Effects of Organizational Culture on the Performance of Charitable Non-Governmental Organizations in Kenya. A Case of Save The Children International Kenya

Keywords: Strategy Implementation, Non-Governmental Organizations, Performance, Organizational Culture

Paper Type: Research Article

1. Introduction

An organizational culture entails its qualities, conviction, standards, presumptions, and mentalities that are not explained but rather shape the behavior of individuals in organizations (Fidyah & Setiawati, 2020). Maamari and Saheb (2018) additionally portrays culture as the "social paste" that creates "we-feeling," therefore checking the individual contrasts that are unavoidable in regular day-to-day existence. Organizational culture shapes the conduct inside an organization, agreeing with Taherimashhadi & Ribas (2018) that it influences how people react to a circumstance inside the work environment. From the definitions, one can't overlook the human relations part of business; organization culture provides a common framework of implications framing correspondence and mutual understanding inside a workplace. It influences how individuals decide and the way they decipher and deal with the hierarchical condition; therefore, as per Olafsen et al., (2018), hierarchical culture can be utilized to accomplish the upper hand and advance partners' intrigue.

Kopar (2015) defines organizational culture as a set of common beliefs guiding organization processes by providing a framework for conduct in various situations. Hierarchical convictions tend to impact workers' work standards, correspondence hones, and philosophical positions (Chindia, 2015). Organizational culture influences the connection among employees, customers, and business partners. What's more, it influences how much representatives relate to an association; this is on the grounds that an organization's way of life is survived the outlooks and practices of its representatives.

Organizational culture evolves from four factories., the individual and proficient qualities of individuals within the organization, organization ethics, the property rights the association offers to the representatives, and the organization's structure (Abok et al.,2013). Human asset practices, for example, determination, execution evaluation, preparation, and profession, are a portion of the devices that create and fortify the association's culture. Understanding the current culture in an association empowers one to distinguish the aspects that will help the technology usage while additionally anticipating the impacts that these social parts will have on the execution procedure (Salamzadeh, 2014).

According to Sally (2018), NGOs play an important part in contemporary society as they complement governments' deficits in offering welfare services and social protection for their citizens through philanthropic actions by donors and socially conscious individuals. In Africa, there has been an increase in the number of people in need due to population increase, scarcity of resources, and conflicts. This has led to the coming up of non-governmental organizations that depend on donors (Smucker et al., 2020). In most developing countries, for instance, Kenya, non-governmental organizations have been experiencing a lack of manpower, limited financial assistance due to donors withdrawing their support, narrow objectives, yielding to political influences, and experiencing corruption has become a challenge in the management of the non-governmental organizations. Given the critical role that philanthropic non-governmental organizations play in the government's economy, the entire strategy creation and application process must be effective for them to exist. Infrastructure, service quality, innovative and sustainable solutions to areas of operations, the acquisition of the proper talents, and the creation of an organizational structure that can withstand today's environmental problems are among the important topics listed in the plan.

Several studies have been conducted on the effect of strategy implementation on charitable non-governmental organizations. However, most of the studies focused on strategies that can be adopted for the survival of the charitable organization in these competitive environments; these studies have little and inconclusive coverage on the effect of strategy implementation and performance. For instance, Cecilia (2014) studied the factors determining nonprofit organizations' sustainability in Kenya. The findings revealed that management factors positively influence NGOs' sustainability. These entailed proper administration structures and senior management that comprehended the motivation behind the association and led the pack in its accomplishment, a fully capable authority with the required aptitude. However, the study did not explain how NGOs can use strategies for their sustainability.

Rajarajeswari (2015) studied sustainability strategies adopted by International NGOs. It was recognized that international NGOs must embrace strategies that suit their organizations so as to enable them to enhance performance and, in this way, their organization will become sustainable in the long run. Muriithi (2014) researched NGOs' strategies for achieving financial sustainability. It was noted that most NGOs depended on donor funding and didn't appear to have created a system for money-related supportability. This is moving outstandingly towards Red Cross Kenya, which has identified ways of raising its own funds, like the building of a hotel. However, there is indeed a gap in knowledge in developing economies, such as Kenya, where both empirical and theoretical research on strategic implementation in philanthropic non-governmental organizations in connection to performance is weak. Therefore, this study determined the effects of strategy implementation on the performance of charitable NGOs with a focus on saving the children in international Kenya.

H1: Organization culture significantly affects performance in non-governmental organizations

2. Theoretical Framework

This theory considers a firm's environment's impact and the cognitive, regulative, and normative structures that surround them. Thus, it tries to illuminate how these structures impact the firm's actions and bounds. These structures stabilize actions, cultures, and habits, which also establish legitimacy and limit activity. The idea stresses the formation of institutions, their spread throughout societies and sectors, and their evolution over time. Despite its widespread acceptance, it has made more theoretical than empirical contributions to strategic management. According to Hwang & Colyvas (2020), the institutional environment has the ability to influence the development of an organization's formal structures.

Meyer and Rowan (2011) argue that the implementation and conspicuous display of institutionally-acceptable accessories of validity facilitate the preservation of an atmosphere of organizational action founded on good faith. Legitimacy is vital in the institutional environment as it helps ensure the firm's sustainable growth. DiMaggio and Powell (2012) summarize that institutional pressures' net effect is to increase the homogeneity of organizational structures in an institutional environment. Organizations respond by adopting similar structures from three variants of the pressures. Coercive pressures originate from legal directives or influence from organizations on which they are dependent. Therefore, an organization's institutionalization determines acceptable and prohibited practices, thus explaining an organization's norms (DiMaggio & Powell, 2012). Institutional Theory is significant in this research as it aids in explaining the role of organizations' policies, laws, and procedures on strategy implementation.

3. Empirical review

Rajasekar (2014), in his investigation of factors influencing effective strategy implementation in an Administration Industry, recognized organizational culture as a key component of the system execution process. The examination tended to in detail the parts of corporate correspondence (inner and outer), authority, hierarchical structure, and control components. He found that an important relationship exists between authoritative culture and technique usage. After the effects of the examination demonstrated that a wide range of hierarchical societies has huge associations with the execution procedure, be that as it may, the degree of the way of life's impact fluctuates from the best (family culture) to the slightest powerful (progressive system culture).

Ahmadi et al. (2012) examined the association between Organizational Culture and Implementation Techniques: The Typologies and Dimensions inferred that there is adequate proof connecting social attributes and authoritative viability. The discoveries demonstrate that culture impacts altogether on procedure usage. Abok et al. (2013), in their investigation of the role of culture in the execution of key designs in NGOs in Kenya, demonstrate that authoritative culture influences the usage of vital plans in Kenyan NGOs. In view of the discoveries, the examination suggested that authoritative societies be elevated to upgrade the soul of grasping key design execution at all stages.

Kopar (2015), in his investigation of the Influence of Organizational Culture on procedure execution, discovered that social standards seem to have a genuinely reliable effect on quality, in any case of the system embraced by the association. The outcomes demonstrate that hierarchical culture influences the usage of the system.

4. Methodology

The research adopted a descriptive research design as it allows for reporting of research observations as they appear while describing their behavior, characteristics, attitudes, and values (Prabhat & Meenu,2015). This design allows the researcher to collect evidence from a small sample drawn from a given population. The research designs presuppose the sample has similar characteristics to the population and permits the use of questionnaires as the common data collection method. From a population size of 250, the researcher selected a sample size of 152, which best represented the study's population. The sampling technique used was simple random sampling because it gives all study elements in an equal opportunity. The researcher used structured questionnaires as the primary data collection tool because they are easy to analyze.The questionnaires were both structured and unstructured, with a Likert scale for the description of participants' responses (Kothari, 2018). The questionnaire instrument was pilot-tested to a selected sample similar to the sample the researcher used in the study.

The research instrument was validated in terms of content and face validity. The content-related technique measured the degree to which the question items reflected the specific areas covered by the study. The researcher used Cronbach's Alpha to determine the coefficient of reliability of the instrument paying attention to achieving reliability of at least a = 0.7. From this function, the following regression model was used to test the effects of organization culture on the performance of charitable non-governmental.

5. Results

A detailed questionnaire was drafted and issued to evaluate the effect of strategy implementation on the performance of charitable NGOs in Kenya, with a focus on Save the Children international Kenya. Out of the 152 questionnaires issued, 151 were completely filled and passed for consideration for statistical analysis giving a response rate of 99%. This was adequate for data analysis (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). Thus this was deemed effective and to offer considerable evidence to be utilized in an overview of the different facets of the research under investigation.

Organization culture

Organizational culture entails shared beliefs and values that guide the conduct within an organization across various situations. The respondents were to specify the extent they agree with the statements on organization culture. The findings are shown in Table 1;

Source: Research Data 2020

The findings indicate Save Children International Kenya is governed by organizational culture (M=4.16, SD=0.37). This implies the respondents agreed with the statement. The finds concur with Taherimashhadi and Ribas (2018), who notes organizational culture is important in an organization since it shapes and controls individual conduct inside the work environment. The findings also established Save Children International Kenya has an organizational culture (M=4.26, SD=0.62), which means the respondents agreed with the statement. Further, it indicated the organization's culture impacts the organization (M=4.30, SD=0.59), which means the respondents agreed with the statement. The result indicates they are in tandem with Chindia and Pokhariyal (2015) who noted hierarchical convictions tend to impact the work standards, correspondence hones, and philosophical positions of workers, which improve organizational performance. Additionally, the findings show the organization's culture is good (M=4.36, SD=.57). This implies the respondents agreed with the statement. Also, it indicated the communication channels within the organization are effective (M=4.38, SD=0.57), meaning the respondents agree with the statement. Lastly, the findings show the organization has good ethics (M=4.36, SD=0.55), implying the respondents agreed with the statement. The study concludes that organizational culture is important in an organization since it shapes the behavior of employees within and outside the organization. This concurs with Kopar (2015), who noted organizational culture on procedure execution and discovered that social standards seem to have a genuinely reliable effect on quality in any case of the system embraced by the organization. The findings also agree with Kopar (2015) that organizational culture help in sharing of task that guides how strategies are implemented and improve organizational performance. In the same line, Chindia (2015) Hierarchical culture increase strategic implementation improving the work standards, and the way individuals and groups connect among themselves, with customers, and partners to improve productivity.

Performance

Performance refers to the metrics of handling specific requests determined by effectiveness in task completion and knowledge application. The respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with the statements on performance. The findings are indicated in Table 2;

Source: (Research Data 2020)

The findings indicate the organization meets its expectation (M=4.30, SD=0.514), implying the respondents agreed with the statement. Also, the respondents agree with the statement organization's operations are efficient (M=4.48, SD=0.65). Further, the findings show the organization experiences problems in its operations (M=2.25, SD=.075), meaning the respondents disagreed with the statement. In addition, the respondents indicated they strongly agreed with the statement strategy implementation has improved performance (M=4.71, SD=0.46). The results correspond with Gollan and Xu (2014), who notes organizations that have adopted and implemented strategies have attained positive results and met their objectives. Last, the respondents strongly disagreed strategy implementation does not improve performance (M=1.99, SD=1.05). The study concludes for organizations to experience increased performance, it's important to adopt and implement strategies. Aguinis et al. (2017) note that strategic management and firm performance are interconnected. For firms to experience improvement in their performance, they need strategy implementation.

Multivariate analysis

The research conducted a correlation test to establish the correlation between organizational culture and performance. The findings imply organization culture depicted the strongest, strong and positive relationship with the dependent variable, the performance of the non-governmental organizations. Further, Regression analysis was conducted on organization culture against performance of the non-governmental organizations. From the analysis, R square was (58.6%) while adjusted R was (5.75%) reveals that organization culture could explain 58.6% of the performance of non-governmental organizations. The findings imply that organization culture contributes to the performance of non-governmental organizations. The results indicate the model linking organization culture to the performance of non-governmental organizations was significant (F=35.178; p < 0.000). This implies the model was suitable for analysis and interpretation.

The regression of the coefficient illustrates the extent to which organization culture influences the performance of non-governmental organizations. The findings are presented in Table 3;

a. Dependent Variable: Performance

The regression model is interpreted using the findings in Table 4.9,

Y = α+ β₁X₁ +ε

Y = 1.953+ 0.210X₁

The model indicates that in order for one unit change in performance to be affected, there ought to be 0.210 unit change in organization culture, while holding other factors not addressed by this study constant, as represented by (α = 1.953). The results underscore the importance of strategy implementation on NGOs' performance. The findings further indicate they support all four hypotheses, which state that organizational culture significantly affects performance in non-governmental organizations.

The study's objective was to assess the effects of organizational culture on the performance of NGOs. The findings indicate Save Children International Kenya is governed by organizational culture. The finds concur with Taherimashhadi and Ribas (2018), who notes organizational culture is important in an organization since it shapes and controls individual conduct inside the work environment. Further, it was indicated the organization has a good organizational culture which positively impacts the organization's performance. The result agrees with Chindia and Pokhariyal, (2015), who noted hierarchical convictions tend to impact the work standards, correspondence hones, and philosophical positions of workers, which improves organizational performance. Additionally, the findings indicated the communication channels within the organization are effective and have improved the organization's ethics. The study concludes that organizational culture is important in an organization since it shapes the behavior of employees within and outside the organization. This concurs with Kopar (2015), who noted organizational culture on procedure execution and discovered that social standards seem to have a genuinely reliable effect on quality in any case of the system embraced by the organization. Also, the findings indicated organizational culture had a significant and positive effect on the performance of non-governmental organizations with (P< 0.03), implying the significance value is below 0.05 level at a 95% confidence level.

6. Conclusion And Recommendation

The research findings indicated that Save Children International Kenya non-governmental organization meets its expectation, and organization culture has improved its performance. The research recommends that organizations ought to put more effort into cultivating an organizational culture that is acceptable to all and which does not discriminate. This will translate into improved performance.

7. Further Studies

The research concentrated on the effects of organization culture on NGOs' performance. The study acknowledges that the implementation of a strategy influences non-governmental organizations' performance. As explained by the variation in organization culture, other factors influence the performance of non-governmental organizations. These factors may include political, environmental, and operation-specific factors of the non-governmental organizations. This can provide a base for future research. In addition, future studies can be extended to other non-governmental organizations within East Africa.

References