The Moderating Role of Staff Commitment in the Relationship Between Strategic Financial Management Practices and Service Delivery: Empirical Evidence From a Public Water Utility

Abstract

This study investigated the moderating role of staff commitment in the relationship between strategic financial management practices and service delivery in a public water utility. Grounded in Agency Theory, the Resource-Based View, and the Balanced Scorecard Theory, the research employed a descriptive cross-sectional design with a mixed-methods approach. Data were collected from 481 respondents comprising NWSC managers and customers in the Kampala Metropolitan Region. Hierarchical regression analysis using Hayes' PROCESS Macro (Model 1) was employed to test the moderating effects. The findings revealed that staff commitment significantly moderates the relationship between strategic financial management practices and service delivery, with varying effects across the four practices. The interaction between strategic planning and staff commitment was positive and significant (β = 0.068, p = 0.023); strategic budgeting and staff commitment was positive and highly significant (β = 0.114, p = 0.001); strategic risk management and staff commitment was positive and significant (β = 0.096, p < 0.001); and strategic ongoing procedures and staff commitment was positive and significant (β = 0.089, p = 0.004). The conditional effects demonstrated that the effectiveness of strategic financial management practices becomes substantially stronger when employee commitment is high. The Johnson-Neyman analysis revealed that the effect of strategic planning becomes significant when staff commitment exceeds 0.047 standard deviations above the mean; strategic budgeting becomes significant when commitment exceeds -0.0213 standard deviations below the mean; strategic risk management is significant for 97.92% of respondents; and strategic ongoing procedures become significant only when commitment exceeds 0.2872 standard deviations above the mean. The study concludes that staff commitment is not merely an independent predictor of service delivery but a strategic organizational capability that amplifies the effectiveness of strategic financial management practices. The findings provide strong empirical support for adopting integrated financial and human resource management approaches in public utilities seeking sustainable improvements in service delivery.