms and managers, where firms stand against their rivals, and how firms
evolve and perform over time (Sabina, 2009). However measuring corporate performance
has been a major challenge for scholars and practitioners as well. The Sink and Turtle model
of 1989 proposes that the performance of an organization system is a complex interaction
among seven performance criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, quality of products,
productivity, quality of work life, innovation and profitability.
Additionally the Kaplan and Norton (1996) balanced score card indicates that corporate
performance not only includes financial measures but also customer criteria’s such as
customer satisfaction and retention, improving business processes such as best practices and
innovativeness and also employees’ criteria’s such as job satisfaction and wellbeing.
According to upper-echelon theory (Knight et al., 1999), top management team (TMT)
characteristics have important impacts on organizational outcomes because top executives
10
are empowered to make strategic decisions for organizations. Most commonly used methods
of measuring organizational performance in studies on the top management include ROA,
Total Assets, Profit before Tax, market share, share price and sales revenue. In this study,
financial performance was operationalised in terms of the Total Assets and Profit before
Tax, and the non financial measures included customer satisfaction, corporate image,
process improvements and employee development.
1.1.5 Top Management Team Diversity and Corporate Performance
The relationship between diversity and corporate performance can be positively correlated
(Carpenter, 2002), negatively correlated (Michel and Hambrick, 1992) or even some studies
show that the relationship is not significant (Ferrier, 2001). Diversity results in greater
knowledge, creativity and innovation and thus, organizations tend to become more
competitive (Watson et al., 1993). Further, cultural heterogeneity results in issue-based
conflict which in turn enhances greater organizational performance.
In addition, heterogeneity is positively linked to better problem solving and offering creative
solutions (Michel & Hambrick, 1992). On the other hand, diversity can be disadvantageous
to organizational performance (Hambrick et al., 1996); team diversity fuels conflicts and
thus has negative effect on performance (Naranjo-Gil et al., 2007). The extent to which team
effectiveness is affected by the heterogeneity among members is thus a complicated matter.
11
1.1.6 Commercial Banks in Kenya The Banking Industry in Kenya is governed by the Companies Act (Cap 486), the Banking
Act, the Central Bank of Kenya Act and the various prudential guidelines issued by the
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK, 2011). The Industry comprises of 43 commercial banks, 2
mortgage finance companies and 123 foreign exchange bureaus (CBK, 2011). The CBK
places commercial banks in Kenya in four broad categories based on ownership; foreign
owned not locally incorporated, institutions with government participation, foreign owned
but locally incorporated institutions (partly owned by locals) and locally owned institutions
(CBK, 2011). Thus the TMT in commercial banks are diverse based on the ownership of the
banks and also since they attract, select and retain demographically diverse employees.
During the period ended December 31, 2010, commercial banks recorded significant growth
in assets driven by growth in deposit, injection of capital and retention of profit. Further, in
the same period, commercial banks continued to embrace new technology to improve their
customer service delivery. A considerable number of banks adopted the use of mobile phone
technology as a service delivery channel to enhance convenience to their customers. In this
regard, a number of new products that leverage on ICT, in particular mobile phone
telephony were introduced by several institutions (CBK, 2011). In addition, there has been a
significant change in customer's landscape in the commercial banks from corporate clients
due to the unprecedented interest in individuals, micro finance sector and Small and
Medium scale Enterprises (SME’s).
12
In an effort to promote financial access by the majority of customers, the Central Bank and
the banking industry has continued with initiatives to put in place a credit information
sharing mechanism which will enable individuals to use their information capital as
collateral to access bank services. In addition, the environment in which banks in Kenya are
operating has been experiencing significant changes including rapid technological
innovations, creating pressure on service delivery cost (CBK, 2012). Further, the
amendment of the Banking Act to permit banks to use agents in their outreach has also
extended the formal financial services access frontier, thus enhancing their penetration level
of commercial banks which has been very low (CBK, 2011). Agency banking will further
enable institutions to provide banking services in a more cost effective way which is equally
cheaper to the customers.
An appropriate banking environment is considered a key pillar as well as an enabler of
economic growth (Koivu, 2002). Banks are essential for each country’s economy, since no
growth can be achieved unless savings are efficiently channeled into investment. Banking
industry is competitive and thus requires a lot of creativity and innovation both in terms of
human resources and product development. Because creativity and innovation require the
combining of facts and ideas in novel ways, diverse teams are an important precursor to
innovation (Rothwell and Zegveld, 1985) which may be a necessity to enable the
commercial banks to continue surviving in the competitive environments they are in today.
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1.2 Research Problem
The results of research on diverse team composition suggest that it offers both a great
opportunity for organizations as well as numerous challenges. Numerous studies have
suggested that more diverse teams have the potential to consider a greater range of
perspectives and to generate more innovative and higher quality solutions than less diverse
teams (Austin, 1997). In contrast, other studies have revealed a negative relationship,
inconsistent or no relationship between team heterogeneity and organizational outcomes
(Van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Within the management literature, there have been a series
of suggestions regarding these conflicting results.
Some researchers have focused on exploring the mechanisms through which diversity exert
its influence in workgroups. This has included investigating into the mediator variables, for
example, member commitment and decision comprehensiveness (Jehn et al., 1999). Other
authors have cited moderator variables, for example, that the relationship between diversity
and performance is moderated by the time that a team has been working together and task
characteristics (Van der Vegt and Bunderson, 2005).
A review of research demonstrates that leadership has been regarded as one of the most
important factors to determine organizational performance and creativity (Berson et al.,
2006). Little research however has been conducted to understand the relationship between
leadership and performance of diverse groups. Extant research has focused on unmanaged
diversity (Nkomo and Cox,1996) despite research indicating that leader strategies can
mitigate against the emergence of affective conflict and distrust that often hamper the
14
performance of such groups (Somech, 2006). Research further suggests that firms that
innovate increase their chances of survival and growth (Drach-Zahavy and Somech, 2001).
However, little has again been done to establish how firm innovation would moderate the
relationship between diverse teams and performance.
The banking industry in Kenya has changed dramatically from being a virtual cartel to a
highly competitive market. Commercial banks in Kenya are transcending from their normal
business operations and diversifying their activities in response to economic and financial
reforms (Arora and Kaur, 2006). The deregulation, disintegration, emergence of advanced
technologies along with the consolidation wave in the commercial banks sector have been
instrumental in making banks to diversify their operations (Arora and Kaur, 2009).
However, the industry’s low penetration level of 19% still provides opportunities for banks
to exploit.
For this reason, commercial banks need to improve their learning and leadership capabilities
to facilitate innovation. Key attention must thus be paid to the TMT in the commercial banks
since they provide the strategic direction of these organizations. Despite the large number of
studies on TMT diversity, research has yielded inconsistent results, and the question of
whether diversity in TMT is advantageous for companies still remains open (Canella et al.
2008).
15
This thesis suggests that inconsistency among TMT demographic diversity and performance
relationship shown in prior studies may point to the possibility that important moderating
variables have been overlooked, and that such omissions create opportunity for further
research. Further, the consequences of TMT diversity are highly dependent on context and
thus varying context will help in clarifying the nature of the relationship.
Studies undertaken in the Kenyan context by Irungu (2007), Awino (2007) and Sifa (2009)
have all treated corporate performance as a dependent variable. The findings of each of these
studies indicate that corporate performance is a function of a combination of factors.
Irungu’s (2007) study revealed that there exists a relationship between TMT characteristics
and various indicators of organizational performance. Awino’s (2007) study focused on the
effect of selected strategy variables on corporate performance while Sifa’s (2009) study
focused on the influence of core competencies on the relationship between co-alignment
variables and corporate performance.
In due considerations of the unique business environment in which Commercial Banks in
Kenya operate, this study sought to answer the following critical question: Does firm
innovation and leadership style affect the relationship between TMT demographic diversity
and performance of commercial banks in Kenya.
16
1.3 Research Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of firm innovation and
leadership style on the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance of commercial banks in Kenya.
The specific objectives were to:
i. Determine the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance of commercial banks in Kenya.
ii. Establish the relationship between firm innovation and corporate performance of
commercial banks in Kenya.
iii. Establish if the strength of relationship between TMT demographic diversity and
corporate performance of commercial banks in Kenya is influenced by firm
innovation.
iv. Establish the relationship between CEO’s leadership style and corporate performance
of commercial banks in Kenya.
v. Determine if the strength of the relationship between TMT demographic diversity
and corporate performance of commercial banks in Kenya is influenced by the
CEO’s leadership style.
vi. Establish the joint effect of TMT demographic diversity, leadership style and firm
innovation on corporate performance of commercial banks in Kenya.
17
1.4 Value of the Study The performance of the commercial banks in Kenya has a direct effect on Kenya’s economic
performance. However it is the top management in these banks that determine the strategic
direction of organizations and consequently their performance. This study was intended to
significantly shed light on the implications of the TMT demographic diversity on the
performance of commercial banks. Although many similar studies have been conducted
elsewhere, especially in the United States of America, Europe and Japan, very little has been
done in Africa. Various studies have revealed that culture, values and contextual challenges
differ from one geographical and demographic region to another, and these are expected to
impact differently on organizational performance (El-kot and Leat, 2005).
This study will thus contribute to theory building by enhancing our understanding of the
inhibiting or enabling role played by organizational setting issues or contextual factors on
diversity and firm performance relationship. Further, this study will be contributing to
theory building by introducing the moderating role played by leadership style and firm
innovation on the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and Corporate
Performance.
In addition, by the study contributing to the understanding on how diversity in top
management affects firm performance, it will be contributing to effective human resource
recruitment strategies that will inevitably translate to high organization’s performance. This
study will further be relevant to management practice in a number of ways.
18
First, understanding of the antecedents of multiple dimensions of top management team
diversity may allow managers to carefully evaluate the trade-offs associated with
increasing team diversity while maintaining diversity balance. Furthermore, the findings of
this thesis will assist executives of such firms in evaluating individual executive profiles and
their fit to the existing composition of the firm’s top management team.
In addition, the study will address the gaping need for scholarly studies from the emerging
economies and in particular Kenya, on the concept of diversity in top management and its
effect on organization’s performance. Lastly, despite the growing number of studies on
diversity in the TMT, there is no consensus on the effect of the TMT diversity on firm
performance. Thus this study will aid in further validation of the direction of the relationship
between the diversity in top management and organization’s performance.
Following the implementation of the new constitution in Kenya, diversity management is of
paramount importance to organizations today. The government is responsible for all workers
through the Ministry of labour. Thus this study can guide the government in policy
formulation on equal employment opportunities, diversity audit and diversity management
by understanding the effects of embracing diverse teams.
1.5 Structure of the Thesis The study is organized into six chapters. Chapter one presents the introduction and
background of the study variables which include demographic diversity in Top Management
Team, firm innovation, leadership styles and corporate performance. It further highlights the
research problem, the research objectives and the value of the study.
19
Chapter two is an extensive literature review of the major study variables namely
demographic diversity in the Top Management Team, firm innovation (business model
innovation, process innovation and service innovation), leadership style (transactional and
transformational leadership styles) and corporate performance. This is culminated into a
conceptual framework showing the relationships between the variables under study.
Chapter three discusses the research methodology used and outlines how the variables were
operationalized and the analytical models used to test the hypotheses. Chapter four provides
the descriptive data analysis while chapter five focuses on results on test of hypothesis and
discussion of findings. Chapter six presents the summary of the findings, conclusions,
limitations of the study, suggestions for further research and implications of the study on
theory, policy and practice.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction This chapter explores the related theoretical and empirical literature suitable to answer the
research questions for this study. The chapter begins by discussing the main theories the
study has relied on to build the framework for the research. The chapter then discusses the
specific literature for the study with a focus on the main variables whose relationships are
being investigated.
This covers literature review on the demographic diversity in the TMT, leadership styles,
firm innovation and performance relationship. An empirical overview of the relationships
among diversity, leadership style, firm innovation and performance is also presented. The
chapter further presents a summary of previous studies on the area of diversity in TMT and
finally a conceptual model and test of hypotheses.
2.2 Theoretical Perspectives of the Study There are a large number of theoretical underpinnings relating TMT diversity to
performance. These include social identification and categorization theory, similarity and
attraction theory and information and decision-making theory. Other theories guiding this
study includes the resource based view of the firm, resource dependency theory,
stakeholder’s theory, structural contingency theory, behavioral theory of the firm and the
upper echelons theory . The basic tenets of each theory are reviewed below:
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2.2.1 Social Identification and Categorization Theory Social identification begins with the assumption that each individual wishes to maximize his
or her self-esteem. In order to ensure high self-esteem, individuals engage in a series of
social comparisons with others. These self-comparisons involve individuals placing
themselves, and others, into a series of categories along organizational, religious, gender,
ethnic, socioeconomic lines, amongst others. This process leads each individual to establish
his or her social identity, with that identity defined as one’s membership in a given group of
different categories (Turner, 1987).
Given the initial assumption that an individual does all of this in order to maintain a high
level of self-esteem, it follows that individuals will deem the categories in which they
belong as good (often called the in-group) and the categories in which others belong as bad
(the out-group). Empirical research has shown that individuals often (falsely) attribute
negative characteristics to out-group members as part of this process, believing the out-
group to be comprised of individuals who are less trustworthy, honest, cooperative, or
intelligent (Turner, 1987).
The process of categorization often involves physical traits such as gender, ethnicity, and
age. Given that membership in the out-group is seen as a deficiency, this classification often
results in individuals assuming those from different ethnic backgrounds are either inherently
worse than they are, or at the very least, untrustworthy (Loden & Rosener, 1991).
22
Social identification and categorization theory, then, assumes that individuals quickly
stereotype and make judgments about those from other groups (Tajfel, 1981). This theory is
applicable to this study since TMT members will categorize themselves into groups based
on their characteristics. Further, TMT members are likely to be affiliated to people with
whom they share a social identity and conversely provide a basis for conflict with people of
different social categories.
In a diverse work team or organization, there are many more out-groups than in-groups, a
pattern which is expected to cause heightened problems with trust, communication, and
cooperation. As a result, work processes will be made much more difficult, thus causing the
final product, idea, or solution to be weaker (Daft and Lengel, 1986). This theory, then,
suggests a negative relationship between organizational diversity and work-related
outcomes. Much of the research on effects of diversity on organizational performance if not
the majority, predicts a negative relationship between diversity and organizational
performance that is premised on faulty work processes.
As a group becomes more and more diverse, breakdowns in communication, coordination
and cohesion make it harder for members to work together effectively. These process-
oriented difficulties prevent the group from producing a final product, solution, or idea that
is at par with one produced by a group that did not fall prey to the same procedural
difficulties (Turner, 1987).
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2.2.2 Similarity and Attraction Theory The similarity and attraction theory is based on the premise that similarity in attributes,
particularly demographic variables, increases interpersonal attraction and liking (Byrne et
al., 1996). Individuals with similar backgrounds may find that they have more in common
with each other than with others from different backgrounds, making it more comfortable
for them to work together and collaborate toward producing a product or solving a problem.
Similarity allows one to have his or her values and ideas reinforced, whereas dissimilarity
causes one to question his or her values and ideas, a process that is likely to be unsettling. In
a situation where an individual has the opportunity to interact with a number of different
people, he or she is most likely to select a person who is similar (Burt & Regans, 1997). The
fact that one is likely to be more attracted to those with similar attributes, yields clear
predictions that high levels of diversity in an organization are likely to lead to faulty work
processes, leading to weaker performance (Burt and Regans, 1997).
This theory is applicable to this study since it endeavors to explain individuals behavior
based on their attributes, particularly demographic variables. TMT in organizations have
different demographic characteristics and the theory predicts individuals with similar
characteristics will be attracted to each other leading to better performance. However,
dissimilar teams are likely to have low performance due to faulty work processes (Burt and
Regans, 1997).
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2.2.3 Information and Decision-Making Theory
The information and decision-making theory focuses on knowledge and its role on group
outcomes. People understand and interpret the world they experience based on their
cognitive structures (Bhatt, 2000). Cognitive structures are the internal representations of
ourselves, others and our environments, which are based on previous knowledge, experience
and learning and they are used to explain how individuals create their own realities as they
make sense of and interact with their world (Markovits and Barrouillet, 2002).
Cognitive structures are socially formed and develop based on social paradigms (Bhatt,
2000) which imply that people “know” based on their social interactions (Young and Collin,
2004). It follows then that learning is always contextualized, that is, what is learnt and how
it is learnt always reflects the social context of the learner (Gergen, 2001). At work, the
functional identity of the learner, or the collegial context, is vital to the learner’s perspective.
Through extended in-depth interaction and shared practice, individuals from the same
functional area develop similar cognitive structures or corresponding mental models (Brown
and Duguid, 2001). This leads to shared perspective and knowledge of the world and work.
These commonalities in their cognitive structures differentiate members of one functional
area from members of other areas.
25
This theory is applicable in this study since the performance of an organization is bound to
be influenced by the nature of decisions made by the TMT members which is influenced by
their knowledge levels. Diverse TMT members will have knowledge-based advantages
based on cognitive effects stemming from the connection of previously unconnected
knowledge and this will result to improved performance (Nemeth, 1985).
Thus the information-and-decision-making perspective focuses on the potential creativity
and problem-solving benefits of having more diverse information and analyzing it from a
variety of perspectives. This theory thus predicts that diverse teams will have a positive
impact on organizations performance. The idea that diversity brings a number of new
perspectives to the table, making it possible for an organization to be more effective, has
served as the basis for a number of claims that diversity is a strength and a resource for
organizations (Adler, 2003).
2.2.4 Behavioral Theory of the Firm The behavioral theory of the firm (Cyert & March, 1963) introduces sociological aspects to
the economic theory of the firm and emphasizes the role of individuals. The theory regards
organizations as a collection of individual members who have their own goals and
aspirations. It acknowledges that organizational goals are not defined at the firm level but at
the individual level and are therefore often conflicting. Based on Simon’s (1947) work on
behavior under conditions of uncertainty, the behavioral theory challenges the assumption
that individuals have rational motives and maximizing behavior.
26
Instead, the behavioral theory of the firm stresses the limitations of human cognition such as
bounded rationality and explains how it influences decision-making. Under conditions of
uncertainty, organizational decisions are predominantly driven by problematic search, where
the generation of alternatives is based on and limited to the definition of the problem.
Furthermore, individuals do not always strive to maximize their utility but rather attempt to
2.6 .5 Transformational Leadership Transformational managers normally adopt a long-term perspective. Rather than focusing
solely on current needs of their employees or themselves, they also focus on future needs;
rather than being concerned only with short-term problems and opportunities facing the
organization, they also concern themselves with long term issues; rather than viewing intra-
and extra organizational factors as discrete, they view them from a systems perspective. In
essence, such individuals tend to be leaders rather than merely managers because of the way
in which they execute their job responsibilities (Avolio, & Bass, 1988).
Although transactional leadership can produce positive effects on employees,
transformational leadership can engender even greater results. Transformational leadership
is not a substitute for transactional leadership; rather, it can be a complement. Previous
research has found that transformational leadership augments the effects of transactional
leadership (Bass, 1990).
Managers, who exhibit transformational leadership raise subordinates’ awareness of the
importance and value of designated outcomes, get employees to transcend their own self-
interests for the sake of the group or organization, and change or increase subordinates’
needs (Avolio & Bass, 1988). Through such means, employees’ motivation and self-
confidence are enhanced to accomplish these results. Transformational leaders possess and
display four key characteristics. These are charismatic leadership, inspirational motivation,
intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration.
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Managers demonstrating charismatic leadership have a vision, a strong influence, and a
sense of mission. They also instill pride in their subordinates and command respect.
Employees have a high level of trust and confidence in such managers, tend to adopt their
vision, seek to identify with them, and have intense feelings about them. In addition,
subordinates develop a strong sense of loyalty to their supervisor (Bass, 1990). Managers
manifesting inspirational motivation articulate high expectations to subordinates,
communicate important purposes (or objectives) in simple ways, and use symbols to focus
their efforts.
Also, they demonstrate self-determination and commitment to attaining objectives and
present an optimistic and achievable view of the future. Through these efforts, such
managers help convince employees that they can accomplish more than they initially felt
was possible. A transformational leader provides intellectual stimulation to employees by
encouraging them to use new approaches for solving old problems; to explore new ways of
achieving the organization’s mission and goals; to employ reasoning, rationality, and
evidence rather than unsupported opinions; and to utilize intuition (Bass, 1990).
Subordinates under such a supervisor may alter their way of thinking, are not hesitant to
offer their ideas, become critical in their problem solving, and tend to have enhanced
thought processes (Bass, 1990). Managers displaying individual consideration treat each
employee as an individual. Such supervisors are attentive to the unique concerns of
subordinates, give them personal attention, and consider their individual development and
growth needs.
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Additionally, they provide mentoring, communicate on a one-to one basis, and thus
personalize interaction with subordinates. Employees having this kind of manager tend to be
coached, feel supported by, listened to, respected by their managers, and have an enhanced
sense of self-confidence through superiors’ efforts at esteem building. Mentoring, coaching,
and counseling are means of a manager’s demonstrating individualized consideration (Bass,
1990).
As noted earlier, the same managers could exhibit both transactional and transformational
leadership behaviors; a predominantly transactional leader could exhibit qualities of
transformational leadership, and vice versa (Bass, 1990). A series of studies reviewed by
Bass (1996) support the distinction between transformational and transactional leadership
dimensions. There is also considerable evidence that transformational leadership is effective
and is positively related to subordinate satisfaction, motivation, and performance.
2.7 Top Management Team Demographic Diversity and Corporate Performance
Despite the large number of studies on TMT heterogeneity, however, research has yielded
inconsistent results, and the question of whether diversity in managerial backgrounds is
advantageous for companies still remains open (Canella et al. 2008). The findings of
empirical studies on the effects of TMT demographic diversity on corporate performance
range from positive (Carpenter 2002), through non-significant (Ferrier 2001) to negative
(Michel and Hambrick 1992).
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One study addressing diversity at organizational levels was conducted by Murray (1989).
Murray used 84 Fortune food and oil companies to investigate heterogeneous versus
homogeneous groups and their effect on organizational performance. Diversity was
measured as a composite of age, educational degree, average tenure and occupational
history. Findings showed that performance and diversity is related to the type of market the
organization is operating in.
Specifically, homogenous groups were more effective than heterogeneous groups during
intense market competition. Heterogeneous groups were more effective in dealing with
organizational change, suggesting that these groups may better respond to rapid dynamic
changes in the market. A limitation with Murray’s (1989) study was that diversity was
measured via the surrogates’ age, educational degree and tenure. While these are
undoubtedly important, it may be that racial and ethnical diversity are more informative and
relevant to the demographic make-up of the current workforce.
Shrader et al. (1997) examined firm financial performance with gender diversity at the
middle- and upper-management, and at the board of director levels for large firms. They
found general organizational effects, but few top-level diversity effects on performance and,
in general, reported a positive link between women (diversity) in management positions with
firm financial performance. Shrader et al (1997) explain the positive performance
relationship by suggesting that these companies were recruiting from a relatively larger
talent pool, and subsequently recruited more qualified applicants regardless of gender.
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In a more recent study conducted by Richard (2000), the relationship between organization-
wide diversity, business strategy and firm performance was examined in the context of the
banking industry. Performance was measured by productivity return on equity, and market
performance from 64 banks in three states. Study results showed that diversity added value
and was perceived as a relative competitive advantage for banks.
Focusing specifically on boards of directors, Catalyst (1995) reported that of the top 100 US
companies in terms of revenue, 97 had at least one woman member. In an earlier study by
Catalyst (1993), 82 per cent of the 50 most valuable Fortune 500 firms were found to
include at least one woman director on the board. In another recent work, Burke (2000)
found significant correlation coefficients between the number of women directors and
revenue, assets, number of employees and profit margins for Canadian firms. Therefore, the
findings above indicate that profitable firms may be amenable to diverse top management
team’s appointments.
Jackson et al (1995), in their paper on diversity in organizations, reviewed and summarized
empirical evidence from a number of related disciplines about the link between diversity and
team effectiveness. The findings suggested that heterogeneity is positively related to the
creativity and the decision-making effectiveness of teams. With enhanced creativity and
innovation due to the generation of greater variance in decision-making alternatives
(Jackson et al., 1995) performance of organization is bound to improve.
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Bantel & Jackson (1989) found that organizational innovations in the banking industry were
positively associated with heterogeneity of functional expertise among members of the top
management teams of firms in that industry. Watson et al (1993) reported that, over time (15
weeks), initial performance differences between newly formed culturally homogeneous and
culturally diverse groups disappeared and eventually crossed-over, such that culturally
heterogeneous groups that initially performed poorly relative to homogeneous groups later
performed better than homogeneous groups on selected aspects of task performance.
Bantel and Jackson (1989) concluded that, when solving complex, non-routine problems,
groups are more effective when composed of individuals having a variety of skills,
knowledge, abilities and perspectives. Further, Schneider (1983) argued that organizational
survival in turbulent environments may be aided by attracting, selecting and retaining
demographically diverse managers who will later make important strategic decisions.
Heterogeneous groups do have the advantage of enhanced adaptability and greater creativity
(Katz, 1982). Heterogeneous teams with diverse cognitive resources are able to better
identify strategic issues (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). Furthermore, heterogeneous teams
are able to recombine the resources and knowledge in different ways to develop strategic
alternatives in face of dynamic environment (Rodan and Galunic, 2004). While
heterogeneous groups may contain members whose usefulness is not immediately apparent,
thus making them less efficient in handling the current situation, they are more likely to
possess within them the skills required if that current situation changes.
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Heterogeneous groups do generate greater conflict but this can be productive (Deutsch,
1969) since resolving the conflict can lead the group to new and better solutions to the
problems of environmental adaptation. Thus, the diversity of skills and outlooks
characteristic of heterogeneous groups can increase the adaptability of the group. On the
other hand, diversity can be disadvantageous to organizational performance (Hambrick et
al., 1996), in which, homogeneous top management tends to produce better results as
compared to heterogeneous top management.
Knight et al. (1999) also argues that team performance tends to deteriorate as diversity level
increases. For example, diversity has been shown to have negative effects on both group
cohesion (Katz, 1982) and the frequency or quantity of communication (Smith et al., 1994).
In addition, diversity tends to lead to increased conflict within the group (Eisenhardt and
Schoonhoven, 1990) and increased political activity (Pfeffer, 1981).
Hambrick and Mason (1984) and Dess and Origer (1987) argued that differences in TMT's
backgrounds may be associated with less strategic consensus and subsequently poorer
performance, due in part to decreased communication and increased conflict. Social identity
theory, and group process theory suggests that team diversity fuels conflicts and thus has
negative effect on strategic change (Naranjo-Gil et al., 2007; Cho and Hambrick, 2006;
Yokota and Mitisuhashi, 2008; Nielsen, 2010).
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2.8 Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance Innovation is often claimed to be a cornerstone of competitiveness (Denton, 1999) and in
some cases also profitability. The role of innovation in a firm’s strategy is further said to
contribute to competitive advantage (Johannessen et al., 2001) organizational performance
(Yamin et al., 1999) and market share (Robinson, 1990). The positive effect of innovation
on the firm’s performance has been explained by the fact that through innovation the
company faces up to the changes in the firm’s environment (Agarwal et al., 2003).
However, some studies examining the relationship between product innovation and
performance have generally yielded inconsistent and unclear findings (Wright et al., 2005).
Innovation is an expensive and risky activity, with the potential to elicit both good and bad
effects on the firm’s performance (Simpson et al., 2006). It is not surprising, then, that in
some studies no direct or immediate effects have been found.
The popular notion that innovation is vital for the growth and survival of the firm ( Han et
al., 1998) may not be applicable in certain situations, particularly environment, where the
circumstances faced by the firm do not reward this behavior (Manu, 1992). For example, in
a sample of small manufacturers, Covin and Slevin (1989) stated that in benign
environments, with low levels of competition, resources allocated for research and
development to support innovation might better be directed to increasing promotional efforts
or customer service. In the same line, innovation is considered of less importance for those
firms operating in environments where competitive pressures are not so intense (Freel,
2006).
68
Innovation is a way of adapting to the environment (Cooper, 1984) and therefore, it can be
expected that its effects on performance will vary, precisely, according to the firm’s
environment (Carbonell and Rodrı´guez, 2006). In particular, firms under higher stress
arising from the five competitive forces must develop a higher adaptation effort and,
therefore, it is likely that innovation exerts a higher influence on their performance.
In this type of hostile environment, as compared to environments with low pressure from the
five competitive forces, innovation, expensive and risky as it is, is an obligation imposed by
the environment that will be rewarded with higher performance (Miller and Friesen, 1983).
The TMT comprises individuals with the power and authority to make strategic decisions,
and, therefore, to develop strategies aimed at innovation. Upper echelon theory states that
TMTs exert a fundamental influence on strategic choice in their organizations, and, hence,
in their results (Wiersema and Bantel, 1992).
2.9 Leadership Styles and Corporate Performance An overview of the history of research into the topic of leadership finds that the literature on
leadership and performance can be broadly categorized into a number of important phases.
Early studies on leadership (frequently categorized as ‘trait’ studies on leadership)
concentrated on identifying the personality traits which characterize successful leaders
(Mahoney et al., 1960). Trait theories assume that successful leaders are ‘born’ and that they
have certain innate qualities which distinguish them from non-leaders (Stodgill, 1948).
69
However, the difficulty in categorizing and validating these characteristics led to widespread
criticism of this trait approach, signaling the emergence of ‘style’ and ‘behavioral’
approaches to leadership (Stodgill, 1948). Style and behavioral theorists shifted the
emphasis away from the characteristics of the leader to the behavior and style the leader
adopted (Likert, 1961). The principal conclusion of these studies appears to be that leaders
who adopt democratic or participative styles are more successful (Bowsers and Seashore,
1966).
In this sense, these early studies are focused on identifying the ‘one best way of leading’.
Similarly to trait theories, the major weakness of style and behavioral theories is that they
ignore the important role which situational factors play in determining the effectiveness of
individual leaders (Mullins, 1999). It is this limitation that gives rise to the ‘situational’ and
‘contingency’ theories of leadership (Vroom and Yetton, 1974) which shift the emphasis
away from ‘the one best way to lead’ to context-sensitive leadership.
Although each study emphasizes the importance of different factors, the general tenet of the
situational and contingency perspectives is that leadership effectiveness is dependent on the
leader’s diagnosis and understanding of situational factors, followed by the adoption of the
appropriate style to deal with each circumstance. However, in an apparent return to the ‘one
best way of leadership’, recent studies on leadership have contrasted transactional leadership
with transformational leadership (Bass, 1990).
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Transactional leaders are said to be ‘instrumental’ and frequently focus on exchange
relationship with their subordinates (Bass and Avolio, 1993). In contrast, transformational
leaders are argued to be visionary and enthusiastic, with an inherent ability to motivate
subordinates (Bycio et al., 1995; Howell and Avolio, 1993). Although the brief summary
above indicates that research into leadership has gone through periods of skepticism, recent
interest has focused on the importance of the leadership role to the success of organizations.
Fiedler (1996), one of the most respected researchers on leadership, has provided a recent
treatise on the importance of leadership by arguing that the effectiveness of a leader is a
major determinant of the success or failure of a group, organization, or even an entire
country. Indeed, it has been argued that one way in which organizations have sought to cope
with the increasing volatility and turbulence of the external environment is by training and
developing leaders and equipping them with the skills to cope (Hennessey, 1998; Saari et al.,
1988). These claims are based on the assumption of a direct link between leadership and
organizational performance.
Widely celebrated cases of a direct leadership–performance link may be found in numerous
anecdotal accounts of improvements of company performance attributed to changes in
leadership (Simms, 1997). However, empirical studies into the links between leadership and
performance have been lacking. One notable exception is the detailed study of the impact of
leadership on performance in the somewhat surprising context of Icelandic fishing ships.
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Thorlindsson (1987) suggests that variations in the performance of different fishing ships,
under identical conditions, can be accounted for by the leadership skills of captains. Over a
three-year period, Thorlindsson (1987) revealed that the leadership qualities of the ship
captains accounted for 35 to 49 per cent of variation in the catch of different crews. Other
studies which examine the links between leadership and performance coincide with the re-
emergence of the ‘one best way to lead’ debate. Of particular relevance is the resurgence of
interest into charismatic leadership, which is frequently referred to as transformational
leadership (Bass and Avolio, 1993).
A number of researchers theorize that transformational leadership is linked to organizational
performance (Bycio et al., 1995; Howell and Avolio, 1993). Conceptually, it is argued that
the visionary and inspirational skills of transformational leaders motivate followers to
deliver superior performance (Quick, 1992). Teammates with different organizational roles
possess different skills and expertise and, hence, avail themselves of broader informational
resources and knowledge.
Moreover, heterogeneous teams carry not only diverse knowledge and information but also
different vocabularies, cognitive patterns, and styles (Drach-Zahavy & Somech, 2001).
These patterns of heterogeneity might potentially induce team members to discuss,
reanalyze, question, and debate. Without intervention by the superior, a team’s
heterogeneity may remain an untapped resource, existing but never used (Simons et al.,
1999).
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Regarding the intervening role of the participative superior, recent work (Dougherty, 1996;
Durham, Knight, &Locke, 1997; Sagie et al., 2002) has suggested that the more consistent
benefits of the participative style lie in the cognitive realm. These superiors can help reduce
barriers between diverse professionals in functionally heterogeneous teams by facilitating
the open exchange of ideas and analytical perspective across multiple functions (Barrett,
1998; Curral et al., 2001; Lewis et al., 2002).
2.10 TMT Demographic Diversity, Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance Innovation has become one of the key strategies of the firm for gaining competitive
advantage (Hitt et al., 1991), expanding market share and increasing firm performance.
There is also reason to believe that the demography of top leadership teams should influence
firm innovation. For example, Bantel and Jackson (1989) suggested that functional and
educational diversity on the executive team increases the team’s creativity and innovation
due to the diverse human capital of top management.
When elites make decisions, they are influenced by their past experiences (Cyert and March,
1963) and demographic characteristics (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). Robinson and
Dechant (1997) suggest that attitudes, cognitive functions, and beliefs are not randomly
distributed in the population, but tend to vary systematically with demographic variables,
such as age, race, and gender. Thus, scholars posit that diversity increases the number of
ideas, promotes creativity, and leads to increased innovation (Cox, 1993).
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Support for the idea that TMT racial and gender diversity should be related to firm
innovation may also be found in the behavioral theory of the firm (Cyert and March, 1963).
Further, the behavioral theory of the firm posits that the extensiveness of the search and
decision making processes can influence innovation in organizations. Decisions can be
biased by the information within the decision making group, especially when the search
process is conducted by a homogeneous group that focuses only on areas in which group
members have previous experience (Hambrick and Mason, 1984).
For example, TMTs advise and identify which businesses to enter and acquire, and the less
information they have on the attractiveness of the market, the more innovation is perceived
as a risk. Homogeneous groups may actually hamper innovation because high levels of
cohesion produce pressures towards conformity. Heterogeneous groups, on the other hand,
should produce a broader range of ideas and information because they contain a diverse
body of knowledge (Milliken and Martins, 1996). Unique ideas and perspectives impact the
identification, development and selection of decisions (Mintzberg et al., 1976).
Empirical research on group decision-making has supported this assertion, showing that
heterogeneous groups produce higher quality decisions than homogeneous groups on
complex tasks (Amason, 1996) and generate more innovative solutions than homogeneous
groups through cognitive conflict. This often occurs as TMTs are able to provide divergent
perspectives.
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Burt (1992) suggested the value of diversity of ties, asserting that greater information is
received by forming links with individuals outside the immediate network. When firms have
diverse ties, they are better able to innovate (Burt, 1997). Firms that have these non-
redundant ties engage in interactions which help executives overcome decision biases and
improve the quality of decisions (Daft and Lengel, 1984). This hence leads to improved
organizational performance since through innovation, the company faces up to the changes
in the firm’s environment (Agarwal et al., 2003).
Firm innovation is likely to transmit the effect of diversity to firm performance. Increasing
diversity on the TMT leads to more varied ideas, perspectives, and networks which, in turn,
increase innovation. Innovation would thus lead to improvement in a firm performance
(Caves and Ghemawat, 1992; Nelson and Winter, 1982). Therefore, innovation should
mediate the relationship between TMT diversity and firm performance.
2.11 TMT Demographic Diversity, Leadership Styles and Corporate Performance
The role of leadership style as a moderator of the relationship between diversity and
performance builds on findings that leaders can use intellectual stimulation or contractual
relationship with their subordinates as a strategy to influence their subordinates. Through
intellectual stimulation for example, leaders challenge existing assumptions and explicitly
encourage new ideas and innovative approaches to problem solving (Bass, 1985). This
stimulates followers to think outside the box, explore new alternatives and to voice their
divergent views.
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The intellectual stimulation of group members encourages team members to overcome
pressures towards convergent thinking and path dependence that operate in functional areas
and organizations (Teece and Pisano, 1998) and encourages novel interpretations of existing
information (Bhatt, 2000). The extent to which group members are stimulated to consider
opposing or conflicting ideas positively affects the groups’ ability to resist conformity
pressures (Nemeth and Nemeth-Brown, 2003) and avoids the risk of premature movement to
consensus.
This theoretical argument is supported by empirical findings. Shin and Zhou (2003) found
that transformational leadership was positively related to the manifestation of diverse ideas
and creative approaches. Evidence has also supported the role of transformational leadership
in facilitating divergent thinking in teams (Jung, 2001). Stimulating novel approaches
increases the likelihood of group norms that promote open-minded consideration of
divergent alternatives as well as group behaviour that involve the challenging, justification
and debate of different perspectives and solutions (Okhuysen and Eisenhardt, 2002).
Leader behaviors that explicitly encourage questioning and challenging of accepted ideas
lead to the development of a climate in which members believe that alternative views should
be expressed openly, attended to, debated and considered for integration into the final
solution. Leadership style may also act to lessen the likelihood of affective conflict
subsequent to social categorization by stimulating social identification of their followers
through the articulation of a compelling vision (Bass et al., 2003). By making the vision
salient and inspiring, followers internalize the vision and feel pride in being part of the team
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(Ashkanasy and Tse, 2000). They start thinking of collective interests, and perceive their
individual effort and work roles in the context of the group’s cooperative goals (Wang et al.,
2005). This in turn enhances the personal meaningfulness and importance of followers’
willingness to fulfill the vision articulated by the leaders (Bass et al., 2003).
Transactional leaders determine performance goals that subordinates need to achieve,
suggest how to execute related tasks, and provide feedback. Transactional supervisors also
recognize the immediate needs of their subordinates and communicate to employees how
those needs will be met (what organizational rewards they will receive) through effective
performance. As a result, subordinates presumably will be motivated to accomplish their
goals. Previous research suggests that transactional leadership can have a favorable
influence on attitudinal and behavioral responses of employees (Bass, 1990).
2.12 TMT Demographic Diversity, Firm Innovation, Leadership Style and Corporate
Performance
Research on group problem solving clearly demonstrates that cognitive resources are a key
determinant of group performance (Bottger and Yetton, 1988) resulting in either negative
outcomes or positive outcomes. Diversity may result in positive outcomes since when
solving complex, non- routine problems, the presence of people with differing points of
view ensures consideration of a larger set of problems and a larger set of alternative
potential solutions. The need to reconcile dissimilar solutions stimulates effective group
discussion, prevents group- think, and leads to high quality and original decisions (Nemeth,
1985).
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However, diversity may result in negative outcomes since diversity often implies
disagreement over strongly held preferences and beliefs that will not be compromised. Thus,
extensive decision-making may lead to head-butting rather than to issue resolution (Glick et
al., 1993). Further, diversity often implies that different people will use their own
specialized languages, images, and stories to communicate which may lead to
communication failures (Daft and Lengel, 1986).
Studies on TMT diversity are anchored on the upper echelon reasoning which is based on
an assumption of equality of individual effects among the TMT. However, the degree of
influence of individual executives on firm choices depends on the power of the CEO, who
as a group leader has the “potential to neutralize both beneficial and debilitating
composition effects” (Jackson, 1992) as well as the power distribution within the team
itself. CEO personality is likely to have a strong influence on top management team
dynamics (Peterson et al., 2003).
The extent to which all executives are involved in the strategic decision-making is
contingent on the CEO's personality and power. Strategic leadership and innovation
strategy are crucial for achieving and maintaining strategic competitiveness in the 21st
century (Ireland and Hitt, 2001). Strategic leaders have been repeatedly recognized for their
critical role in recognizing opportunities and making decisions that affect innovation
processes (Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996). Strategic leaders' opportunity recognition and
exploitation add considerable business value (Yukl, 1999).
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Organizational innovation is encouraged through appropriate cultural norms and support
systems. The leaders of organizations help define and shape work contexts that contribute to
organizational innovation (Amabile, 1998). The leadership style of these top leaders has
become an important determinant of innovation (Dess and Picken, 2000). In particular,
transformational leadership has been shown to support and promote innovation, which in
turn ensures the long-term survival of an organization (Ancona and Caldwell, 1987).
According to Jung et al. (2003), transformational leadership enhances innovation by
engaging employees’ personal value systems and thereby heightening levels of motivation
toward higher levels of performance (Shamir et al., 1993); and encouraging employees to
think creatively (Sosik et al., 1997). Taken together, these empirical studies indicate that
transformational leadership has a significant relationship with organizational innovation,
both in terms of creating the conditions required for innovation and as a direct contributor to
innovation as an organizational outcome.
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2.13 Previous Studies and Knowledge Gaps The following are some of the empirical studies done in the study of top management and
the various areas suggested for further research:
Table 2.1: Previous Studies and Knowledge Gaps
Studies
Focus
Findings
Knowledge Gap
Focus of Proposed study
Hambrick &Mason (1984)
Importance of Top Management Team on Organizations Performance
Observed demographic characteristics can be used to infer psychological cognitive bases and values
Demographic characteristics of Top Management Team may be used as a potent predictor of strategies hence performance.
The proposed study will establish the extent to which demographic variables influence the innovativeness of a firm.
Murray (1989)
Top Management Group Heterogeneity and Firm Performance
-Composition of the TMT affects firm’s performance and the effect depends on the environmental conditions. -Effect of TMT characteristics on performance differed on the basis of Industry under study (Food and Oil Industry).
The study was limited to two industries, food and oil industries. It is vital to establish if these effects can be replicated in other sectors
The current study will be done in the commercial banks.
Bantel &Jackson (1989)
Top Management and Innovations in Banking? Does the Composition of Top Management Team Make a Difference?
-Innovation is negatively correlated to both average age and average tenure and positively correlated to average educational level -Tenure heterogeneity is not significantly correlated to innovation.
The study was limited to US Mid Western Bankers who have high levels of homogeneity thus the effects of team composition are underestimated in this study.
The current study addresses this gap by incorporating banks with foreign and Local ownership.
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-Functional heterogeneity and educational level were consistently the most powerful predictors of innovation
Ferrier, (2001)
Navigating the competitive landscape;the drivers and consequences of competitive aggressiveness
TMT heterogeneity does not have significant effect on corporate performance
The study only considered educational, functional and industry tenure industry. Study done in different industries that are bound to have differences in their mode of operation
The current study considered other diversity variable such as gender, ethnicity, team tenure and organizational diversity. -Study done in the same industry
Pegel et al (2000)
Management Heterogeneity, Competitive Interaction Groups and Firm Performance
-The characteristics of the TMT in a firm should be aligned with those of the competitive environment. -Firms in the same competitive interaction group have similar TMT heterogeneity, compared to the TMT heterogeneity of firms across groups.
Need to investigate implications of firms strategic leadership upon the competitive interactions and groupings which govern directly and indirectly the profit generation processes of the firm.
This study addresses this gap.
Michel and Ham bric (1992)
Diversification posture and Top management team characteristics
-Heterogeneity has a negative effect on firm performance
-The study considered and only tenure and functional diversity -Data used was collected in the year 1970
The proposed study considered other types of diversities and will show how underlying patterns have changed over time.
Previous Studies and Knowledge Gaps cont…
81
Carpenter(2002)
The implications of strategy and social context for the relationship between top management team heterogeneity and firm performance.
TMT heterogeneity has a positive effect on corporate performance.
The study used firms strategy and social structure as moderating variables -The study considered three types of diversities namely educational, functional and tenure diversities
The current study used leadership style and firm innovation as moderating variables. -The current study incorporates other types of diversities
Irungu (2007)
Effect of Top Management Team on performance of Publicly Quoted Companies in Kenya.
Academic qualifications translate to more creative solution hence affect decision making positively. Cognitive and demographic characteristics do not affect decision making process. Effect of Top Management Team characteristics differed in different sectors
Studies used financial indicators and didn’t access effect of non financial corporate performance measures. Study limited to companies listed in the NSE. Study focused on the period 2001-2005.
The proposed study incorporates non financial measure of corporate performance i.e., customer satisfaction. The proposed study focuses on banks, some of which are not listed in the NSE.
Previous Studies and Knowledge Gaps cont…
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2.14 Conceptual Model The conceptual model presented in Figure 2.1 captures the relationships between and among
the study variables underpinning TMT demographic diversity, firm innovation, leadership
style and corporate performance. The schematic diagram presents linkage between sets of
variables and their influence on organization performance. It also presents the joint
relationship of these linkages and organization performance. Also demonstrated is the
moderating relationship of firm innovation and leadership style in understanding TMT
demographic diversity and the performance linkage.
The conceptual framework of the study is based on the integration of several organizational
theories that influence strategic decision making process. These theories include social
identification and categorization theory, similarity/attraction theory, information and
decision-making theory, the resource based view of the firm, resource dependency theory,
stakeholder’s theory, structural contingency theory, behavioral theory of the firm and the
upper echelons theory which have been presented in the literature review.
TMT demographic diversity which is the independent variable of this study is proposed to
influence performance. Firm innovation (process innovation, business model innovation and
service innovation) and leadership style (transactional and transformational leadership
styles) were treated as the moderating variables and corporate performance (which included
both the financial and non financial measures) was the dependent variable. These variables
have been identified and described in the literature review highlighting the relationships
among them as depicted in the conceptual framework.
83
Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework Relationship between Diversity, Innovation, Leadership Style and Corporate Performance
Some are involved in all decisions while others not.
29
1
5 4.03 0.189 1.017
The results on whether the top level managers were involved in all decisions making as
shown in Table 4.3, indicate that TMT involvement in decision making is highly dependent
on issue at hand (mean score=4.54) and expertise required (mean score=4.41). This could
be explained by the fact that TMT are drawn from different functional areas such as
marketing, human resource, finance and thus at times when making decisions dealing with a
specific subject, then only the experts in the area will be consulted. In this way, decision-
makers can make fairly accurate interpretations and evaluations without having to examine
all available information in areas they are conversant with. Thus involving decision makers
in areas they are conversant with helps save time and improves the quality of the decisions
made.
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The results further indicate that in most banks , the TMT members were involved in all the
decision making while in others, TMT members were not involved in all decision making
processes (mean score= 4.03). This can be explained by the fact that there is a likelihood of
having TMT members with a wide range of experience in different areas thus, they will be
involved in all the decision making, whereas some are only conversant in one or a few areas.
TMT members with long organizational tenure are likely to be conversant with almost all
operations of the banks unlike TMT members with short organizational tenure.
4.6 Influence of Attributes on Involvement of TMT in Decision Making According to March and Simon’s (1958), managers bring their own set of givens, such as
values and cognitive bases, to a decision-making situation. This is likely to be influenced by
a number of attributes of the TMT members. The current study sought to establish the
influence of a number of attributes on inclusion of a TMT member in decision making.
110
Table 4.4: Influence of Attributes on Involvement in Decision Making
As shown in Table 4.5, it is clear that banks have engaged in differentiation strategies
(Mean Score= 4.83), have a good reputation (mean score=4.69), and protects the business
domain aggressively (mean score=4.28). Further the banks enhance customer satisfaction by
responding to their complaints (mean score=4.17) and further conducts employee training
(mean score=4.17). Its however clear that the respondents felt that the banks are not
spending as much as they would on supporting innovation (mean score=3.69).The results
thus clearly show that the banks have been performing well in the achievement of their non
financial indicators of performance.
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CHAPTER FIVE
TESTS OF HYPOTHESES AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
5.1 Introduction This chapter undertakes to perform appropriate statistical analyses to test the hypotheses
regarding the expected relationships and provides appropriate explanations to the findings of
each hypothesis. To test the hypotheses, several indices were computed for each of the
components of the variables the study investigated. The test of hypotheses required the use
of multiple regression analysis. This was performed using the field data and the results
interpreted according to the R2 values, the beta values and F ratio at the 95% level of
significance. The variables under study were regressed on financial and non financial
performance indicators and later a composite performance measure was computed to reflect
overall organizations performance.
5.2 Test of Hypothesis
The six research hypotheses that the study sought to test are addressed in this section. The first,
second and fourth hypotheses were aimed at establishing the relationships between the study
variables. The third and fifth hypotheses were concerned with establishing the effect of
individual moderating variables on the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and
corporate performance and finally the sixth hypothesis was aimed at establishing if the joint
effect of the two moderating variables (firm innovation and leadership style) on the relationship
between TMT demographic diversity and organizations performance is higher than individual
moderating effect.
115
5.2.1 Top Management Team Demographic Diversity and Corporate Performance Objective one of the study sought to determine the relationship between TMT demographic
diversity and corporate performance. This was achieved by testing the following hypothesis:
H1: There is a significant relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance.
Diversity was measured in terms of age heterogeneity, organizational tenure heterogeneity,
b. Predictors: (Constant), Service Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Process Innovation
Coefficientsa c) Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
1
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) -
34180.583 39219.801
-.872 .392
Process
Innovation -3533.357 11732.004 -.077 -.301 .766
Business
Model
Innovation
4190.737 8897.243 .110 .471 .642
Service
Innovation 10662.944 7893.171 .313 1.351 .189
a. Dependent Variable: Financial Performance
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The R value in Table 5.5 was 0.329 indicating that there is a positive relationship between
firm innovation factors and corporate financial performance. R squared value of 0.108
shows that 10.8% of corporate financial performance is explained by firm innovation
factors. The remaining 89.2 % is explained by other strategies put in place by the banks in
order to enhance their performance. As shown in Table 5.5 (b), the model was not
significant with F= 1.010 and p> 0.05.
This is an indication that firm innovation factors alone cannot steer a company to high
performance. Firm innovation factors must be tied up to other strategies to enhance a firm’s
financial performance. Notice that of the three beta coefficients, process innovation (β =-
0.077) was negative though not significant. Business model innovation and service
innovation had positive though non significant effect on corporate financial performance.
This therefore means that increase in business model and service innovation, resulted in
improved financial performance. Table 5.6 shows the effects of firm innovation factors on
non financial performance .
Table 5.6: Firm Innovation Factors and Non Financial Performance
a) Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .371a .138 .034 .349
a. Predictors: (Constant), Service Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Process Innovation
b. Dependent Variable: Non-Financial indicators of performance
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b) ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression .488 3 .163 1.332 .286b
Residual 3.053 25 .122
Total 3.541 28
a. Dependent Variable: Non-Financial indicators of performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Service Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Process Innovation
Coefficientsa c) Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
1
B Std.
Error
Beta
(Constant) 3.478 .766 4.542 .000
Process
Innovation .074 .229 .082 .325 .748
Business
Model
Innovation
-.189 .174 -.250 -1.090 .286
Service
Innovation .249 .154 .369 1.616 .119
a. Dependent Variable: Non-Financial indicators of performance
129
The R value in Table 5.6 was 0.371 indicating that there is a positive relationship between
firm innovation and non financial performance. R squared value of 0.138 shows that only
13.8 % of non financial performance is explained by firm innovation factors. The
remaining 86.2 % is explained by other strategies put in place by the banks in order to
enhance their performance.
As shown in Table 5.6 (b), the model was not significant with F= 1.332 and p> 0.05. This is
an indication that firm innovation factors alone cannot steer a company to significantly high
non financial performance. Firm innovation factors must be tied up with other strategies to
enhance organizations non financial performance.
Notice that of the three beta coefficients, business model innovation (β =-.250) was
negative though not significant. Service innovation had the highest positive effect on non
financial performance (β =0.369). Table 5.7 shows the effects of firm innovation factors on
overall organizational performance.
Table 5.7: Firm Innovation Factors and Organizational Performance
a) Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .274a .075 -.041 1.022
a. Predictors: (Constant), Service Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Process Innovation
b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
130
b) ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 2.035 3 .678 .650 .591b
Residual 25.068 24 1.044
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Service Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Process Innovation
Coefficients c) Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
1
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .969 2.387 .406 .688
Process
Innovation -.072 .751 -.027 -.096 .925
Business
Model
Innovation
.218 .526 .099 .414 .683
Service
Innovation .436 .534 .229 .817 .422
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
From the regression results above, the R value was 0.274 indicating that there is a positive
relationship between firm innovation factors and overall organizational performance. The R
squared (R2) value of 0.075 shows that 0.075 percent of organizational performance is
explained by firm innovation factors. The remaining 92.5 percent is explained by other
strategies put in place by banks in order to enhance their performance.
131
The model was not significant with the F ratio = 0.650 at p > 0.05. This is an indication that
though firm innovation factors have an influence on overall organizational performance, the
effect is not significant. Notice that of the three beta coefficients, process innovation (β =-
0.027) was negative though not significant. This implies that as process innovation
increased, the overall organizations performance decreased. Table 5.8 shows the effect of
firm innovation on organizations performance.
Table 5.8: Firm Innovation and Organizational Performance
a) Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .260a .067 .032 .986
a. Predictors: (Constant), Firm Innovation
b. b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b) ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 1.828 1 1.828 1.880 .182b
Residual 25.275 26 .972
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Firm Innovation
132
c) Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
1
B Std.
Error
Beta
(Constant) .521 2.089 .250 .805
Firm
Innovation .679 .495 .260 1.371 .182
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
From the regression results above, the R value was 0.260 indicating that there is a positive
relationship between firm innovation and organizational performance. The R squared (R2)
value of 0.067 shows that 0.067 percent of organizational performance is explained by firm
innovation. The remaining 93.3 percent is explained by other strategies put in place by
banks in order to enhance their performance.
The model was not significant with the F ratio = 1.880 at p > 0 .05. This is an indication that
though firm innovation has an influence on organizational performance, the effect is not
significant. Given that the p-value (0.182) is more than an alpha value of 0.05, then the null
hypothesis, which states that firm innovation has no significant relationship with corporate
performance is accepted.
133
5.2.3 TMT Demographic Diversity, Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance Objective three of the study sought to determine the moderating effect of firm innovation on
the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance. This was
achieved by testing the following hypothesis:
H3: The strength of the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance depends on firm innovation.
Diversity was measured in terms of age heterogeneity, tenure heterogeneity, education level
heterogeneity, functional heterogeneity, ethnic heterogeneity, gender heterogeneity and team
tenure heterogeneity. Firm innovation was measured in terms of business model, process
and service innovation. Performance was measured using a composite measure of financial
and non financial performance measures. The research findings are presented below:
Table 5.9: Firm Innovation, TMT Diversity and Organizational Performance
Predictor R2 Change R
TMT Diversity 0.037 0.194
TMT*Firm
Innovation
0.097 0.312
Change in R2 =0.06 Change in R = 0.118
Hypothesis three tested the moderating effect of firm innovation on the relationship
between TMT diversity and organization performance. First, a regression analysis was
done to determine the effect of TMT diversity on organization performance (Table 5.4).
Then another regression analysis was done to determine the moderating effect of firm
innovation on the relationship between TMT diversity and organizations performance
(Appendix XIII) on organization performance.
134
According to Baron and Kenny (1986), a moderator variable specifies when or under
which conditions a predictor variable influences a dependent variable. A moderator
variable may reduce or enhance the direction of the relationship between a predictor and a
dependent variable, or it may even change the direction of the relationship between two
variables from positive to negative or visa versa (Lindley and Walker, 1993).
From Table 5.9 above, it is clear that firm innovation moderates the relationship between
TMT diversity and corporate performance since when TMT diversity is regressed against
corporate performance, R2 is 0.037 but when the moderating variable (firm innovation) is
introduced, R2 changes to 0.097. This indicates that the combined model can explain 9.7
percent of the outcome up from just 3.7 percent of corporate performance explained by
TMT diversity, an increase of 6 percent. Further the R value changes by 0.118.
The results of the regression analysis thus indicate a positive moderating effect of firm
innovation on the relationship between TMT diversity and organization performance.
Therefore, the findings show that firm innovation influences the relationship between
TMT diversity and organization performance. Given that there is a 6 percent increase in
R2, then the null hypothesis, which states that the strength of the relationship between
TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance does not depend on firm
innovation, is rejected.
135
5.2.4 Leadership Style and Corporate Performance
Objective four of the study sought to determine the relationship between leadership style and
corporate performance. This was achieved by testing the following hypothesis:
H4: There is a significant relationship between leadership style and corporate
performance.
In testing the fourth hypothesis, it was deemed necessary first to test the effect of the two
leadership styles considered on performance measures as this would help establish if the
different leadership styles considered had the same or different effect on corporate
performance. The leadership styles considered in this study were transformational and
transactional leadership styles. It was after this that the study tested the effect of leadership
styles on the overall organization performance. Regression analysis was done to determine
the effect of leadership style on organization performance. Tables 5.10, Tables 5.11 and
Table 5.12 show the effect of leadership styles on financial performance, non financial
performance and overall organizational performance respectively.
Table 5.10: Leadership Styles and Financial Performance
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
140
The R value in Table 5.12 was 0.329 indicating that there is a positive relationship between
leadership style and overall organizational performance. R squared value of 0.108 shows
that 10.8% of organizational performance is explained by the leadership style. The
remaining 89.2% is explained by other strategies put in place by the banks in order to
enhance their performance. As shown in Table 5.12(b), model is not significant as depicted
by an F ratio of 1.514 and p>0.05.
This is an indication that the CEO’s leadership style does not have significant effect on
overall organizational performance. The findings further indicate that transformational
leadership style has a positive effect on performance (β =0.311) while transactional
leadership style has a negative effect on corporate performance (β =-.237) though both of
the leadership styles had insignificant effect on overall organizational performance.
According to Bass (1990), most leaders demonstrate a combination of both transactional and
transformational leadership styles. Table 5.13 shows the effect of the two leadership styles
on organizational performance.
Table 5.13: Leadership Style and Organizational Performances
Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .111a .012 -.026 1.015
a. Predictors: (Constant), Leadership style
b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
141
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression .335 1 .335 .325 .573b
Residual 26.768 26 1.030
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Leadership Style
Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
1
B Std.
Error
Beta
(Constant) 3.679 .569 6.467 .000
Leadership -.080 .140 -.111 -.570 .573
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
From the regression results above, the R value was 0.111 indicating that there is a positive
relationship between leadership style and organization performance. The R squared (R2)
value of 0.012 shows that 0.012 percent of organizational performance is explained by
leadership style. The remaining 98.8 percent is explained by other strategies put in place by
banks in order to enhance their performance. The model was not significant with the F ratio
= 1.015 at p > 0 .05. This is an indication that though leadership style have an influence on
organizational performance, the effect is not significant and thus the null hypothesis was
accepted.
142
5.2.5 TMT Demographic Diversity, Leadership Style and Corporate Performance Objective five of the study sought to determine if the strength of the relationship between
TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance of commercial banks in Kenya is
influenced by the CEO’s leadership style. This was achieved by testing the following
hypothesis:
H5: The strength of the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance depends on CEO’s leadership style.
Diversity was measured in terms of age heterogeneity, tenure heterogeneity, education level
heterogeneity, functional heterogeneity, ethnic heterogeneity and team tenure heterogeneity.
The leadership styles considered in this study were transformational and transactional
leadership styles. Performance was measured using financial and non financial measures.
The study findings are presented in the table below:
Table 5.14 Leadership Style, TMT Demographic Diversity and Organizational
Performance
Predictor R2 Change Change in R
TMT Diversity 0.037 0.194
TMT*Leadership
Style
0.151 0.389
Change in R2 =0.114 Change in R = 0.195
143
Hypothesis five tested the moderating effect of leadership style on the relationship
between TMT demographic diversity and organization performance. First, a regression
analysis was done to determine the effect of TMT diversity on organization
performance (Table 5.4). Then another regression analysis was done to determine the
moderating effect of leadership style on the relationship between TMT demographic
diversity and organizations performance (Appendix XIV).
According to Aldwin (1994), the moderation effect is typically expressed as an interaction
between predictor and moderator variable. According to Baron and Kenny (1986) a
moderator variable specifies when or under which conditions a predictor variable
influences a dependent variable. A moderator variable may reduce or enhance the direction
of the relationship between a predictor variable and a dependent variable, or it may even
change the direction of the relationship between two variables from positive to negative or
visa versa (Lindley and Walker, 1993).
From table 5.14, it is clear that leadership style moderates the relationship between TMT
diversity and corporate performance since when TMT diversity is regressed against
corporate performance R2 is 0.037, but when the moderating variable (leadership style) is
introduced, R2 changes to 0.151. This indicates that the combined model can explain 15.1
percent of the outcome up from just 3.7 percent given by the Top Management Team
diversity alone, an increase of 11.4 percent. Further, R (correlation coefficient) changes
from 0.194 to 0.389, an increase of 0.195.
144
The results of the regression analysis thus indicate that leadership style moderates the
relationship between TMT diversity and organization performance. Therefore, the
hypothesis that states that the strength of the relationship between TMT diversity and
corporate performance depends on CEOs leadership style was accepted.
Objective six of the study sought to determine the joint effect of TMT demographic
diversity, leadership style and firm innovation on corporate performance. This was
achieved by testing the following hypothesis:
H6: The joint effect of the moderating variables, firm innovation and leadership style on
the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance is
greater than the independent moderating effect of the same variables.
Diversity was measured in terms of age heterogeneity, tenure heterogeneity, education level
heterogeneity, functional heterogeneity, ethnic heterogeneity and team tenure heterogeneity.
Firm innovation was measured in terms of business model innovation, process innovation
and service innovation. Leadership style was measured in terms of transactional and
transformational leadership styles. Performance was measured using financial and non
financial measures .The study findings are presented in the tables below:
145
Table 5.15 TMT Demographic Diversity, Leadership Style, Firm Innovation and
Organizational Performance
Predictor R2 Change Change in R
TMT Diversity 0.037 0.194
TMT *Firm
Innovation
0.097 0.312
TMT *Leadership
Style
0.151 0.389
TMT *Firm
Innovation
*Leadership Style
0.116 0.341
Hypothesis six tested the joint moderating effect of firm innovation and leadership style
on the relationship between Top Management Team diversity and organization
performance. First, a regression analysis was done to determine the effect of TMT
diversity on organization performance (Table 5.4). Secondly, another regression analysis
was done to determine the moderating effect of firm innovation on the relationship between
TMT diversity and organizations performance (Appendix III). Thirdly, another regression
analysis was done to determine the moderating effect of leadership style on the relationship
between TMT diversity and organizations performance (Appendix IV). Finally another
regression analysis was done to determine the effect of the interaction between TMT
diversity, firm innovation and leadership style (Appendix XV) on organization
performance.
146
From Table 5.15, it is clear that the joint effect of the moderating variables, firm
innovation and leadership style, on the relationship between TMT diversity and corporate
performance is lower than the moderating effect of leadership style but higher than the
moderating effect of firm innovation. Thus from the findings of this study, the null
hypothesis which states that the joint effect of the moderating variables on the
relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance is lower
than the individual moderating effect, is accepted.
5.3 Discussion of Findings
This section presents the discussion of the findings of this study. The main objective of this
study was to establish the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and
organizations performance. Top management team diversity was composed of age diversity,
gender diversity, ethnic diversity, team tenure diversity, organizational tenure diversity,
functional diversity and academic diversity. The moderating variables in the study were firm
innovation and leadership style.
The results of the study showed that TMT demographic diversity does not have a
significant effect on organizations performance. Further, firm innovation and leadership
style do not have significant effect on organizations performance. The findings however
showed that leadership style and firm innovation moderates the relationship between TMT
demographic diversity and organizations performance.
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5.3.1 Top Management Team Demographic Diversity and Corporate Performance Previous studies have indicated that salience of various demographic variables contributes to
social categorization which results in inter group bias (Van Knippenberg, et al., 2004)
discrimination and prejudice. Social psychology research supports the notion that people
form first impression and categorize one another based on easily observable characteristics
(Fiske and Neuberg, 1990). Further, similarity and attraction theory supports the notion that
similarity in attributes, particularly demographic variables, increases interpersonal attraction
and liking (Byrne et al., 1996).
Research has further shown that, in a situation where an individual has the opportunity to
interact with a number of different people, he or she is most likely to select a person who has
similar characteristic to them (Burt & Regans, 1997). The fact that one is likely to be most
attracted to those with similar attributes, yields clear predictions that high levels of diversity
in an organization are likely to lead to faulty work processes, leading to weaker performance
(Burt and Regans, 1997).
This study established that though diversity is hypothesized to have uniform effects
regardless of particular dimensions to which it’s empirically applied (Finkelstein and
Hambrick, 1996), different TMT demographic factors had different magnitudes and
direction of influence. From the results on the effects of TMT diversity factors on overall
organizational performance, it’s evident that as gender, ethnic and team tenure diversity
increased, the organizations performance decreased. This is perhaps explained by the fact
that people form first impressions and categorize one another based on easily observable
characteristics such as gender (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). Individuals will deem the categories
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in which they belong as good (often called the in-group) and the categories in which others
belong as bad (the out-group). Moreover, empirical research has shown that individuals
often (falsely) attribute negative characteristics to out-group members as part of this process,
believing the out-group to be comprised of individuals who are less trustworthy, honest,
cooperative, or intelligent (Turner, 1987).
This is likely to cause heightened problems with trust and communication and as a result,
work processes will be made much more difficult, thus causing the final product, idea, or
solution to be weaker (Daft and Lengel, 1986) and hence negatively affecting performance.
The fact that ethnic diversity led to poor performance can be explained by the fact that
according to Alesina and La Ferrara (2000), individuals dislike mixing across ethnic lines.
This implies that all individuals would opt to sort into ethnically homogeneous organizations
to avoid the costs of mixing with individuals from other ethnic groups. There is more social
cohesion and social capital within ethnic groups than across groups. Further, organizations
divided by ethnicity are seen as less likely to reach co-operative solutions (Bisin and
Verdier, 2000) causing negative effects on organizations performance outcomes.
Further, the findings indicating that functional diversity has positive effect on performance
can be explained by the fact that functionally diverse TMT bring along specific knowledge
and experience from the different areas of a firm’s operations. A certain degree of variety
in managers’ knowledge of the different functional areas is a prerequisite for successfully
managing the complexity of firms operations (Hambrick and Mason ,1984).
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Finally, the findings that age diversity has positive effect on performance can be explained
by the fact that age cohorts are likely to differ in their attitudes, values and perspectives.
This is due to the fact that different age cohorts experience different social, political, and
economic environments and events, which have a fundamental role in shaping attitudes and
values. In addition, perspectives change as a function of the developmental process of aging
(Elder, 1975). Assuming that diversity of attitudes and values facilitates group creativity,
teams composed of members of diverse ages then have improved performance.
Further, the findings that team tenure diversity leads to low performance could be explained
by the fact that more tenured executives may have more psychological commitment to the
organizational status quo (Staw and Ross, 1980) and to organizational values (Schmidt and
Posner, 1983). Consequently, change, which is an inherent part of innovation, may be
resisted by the more tenured executives leading to poor organizations performance. This
could further be explained by the fact that tenure in the team could lead to social
stratification which could lower the productivity of the organization.
Furthermore, academic diversity will benefit the organization since different levels of
education among TMT members reflects their varying degrees of knowledge and skill,
thereby affecting the capacity of the team to generate more creative solutions in resolving
complex problems (Bantel and Jackson, 1989). Therefore, a high level of education in the
team will result in a greater awareness of the need to change and innovate (Wiersema and
Bantel, 1992), a greater understanding of information and a greater capacity to analyze
many-sided, complex problems thoroughly (Calori et al., 1994).
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Under Vision 2030, Kenya aims to increase annual GDP growth rates to 10% and to
maintain that average till 2030. To achieve that ambition, Kenya must continue with the
tradition of macro-economic stability that was established in 2002. It must also address other
key constraints notably a low savings ratio out of national income. Delivering the country’s
ambitious growth aspirations will require a rise in national savings. The financial sector has
been identified to help achieve the economic pillar.
The 2030 vision for financial services is to have a vibrant and globally competitive financial
sector driving high-levels of savings and financing Kenya’s investment needs (Ministry of
Planning and National development, 2007). This will be achieved through measures that
include increasing bank deposits and reducing the cost of borrowed capital. This can only be
achieved if the negative effects of diversity as reflected by this study are managed.
Commercial banks must come up with clear policy guidelines that must be followed to
achieve this economic pillar and amongst them is diversity management.
Importantly, since the findings of this study clearly show that academic and functional
diversity have positive effects on organizations performance, then commercial banks should
come up with policies that will enhance access to education in different functional areas by
their employees, especially having in mind the fact that bankers have a very busy working
schedule running from Monday to Saturday and indeed today some banks are operating even
on Sundays. Thus, this must be a deliberate plan by the commercial banks of enhancing
access to education.
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In addition, since the study findings show that age diversity has a positive effect on banks
performance, then banks should continuously encourage the recruitment of young people in
the TMT since this will bring divergent views in the decision making process. This has not
been the norm in most organizations today since many of them are dominated by older
people in the TMT but the findings of this study clearly show that banks will benefit by
having a diverse TMT in respect to age.
Overall, the results of the linear regression indicated a positive insignificant relationship
between TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance with R=.194 and the R
squared value was 0.037. These findings are in line with the findings of Ferrier, (2001) and
Marimuthu (2009) who found out that TMT diversity has insignificant effect on
organizations performance. Moreover, Aldrich (1979) viewed leaders as products of their
environments with little power to control structural and systemic factors that determine
organizational actions.
On the basis of the fact that the findings reflect a positive effect on corporate performance,
the results then are in line with strategic choice theorists (Child, 1972) who argued that top
management in a firm have discretion in determining the future strategic contour of the firm.
This is greatly supported by Jackson et al (1995), who found out that heterogeneity is
positively related to the creativity and the decision-making effectiveness of teams. With
enhanced creativity and innovation due to the generation of greater variance in decision-
making alternatives (Jackson et al., 1995) performance of the organization is bound to
improve.
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Further, the fact that the findings of the study showed that some diversity factors had
negative effect on organizational performance confirms the findings of O'Reilly, Snyder
(1993) who argued that higher levels of executive diversity result in less communication
among executives, less effective executive decision-making, and less positive organizational
outcomes. In addition, diversity has been shown to have negative effects on both group
cohesion (Caldwell, and Barnett, 1989) and the frequency or quantity of communication
(Smith et al., 1994).
The findings of the study however contradict some past studies. To start with is Weiner and
Mahoney (1981), who argued that leaders are powerful decision-makers who consciously
choose among diverse courses of action, and so determine the fate of their firms. Similarly,
Bantel and Jackson (1989) argued that higher level of diversity leads to executive creativity,
more effective executive decision-making, and more positive organizational outcomes
(Bantel and Jackson, 1989).
5.3.2 Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance The second objective sought to determine the effect of firm innovation on organizations
performance. The findings of the study clearly show that process innovation has a negative
effect on organization performance. This is perharps explained by the fact that process
innovation involves the implementation of new or significantly improved production or
delivery methods. This includes significant changes in techniques, equipment or software.
Process innovations can be intended to decrease unit costs of production or delivery, to
increase quality, or to produce or deliver new or significantly improved products (OECD
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Oslo Manual, 2005). However, while the introduction of new products is commonly
assumed to have a clear, positive effect on the growth of income and employment, process
innovation, due to it is cost-cutting nature, can have a more hazy effect (Fagerberg et al.
2004). The cost cutting aspect may further lead to the demotivation of staff leading to low
performance.
The study further showed that service innovation and business model innovation have
positive effects on organizations performance. According to Gadrey et al., (1995), service
innovations can be described as new developments in activities undertaken to deliver core
service products for various reasons, for example to make those core service products more
attractive to consumers. Such developments tend to involve interaction with customers and
can be associated with either new or existing service products. Banks are service giving
organization thus innovations in the way they deliver services to the customers is likely to
enhance their competitiveness. Johne and Storey (1997) argue that service suppliers must
develop the precise form of service product and the appropriate nature of interaction with
customers since the interaction process is typically an integral part of an offering and this is
likely to be a key success factor in service giving organizations enhancing the
competitiveness in the industry.
Business model innovation refers to how a company creates, sells, and delivers value to its
customers (Porter, 1985). Thus according to Porter (1985), business model replacement
improves performance since it involves business model replacements that provides product
or service offering to customers and end users that were not previously available. New
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business models provide alternative approaches to business practices for firms to consider,
not only in terms of what is done, but also in terms of how it is done. New business models
are business practices that result in greater efficiency by utilizing information technology
(Porter, 1985).
Commercial banks have been facing very low penetration level and according to the CBK
Report of 2011, the penetration level stood at 19%. The change in the business model
following the introduction of agency banking has helped enhance the penetration level of
commercial banks. However, the adoption rate of agency banking as a new business model
has been low. Thus commercial banks should engage in aggressive awareness creation
campaigns to enhance the usage of agency banking and demystify the notion held by people
of security threats posed by agency banking.
Further, the role of TMT decisions is very relevant in innovation (Ireland et al., 2001). This
is because innovation is an accumulative, collective and uncertain process, a fact that
management directs, promotes and encourages (O’Sullivan, 2000). The preferences of its
leaders can impose serious restrictions on a company’s innovation, compromising its ability
to identify and act on profitable opportunities (Penrose, 1959).
Thus the TMT in banks should create conducive organization culture as this will encourage
innovation in organizations which will consequently affect organizations performance as
previous studies have suggested. The findings of the study show that generally, firm
innovation does not have significant effect on corporate performance. These findings are
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supported by Simpson et al. (2006) who noted that innovation is an expensive and risky
activity, with the potential to elicit both good and bad effects on the firm’s performance. It is
not surprising, then, that in some studies no direct or immediate effects have been found of
innovation on firm’s performance. Thus innovation on its own does not have a significant
effect on corporate financial performance and it has to be coupled with other strategies to
generate significant effects on organization’s performance.
Further, the popular notion that innovation is vital for the growth and survival of the firm
(Han et al., 1998) may not be applicable in certain situations, particularly environment,
where the circumstances faced by the firm do not reward this behavior (Manu, 1992). For
example, in a sample of small manufacturers, Covin and Slevin (1989) stated that in benign
environments, with low levels of competition, resources allocated for research and
development to support innovation might better be directed to increasing promotional efforts
or customer service.
These findings however contradict with previous research since innovation is often claimed
to be a cornerstone of competitiveness (Denton, 1999) and in some cases also profitability.
The role of innovation in a firm’s strategy is further said to contribute to competitive
advantage (Johannessen et al, 2001); organizational performance (Yamin et al, 1999) and
market share (Robinson, 1990).
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The positive effect of innovation on the firm’s performance has been explained by the fact
that through innovation, the company faces up to the changes in the firm’s environment
(Agarwal et al., 2003). Furthermore, innovation has also a positive effect on sales growth
and the occupation of the firm’s manufacturing capacity. Innovation is a way of adapting to
the environment (Cooper, 1984) and therefore, it can be expected that its effects on
performance will vary, precisely, according to the firm’s environment (Carbonell and
Rodrı´guez, 2006).
5.3.3 TMT Demographic Diversity, Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance
The third objective of this study was to establish if firm innovation moderates the
relationship between top management team diversity and corporate performance. According
to Baron and Kenny (1986) a moderator variable specifies when or under which conditions a
predictor variable influences a dependent variable. A moderator variable may reduce or
enhance the direction of the relationship between a predictor variable and a dependent
variable, or it may even change the direction of the relationship between two variables from
positive to negative or visa versa (Lindley and Walker, 1993).
From the findings of the study, it is clear that the introduction of the moderating variable,
firm innovation, leads to enhancement of the relationship between TMT demographic
diversity and organizations performance as reflected by changes in coefficient of
determination, R2. According to Bantel and Jackson (1989), innovation can be seen as an
attribute of organizations. Thus in such an instance, the negative effects of diversity are
likely to be moderated by firm innovation.
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Commercial banks in Kenya operate in a competitive environment and one of the drivers of
their competitiveness is technology developments. In essence, banks have no option but to
adapt to modern technology to remain relevant. Thus though diversity in the Top
Management as reflected in the study may have negative effects, innovation as an attribute
of an organization is likely to moderate this effect, enhancing an organizations performance.
These findings are supported by Jackson et al (1995), who observed that heterogeneity is
positively related to the creativity and the decision-making effectiveness of teams. With
enhanced creativity and innovation due to the generation of greater variance in decision-
making alternatives (Jackson et al., 1995), performance of organization is bound to improve.
Bantel & Jackson (1989) found that organizational innovations in the banking industry were
positively associated with heterogeneity of functional expertise among members of the TMT
of firms in that industry.
5.3.4 Leadership Style and Corporate Performance The fouth objective of the study sought to establish the effect of leadership style on
corporate performance. From the findings of this study its clear that transactional leadership
style had a negative effect on performance whereas transformational leadership style had a
positive effect on corporate performance. Managers, who exhibit transformational leadership
raise subordinates’ awareness of the importance and value of designated outcomes, get
employees to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of the group or organization, and
change or increase subordinates’ needs (Avolio and Bass,1988).
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Through such means, employees’ motivation and self-confidence is enhanced leading to
improved employees’ performance. In todays environment, which is characterized by a lot
of dynamism, employees in commercial banks are likely to be comfronted with challenging
situations due to the unpredictable environment. This may cause employees to be
demotivated since at times the targets they set may not be attained based on unfavourable
business environments. Transformational leadership will thus play a key role in enhancing
the motivation level of the employees, making them envision a better future and
consequently resulting in improved performance.
Currently, the banking sector faces a lot of challenges of money laundering. With advanced
technology and a population which is enlightened, this challenge cannot be under-estimated.
It is thus imperative that the leadership in commercial banks enhances the motivation levels
of the employees so that they can develop creative solutions to address the perdemic
challenges they are facing, and this can only occur if there is ownership of the organization,
unlike the contractual relationship that transactional leadership provides.
The study findings further show that leadership style does not have significant effect on
organizations performance. This then means that CEO’s leadership style on it is own has
no significant effect on corporate performance but must be tied up with other strategies.
Fiedler (1996) argued that the effectiveness of a leader is a major determinant of the success
or failure of a group, organization, or even an entire country. Leadership effectiveness is
dependent on the leader’s diagnosis and understanding of situational factors, followed by the
adoption of the appropriate style to deal with each circumstance (Vroom and Yetton, 1974).
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Thus leadership style on it is own may not have a significant effect on performance unless
the leader has the preliquisite skills to diagnose the environmental challenges adequately and
later apply the right skills. Leadership style must thus be tied up to other factors to enhance
an organizations performance. The findings of this study however contradict other previous
studies. To start with is Silns (2003) compared the leadership style with the leadership
performance in schools and enterprises, and showed that the leadership style has a
significantly positive correlation with the organizational performance in both schools and
enterprises.
Further, Campbell (1977) thought that when executives use their leadership style to show
concern, care and respect for employees, it would increase self-interests of employees in
work as well as organizational promises, enable them to make better performance in work
place and affect their job satisfaction. Bryman (2004) also presented that there is a strong
positive relation between the leadership style and the organizational performance.
5.3.5 TMT Demographic Diversity, Leadership Style and Corporate Performance The fifth objective of this study sought to establish if leadeship style moderates the
relationship between top management team diversity and corporate performance. As
earlier noted, a moderator variable may reduce or enhance the direction of the relationship
between a predictor variable and a dependent variable, or it may even change the direction
of the relationship between two variables from positive to negative or visa versa (Lindley
and Walker, 1993).
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From the findings of the study, it is clear that the introduction of the moderating variable,
leadership style, enhances the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and
organizations performance as reflected by changes in coefficient of determination, R2. The
findings of the study showed that the interaction between TMT demographic diversity and
leadership style explains more of firm performance than TMT diversity. The findings of
this study agree the findings of Canella & Holocomb (2005), who argued against the
dominant upper echelon reasoning, which is based on an assumption of equality of
individual effects of the TMT members.
According to them, aggregating individual characteristics to the team level without
paying due attention to the relative influence of each team member may be
problematic. Further, as noted by Jackson (1992), the degree of influence of individual
executives on firm choices depends on the power of the CEO, who as a group leader has
the “potential to neutralize both beneficial and debilitating TMT composition effects” as
well as the power distribution within the team itself.
The fact that leadership style will moderate the relationship between TMT diversity and
organizational performance could be explained by the fact that for example,
transformational leaders use intellectual stimulation as a strategy to influence their
subordinates. Through intellectual stimulation, leaders challenge existing assumptions and
explicitly encourage new ideas and innovative approaches to problem solving (Bass, 1985).
This stimulates followers to think outside the box, explore new alternatives and voice their
divergent views.
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The intellectual stimulation of team members encourages them to overcome pressures
towards convergent thinking and path dependence that operate in functional areas in
organizations (Teece and Pisano, 1998) and encourages novel interpretations of existing
information (Bhatt, 2000).
The extent to which group members are stimulated to consider opposing or conflicting ideas
positively affects the groups’ ability to resist conformity pressures (Nemeth and Nemeth-
Brown, 2003) and avoids the risk of premature movement to consensus. These empirical
results in the Kenyan context are supported by other empirical findings in TMT studies. Shin
and Zhou (2003) found that transformational leadership was positively related to the
manifestation of diverse ideas and creative approaches. Evidence has also supported the role
of transformational leadership in facilitating divergent thinking in teams (Jung, 2003).
The findings of this study are further in line with the findings of Drach-Zahavy & Somech
(2001) who noted that leadership style will moderate the impact of heterogeneity on team
reflection. Heterogeneity represents potential for a higher degree of reflection. Teammates
with different organizational roles possess different skills and expertise and, hence, avail
themselves of broader informational resources and knowledge. Moreover, heterogeneous
teams carry not only diverse knowledge and information but also different vocabularies,
cognitive patterns, and styles. These patterns of heterogeneity might potentially induce team
members to discuss, reanalyze, question, and debate. Without such intervention by the
superior, a team’s heterogeneity may remain an untapped resource, existing but never used
(Simons et al., 1999).
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Superiors can help reduce barriers between diverse professionals in functionally
heterogeneous teams by facilitating the open exchange of ideas and analytical perspective
across multiple functions (Lewis et al., 2002). Since diversity in commercial banks in Kenya
today has been seen to have negative effects, it is important to note that applying the right
leadership style will help change this situation.
These findings however contradict Hambrick and Mason (1989) argument that the chief
executive officer is only a member of dominant coalitions within organizations and as a
result, since organizations exist as coalitions of varying power and decision making is
interdependent as opposed to hierachical, individual leaders are unable to obtain requisite
power to enforce their will in decision making (Cyert and March,1992).
5.3.6 TMT Demographic Diversity, Leadership Style, Firm Innovation and Corporate Performance The sixth objective of this study was to establish if the joint moderating effect of
leadeship style and firm innovation on the relationship between top management team
diversity and corporate performance is higher than the individual variables moderating
effect. As earlier noted, a moderator variable may reduce or enhance the direction of the
relationship between a predictor variable and a dependent variable, or it may even change
the direction of the relationship between two variables from positive to negative or visa
versa (Lindley and Walker, 1993). Thus to confirm this hypothesis, the joint effect should
be higher than when each of the moderating variable is individually considered.
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From the findings of the study, it clear that the introduction of the joint moderating
variables, leadership style and firm innovation has a higher effect on the relationship
between TMT demographic diversity and organizations performance than the moderating
effect of firm innovation but its lower than the moderating effect of leadership style as
reflected by changes in coefficient of determination, R2. This is a major contribution of
this study in the field of strategic management since it is clear from the findings of the
study that though moderating variables will influence the relationship between TMT
diversity and corporate performance, having more than one moderating variables doesn’t
necessarily guarantee that the relationship will be enhanced.
The rationale for this study w a s the belief that previous inconclusive findings of
upper echelons diversity research might be due to the failure to theoretically
conceptualize and empirically investigate different dimensions of diversity and also
failure to consider the effect of moderating variables. Clearly from the findings, it is
evident that each of the moderating variables influences the relationship between TMT
demographic diversity and corporate performance but more importantly, is the fact that the
joint effect is lower than the moderating role played by leadership style.
However, since the dependent variable and the moderating variables do not fully explain
corporate performance in the commercial banks, it would be important for future researchers
to further explore this study to establish other moderating and intervening variables
influencing this relationship and further explore why the joint effect is not higher than the
independent moderating effect.
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From the findings of this study, banking industry needs to appreciate the fact that diversity
among the employees if properly managed can be a source of sustainable competitive
advantage to the industry. Given that all organizations, commercial banks not being an
exception, are environment dependent and environment serving, it is important for
commercial banks to come up with appropriate strategies to enhance their competitiveness.
One of the strategies that can enhance their competitiveness is coming up with appropriate
strategies that will enhance their ability to tap from the diverse human resources. Indeed
according to the resource based view of the firm, employees form the firm level resource,
that is difficult to imitate and consequently giving organizations sustainable competitive
advantage.
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CHAPTER SIX
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
6.1 Introduction This was an attempt to understand the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and
corporate performance and how firm innovation and leadership style influences this
relationship. The study was motivated by the growing concern over the effect of diversity on
organization’s performance. The inauguration of the new constitution has amongst other
things emphasized on the value of diversity and also following the post election crisis, there
has been growing debate on the advantages of encouraging inclusivity and exploiting the
benefits of diversity. This chapter serves to demonstrate the achievements of the objectives
set out at the initiation of the study and presents in brief the results of these efforts.
Thereafter the conclusion, recommendation, limitation of the study and suggestions for
future research are presented. The chapter finally discuses the implication of the study on
theory, policy and practice.
6.2. Summary The first objective of the study was to determine the relationship between TMT
demographic diversity and corporate performance. In order to ascertain the relationship
between diversity in TMT and corporate performance, the researcher tested the hypothesis
on the relationship between the two variables. Overall, the results of the linear regression
indicated a weak positive but insignificant relationship between demographic diversity in the
TMT and organizations performance with R=.194 and the R squared value was .037 at a
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confidence level of 95%. It is on the basis of these findings that H1 was rejected. The
findings of the study further indicated that gender, ethnic and team tenure diversity had
negative effects on organizations performance whereas age, organizational tenure, academic
and functional diversity had positive effects on organization performance.
The second objective of the study sought to determine the relationship between firm
innovation and organizations performance. The regression results indicated a positive
relationship between firm innovation and corporate performance with R=.260 and R
Squared .067 at confidence level of 95%. Since the p value was .182 which was more than
.05, then the null hypothesis was accepted. The findings of the study further indicated that
process innovation had negative effects on organizations performance whereas service
innovation and business model innovation had positive effects on organization performance.
The third objective of the study sought to establish if the strength of the relationship between
TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance of commercial banks in Kenya was
influenced by firm innovation. This was addressed by testing hypothesis H3. The results of
the linear regression results showed that the relationship was positive with the coefficient of
determination, R2changing from 0.037 when TMT diversity was regressed against corporate
performance to 0.097 when the moderating variable (firm innovation) was introduced. It is
on this basis that the third hypothesis that stated that the strength of the relationship between
TMT diversity and organizations performance depends on firm innovation was accepted.
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The fourth objective of the study sought to determine the relationship between leadership
style and corporate performance. Linear regression was used to test this hypothesis and the
findings of the study showed that the relationship was positive with R=.111 and R Squared
of .012. Since the p value was .573 which was more than .05, then the null hypothesis which
stated that there is no significant relationship between leadership style and corporate
performance was accepted. The findings of the study further indicated that transactional
leadership style had negative effects on organizations performance whereas transformational
leadership style had positive effects on organization performance.
The fifth objective of the sought to determine if the relationship between TMT demographic
diversity and corporate performance is influenced by the CEO’s leadership style. The results
of the linear regression results showed that the relationship was positive with and
R2changing from 0.037 when TMT diversity was regressed against corporate performance to
0.151 when the moderating variable (leadership style) was introduced. It is on this basis that
the fifth hypothesis that stated that the strength of the relationship between TMT diversity
and organizations performance depends on leadership style was accepted.
The sixth objective of the study was concerned with establishing the joint effect of TMT
demographic diversity, leadership style and firm innovation on performance of commercial
banks. This was addressed by hypothesis H6. It is clear that the joint effect of leadership
style and firm innovation is greater than the moderating effect of firm innovation but less
than the moderating effect of leadership style. It is on this basis that the sixth hypothesis was
rejected.
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6.3 Conclusion The general objective of the study was to determine the influence of TMT demographic
diversity on organizations performance. Researchers and practitioners have questioned the
effect of TMT diversity on organizations performance. The study findings revealed that
TMT demographic diversity had a positive but insignificant effect on corporate
performance. This reaffirms what other scholars have said that despite the large number of
studies on TMT diversity, research has yielded inconsistent results, and the question of
whether diversity in TMT is advantageous for companies still remains open (Canella et al.
2008). It is generally believed that diversity in TMT is advantageous to organizations since
it results in greater knowledge, creativity and innovation and thus, organizations tend to
become more competitive (Watson et al., 1993).
In addition, higher levels of diversity lead to executive creativity, more effective executive
decision-making, and more positive organizational outcomes (Bantel and Jackson, 1989).
The results of the study showed otherwise, which clearly indicates that the biases,
conflicts and communication barriers which come along in diverse teams contribute
negatively to the performance of banks in Kenya. However, from the findings of past
researchers, the results on the effect of TMT diversity on organization performance
will depend on the measures of performance under study.
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The study further established that though demographic diversity had an effect on corporate
performance, the magnitude and direction of the effect varied. For example gender and
ethnic diversity had negative and insignificant effect on organizations performance. This is
in line with the findings of Marimuthu and Kolandaisamy (2009) where it was established
that gender and ethnic diversity didn’t have significant effects on organizations
performance. This is similarly supported by Hambrick et al., (1996), who argues that
diversity can be disadvantageous to organizational performance. Knight et al. (1999) also
argues that team performance tends to deteriorate as diversity level increases.
The inclusion of the moderating variables (firm innovation and leadership style) gave a new
appreciation to the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate
performance. The study further established that, firm innovation and leadership style on
their own, do not have significant effects on corporate financial performance but must be
tied up with other factors or strategies to generate significant effect on organization’s
performance.
In addition it is clear that joint effect of the moderating variables on the relationship between
TMT demographic diversity and organizations performance is not greater than the
independent moderating effect. We can thus in essence conclude that the people responsible
for making strategic decisions should ensure that they interrogate their choices to ensure
there is synergy in their organizations. Further, people responsible for sourcing of CEOs in
banks should get background information about their leadership skills before hiring them,
since appropriate leadership skills will moderate the negative effects of diversity.
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It is also important today for organizations to invest in training of their TMT members since
this will enhance the leadership skills in organizations and will moderate the negative effects
of diversity. In addition, the fact that past studies in the emerging economies have shown
that diversity in some contexts has positive effects, its paramount for banks to come up with
diversity management strategies since this may help tap into the great resource in the top
management team as advocated by the resource based view of the firm. This is due to the
fact that employees and management capabilities are firm-level resources that are among the
most sustainable and difficult for competitors to imitate due to the resource’s inherent causal
ambiguity, unique historical contexts, and social complexity (Barney, 2001).
6.4 Recommendation
Following the findings of this study, a number of recommendations can be made. To start
with, the study findings clearly show that the widely held notion that a mix of TMT
characteristics is good for organizations performance is not necessarily always the case. In
deed, the findings of this study have clearly shown that gender diversity, ethnic diversity and
team tenure diversity have negative effects on organizations performance.
This in essence means that diversity if not properly managed is likely to cause heightened
problems with trust, communication and cooperation and as a result, work processes will be
made much more difficult, thus causing the final product, idea, or solution to be weaker
(Daft and Lengel, 1986) and hence negatively affecting performance. Organizations should
therefore make a deliberate effort and invest in programmes and policies which reduce
stereotyping and instead encourage valuing diversity.
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In addition, the study findings also revealed that leadership style and firm innovation
moderates the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and organizations
performance. Following these findings, this study recommends that leaders’ competence in
organizations should be developed especially across the transformational strategies. Further,
leaders should develop expertise in engendering minority dissent at times when the team is
at risk of conformity or premature consensus, and facilitate decision-comprehensiveness and
debate at time when the team needs to evaluate, analyze and integrate its available
knowledge.
Further, innovation can only occur if the capacity to innovate exists in a company.
Innovation capacity refers to the availability of resources, collaborative structures, and
processes to solve problems. Since according to Mahoney and Weiner (1981) top
management team influence the decisions an organization is likely to take, then the study
recommends that the top management team should enhance the innovative capacity in
organizations.
Further, innovative orientation is a preliquisite for organizational innovation and innovative
companies have an innovative orientation, risk taking attitude, willingness to learn and an
innovative strategy s part of their overall business strategy. This study recommends that
organizations should incorporate young people in the TMT since unlike the old people,
young people have been found to have a risk taking attitude which will enhance the
innovativeness of a firm.
172
Finally, since this study has also established that some diversity factors such as academic
diversity and functional diversity have positive effects on organizations performance, this
study recommends that organizations should encourage diversity in their recruitment
practices, but should also formulate and implement diversity management strategies to help
them tap from the great resources in their employees. However, firms should be careful not
to appoint members to the team whose combination with existing TMT members is likely to
create strong fault line settings, as this is likely to hamper organizations performance.
6.5 Limitations of the Study This study, just like any other study faced a number of limitations. To start with, the
researcher faced a major limitation in obtaining data. Bankers are very secretive people thus
it was very challenging to convince them to fill the questionnaires. However the
introductory letter from the university played a critical role in convincing the respondents to
fill the questionnaires. Though some of them didn’t respond, the response rate was good
enough and thus the quality of the research was not affected.
Secondly, this study was specific to the banking industry and therefore, results obtained may
not allow for generalization in industries in other sectors. Thirdly, self reporting documents
such as questionnaires may lead to bias. This may have led to biased results on issues such
educational level and age because they are subject to reporting inaccuracies. Despite this
limitation, the quality of the findings, their interpretation and reporting were not affected.
173
The last limitation to this study was based on choice of regression and correlation models in
analysis. The assumption made on this study was that the relations between the data
variables were linear. Given that the interactions and dependencies of these relations are
causal, it could be possible that it is non-linear and, therefore, use of non-linear models
could have lead to different findings. In spite of these limitations, this current study
remained rigorous in its analysis and quality of reporting. It contributes to the understanding
of the strategic management processes and especially on the relationships among the key
constructs, TMT demographic diversity, firm innovation, leadership style and corporate
performance.
6.6 Suggestions for Further Research
This thesis makes an important contribution in our understanding of the effect of TMT
diversity on corporate performance. It further brings out some of the factors that influence
the relationship between TMT demographic diversity and corporate performance. Arising
from this study, the researcher makes a number of recommendations for further research. A
study focusing on the public sector where very high levels of diversity are likely to be
experienced would bring out a new dimension on the effect of TMT diversity on corporate
performance. Future studies may also adopt a case study research design for big firms such
as Safaricom which would further add value in understanding the relationship between TMT
diversity and corporate performance.
174
Being an exhaustive study design it will enable future researchers understand fully how
TMT diversity affects corporate performance. This would further enable the researcher to
understand the effect of the moderating variables. Use of longitudinal research design in
regard to how TMT diversity affects performance would provide a more meaningful picture.
This is since one would be able to study the effect of diversity on performance over time.
Further, this study leaves many interesting questions unanswered. One question regards
generalizability and it is obvious that replicating this study in other industries would increase
our confidence in the results. Especially more desirable would be a study examining top
management teams in sectors that have more diversity with respect to education, race,
gender in the type of people chosen as members of the TMT.
More difficult than assessing the generalizability of the results from this study will be
clarifying the causal relationships among the variables and specifying the processes that
underlie the causal relationships. Longitudinal studies using large samples may be helpful in
identifying causal relationships, but intensive case studies may be required to inform us
about processes involved.
This study considered seven types of diversity namely gender, age, ethnic, team tenure,
organizational tenure, academic diversity and functional diversity. Future researchers should
consider other types of composition variables such as race, socio economic background,
career profiles amongst others. Finally, it would be interesting to establish other variables
likely to moderate or intervene the relationship between TMT diversity and corporate
performance.
175
6.7 Implications on Theory This study attempts to make the following primary contributions to the literature on
demographic diversity and corporate performance. First, as Bantel and Jackson (1989)
suggest, although research on diversity in TMT has been extensively studied over the last
decade, the effect of different demographic diversity variables hasn’t been fully established.
This study has clearly shown that different diversity variables are likely to have either
positive or negative effect on corporate performance. In the Kenyan context, specifically in
the commercial banks, gender, ethnic and team tenure diversity had negative effects.
This study took a proactive approach to integrate research on leadership and research on
diversity to present a model to explain corporate performance. At a minimum, the proposed
model suggests an explanation for variation in the diverse team performance by showing the
moderating effect of leadership style on the relationship between TMT diversity and
corporate performance. By examining the model and the proposed relationship, the study
has shed new light on this issue for further investigations.
In addition, the study provides insights into the roles of different leadership styles in
impacting performance in diverse teams. Researchers have suggested that diversity operates
through two pathways; the first offers opportunity through the breadth and depth of available
knowledge and the second creates challenges due to the emergence of emotional conflict. To
date, ambiguous results surrounding these effects have remained unresolved.
176
This study took the initiative by exploring the role of transformational and transactional
leadership styles as moderating variables in this relationship. By integrating leadership style
and firm innovation, in the area of diversity and performance relationship, the study offers a
new moderating dimension within the diversity perspectives.
Further from the findings of the study, leadership style and firm innovation had insignificant
effect on corporate performance in the commercial banks in Kenya. This is contrary to the
widely held notion that innovation and leadership style have significant effects on corporate
performance. This is a clear indication that context plays a key role in strategic management
research and that research findings are likely to differ based on the context in which the a
study is conducted.
6.8 Implications on Practice This study basically emphasizes on the importance of understanding TMT demographic
diversity and how it affects organizations performance. Literature has emphasized on the
effect of diversity on performance of organizations. The following recommendations have
been put forward on practice for managers, the government and other stakeholders such as
Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE) and Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU).
To start with, managers must understand how demographic diversity affects corporate
performance. This is since diversity management is becoming a major issue especially
following the inauguration of the new constitution. It is important to understand that
diversity has both positive and negative effects on organizations performance. Thus
diversity should be managed to enhance improved performance in organizations.
177
The government is responsible for all workers through the Ministry of labour. It has the duty
to set regulations on who is to be employed amongst other things. It is therefore the duty of
the government in consultation with FKE and COTU to come up with regulations that will
enhance diversity in employment procedures. Introduction of policies such as diversity audit
should become part of organizations and this will help in promoting diversity in
organizations. Another practical implication is related to the emergence of affective conflict
in diverse teams. Affective conflict has been identified almost invariably associated with
diversity and has negative consequences that range from team dissolution to information
withholding.
Transformational leadership provides an active mechanism to minimize the likelihood that
affective conflict will emerge in diverse teams and overcome its effects. To date, this
presents one of very few practical options open to organizations endeavoring to employ
diverse teams. It appears to be essential that leaders learn how to engender positive
emotions, inhibit negative emotions, and inspire team members towards a shared goal. This
will minimize the adverse effects of social categorization and conflict and, in turn, enhance
corporate performance. Further, the current research bears significant implications for
practicing managers who are in the position of controlling the TMT composition.
Practicing managers should look for ways of addressing demographic diversity variables
that are likely to have negative effects on organizations performance to ensure their adverse
negative effects do not affect an organizations well being. Lastly, companies that need to
innovate strategically, for instance to enter new geographic areas or introduce new products
178
regularly need to add fresh blood to the TMT, in the form of new members. This provides
the team with fresh points of view and promotes constructive debate as newcomers have
different experiences, skills, networks, and views from members who have served much
longer on the team. This fosters strategic innovation, as long as members of the team have
not been overly socialized into the team. However, firms should be careful not to appoint
members to the team whose combination with existing TMT members is likely to create
strong fault line settings, as this is likely to hamper strategic innovation and consequently
organizations performance.
6.9 Implication on Policy
This study will enable the banking sector and other sectors to develop and implement
strategic management policies that are tailor-made to enhance performance. The results of
this study indicate that different variables that were under study (TMT demographic
diversity, firm innovation and leadership style) have different effects on corporate
performance depending on the industry and institutional attributes.
Therefore, each industry requires having policies that are specific to their needs and that no
blanket policy can be applied across all industries. In addition, from the fact that leadership
style has been found to be a key moderating variable in the relationship between TMT
demographic diversity and corporate performance, then organizations, whether in public or
private sector should come up with clear criteria of vetting the people to be part of the TMT
since their leadership history will have a bearing in their future posting.
179
The Kenyan constitution stipulates that there should be 1/3 representation of either gender in
the recruitment exercises, promotions and appointments. The study however established that
gender diversity has negative effects on organizations performance. Thus its important today
not just to implement the constitution requirements, but its imperative that firms come up
with policies that will enable them manage diversity so that they can reap the benefits of
diversity.
Further, the findings of this study further showed that age diversity has positive effects on
organizations performance. It is thus important that age diversity is encouraged in
organizations. This is especially by reserving positions for the young people who for a long
time have felt left out of the critical decision making processes in organizations.
Age diversity will ensure divergent views are brought in the decision making process and
this will enhance the performance of organizations. In addition, since older people have
more commitment to status quo, recruitment of younger managers will enable organizations
adapt to changes in the environment since younger managers have been found to have more
favorable attitudes toward risk-taking. Further, younger managers are likely to have received
their education more recently than older managers, which means that their technical
knowledge is superior contributing positively to organizations performance.
180
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This questionnaire is designed to obtain information for purely academic research purposes from
respondents in Top Management Team in Commercial Banks in Kenya. The accuracy of the
responses you provide will be crucial to the success of the research project. The questionnaire has
eight parts .You are kindly requested to respond to each of the questions in the various sections.
PART ONE: ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND (Please indicate in the space provided).
i. Year of incorporation………………………………………………………
ii. Name of the bank………………………………………………………….
iii. Number of branches in Kenya……………………………………………..
PART TWO: DEMOGRAPHICS 1. To what extent are the top level managers involved in the decision making (Tick appropriately)
No. Involvement in decision making To a very great extent
To a great extent
Not Sure To a small extent
Not at all
a. Involvement in all decisions
b. Involved in some decisions
c. Involvement depends on the strength of the issue at hand
d. Involvement depends on the expertise required
e. Some are always involved whereas others are involved depending on the issue at hand.
2. In order to include an individual in team member in strategic decision making, how relevant are the following attributes:
No. ATTRIBUTE Very
relevant Relevant Not sure Slightly
relevant Not relevant
a. Attitude
b. Skills/Knowledge/Experience
c. Role played
209
d. Service period in organization
e. Ethnicity
f. Gender
g. Communication skills
h. Educational level
i. Interpersonal skills
j. Others(Please Specify)
PART THREE: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM With reference to the Top Management Team members involved in the strategic decision making please provide the following details as outlined in the following table:
Position (Kindly insert)such as Finance Manager
Gender/M/F
Age(Actual)such as 50yrs
Ethnicity (Actual). Such as Kikuyu, Luo
Service in current position(actual years) such as 2 yrs
Total service in organization(Actual) such as 3 yrs
Highest academic qualification (Actual) such as MBA, Degree
Functional Field(such as Marketing, Engineering, Accounting
210
PART FOUR: CORPORATE NON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
To what extent do you agree with the following statements concerning your banks achievement of non financial performance measures? Kindly tick appropriately
No.
Non-Financial Measure
Strongly Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
a. Has a good reputation
b. Distinctive different from others
c. Supports innovation
d. Firm protects the business domain aggressively
e. Responds to customers complains in timely manner
f. Conducts training for employees
g. Aggressively introduces new products
h. Reacts to competitor threats immediately
i. Studies the value chain addressing non value adding activities.
j. Continuously assesses customer satisfaction
PART FIVE: PROCESS INNOVATION Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements as they relate to your firm No. PARAMETER Strongly
Agree
Moderately Agree
No Opinion
Moderately Disagree
Strongly Disagree
a. Our bank determines and
eliminates non value adding
activities in service /product
production processes.
b. Our bank increases output
211
quality in service/product
processes, techniques,
and software.
c. Our bank determines and
eliminates non value adding
activities in service /product
delivery related processes.
d. Our bank has high delivery
speed in delivery related
logistics processes.
e. Our bank has a high speed in adoption of the latest technological innovations in it is processes
f. Our bank has the highest rate of change in updating it is processes.
g. Our bank continuously improves it is processes to create value to the customer.
PART SIX: BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements as they relate to your firm No. PARAMETER Strongly
Agree
Moderately Agree
No Opinion
Moderately Disagree
Strongly Disagree
a. Our bank continuously
improves quality of services
b. Our bank has research and
development cost efficiency
c. Our bank has reduced transaction cost
d. Our bank has reduced
production lead time
e. Our bank has increased customization capability
212
PART SEVEN: SERVICE INNOVATION Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements as they relate to your firm
No. PARAMETER To a
very
great
extent
To a
great
extent
Not Sure To a
small
extent
Not at
all
a. There is improvement in the quality of
the current products/services.
b. There is improvement in newness of
current products/services leading to
improved ease of use for customers.
c. Our bank is developing new
products/services with technical
specifications and functionalities totally
differing from the current ones
d. Our bank has new or improved
investment products for different
clients
e. Our bank has new or improved types of
loans for different clients
f. Our bank has a high speed of new
product development
g. Our bank has a high number of new
products that are first-to- enter the
market
PART EIGHT: LEADERSHIP STYLE To what extent do you agree on the following statements that pertain to the leadership style? (Tick appropriately).
No. PARAMETER
To a very great extent
To a great extent
Not sure
To a little extent
Not at all
a. My boss is always seeking new opportunities for the unit/department/organization
b. My boss has a clear understanding of
213
where we are going
c. My boss paints an interesting picture of the future for us
d. My boss inspires others with his/her plans for the future
e. My boss is able to get others committed to his/her dream of the future.
f. My boss leads by doing ‘rather than simply by telling
g. My boss provides a good model to follow
h. My boss leads by example
i. My boss fosters collaboration among work groups
j. My boss encourages employees to be team players
k. My boss gets the group to work together for the same goals
l. My boss develops a team attitude and spirit among his/her employees.
m. My boss shows us that he/she expects a lot from us
n. My boss insists on only the best performance
o. My boss will not settle for second best.
p. My boss acts without considering my feelings
q. My boss shows respect for my personal feelings
r. My boss behaves in a manner that is thoughtful for my personal needs
s. My boss treats me without considering my personal feelings.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
214
Appendix IV: Commercial Banks in Kenya
1. African Banking Corporation Ltd.
2. Bank of Africa Kenya Ltd.
3. Bank of Baroda (K) Ltd.
4. Bank of India
5. Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd.
6. CFC Stanbic Bank Ltd.
7. Charterhouse Bank Ltd
UNDER - STATUTORY MANAGEMENT
8. Chase Bank (K) Ltd.
9. Citibank N.A Kenya
10. Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd.
11. Consolidated Bank of Kenya Ltd.
12. Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd.
13. Credit Bank Ltd.
14. Development Bank of Kenya Ltd
15. Diamond Trust Bank (K) Ltd.
16. Dubai Bank Kenya Ltd.
17. Ecobank Kenya Ltd
18. Equatorial Commercial Bank Ltd.
19. Equity Bank Ltd
20. Family Bank Ltd
21. Fidelity Commercial Bank Ltd
22. Fina Bank Ltd
23. First community Bank Limited
24. Giro Commercial Bank Ltd.
25. Guardian Bank Ltd
26. Gulf African Bank Limited
27. Habib Bank A.G Zurich
28. Habib Bank Ltd.
215
29. Imperial Bank Ltd
30. I & M Bank Ltd
31. Jamii Bora Bank Ltd.
32. Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd
33. K-Rep Bank Ltd
34. Middle East Bank (K) Ltd
35. National Bank of Kenya Ltd
36. NIC Bank Ltd
37. Oriental Commercial Bank Ltd
38. Paramount Universal Bank Ltd
39. Prime Bank Ltd
40. Standard Chartered Bank (K) Ltd
41. Trans-National Bank Ltd
42. Victoria Commercial Bank Ltd
43. UBA Kenya Bank Ltd
(Source: CBK, 2011)
216
Appendix V: Summary of Findings on Level of Involvement in Decision-Making
Appendix XII: Summary of Findings on the Level of Manifestation of Transactional Leadership
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
My boss shows us that
he/she expects alot from
us
29 4 5 4.28 .455
My boss insists on only
the best performance 29 1 5 2.83 1.338
My boss will not settle
for second best 29 1 5 2.83 1.227
My boss acts without
considering my feelings 29 1 4 1.93 .884
My boss shows respect
for my personal feelings 29 2 5 3.34 .814
My boss behaves in a
manner that is thoughtful
for my personal needs
29 2 99 6.79 17.745
My boss treats me
without considering my
personal feelings
29 1 4 2.03 .865
Valid N (listwise) 29
222
Appendix XIII: Regression Analysis Results for the Moderating Effect of Firm Innovation on the Relationship between TMT Diversity and Organizations Performance
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
Durbin-Watson
1 .312a .097 -.016 1.010 1.828
a. Predictors: (Constant), Firm Innovation, TMT-Firm Innovation, TMT Diversity
b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
ANOVA a
Model Sum of
Squares
Df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 2.631 3 .877 .860 .475b
Residual 24.472 24 1.020
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Firm Innovation, TMT-Firm Innovation, TMT Diversity
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) .925 2.188 .423 .676
TMT Diversity .436 .905 1.233 .481 .635
TMT-Firm
Innovation -.095 .226 -1.081 -.423 .676
Firm Innovation .587 .518 .224 1.133 .269
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
223
Appendix XIV: Regression Analysis Results for the Moderating Effect of Leadership Style on the Relationship between TMT Diversity and Organizations Performance
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
Durbin-Watson
1 .389a .151 .045 .979 1.623
a. Predictors: (Constant), Composite Leadership, TMT Diversity, TMT-Leadership
Style
b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
ANOVA a
Model Sum of
Squares
Df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 4.097 3 1.366 1.425 .260b
Residual 23.006 24 .959
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), Composite Leadership, TMT Diversity, TMT-Leadership Style
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) -1.291 2.773 -.466 .646
TMT Diversity -1.142 .683 -3.231 -1.672 .107
TMT-Leadership Style .339 .191 4.429 1.773 .089
Composite Leadership 1.329 .784 1.850 1.694 .103
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
224
Appendix XV: Regression Analysis Results for the Joint Moderating Effect of Leadership Style and Firm Innovation on the Relationship between TMT Diversity
and Organizations Performance
Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
Durbin-Watson
1 .341a .116 -.038 1.021 1.811
a. Predictors: (Constant), TMT-Leadership-Innovation, Firm Innovation, Composite
Leadership, TMT Diversity
b. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
ANOVA a
Model Sum of
Squares
Df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 3.142 4 .786 .754 .566b
Residual 23.961 23 1.042
Total 27.103 27
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance
b. Predictors: (Constant), TMT-Leadership-Innovation, Firm Innovation, Composite
Leadership, TMT Diversity
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) -.482 2.939 -.164 .871
TMT Diversity -.357 .537 -1.009 -.664 .513
Composite Leadership .439 .655 .611 .670 .510
Firm Innovation .548 .529 .209 1.037 .311
TMT-Leadership-
Innovation .029 .038 1.516 .758 .456
a. Dependent Variable: Overall Organizational Performance