Strategic Management Practices On Performance Of Water Service Providers In The Lower-Eastern Kenya

Abstract

This study focused on performance of water service providers in the Lower Eastern Kenya. Performance is gauged on the organisation’s ability to efficient supply adequate, quality, reliable and affordable water while the organisation maintains positive financial and market growth. Water service providers in Kenya face significant performance challenges characterized by Non-Revenue Water exceeding 45% as recorded by The World Bank Group (2021) and Water Services Regulatory Board (2022). Further, water coverage at 60% is significantly below international benchmarks. Lower-Eastern Kenya suffers up to 92% domestic water scarcity despite reasonable availability of water sources. This suggests that factors beyond water resource availability contribute to the dismal organizational performance. The study therefore examined the four dimensions of strategic management practices - environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy control - and tested the moderating role of water demand. Resource-Based View of the firm was the underpinning theory supported by the Dynamic Capabilities Theory, Agency Theory and the Stakeholder Theory. The study was a correlational survey anchored on positivist philosophy employing mixed methods. The computed sample size using Yamane’s formula was 263 from a target population of ten organisations with a sampling frame of 758 employees. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and analysis resulted in all four Null Hypotheses being rejected. Thus, the four independent variables acting singly or collectively had positive and significant influence on organizational performance. This confirmed that strategic management practices significantly influences organisational performance. Specifically, environmental scanning followed by strategy control had the highest impact on organizational performance. However, in the combined model, water demand acted significantly as an independent variable but not as a moderator. The study recommends that water organisations should embrace strategic management practices, invest on their capabilities, improve efficiency and empower their employees for better performance.