Significance of Employee Engagement Dimension of Adaptive Leadership on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate the significance of adaptive leadership on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The supporting objective was to assess the significance of employee engagement on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study was grounded on the Adaptive Leadership Theory and adopted the post-positivist research philosophy and descriptive research design. The study population was 394 top-level managers based on the website records of each bank. This research employed mixed methods to conduct the investigation, adopting the census method. Primary data was collected through self-administered online questionnaires distributed and filled electronically. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data from the open-ended questions, while descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized in analyzing quantitative data with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 29). The correlation results indicated, r (314) =0.871, p<0.001. The model summary results revealed that R2=0.222 which denoted that employee engagement could be used to explain 22.2% of changes in performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The regression coefficient for employee engagement indicated coefficient values of β = 0.307, t (314) = 3.655, p<0.003 which was less than (p<0.05) set for the study. This led to the rejection of the null hypothesis and acceptance of the alternative that employee engagement has a positive significance on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study recommends that the human resources managers of the various banks should incorporate mentorship programs, while incorporating robust recognition and reward system for their staff to enhance employee engagement. This study was limited to the significance of employee engagement on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The study, therefore, suggests that similar studies could be carried out in other financial institutions to allow generalization of findings.