Influence of Strategic Performance Management on Service Delivery in Laikipia County Assembly, Kenya

Abstract

Service delivery remains a major concern within devolved governance because county assemblies are expected to provide effective legislation, oversight, representation, and accountability despite increasing public expectations and resource constraints. Strategic performance management has emerged as an important strategic management practice because it aligns organizational goals with employee performance, strengthens monitoring and evaluation, enhances accountability, and improves operational efficiency. Despite its importance, many county assemblies continue to experience weak performance monitoring, inconsistent appraisal systems, and inadequate utilization of performance feedback, resulting in suboptimal service delivery. This study examined the effect of strategic performance management on service delivery in Laikipia County Assembly, Kenya. The study was anchored on Goal-Setting Theory and adopted a descriptive research design using a quantitative approach. The target population comprised 143 Members of the County Assembly and administrative staff, and a census approach was adopted. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and simple linear regression analysis. The findings established that strategic performance management exhibited a positive and statistically significant relationship with service delivery. Regression analysis further demonstrated that strategic performance management significantly predicted service delivery (R² = 0.478, p < 0.05), indicating that it explained 47.8% of the variation in service delivery and leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The study concluded that effective strategic performance management strengthens accountability, improves operational efficiency, enhances institutional coordination, and promotes responsive service delivery. The study recommends institutionalizing structured performance management systems, strengthening monitoring and appraisal processes, integrating performance indicators into strategic implementation, and enhancing continuous feedback mechanisms to improve governance effectiveness and service delivery within county assemblies.