Managerial Roles as a Strategy Implementation Driver and Performance of the National Government Departments in Kenya

Performance in most of the departments in the National Government of Kenya has remained average over years resulting in disparities in service delivery. This study examined the influence of managerial roles on the performance of the departments moderated by stakeholder involvement. Drawing from the data collected from National Government heads of departments in the Counties, the study concluded that managerial roles significantly influence the performance of the departments and is significantly moderated by the stakeholder involvement. The study has significant implication on the work performance management and stakeholder management policies.


Introduction
The strategy implementation deals with executing activities to achieve a planned organizational goal.It may be viewed as a process explaining the commitment to achieve organizational goals.Its success requires compliance to directives, statutes, goals, achievement of specific indicators and improvement of the environment around a program through efficient management of performance steps (Palladan & Adamu, 2018;Paudel, 2009;Ramadan, 2015).How managers handle the programs and activities define the organizational performance and for successful performance, it is necessary to ensure that the programs remain congruent to envisioned goals.Successful strategy implementation is a significant management achievement though the literature reviewed suggest the strategy implementation is the most problematic and difficult in strategic management process (Ramadan, 2015).Consequently, several strategy implementation drivers have been identified by various scholars in the industry.The drivers may be viewed as those forces that shape the implementation of the organizational strategies (Donselaar et al., 2012).They have varying degree of influence and require focusing on the strategic objectives and compliance to regulations to ensure minimum standards are met (Wallace, 2006).
Organizations in the public sector use institutional approach to implement their strategies, with the institutions developed to serve the national leaders' understanding of the domestic and national needs.The institutional management is required to turn strategies into actions within a specified period of time.Within the government set up, the departments are some of the key institutions created under the ministries and they remain key vehicles towards the government performance.The heads of the departments (HoDs) are responsible for the implementation of the various government functions.In pursuit of the organizational objectives, the way the HoDs direct the programs and activities foster consistency, predictability, knowledge acquisition and coordination (Tremblay, Martineau, & Pauchant, 2017).
The HoDs are the government engine and a hallmark of service delivery, operating with predetermined targets.They are oriented towards ensuring the government successfully implements her social and economic development strategies (Jiwan, 2016) and are expected to ensure equity as envisioned in the constitution (GoK, 2010).However, the performance of the government departments has remained wanting over the years, necessitating the adoption of strategic management to enhance the performance.Strategic management assists the departments to operate successfully in today's dynamic environment (Miyonga, 2016) with strategy implementation being a major stage in the process.
Organizational performance, which is the actual results as measured against the intended output (Tomal & Jones, 2015), is a major achievement in any managerial process (Elbanna & Naguib, 2009).The managerial roles in this process is an approach to implementation related to work activity that deal with actual activities of managers (Burgaz, 1997) as popularized by Henry Mintzberg.It is adopted by managers to accomplish the basic management functions which are significant in organizational performance.The roles capture the organizational management endeavour for effectiveness and efficiency and help organizations to achieve their goals and objectives.Fundamentally, the choices made by leaders, lead to the success or inappropriate or failure in the implementation of the strategies resulting into significant impact on the long term performance (Child et al., 2016).

Managerial Roles
The managerial roles represent the formal authority and status and may be divided into interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles (Mullins, 2011).A manager in an informational role may act as a spokesperson for the organization, an information gatherer or distributor.While in interpersonal role, the manager's actions depend on the interaction with other people, the situation they are in and thus, the manager needs to act as a leader, figurehead or liaison officer.On the other hand, while acting in a decisional role, the manager may have to make decisions about resource allocation, negotiate for compromise, help to resolve conflicts or think like an entrepreneur (Gitman et al., 2018).
The strategies being implemented require managers to realize the necessity of coordinating activities for successful implementation (Obeidat, 2008).In this regard, the commitment to goals provide a basis for the success of tasks and responsibilities as classified in the administrative management principles of work as well as defining the division of work, responsibilities and coordination of activities among the various levels within the organization (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2007;Katana, 2017).The process of management in coordinating, directing and guiding the activities explains the commitment to achieve organizational goals.

Stakeholder Involvement
Stakeholder involvement is a regulatory mechanism and seeks stakeholder inputs to improve on performance, emphasizing on engagement to be balanced, inclusive and far reaching (Amaeshi & Crane, 2006).The way stakeholders are involved may be seen as actions from an outside party impacting on the organizational performance or as the process in which groups or individuals affecting or affected by organizational activities are engaged (Sloan, 2009).The stakeholders are concerned with how decisions made by organizations affect them, the government, the direction an organization takes, the community, the environment, or its strategy success or failure.Their involvement depends on the organization and the strategy being decided or implemented.Hence, it is essential to identify correctly and include important stakeholders in the strategy implementation as success will rely on having dialogue with the various stakeholders.
Stakeholders may be seen as any group or individuals who can exert influence or can affect or may be affected by the achievement of the organizational objectives (Bal, 2014).The organizational stakeholders are both external and internal and their level of influence on strategy depends on the power and interest they hold, their level of threat or cooperation (Kinyua, 2016).The circumstances surrounding public sector strategy implementation makes it unique and the stakeholders play a key role in the organizational business management.Organizational stakeholders may affect implementation goals and activities and thus impacting on the performance.Hence, there is need to handle stakeholder interests as failure to address them may result to competing interests (Pigmans, Doorn & Aldewereld, 2017), which can easily be manipulated to affect performance.

Statement of the Problem
Successful strategy implementation is a significant management achievement in any organization and as such the government commits herself to strategy implementation for equity in socio -economic development (GoK, 2007;GoK, 2010).However, the implementation remains a challenge to the government departments as well as nonstate actors.The heads of departments within the government set up are responsible for the strategy implementation but qualifications and professionalism are at times sacrificed in promotions, appointments and deployment for political expediency leading to poor service delivery, negligence of duty, public service apathy and dereliction of duty (Owino & Etyang, 2017).
Fundamentally, failure or inappropriate strategy implementation results in inequality and disparity in performance.The extent to which the managerial roles influence the performance of departments in Kenya could not be ascertained from the literature reviewed.For instance, in the 2018/2019 performance management evaluation, the Ministries and State Departments assessed had a performance index of 17.3 percent (PSC(K), 2019) while in the 2019/2020 performance evaluation, the 21 Ministries, Departments and Agencies evaluated had a performance ranging between 3.0 and 4.0 on a scale of 1(excellent) to 5 (poor) (PSC(K), 2020).This kind of performance results into impediment to quality services and access to resources across the country (KNBS & SID, 2013) and thus, there is need to be concerned with the performance of the National Government departments.
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 allows for strategies and affirmative policies aimed at improving performance.Further, remedial strategies such as adoption of performance contracting have been identified and implemented for performance improvement in the public service organizations (GoK, 2016a;Ogola & Nzulwa, 2018).Despite all the measures put in place by the government, disparities and inequalities in performance still exist within and across the counties.It is against this background this study examined the influence of managerial roles on the performance of the National Government departments in Kenya moderated by stakeholder involvement.

Research Hypotheses
The study was guided by the following hypotheses: H01: Managerial roles has no significant influence on performance of the National Government departments in Kenya.

H02:
Stakeholder involvement has no significant influence on the relationship between managerial roles and the performance of the National Government departments in Kenya.

Scope
The study was restricted to National Government departments in the counties as they are responsible for implementation of government functions.It was focused on examining the influence of managerial roles on the performance of departments in the National Government of Kenya moderated by stakeholder involvement.

Theoretical Framework
Administrative management and stakeholder theories were adopted for the study.

Administrative Management Theory
The administrative management theory advocates for establishing in an organization a clear formal division of labour, a clear formal administrative structure, delegation of power and authority corresponding to the responsibilities.Fayol, suggested the main managerial functions of a manager to be planning, organizing, commanding, coordination and control (Hussain et al., 2019).The theory is based on principles emanating from these functions which managers can use in coordinating the activities of an organization.
The principles assist the managers, who are entirely responsible for performance on how to organize as they interact with their teams.The theory remains relevant to date despite having been developed in the early 1900s.It elaborates the importance of ensuring that management roles are aligned to the circumstances of the organization such as work environment and operational processes.The roles would be more effective once they are aligned with specific organization and environmental understanding (Mulonzi, 2018).

Stakeholder Theory
The stakeholder theory introduced the concept of stakeholders into strategic management.It guides the management in understanding and taking into consideration the interests of the stakeholders.That is, it provides for insights and understanding of the interaction of an organization and its stakeholders (Elbanna et al., 2016).The stakeholders create pressure for improved government performance.The theory underpins the importance of the organizational management taking into consideration the business environment.
The theory suggests that addressing the stakeholders' interests improve the organizational performance.Hence, in any organizations, the management should be concerned with stakeholders who strive to improve strategy implementation as well as those who seek to sabotage its success (Kinyua, 2016).Hence, continuous stakeholder analysis is essential to understand the type of stakeholders the implementers are dealing with to be able to handle their interests and competing demands in the organization.

Conceptual Framework
In this study, managerial roles were conceptualized to influence the performance of the departments with the relationship being moderated by stakeholder involvement, as shown in Figure 1.The managerial roles were measured using coordination of activities for interpersonal role, commitment to goals for decisional role and monitoring of activities for informational role.Coordination of activities involves building synergy in inclusivity for unifying and harmonizing the activities and efforts of an organization to facilitate its working and success (Mullins, 2010).The principle of coordination of activities lay a foundation for organizational employees to work together with unity in action, the need for discipline and exercise of authority (Mullins, 2011).Thus, strategies will require managers to realize the necessity of coordinating activities for successful implementation (Obeidat, 2008).In this regard, the commitment to goals provide a basis for the success of tasks and responsibilities as well as defining the division of work, responsibilities and coordination of activities among the various levels within the organization (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2007;Katana, 2017).
Coordination of activities as a managerial responsibility is an essential element in organizational performance and influences strategy implementation.It is an integrating management activity, which takes place in different ways and at different levels of an organization (Mullins, 2010).It requires efficient vertical and horizontal monitoring and evaluation information systems that are self-regulating which not only check on deviation from original decision but also provide for accountability and effective feedback mechanisms in the implementation process.Coordination focuses on keeping all employees updated on progress and poor coordination is a hidden barrier silently killing strategy implementation (Beer & Eisenstat, 2000).Effective coordination should provide for smooth interaction between the top management and other employees involved in the implementation process.
According to Arifuddin and Kusumawati (2016), managerial performance is a key factor in organizational performance effectiveness and the commitment to the organizational mission moderates the goal clarity which significantly influence the human resource performance.While according to Andersson (2019) in a study carried out in Sweden, organizational commitment moderates the effect of goal clarity on personnel performance.The employees need to be committed to the mission of the organization which in turn affects their behaviour in terms of actions and performance.Ochola (2016) in his study noted that monitoring and evaluation is an important factor in the implementation of strategic plans in the public health facilities in Mombasa, Kenya.He also noted that coordination of activities, sharing of authority and span of control influence the implementation and coordination assists to ensure that the human resource across the organization is well grounded with their responsibilities as well as making them to remain focused on the key targets under everyday pressures.Further, he noted that various studies show that effectiveness of coordination of activities is a problem in most organizations.Further, Kamande and Orwa (2015) in their study concluded that strategy implementation is affected by management commitment while Nyakeriga (2015) in her study, established that the administrative systems influence the strategic plan implementation in newly established universities in Kenya.

Stakeholder Involvement and Performance of Departments
The stakeholder involvement was measured using stakeholder support, stakeholder management and stakeholder interests.The stakeholder support provides the necessary resources including knowledge and skills for strategy implementation, its absence may result in poor or failure in performance (Bal, 2014).Stakeholder management is central in stakeholder engagement.It assists organizations to achieve their goals as stakeholders influence the organizational performance by influencing the decision making process.The stakeholder support and management are achieved through engaging the stakeholders and building operational relationships that support the best ways of doing business.
The stakeholder interest influences the activities of organizations in different ways.The interests come in different forms; they could be ownership or governance interests, interests of moral or legal claim, casual interests or interests which could be affected by organizational actions.The interests are multifaceted, and may be connecting to each other; failure to take care of them may jeopardize the strategy implementation (Bal, 2014).The stakeholders remain observant and ready to demand for changes or even seek redress or correction to ensure their expectations are met (Buya, 2019).Thus, it is necessary to engage and manage the diverse interests and demands of the stakeholders.
Stakeholders involvement may be through support, cooperation, knowledge and awareness (Buya, 2019) and the interaction dictates the effectiveness of organizational performance.Thus, as the HoDs implement strategies, it critical to involve the stakeholders from the beginning so as to buy in their ownership to ensure complete achievement.Satisfying stakeholder demands results in high economic benefits while close relationships with key stakeholders creates intangible resources necessary for sustainable competitive advantage (Berrone, Surroca & Tribó, 2007).
According to Bal (2014) in her study on the performance of the construction sector in United Kingdom, to achieve sustainable performance it is essential to engage all stakeholders.This study investigated the impact of stakeholders' engagement without a moderating variable but used triangulation process to combine the results from the data collection tools.On the hand, Twaissi and Aldehayyat (2021) in their study on formal strategic planning and organizational performance conducted within the manufacturing companies in Jordan, established that stakeholder involvement not only moderated the relationship but also the higher the stakeholder involvement, the stronger the relationship.That is, the organizational performance changes positively when stakeholders are involved in the process while variation in stakeholder involvement affects the performance and hence, stakeholders remain a point of concern.Munene (2013) in her study established that stakeholder involvement played a critical role in the performance of the organization.But the challenges that derail the management of the stakeholders in the strategy implementation can be addressed through building consensus, engaging the stakeholders for alternative proposals or sensitization to educate the stakeholders on essential actions to be taken.On the other hand, Macharia (2011) in her study on stakeholders involvement, posited that the school management should continue involving the stakeholders for their role in the school strategy implementation is very important.

Performance of Departments in the National Government of Kenya
Organizational performance may take different forms and may also be taken to be carrying out, producing, fulfilling, completing or accomplishing a given task (Paudel, 2009).The departments implement their programs within a framework aimed at building on the vision and mission (Nurcahyo et al., 2015).Thus, the performance of departments may be viewed as the continuous achievement of the goals and objectives in an efficient and effective manner, contributing to the realization of the country's mission and vision.The HoDs are obligated to ensure successful implementation of the departmental goals and strategies though at times influential stakeholders push to realize their priorities and interests.
Performance can be measured with key performance indicators (KPI) which are non -financial or financial (Nurcahyo et al., 2015), which are recognized as measures of the progress in the achievement of the goals and objectives.In this study, non-financial performance measurements were used in the examination of the performance of the departments both qualitatively and quantitatively (Nurcahyo et al., 2015).They are more futuristic and play an important role in the improvement of organizational performance and are suitable measurements which can be implemented across an organization (Ahmad & Zabri, 2016).In particular, the degree of completion of programs and the degree of achievement of goals and objectives were used to measure the performance of the departments.The progress of success being assessed as stipulated in the implementation guidelines.
The completion of programs is the degree to which all the activities intended to be done are done within the expected time, whether fully or partially implemented; it describes the extent of implementation of the aspects of the strategy in question and could be high, medium or low (Miller, 1997).On the other hand, the achievement of the set goals and objectives indicates how far what has been implemented meets what was intended.That is, it is the degree to which what is being done performs as intended and it is about making the strategies work to achieve the intended outcomes, which could be high, medium and low (Miller, 1997).Generally, a strategy can be implemented completely but remains unsuccessful if the intended results are not obtained as success is about implementation working as expected.It could also be complete, achieving more than what was intended but end up being unacceptable.

Research Gaps
Most of the studies reviewed are in the private sector from the developed economies, with little stress on the public sector in the developing countries (Anchor & Aldehayyat, 2016).As a strategy implementation driver, the managerial roles effect on the organization performance is equally necessary in the public sector institutions just as in the private sector organizations.However, despite its importance, the connection between managerial roles and the performance of government departments has not been given much attention.From the literature reviewed, there is no evidence on examination of managerial roles as a strategy implementation driver and the performance of departments in the National Government of Kenya.Further, insights into the stakeholder involvement moderation on the relationship between managerial roles and performance of organizations in the public sector is very scanty.It is against this background that the researcher examined the influence of managerial roles on the performance of National Government departments in Kenya moderated by stakeholder involvement.

Research Design
This paper examined the influence of managerial roles on the performance of departments in the National Government of Kenya, moderated by stakeholder involvement, using quantitative and qualitative research design which is a triangulation of two research methodologies.The two methodologies complement each other to improve on the validity of the outcome by compensating on each other's weakness through their counter balancing strength (Hameed, 2020;Kihara, 2016).

Target Population and Sample
The target population of the study was 535 National Government heads of departments at the counties.These HoDs are the ones in charge of coordination, interpretation, dissemination and implementation of the National Government functions.From this population a sample size of 195 respondents was constituted with actual individual respondents being selected randomly.

Data collection and Analyses
The primary data was collected using a validated semi structured questionnaire.The structured items provided quantitative data while the open ended items were used to generate qualitative data.Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data while Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) aided in analysing the resultant quantitative data to generate inferential and descriptive statistics from the raw data and were used as statistical indices of the variables (Kothari, 2004;Choge, 2017).

Hypotheses Testing
The hypotheses Ho: The regression coefficients (βi) are all simultaneously equal to zero (H0: βi = 0) and Ha: The regression coefficients (βi) are not all simultaneously equal to zero (Ha: βi ≠ 0) were used in testing if β i = 0 at 5 percent level of significance; where the F -test was used to determine if the independent variable as a whole had a significant influence on the dependent variable.The decision rule was not to accept the null hypothesis (H 0 ) if p value was less than 0.05 (Gujarati, 2004).Further, the R square change represents the effect of including the interaction term in the model; it shows the change in variation resulting from inclusion of the interaction term.A significant R square change show there is moderating influence on the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable (Whisman & McClelland, 2005).

Statistical Modelling
Multiple Linear regression analysis was used to determine the influence of the independent and moderating variables on the dependent variable by appropriately fitting the data into the regression models Y= β0 + β1X + β2M + ℮ (model 1) and Y= β0 + β1X + β2M + β3XM + ℮ (model 2), where Y = Performance of Departments, X = Managerial roles, M = Stakeholder Involvement (the moderator variable), β0 = the intercept holding all the variables constant at zero, β1 = partial regressions coefficients of X , β2 = partial regression coefficient of the moderator variable (M), β3= partial regression coefficient of the interaction term (XM) and ℮ = error term, representing all other variables in the function but not observed.
Examining the partial regression and comparing the two models established whether the managerial roles and stakeholder involvement had significant influence.A significant β 1 , that is, β 1 ≠ 0, implies that managerial roles is a significant predictor of the performance of departments.A significant β 2 , that is, β 2 ≠ 0, implies that the stakeholder involvement is a significant predictor of the performance of departments while a significant β 3 , that is, β 3 ≠ 0 shows the moderator variable significantly influence the relationship between the managerial roles and the performance of departments.Further, a significant R square change shows that stakeholder involvement significantly moderates the relationship (Whisman & McClelland, 2005).

Response Rate
The response rate is the number of valid returned questionnaires divided by the sample size multiplied by 100 percent (Fincham, 2008).A total of 152 questionnaires out of the 195 administered to the respondents were returned, resulting to a response rate of 77.9 percent.This is a good response rate as a 60 percent response is not only adequate but also sufficient for any research (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003;Fincham,2008).

Descriptive Statistics for Managerial Roles
The study explored if the respondents were in agreement or disagreed with the assertion that managerial activities significantly influence the performance of National Government departments.The mean and standard deviations were used as the descriptive statistics to summarize the study data and the results from 149 valid responses are as shown in Table 1.The results show that majority of the respondents were in agreement that in the departments the way activities are organized enhances success of the strategy implementation, programs are harmonized in a way that lead to success of the strategy implementation, the management dedication to implementation of strategy activities is high, the employees are always devoted to implementation of programs and there is a well-designed framework for observing implementation of strategy programs.However, they were not sure that the departments have an elaborate way of tracking implementation of their strategy activities.The standard deviation values show the level of deviation from the mean values.The respondents were asked to briefly explain how the departments ensures commitment of employees to enhanced implementation of strategies.The results in Table 2 show that this is done through tracking employee performance (42.7%), motivating and capacity building of the employees (30.6%), aligning the employees to the implementation process (16.9%) and supervision for timely intervention on challenges (9.7%).Thus, majority of the respondents indicated that tracking employee performance, motivation and capacity building of employees are key strategies for ensuring commitment to enhanced strategy implementation.The respondents were further asked to state one managerial function that contributes to enhanced implementation of departmental strategies.From 116 valid responses, the respondents stated the managerial functions that contribute to enhanced implementation of departmental strategies to be monitoring and supervision (30.2%), planning and organizing (25.0%), motivation and capacity building (20.7%), leadership provision (13.8%) and managing the process (11.2%), as shown in Table 3.
Majority of the respondents stated that monitoring and supervision, planning and organizing, motivation and capacity building are the main managerial functions contributing to enhanced strategy implementation.The results are consistent with the findings of Obeidat (2008) as well as being in agreement with the views that coordination, commitment and monitoring are important managerial roles in strategy implementation (Kamande & Orwa, 2015;Ochola, 2016;Arifuddin & Kusumawati, 2016;Andersson, 2019).

Descriptive Statistics for Stakeholder Involvement
The study sought to establish if the respondents were in agreement or disagreed with the assertion that stakeholder involvement influences the relationship between managerial roles and the performance of National Government departments.The results in Table 4 show that majority of the respondents were in agreement that the way the stakeholders are handled enhances strategy implementation and departmental performance, the stakeholder management systems improve strategy implementation outcome, the stakeholder maintenance enhances strategy implementation and departmental performance, the stakeholder assistance promotes strategy implementation and the departmental performance, the stakeholder demands contribute to the strategy implementation and departmental performance and recognizing stakeholder interests determine the strategy implementation and departmental performance.Hence, stakeholder involvement should be embraced during the strategy implementation.The respondents were also asked to explain how the departments involve the stakeholders in the implementation of their programs.From 125 valid responses, as shown in Table 5, the stakeholders are involved through consultations and sensitizations (39.2%), encouraging them to participate in the program implementation (22.4%), inclusivity in the implementation process (20.0 %) and interactive stakeholder forums (18.4%).Hence, consultation, sensitization and encouraging the stakeholders' participation are the main ways in which the stakeholders are involved in the strategy implementation.The respondents were further asked to explain how the stakeholders' interests are taken care of during the implementation of departmental strategies.The results from 116 valid responses, as presented in Table 6, show the stakeholder interests are mainly taken care of through organizing for stakeholders' participation in the implementation process, incorporating them in the planning stage, consultative stakeholder forums and recognizing the stakeholder role and their responsibility in the implementation process.These results are in support of Munene (2013) views on addressing stakeholder interests.Hence, the way departmental heads involve stakeholders and how they handle their demands and interests determine the strategy implementation and the performance of the departments.
Table 6.Taking care of stakeholder interests S/No.Category Frequency Percent

2.
Recognizing the stakeholder role and responsibility 13 11.21

Descriptive Statistics for Performance of Departments
The study assessed the performance of departments in terms of completion and achievement of the strategy implementation.The results from 151 valid responses as presented in Table 7, show that in the last five years the degree of accomplishment of departmental mission programs, the level of accomplishment of strategic objective programs, the average accomplishment of the departmental mission programs, the degree of achievement of the departmental mission programs, the level of achievement of departmental goals and objectives and the average achievement of the departmental strategic goals and objectives had an average mean lying between 3.5 and 4 which is equivalent to range 41 to 60 percent.This implies that in the last five years the departments had an average performance ranging between 41 and 60 percent, which is in tandem with the 2019/2020 performance evaluation report (PSC(K), 2020).The respondents were also asked to state one strategy their departments use to ensure accomplishment of the departmental programs.The results in table 8 show four main strategies identified from 116 valid responses to be monitoring and evaluation (34.5%), compliance to work plan timelines (31.9%), providing the necessary support (18.1%) and periodical review of the progress (15.5%).Hence, according to the majority of the respondents, the main strategies for ensuring completion of departmental strategies are monitoring and evaluation and ensuring compliance to work plan timeliness.

4.
Appropriate planning and coordination 21 18.10 The respondents were further asked to state one strategy used to ensure achievement of their departmental strategic objectives.The results in Table 9 show the four strategies identified to be tracking progress in performance (40.0%), commitment to work execution plan (24.6%), motivation and capacity building (22.3%) and strategic control and guidance (13.1%).Hence, the main strategies to ensure achievement of departmental strategic objectives are tracking performance and ensuring commitment to work execution plans.

Correlation between Variables
The Pearson correlation coefficient in Table 10 show the relationship between the managerial roles, stakeholder involvement and the performance of departments (Y) where for managerial roles r = 0.239 with p = 0.004, and for stakeholder involvement r = 0.302 with p = 0.000.The correlation coefficients suggest that the variables have a statistically significant positive relation with performance of departments but do not have a statistically significant relationship among themselves.The hypothesis, Ho1 was tested using the linear model Y = β0 + β1X +℮.Table 11 shows the ANOVA test results where the mean squares for the regression model is 156.878 and that of the residuals is 18.031, giving an F(1,144) statistic of 8.700 with p = 0.004 which is less than 0.05 at a 5 percent significance level.Hence, the null hypothesis, H01, was not accepted as the F statistic was significant and thus, managerial roles have a significant positive influence on the performance of departments in the National Government of Kenya.These findings support Mbaka and Mugambi (2015) view that managerial roles drive the strategy implementation for business delivery.The hypothesis H02 was tested using Y = β0+ β1X+ β2M + β3XM + ℮ (model 2).Comparing the model 1 and model 2 in Table 12 show that the interaction term (XM), has a R square change of 0.047 with F change of 7.557 and p value of 0.007 which is less than 0.05, which are statistically significant.Further, from Table 13, β 3 = 0.017 with a p value of 0.007 which is less than 0.05.The interaction term is statistically significant and thus, stakeholder involvement has a significant influence on the relationship between the variables.Hence, the null hypothesis, H02, was not accepted.Therefore, the stakeholder involvement significantly influences the relationship between managerial roles and the performance of departments in the National Government of Kenya.
These results are consistent with the findings of Twaissi and Aldehayyat (2021) and Elbanna et al., (2016) who established that stakeholder involvement has a moderating role in organizational performance.Hence, the way the stakeholders are involved and their demands and interests are handled influence the performance of the National Government departments in Kenya.
The estimated model 2 show that holding all other factors constant, a unit change in managerial roles (X) results in 15.3 percent negative change in the performance of the departments while a unit change in stakeholder involvement results in 8.0 percent negative change in the performance and a unit change in the interaction term (XM) leads to 1.7 percent positive change in the performance.The constant (intercept) shows significant expected value of Y when there is moderation holding all the other variables constant.
When the optimal model is rearranged, it becomes Ŷ = (18.925-0.080M) + (-0.153 + 0.017M)X; which is a linear regression model in X where (18.925 -0.080M) is intercept term and (-0.153 + 0. 017M) is the regression coefficient of X.This implies that the influence of managerial roles on the performance of departments depends on the stakeholder involvement where an increase in the stakeholder involvement increases the performance.The R 2 change = 0.047 with F change of 7.557 and a p value of 0.007 which is less than 0.05.Thus, the stakeholder involvement significantly improves the performance by the 4.7 percent.
The statistical equation has a logical relationship between the variables and the partial regression coefficients are not simultaneously equal to zero, thus, the model is reliable and valid.Hence, the performance of departments can be estimated using the equation Ŷ = (18.925-0.080M) + (-0.153 + 0. 017M)X.These findings are consistent with Twaissi and Aldehayyat (2021) and Elbanna et al., (2016) findings on the stakeholder involvement in the performance of organizations.

Summary of Major Findings
This study explored the influence of managerial roles on National Government departments' performance moderated by stakeholder involvement.It relied on the administrative management and stakeholder theories.A qualitative and quantitative research design was used with primary data collected from a sample 195 respondents using a validated semi structured questionnaire.The study had a response rate of 77.9 percent.The stakeholder involvement and the managerial roles were found to have a low but significant relationship with the performance of the departments but not significantly correlated to each other.
The findings revealed that commitment of employees to enhanced strategy implementation was mainly ensured through tracking performance, motivation and capacity building.The main managerial functions that contribute to enhanced implementation of the strategies were established to be monitoring and supervision, planning and organizing, motivation and capacity building.These parameters may be used to define the interpersonal, informational and decisional roles that categorize managerial roles.However, uncertainty exists on whether the departments have an elaborate way of tracking the implementation of their strategy activities.
In any organizations, performance is a major achievement in the managerial process and the study established that managerial roles and stakeholder involvement significantly influence the performance of National Government departments.The stakeholder involvement was found to have a moderating influence on the relationship between managerial roles and the performance.The performance can be estimated using the model Ŷ = (18.925-0.080M) + (-0.153 + 0. 017M)X with a significant R square change of 0.047 (p value is 0.007 which is less than 0.05).
This model implies that holding all other factors constant, the influence of managerial roles on the performance of the departments depends directly on the stakeholder involvement, which improves the performance by 4.7 percent.That is, an increase in stakeholder involvement results in an increase in the performance of the departments.To ensure accomplishment and achievement of the departmental strategic objectives and goals, the heads of departments use monitoring and evaluation, compliance to work plan time lines, tracking progress in performance and commitment to work execution plans through motivation, capacity building, guidance and strategic control.

Conclusion
This study examined the influence of managerial roles as strategy implementation driver on the performance of National Government departments of Kenya moderated by stakeholder involvement.The study established that the managerial roles and stakeholder involvement have significant influence on the performance departments in the National Government of Kenya moderated by the stakeholder involvement.
The heads of departments ensure commitment of employees to enhanced implementation of strategies mainly through tracking performance, motivation and capacity building to align employees to the implementation process while supervision aids in timely intervention on emerging challenges.Further, monitoring and supervision, planning and organizing, motivation and capacity building are the main managerial activities that contribute to enhanced implementation of the departmental strategies.
The National Government departments have an average performance which is significantly influenced by managerial roles moderated by stakeholder involvement.That is, the managerial roles and stakeholder involvement are significant strategy implementation drivers in the performance of the departments in the National Government of Kenya.The way the head of departments manage them may explain the average performance of the departments in the National Government of Kenya, which can be estimated using the model Ŷ = (18.925-0.080M) + (-0.153 + 0.017M)X.

Recommendations
The study concluded that managerial roles and stakeholder involvement are strategy implementation drivers that significantly influence the performance of the departments in the National Government of Kenya.Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that:


The National Government heads of departments should embrace managerial roles and stakeholder involvement as significant strategy implementation drivers critical in improving performance.


The leadership should review the managerial roles adopted and how the stakeholders are involvement with a view of anchoring their management in workplace performance and stakeholder management policies to provide for framework for re -engineering and an elaborate way of tracking the implementation process.


Most of the studies reviewed were found to be in the private sector and therefore, this study provides an additional knowledge on the literature on managerial roles and stakeholder involvement as a strategy implementation driver in the performance of public sector organizations.A further research on other possible strategy implementation drivers influencing the performance of the National Government Departments may be undertaken.


The study may be replicated to explore the influence of the managerial roles and the stakeholder involvement on the performance of departments in the County Government of Kenya.

Disclosure
No known conflict of interests from the authors.However, it is important to point out that this is part of an ongoing PhD study on strategy implementation drivers and performance of departments in the National Government departments in Kenya.

Table 1 .
Managerial roles items

Table 2 .
Employees commitment and of strategy implementation

Table 3 .
Functions contributing to strategy implementation

Table 4 .
Stakeholder Involvement Items

Table 5 .
Involving stakeholders during implementation

Table 7 .
Performance of departments items

Table 8 .
Ensuring program accomplishment

Table 9 .
Ensuring achievement of strategic objectives

Table 10 .
Correlations coefficients between variables

Table 11 .
ANOVA Test Statistics for Hypothesis One

Table 12 .
Summary statistics of the models