I. INTRODUCTION

Transformational leadership style is widely researched as a style that is positively related to individual and organizational performance (Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2016). Transformational leadership style is exercised where followers and leaders elevate each other to greater motivation and morality levels. The style cultivates commitment of the followers to the objectives of the organization and shapes the culture of the organization in a way that is in line with the strategy of the organization (Yukl, 2013). It is directed towards inspiration of the followers to pursue and share the leader's vision and motivate the followers to move past their own interests of exchanging compliance and effort for rewards (Howell & Avolio, 1992). Transformational leadership has four main elements, namely idealized influence or charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration (Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2016).

Idealized influence or charisma that describes charming leaders, whose compelling presence and glamour, attract followers who desire to be like them and assist them in achieving their goals. It is the leader's way of appealing followers at an emotional level and promoting cohesiveness. Inspirational motivation refers to how leaders use incentives to make followers participate in achieving their vision by convincing them their contribution is key and irreplaceable. It is the way that leader inspires subordinates with expressions of visions. Intellectual stimulation describes the way a leader challenges his/her follower to think creatively, encourages them to express themselves creatively, to take risks and supports them in all activities to meet goals of the team. Individualized consideration refers to how the leader gets attentive to the followers' needs, sympathizing with them, and providing a conducive atmosphere for them and acts as a mentor (Northouse, 2016).

Transformational leadership improves performance, morale and the motivation of followers through various mechanisms. These include; linking the organization's collective identity and the follower's sense of self and identity to the mission; inspiring followers by becoming a role model to them; inspiring followers to own their work, and knowing their strengths and weaknesses and hence align them with tasks that maximize their performance. It allows members to freely communicate their ideas and innovations (thinking outside the box) and the group's interest comes first (Odumeru, 2013).

Renewed governance reforms that lay emphasis on devolution of power as a way of promoting participatory democracy, improve systems of governance and foster economic growth in rural areas have been adopted in many nations in the world (World Bank, 2013). A key component of devolved governance is the public participation process which enhances decision making, reduces citizen cynicism toward government and builds stakeholder consensus in government (Sanoff, 2000; Weeks, 2000). However, Furia and Wallace-Jones (2000) show that in order for participation of public to be effective, the objectives of engaging the public should be met. Unfortunately, recent studies show that in most democracies, engaging citizens in public participation remains a challenge (Carreira, Machado & Vasconcelos, 2016).

Designing and implementing programmes related to public participation requires effective leadership (Crosby & Bryson, 2005) to ensure that different leadership roles such as sponsoring, defending and facilitating the participation processes are fulfilled (Bryson, Quick, Slotterback, & Crosby, 2013). Although the role of leadership in improving participation has been emphasized (Cornwall, 2008; Riristuningsia, Wahyunadi & Harsono, 2017), past studies have only focused on aspects of structures to meet legislative or fiscal requirements and building capacity as barriers to effective public participation (Ghartey, Ghartey & Essaw, 2016). The impact of leadership approaches on citizen participation remains understudied (Beer, 2014; Ghartey, Mensah, & Ghartey, 2016; Greasley & Stoker, 2008; Rathore, 2012; Van Wart, 2013).

In Kenya, there are two levels of government created on equal basis by the Constitution of Kenya (2010). There is a National government and 47 devolved county governments with clearly defined geographical boundaries. The two levels of governments have clear mandate to provide a range of significant services to the citizens. Further, the Constitution makes public participation a central part of Kenya's governance system and mandates leaders at both levels of governments to enhance and facilitate participation of the public in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them. Moreover, the High Court of Kenya warned that Public participation ought to be real and ought not to be treated as a mere formality for the purposes of fulfilment of the Constitutional dictates county leaders should ensure that the spirit of public participation is attained both quantitatively and qualitatively (County Public Participation Guidelines (2016). Despite the aforesaid constitutional imperatives, reports indicate that public participation still remains dismally low in the county governments in Kenya (ICPAK, 2014; Oxfam, 2017; Transition Authority, 2014). Undoubtedly, enhancing public participation requires leaders who stand on a foundation of good governance principles and whether the leadership style is attributed to the low public participation is yet to be established through empirical research.

a) Statement of the Problem

Good and inclusive governance is imperative for social and economic growth at all levels of governments (World Bank, 2013). To realize this aspiration, the Constitution of Kenya 2010, mandates leaders in the county governments to facilitate and promote public participation as a governance approach that is widely accredited to deliver decisions that are transparent, accountable, responsive, participatory and inclusive of interested stakeholders. Accordingly and to instill public participation in the national values and principles of governance, numerous legal provisions and guidelines were instituted at the county government level.

Despite the aforementioned constitutional and legislative provisions, reports available indicate that public participation remains dismally low and is not effective in the county governments in Kenya (ICPAK, 2014; KIPPRA, 2015; Opiyo, 2017; Oxfam, 2017; Transition Authority, 2014). Moreover, where participation has occurred, it has mainly been rhetoric, ignored citizens' input, and no feedback provided back to the public (SID, 2016). Consequently, citizens are dissatisfied with county decisions (Gitegi & Iravo, 2016; Muriu, 2012) and in certain cases, citizens have filed court cases against their county governments where their leaders made decisions without their input (KSG, 2015). Undoubtedly, these challenges demonstrate the need to improve the leadership behavior in the county governments in Kenya.

Extant literatures shows that transformational leadership style is positively related to individual and organizational performance (Bass, 1985; Northouse, 2016). However, empirical studies linking transformational leadership style and public participation are scarce. The few studies in Kenya on public participation such as Gitegi and Iravo (2016), Kaseya and Kihonge (2016), Muriu (2012); Opiyo (2017) and Siala (2015) focused on other factors impacting public participation but did not explore the link between leadership styles and public participation. Given the centrality of public participation in governance, the present study was informed by the need to discover the relationship between transformational leadership style and public participation in the county governments in Kenya.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

a) Theoretical Review

James Victor Downton, an American sociologist is credited with the origination of the term transformational leadership in 1973 which was further explored by political scientist, James Mac Gregor Burns (Burns, 1978) and was developed as a new paradigm of leadership by Bass (1985) and Bass and Avolio (1990). Transformational leadership motivates the follower beyond self-interests through inspiration, ideal influence (charisma), individualized respect or intellectual motivation. The follower's ideals and maturity level are elevated, and also their concerns for self-actualization, achievement and the welfare of others, the organization and the community (Bass, 1999). Transformational leaders are proactive in that they can develop followers' capabilities, help map new directions, mobilize resources, facilitate and support employees, and respond to organizational challenge. They consider change whenever it is necessary for the organization (Bass, 1990).

According to Denhadrt, Denhardt, and Aristigueta (2002), transformational leadership is based in studies of political as well as governmental leadership. They further asserted that leaders in the public space, help in creating their community's vision for the country or state; and also help in building the public policy agenda; mobilization of the opinion of the public with regard to policy proposals, and are committed in implementing and shaping policies and programs undertaken by the government. As noted by Wright and Pandey (2010), this emphasis on the mission makes transformational leadership naturally suited to the public sector, whose employees are inherently required to see beyond self-interest for the well-being of the larger community.

The principle of people's participation underscores representative democracies and underpins 'participatory democracy'. Thus, participatory democracy is among a number of democratic theories that are conceived as complements to or variants of representative democracies and stems its roots from an Athenian statesman called Solon in $7^{\text{th}}$ and $8^{\text{th}}$ century. This theory argues that, where there is higher degree of participation, people are more likely to believe that the decisions of the state are binding and hence form a less estranged attitude towards the government (Pateman, 1970; Day, 2017).

In the Kenya context, public participation is a process in which the Citizens, governmental as well as non-governmental groups influence law making, policy decision making, delivery of service, oversight and matters of development that affect them. It is a mutual interactive process whereby the bearer of duty passes information in transparent and timely manner, involves the public in making decision, responds and is responsible to their needs. Active involvement of the public in the process takes place when problem at stake directly relates to the public (County Public Participation Guidelines, 2016). Based on this operational definition four constructs of public participation were explored. These are: use of public participation mechanisms; public involvement and influence in decision-making; timely and transparent communication of information; and responsiveness and accountability of the agent to the public.

b) Empirical Review

Mwakasangula et al., (2015) examined the effect of leadership behaviour on good governance using a cross-sectional design covering Rungwe and Babati Districts in Tanzania using a sample size of 125 households. The effect of leadership behavior was measured based on participation which is an aspect of good governance. The study results indicated a strong relationship between transformational leadership behavior and effective villagers' participation in different development activities. For instance, in villages where the leaders were said to be charismatic and supportive, the villagers' participation in decision making processes and funds mobilization for development projects such as schools, and dispensaries construction were found to have been effective and efficient.

Egessa (2013) analyzed the effect of transformational leadership paradigm on service delivery to customers in local authorities in Kenya's Western region. The author used a correlation survey design and collected data from 322 respondents who were employed by selected local authorities in the Kenya's Western region using MLQ centered questionnaire. The study used both Pearson's correlation coefficient test and descriptive statistics for analysis. The study observed that transformational leadership paradigm was positively and significantly related to customer service delivery at 0.05 significance level (r = 0.689; p < 0.05).

Emery and Barker (2007) studied how transformational affect job satisfaction and the organizational commitment of customer contact personnel using a sample of 77 branch managers and 47 store managers. The hypotheses were tested using a correlation analysis. The findings showed that the transformational factors, namely individualized deliberation, intellectual stimulus and charisma are correlated more with organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Charisma of the leader by itself, excellently predicts employee attitude. That way, this feature seems to have value in training programs and selection of the leader in the service sector (Emery & Barker (2007).

Men and Stacks (2013) investigated the effect that styles of leadership and empowerment of employees have on perceived reputation of the organization through hypothesized model testing. They carried out a quantitative survey on-line comprising of 700 randomly selected employees ailing from work units that were diverse in a Fortune 500 company in the U.S. The results showed that, the way employees perceive organizational reputation is absolutely influenced by transformational leadership style, not just indirectly but also directly through employee empowerment.

The findings by Men and Stacks (2013) observed that attitude of employees towards the company is determined by their opinion on how they are treated and whether their contributions are considered in decision-making. Employees feel more valued, accepted and trusted by transformational leaders, thus shaping employees' favorable evaluation of the organization indirectly. These views were also shared by Bass, (1999), Aldoory and Toth (2004), and Castro Perin'an and Bueno (2008) who opined and added that transformational leadership is made up of comprise sharing of power in participation and decision making.

Zhu, Avolio and Walumbwa (2009) examined the facilitating role of follower features with transformational leadership and follower engagement in work. The study was based in the context of knowledge workers in South Africa. They used a sample of 48 supervisors and their 140 followers from various industries. The study findings indicated that transformational leadership impacts follower more positively in their work engagement.

Amgheib (2016) examined the manner in which leadership styles and follower characteristics determine the work outcome of followers in Libyan organizations. The study employed a deductive approach and used a questionnaire for data collection from 667 respondents from across 24 public sector organizations in Libya. Data analysis was carried out using multi-level modeling techniques to establish the type of relationships that existed between independent and the dependent variables. The study used moderation analysis in examining the effect of followership on leadership performance. The research findings showed that due to transformational style of leadership, there is an induced positive level of work engagement, job satisfaction and also organizational commitment of employees. Transactional leadership style was positively linked to work engagement and job satisfaction (Amgheib, 2016).

In their study, Khan and Anjum (2013) explored the citizens' community boards (CCBs) role of promoting citizen participation in development projects of Muzaffargarh District in Pakistan. A survey was conducted out of a sample of 93 CCBs randomly selected. They found that the public that participates actively is a key component of solutions and is regarded as directly influencing the accomplishment of development projects. Additionally, it results in efficient, effective and attains sustainable development as well as improving the quality of outcomes. Participation helps ensure better designing of projects, better targeted benefits, inputs of projects delivered in a timely manner and more cost effectively, and that distribution of project benefits is more equitable and with smaller spillages as a result of corruption and other rent seeking activity. These roles and benefits were also cited by other scholars including Mansuri and Rao (2003).

III. METHODOLOGY

The study adopted both descriptive and explanatory research designs. The study population comprised citizens who are registered voters in all the 47 counties in Kenya. A two stage sampling technique was used to select 8 counties and a sample of 400 respondents to participate in the study using questionnaires to collect data. A pilot test was conducted to detect and correct weaknesses in design and instrumentation. Of the 400 respondents, 296 completed the questionnaires properly giving a response rate of $74\mathrm{\%}$. Cronbach's alpha was used to test for internal reliability of the survey items used in the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. The study used correlation and regression analysis to analyze the association between the variables aided by SPSS software version 26. The presentation of the findings was done using tables and figures.

IV. RESULTS

a) Descriptive Findings

i. Public Participation

Eleven research questions were posed to the respondents to collect the perceptions of how leaders handled public participation in their county governments. Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics results generated for public participation. From the results presented on Table 1, it is evident that to a moderate extent (mean of 3.03 and a spread or SD of 1.191), counties use different channels for public participation such as holding public hearings, barazas, neighborhood meetings, citizen surveys, and internet. The results also indicate that to a moderate extent (mean of 2.9 and a spread of 1.111), respondents agreed that during public participation forums, there is a two-way interactive communication process where county government representatives convey county information and public views. On the question of whether the county governments have sufficiently skilled and well-trained officers or experts who facilitate public participation meetings, an affirmative mean score of 2.83 (to a moderate extent) and a spread/SD of 1.167 was achieved.

A question posed to respondents as to whether county governments involved citizens in county activities such as budget making processes, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and service delivery in the county resulted into a mean score of 2.48 and a SD of 1.150 (meaning a majority agreed to a little extent). Respondents were also asked whether the public is involved in the vetting of county government public officers and the results were a mean score of 2.14 and SD 1.189. This meant that respondents agreed only to a little extent to the research question asked. A majority of respondents agreed that to a moderate extent (mean of 2.84 and SD of 1.116), people involved in the participation exercise are inclusive of the diversity of communities, gender, disabilities and minorities. A majority of respondents also agreed to a little extent that the turnout in public participation forums is high enough to give reliable results (a mean score of 2.55 and SD of 1.186). These result support KIPPRA (2015) whose study concluded that county leadership has not effectively engaged the public and Mitullah (2016) who found that only 29 of the citizens indicated that they were satisfied with the extent of public participation in their county.

On whether citizens easily understand the information provided by the county governments during public participation, a majority agreed to a moderate extent (mean 2.64 and a reduced variability of a SD of 1.094). A similar moderate extent response with a mean of 2.60 and a SD of 1.166 was achieved on the question of whether the public participation process is transparent so that the public can see what is going on and how the county government makes decisions. A mean score of 2.25, means that respondents agreed to a little extent to the questions that county governments respond to any public inquiries in a timely manner and comprehensively and that the public is informed of the output of their public participation i.e. whether or not their ideas were taken up by the county governments. The two last research questions had SDs of 1.055 and 1.096 respectively. These results support the notion that the leaders ignored citizen input and did not give feedback (SID, 2016; KSG, 2015; Transparency International, 2015).

A number of the responses to the research questions on public participation indicate that a majority (mean scores 2.59) of the respondents either agreed to a little extent or to a moderate extent that their counties engaged actively in public participation activities. With 10 out of 11 means scores below 3.00, these results corroborate empirical findings that public participation remains generally low and should be improved (Oxfam, 2017; Carreira, Machado & Vasconcelos, 2016; Transition Authority, 2015; Khan & Anjum, 2013). In addition, the study results reinforce arguments by Bevir (2013) that governance matters have gone past government and so, there is need and scope for public to be more involved in enhancing participation. The results further concur with findings by United Nations (2015) and Rowe & Frewer (2000) that contemporary balanced governance systems result into better accountability results when citizens are adequately engaged in determining their destiny.

The mean scores for the public participation constructs used in the study were generated as detailed in table 2. The respondents perception was that the participation process mechanisms were moderate (mean score 2.94), public involvement and influence in decision making was tending towards moderate (mean score 2.5), transparency, sufficient and provision of timely communication of information was tending towards moderate (mean score 2.6) while responsiveness and accountability were only to a little extent (mean score 2.24).

The overall level of public participation in the county governments had a mean score of 2.6 which was below the average mean score of 3.00 and corresponds to 40%. The results were consistent with Mitullah (2016) who found that only 29% of the citizens indicated that they were satisfied with the extent of public participation in their county. The results further corroborate with Oxfam (2017) and Transition Authority (2015) that public participation remains low and KIPPRA (2015) that the County leadership has not effectively engaged the public in participation. The mean score for timely receipt of transparent information was 2.63 or 40.75% which was consistent with KIPPRA (2015) who observed that only 32.8% respondents were involved to the extent of receiving information.

ii. Transformational Leadership Style

The research sought to determine the influence of Transformational Leadership style on public participation in the County governments in Kenya. Eight research questions were posed to the respondents to measure the perception of transformation leadership practices. Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics results generated for the transformational leadership style. From Table 3, the study found out that a majority of respondents felt that their county leaders; to a moderate extent (mean of 3.33 and SD of 1.261) talk about a bright and successful future for the county; to a little extent (mean of 2.29 and SD of 1.150) go beyond self-interest for the good of the citizens in the county; to a little extent (mean of 2.40 and SD of 1.095) have built trust and confidence with citizens in the county; to a moderate extent (mean of 2.47 and SD of 1.115) are careful of the moral and ethical consequences of their decision; and to a moderate extent (mean of 2.51 and SD of 1.160) do examine proposal and question whether such proposals or suggestions are appropriate for the county citizens' needs. A moderate response was obtained (with a mean score of 2.46 and SD of 1.145) where respondents felt that county leaders consider divergent ideas and perspectives when solving problems in the county; to a small extent (mean of 2.34 and SD of 1.179) county leaders help other leaders to develop their strengths and coach them to be better leaders, and to a small extent (mean of 2.37 and SD of 1.151) thought that county leaders consider citizens' individual needs, abilities and aspirations and not just as part of a group.

A study carried out in western Kenya by Egessa (2013) observed that transformational leadership paradigm was positively and significantly related to service delivery, a fact that is also confirmed by the survey question on how positive county leaders are regarding the successful future of counties in Kenya (a majority recorded a mean of 3.33). A study by Men and Stacks (2013) concluded that the way employees perceive organizational reputation is absolutely influenced by transformational leadership style, not just indirectly but also through empowerment. A study by Emery and Barker (2007) observed that transformational factors, namely individualized deliberation, intellectual stimulus and charisma are correlated more with organizational commitment and job satisfaction compared to management-by-exception and contingency reward transactional factors.

Based on the results of the study, it is notable that while citizens and the county leaders have high expectations about a bright future of their counties, the responses obtained (a majority of them being "to a little or to a moderate extent") demonstrate that the citizens are not convinced enough that the current leaders possess the necessary transformational leadership skills that will lead to the realization of those expectations. A review of the transformational leadership theory revealed that a key characteristic of this style of leadership is that followers are motivated beyond self-interests through inspiration, ideal influence (charisma), individualized respect or intellectual motivation (Bass, 1999). The results, thus, seem to suggest that the leaderships exhibited fall a little short and thus the fear of harvesting the bright future that the citizens are seeing for their counties.

In addition, the mean scores of the transformational leadership constructs were generated as summarized in table 4. The results revealed that the mean scores for charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration were 2.3939, 3.3322, 2.4865 and 2.3547 respectively. The findings suggest that inspirational motivation was the dominant constructs that was observed by the respondents. This means that at an average level, leaders have a clear vision that they are able to articulate to the followers. Further, the level of transformational leadership style practiced in the counties had a mean score of 2.53 which was below the average score of 3.00.

The finding corroborates Kung'u (2019) study which found that leaders largely use inspirational motivation construct of transformational leadership to make change possible in selected counties in Kenya. Similar, the results concur with Springer, Walkowiak and Bernaciak (2020) who also found that inspiration motivation component of transformational leadership was also largely used by commune mayors from the Greater Poland Province, and like in the current study, individualized consideration was least practiced component.

b) Correlation between the Variables

i. Correlation between Transformational Leadership Style and Public Participation

The findings in table 5 indicated that there is a strong positive correlation (r = 0.649**; p-value <0.001) between transformational leadership style and public participation. This mean a unit linear change in transformational leadership will results to.0649 change in public participation in the county governments in Kenya.

c) Regression Analysis

i. Transformational Leadership and Public Participation

Simple linear regression was carried out to determine the relationship between transformational leadership and public participation in county governments in Kenya. It was hypothesized that:

$H_{01}$: There is no significant relationship between Transformational Leadership Style and public participation in the county governments in Kenya.

The findings presented in Model Summary Table 6 indicate that $R^2=.421$ which means that transformational leadership style explains 42.1% of changes in public participation in county governments in Kenya. The remaining 57.9% of the variation in the public participation can be accounted for by other factors excluded in the model or by chance. The ANOVA indicates that the model is statistically significant as the p-value is less than.05 (F-calculated $(1,294)=213.460$, P<0.01). This shows that transformational leadership style significantly predicts public participation.

Table 5 shows that the coefficient of transformational leadership style ( $\beta =.606$ ) was positive and statistically significantly (t = 14.610, p <.01). This indicates that a unit increase in transformational leadership style increases public participation by 0.606 units. Consequently, the null hypothesis that $H_{01}$: that here is no significant relationship between transformational leadership style and public participation in the county governments in Kenya was rejected and hence the study concluded that transformational leadership style had a positive and significant influence on public participation in the county governments in Kenya.

The model $Y=\beta 0+{\beta }_1\ast X_1+\epsilon$ was fitted and the resultant equation was as follows:

Where $\hat{Y}=$ Public Participation and $X_1=$ Transformational Leadership Style

The findings were in agreement with the observation by Mwakasangula et al. (2015) who found a strong relationship between transformational leadership behavior and effective villagers' participation in different development activities in Tanazania. For instance, in villages where the leaders exhibited transformational leadership attributes, the villagers' participation in decision making processes was found to have been effective and efficient. The results are also consistent with Ghartey, Mensah and Ghartey (2016) who examined how the leadership approaches have influenced participation and performance of local governments in the Central Region of Ghana. The study revealed that the leadership approaches influenced participation and enabled the followers to feel enthusiastic and take responsibility.

d) Transformational Leadership Style Constructs and Public participation

To further understand the relationship between transformational leadership style and public participation, multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between transformational leadership style constructs and public participation. Model summary in Table 6 indicates an $R^2$ of 0.421, which means that 42.1% of changes in public participation can be accounted for by individualized consideration, inspiration motivation, charisma/idealized influence and intellectual stimulation. Analysis of variance indicates that charisma/idealized influence, inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration have significant relationship with public participation (F-calculated (4, 291) = 52.979, P < 0.01).

Further, there was a positive and significant relationship between all components and public participation since all the slopes were positive and the p values <0.05. The ranking of the components indicates that intellectual simulation had the highest influence ( $\beta$ = 0.184) on public participation in county governments in Kenya followed by charisma/idealized influence ( $\beta =0.16$ ), then individualized influence ( $\beta =0.15$ ) and inspiration motivation ( $\beta =0.108$ ). The data was fit for application in the multiple regression model:

$Y=\beta 0+{\beta }_{i1}{X}_{i1}+{\beta }_{i2}{X}_{i2}+{\beta }_{i3}{X}_{i3}+{\beta }_{i4}{X}_{i4}+\epsilon$ and the resultant equation of the study was:

Public participation= 1.05 + 0.16* Charism/Idealized influence + 0.108* Inspiration motivation+0.184* Intellectual Stimulation+ 0.15* Individualized consideration.

The findings were in agreement with Springer, Walkowiak and Bernaciak (2020) who documented significant effect of intellectual stimulation and idealized influence have on transformational leadership in Poland. They researched on 49 mayors' style of governance adopted by the political leaders of rural communes in Poland and its links with their engagement in social activation and the use of participatory tools. The implication of intellectual stimulation is that the county leaders should not only challenge the status quo but they also encourage it in the followers. The implication of idealized influence is that county leaders should endeavor to win the followers trust and respect the leader so they emulate and internalize the leader's values and beliefs.

V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

a) Summary

The findings revealed that there is a statistically significant influence of transformational leadership style on the public participation in the county governments in Kenya. Transformational leadership style was found to have a strong positive correlation (r =.649, p <.05, 2 tailed) with public participation in the county governments in Kenya, with a $\beta =.606$, p <.05 and $R^2$ of 0.421. This suggests that the more transformational leadership is practiced, the higher the public participation in the county governments, and that transformational leadership style accounts for 42.1% of the variance in public participation.

All the attributes of transformational leadership style (individualized consideration, inspiration motivation, charisma/idealized influence and intellectual stimulation) had a positive and statistically significant relationship with public participation. Intellectual stimulation component had the strongest influence while charisma/idealized influence had the least influence. The findings were in agreement with empirical research presented in the paper which showed that the effect of transformational behavior positively influenced public participation.

VI. CONCLUSION

The study concluded that there is a statistically significant influence of transformational leadership style on the public participation in the county governments in Kenya. A positive increase in transformational leadership style practices by the county leaders will lead to an increase in public participation. Further, study findings established that intellectual stimulation and inspiration motivation components of transformational leadership had the strongest positive significant impact on public participation.

VII. RECOMMENDATIONS

The study recommended that leaders in the county governments in Kenya should endeavour to practice transformative leadership in order to promote public participations and overall performance in the county governments. To motivate followers beyond self-interests, leaders should mainly focus on enhancing intellectual stimulation by challenging the status quo and encouraging the followers to do the same, and inspiration motivation by the leaders demonstrating ability to articulate a clear vision to the followers.