Supply Chain Leagility, Organizational Characteristics and Performance of Humanitarian Aid Organizations in Kenya

Abstract

In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambigous humanitarian environment, adopting a purely lean or a purely agile supply chain is not effective. Humanitarian organizations are struggling to obtain the highest possible performance from their supply chains by utilizing and adopting various supply chain designs. This is upon realization that despite the huge chunks of money pumped into humanitarian sector, stringent oversight by donors and expectations from vulnerable populations, humanitarian supply chains still respond in a sluggish, inefficient and poorly coordinated manner to emergencies. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of supply chain leagility on performance of humanitarian aid organizations in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the influence of supply chain responsiveness, supply chain resilience, supply chain efficiency, supply chain integration and the moderating effect of organizational characteristics on the performance of humanitarian aid organizations in Kenya. The underpinning theories and models in this study included; Decoupling Point theory; Complex Adaptive Systems Theory, Theory of Constraints, Relational View Theory, Theory of Performance and Grey Incidence Analysis Model. Survey research design was employed for this study as it enabled the combination of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The positivist philosophy was used in this study. The study entailed a census of all the 330 humanitarian aid organizations carrying out their operations in Kenya with supply chain managers as the unit of observation. Objectively developed questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The pilot study was conducted from 10% of the entire population. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics was used aided by SPSS version 24 to facilitate data analysis. Inferential data analysis was done using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and multiple regression analysis through stepwise method. The data was presented using a combination of statistical and graphical techniques. Trend analysis was used to spot a pattern on the sub-constructs of performance of humanitarian aid organizations for five years. The study findings revealed that supply chain responsiveness, supply chain resilience, supply chain efficiency and supply chain integration jointly are positively associated with performance of humanitarian aid organizations. Organizational characteristics was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between supply chain leagility and performance of humanitarian aid organizations in Kenya. The findings of this study established that most humanitarian aid organizations had knowingly or unknowingly partially implemented leagility design in their supply chains. The findings further showed the essence of the country to be prepared to reduce the effect of disasters on people and livelihoods. While the study found that resource allocation for disaster preparedness was on the rise, the culture of preparedness was still lacking in the country. Based on these findings and conclusions, the study recommended that in order to achieve and sustain a supply chain that is responsive to the changing needs of vulnerable people, humanitarian aid organizations should design, implement and fully adopt leagility design in humanitarian supply chains. Humanitarian aid organizations are recommended to explore and embrace advanced and emerging technologies to improve their supply chain leagility. The study further recommended for a creation of a common disaster preparedness plan amongst humanitarian actors and formulation of backup and continuity plans to ensure minimal supply chain disruptions. Donors on the other hand were encouraged to strengthen local capacity of affected communities in preventing, preparing for, mitigating as well as responding to crises and increase their funding on humanitarian aid operations. This research was based on humanitarian aid organizations in Kenya and there is need to undertake similar studies in public or commercial sector to uncover the underlying relationships between supply chain leagility and performance as the findings may identify interesting comparisons.