CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES AND THE ECONOMIC WELL-BEING OF MEMBERS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT SACCOS IN DAGORETTI SOUTH CONSTITUENCY, NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Members of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) are simultaneously the owners of the enterprise, the users of its financial services and the intended beneficiaries of its surplus, which makes governance quality consequential for household economic outcomes and not only for institutional survival. The Kenyan literature on SACCO governance, however, has been built almost entirely around organizational outcomes profitability, capital adequacy, liquidity and regulatory compliance leaving open whether governance is registered in the circumstances of individual members. This study assessed the influence of corporate governance practices on the economic well-being of members of Public Transport SACCOs in Dagoretti South Constituency, Nairobi County, Kenya. Guided by a positivist philosophy, it adopted a quantitative approach within an explanatory cross-sectional design. From a target population of 480 members and management representatives across 12 registered and operational Public Transport SACCOs, a sample of 218 was determined using Yamane’s formula and selected by multistage proportionate stratified sampling; 207 usable questionnaires were returned (95.0% response rate). Corporate governance was measured through seven indicators board accountability, transparency, board effectiveness, member participation, internal controls, disclosure and oversight of management and economic well-being through seven member-level indicators, both on five-point Likert scales with acceptable internal consistency (α = .824 and α = .854). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression at the 5% significance level. Respondents agreed that governance practices were in place (M = 3.90, SD = 1.01), rating internal controls highest (M = 4.02) and member participation lowest (M = 3.71), and reported positive economic well-being (M = 3.93, SD = 1.00). Governance correlated positively and significantly with economic well-being (r = .571, p < .01, n = 207). Within a multiple regression model that carried three further management-practice predictors from the parent study and explained 57.9% of the variance in economic well-being (R² = .579; F(4, 202) = 68.250, p < .001), corporate governance retained a significant positive partial effect (β = 0.191, B = 0.183, t = 3.155, p = .002), and the null hypothesis was rejected. Given the cross-sectional design and perceptual measures, the result is read as a significant positive association rather than demonstrated causation. The study supplies member-level evidence from an under-researched segment of Kenya’s cooperative sector and indicates that the governance dimensions through which members are incorporated into decision-making are both the weakest in this setting and the most promising site for improvement.