Transformational Leadership and Social Service Delivery in Kenya’s Marginalized Counties: Evidence of Indirect Institutional Effects

This study examines the influence of transformational leadership on social service delivery in Kenya’s devolved governance system, focusing on education, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in Isiolo County. Grounded in Transformational Leadership Theory and Institutional Theory, the study adopted a pragmatist paradigm and an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected from 395 household respondents, while qualitative data were obtained from 19 key informant interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The results show that transformational leadership has no significant direct effect on education and health service delivery (β = 0.071, p = 0.247) but a significant negative direct effect (β = -0.175, p = 0.043) on WASH service delivery. Transformational leadership significantly affects operational capacity (β = 0.125, p = 0.036) which positively affects education and health service delivery (β = 0.412, p < 0.001). Operational capacity provides an indirect-only mediating pathway between transformational leadership and education and health service delivery but the indirect pathway remains non-significant in the WASH sector. The model explains 41.2% of the variance in education and health service delivery outcomes. Qualitative findings support these results where transformational leadership enhances planning, coordination, and accountability, while infrastructural and resource constraints continue to limit WASH performance. The study concludes that transformational leadership acts as a distal enabling factor where its effect on service delivery is realized through operational capacity. The findings demonstrate that leadership effects in devolved and resource-constrained contexts are primarily indirect and institutionally mediated as opposed to direct. Keywords: Transformational Leadership; Social Service Delivery; Operational Capacity; Devolved Governance; Institutional Theory; Kenya DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/18-6-05 Publication date: June 30 th 2026