Effect of Strategic Management Drivers on Performance of Airports in Kenya

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to establish the effect of strategic management drivers on performance of airports in Kenya. This study is guided by the following specific objectives to find out the effects of strategic human capital on performance of airports in Kenya, to establish the effects of safety and security strategy on airports performance in Kenya, to determine the effects of strategic customer focus management practices on airports performance in Kenya, and to establish the effects of use of strategic ICT on airports performance in Kenya. The study was based on the Profit maximizing and competition based theory, Resource based theory, Contingency theory and Stakeholder theory. The study used descriptive and correlational research designs. The target population comprised of 2078 respondents cutting across the whole organization ranging from senior managers to staff that are directly linked to the airports operations from all the airports in Kenya. Questionnaires were administered randomly to a sample of 120 respondents across the departments in the organization after a pilot study involving twenty heads of sections in JKIA. The statistical package for social sciences, SPSS (version 20.0) was used for data analysis. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. Stratified simple random sampling procedure was used. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships among the variables. A moderate positive linear relationship was found to exist between four independent variables strategic information and communication technology, strategic customer focus, safety and security strategy and strategic human capital and the dependent variable organizational performance. For all the four variables the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was taken to hold thus confirming that there was a positive linear relationship between all the independent variables and the dependent variable. Based on the findings of the study it was found that three of the independent variables i.e. Strategic Information and Communication Technology, Strategic Human Capital and Strategic Customer Focus have a strong relationship with performance of Airports. However the relationship between Strategic Security and Safety and performance of Airports is not strong. Therefore the study recommended that Airports in Kenya and other organizations should invest in the latest and modern technology, focus on the customers’ needs, and also invest in human capital for improved performance.