Determinants of Strategy Implementation on Performance of the Aviation Industry in Kenya

Abstract

The aviation industry plays a key role in the Kenya sector of economy and GDP, however it has been considered as weak in performance and has been having poor declining profits yearly a feature that has seen some airlines exiting the market due to inability to fund their operations. This study aimed at establishing the determinants of strategy implementation on performance of aviation industry in Kenya moderated by liberalization policy. Specifically, the study intended to establish the extent to which organization structure, human capital development, Innovation, strategic alliances, and organizational resources determine strategy implementation and organization performance of aviation industry in Kenya. The study used positivism as a philosophy, piloting was done using 27 respondents to test the validity of the instruments whose reliability was 0.720. The study was conducted on 13 registered airlines that formed the target population of the study using census and descriptive as the research design. Systematic random sampling was used to select the managers who participated in this study and formed the unit of observation. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 respondents who were managers. Data was analyzed and presented through descriptive statistics that is; mean scores, variances, standard deviation, probit regression and inferential statistics namely; while bivariate correlations and regression results were used to test the hypotheses. The results provided statistical evidence that a positive and significant influence exists between the independent variables and performance of the airlines. The findings of the study revealed that organization structure, human capital development, Innovation knowledge strategic alliances and organization resources were found to be positively related to performance of airlines in Kenya. In conclusion, the study recommended that aviation industry in Kenya should put in place organizational structure strategies as it leads to high performance. Furthermore, the study recommended that the aviation industry should ensure they have a specialized organization structure, high nature of the span of control, centralized structure and have departmentalization. On innovation and organizational resources, the study recommended that aviation industry should have an improved information technology, product design improvement adoption and frequently sharpen IT skills of the employees through training. The aviation should increase their financial base access, physical resources such as planes, and landing ground. The study further recommended that firms in aviation industry should also invest more in research and development, training, networking and innovation. On the alliances, the study recommended that airlines should put in place strategies that encourage alliances since such partnerships and collaboration have a positive influence on performance.