Top Management Team Psychological Characteristics and Organizational Performance

Previous strategic management researchers have argued that TMT psychological characteristics have the potential to significantly affect organizational performance. Some of these previous scholars have argued that inquiry into the influence of TMT psychological characteristics on organizational performance should start by examining the process by which traits affect behaviours of the TMTs and hence the outcomes of their actions. The specific objective of the study was to examine the effect of top management team psychological characteristics on organizational performance of the independent regulatory agencies in Kenya. To achieve this objective, the study adopted descriptive cross-sectional research design. The target population of the study was the twenty-three independent regulatory agencies currently existing in Kenya. Due to the uniqueness of each independent regulatory agency and the distinct roles played by each top management team member in their organization, the study adopted a census survey of all the top management team members in all the twenty-three independent regulatory agencies in order to capture the required information. Primary data was gathered using structured questionnaire administered through drop and pick later method. Descriptive statistics was then used to summarize the survey data into percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistics employed regression analysis to test hypothesis and draw conclusions. The findings of the study showed that top management team psychological characteristics significantly affect organizational performance. The study recommends that the recruitment process of the TMTs should include psychological characteristics as requirements apart from the normal demographic characteristic requirements mostly in use.