Individualized consideration and the growth of intra-regional trade in the East African community

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the influence of individualized consideration of the Council of Ministers
on the perceived growth of Intra-Regional Trade in the EAC. The research question for the study: How
does individualized consideration of the Council of Ministers influence the growth of Intra-Regional
Trade in the EAC? The study adopted positivism research philosophy and explanatory sequential mixed
design and was anchored on the transformational leadership theory. Population for the study was 205
Senior Trade Officers and Senior technical officers at the EAC headquarters. A sample size of 152 was
drawn using random sampling technique. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire
containing open and closed ended questions, while interview guide was used for the technical officers.
Data collected was coded, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 24 to obtain descriptive and
inferential statistics. Results showed that the individualized consideration significantly influenced the
growth of intra-regional trade in the EAC, R2=.366, F(1,121) = 69.786, p<.05; β =.561,
t(7.868)=8.354, p<.05 leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Based on the findings, it was
concluded that to enhance the growth of intra-regional trade, the council should be aware that their
individualized consideration behavior enhances the growth of intra-regional trade. The study
recommends for further research to understand the influence of the individualized consideration of the
Summit members of the EAC on the growth of intra-regional trade.