Stratford Peer Reviewed Journals and Books
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Assessing the Influence of Codification on Performance in Commercial Banks in Kenya
No full textThe main objective of the study was to establish the relationship knowledge management strategy and performance of commercial banks in Kenya. Commercial banks are beheld as knowledge-intensive organizations. This understanding is grounded on the reasoning that the basic resources are intangible as most of their activities are conformed to be work of an intellectual nature. Codification was identified as one of the strategies that an organization can employ to manage knowledge. The study adopted descriptive study of the 43 licensed commercial banks in Kenya as at December 2017. The unit of observation comprised of 172 senior managers drawn from the Human Resource Department, Risk and Compliance, Credit and the Finance department. Qualitative and quantitative research design was undertaken to carry out the research. The final report was compiled after carrying out a census of all the 43 banks which constituted the target population. Primary data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires and interviews. Binary logistic regression model was employed based on the dichotomy nature of the dependent variable. The findings established that codification strategy was a significant predictor of firm performance among commercial banks in Kenya. The findings pointed out that the odds of commercial banks that embraced codification strategy were more than banks that operated without the strategy in place. The conclusion was informed by data obtained from primary and secondary sources. The study concluded that codification strategy is necessary to generate unique database of knowledge which an organization can continuously exploit to attain good performance and a competitive edge in a disruptive environment.
Keywords: Codification, Knowledge, Management, Strategy, Commercial, Performanc
Networking and Access to Credit by Women Owned Small and Medium Enterprises
No full textBusiness networking has been gaining grounds as one of the factors that influence the success of business entities in the recent years. The aims of this study was therefore to establish the influence of networking on access to credit by women owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A descriptive research design guided by cross sectional survey was adopted for the study. The target population was drawn from women owned enterprises specifically owners of businesses in Nairobi County, Kenya. A sample of 370 was derived from the population. Data was collected from the respondents using structured questionnaires. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 24, both descriptive and inferential statistics (correlation analysis and multiple regressions) were used to establish hypothesized relationships between the variables. The results were presented in form of tables, graphs, charts, means, standard deviations, t and f statistics. The findings of the study revealed that networking statistically and significantly predicts the access to credit by SMEs owned by women (i.e., the regression model is a good fit of the data) and that networking significantly influence the access to credit by SMEs owned by women in Kenya.
Key words: Networking, access to credit and women owned SME
Internal Organizational Environment and Implementation of Strategic Plan in the Public Sector: A Case of Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited
No full textThe Kenya Power Lighting and Company (KPLC) Limited is a dominating player in the energy sector and plays a key role in contributing to the growth of the country's economy. However, statistics on KPLC show that they have been unable to achieve their strategic objectives. The internal organizational environment consists of factors within the firm that affect the achievement of its objectives. The general objective of this study wase to evaluate the internal organizational environment on implementation of strategic plans in the public sector in Kenya, the case of KPLC. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to determine the influence of human resource on strategic plan implementation in the public sector; to investigate influence of corporate leadership on implementation of strategic plan in public sector in Kenya; to find out the influence of organizational structure on strategic plan implementation in public sector in Kenya and to find out the influence of organizational culture on the strategic plan implementation in public sector in Kenya. The study is beneficial to the public sector, researchers and policy makers. The study was anchored on Resource Based View theory, the Institutional theory and the Contingency theory. The study used descriptive research design because it enhances systematic description that is as accurate, valid and reliable as possible regarding the responses. The study was limited to a target population of 150 staff especially the management staff of Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited based at its headquarter. This descriptive study utilized a target population sample size of 44 respondents which represented 30% of the target population. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition the study used multiple regression model in analyzing the data. The study established that; human resource personnel in KPLC are qualified to enhance implementation of the firm's strategic plan; that top leadership equips employees with relevant skills to enable them carry out strategic activities; KPLC structure is flexible for making quick decisions; top management have put in place clear rules and regulations to foster implementation of plans. However, it was noted that when it comes to easily adopting to changes in environment, respondents are not able to work as a team and implement strategic plans efficiently. The recommendation of the study is that human resource managers should invest more in training and developing the skills of the staff in the firm, the top management to clearly communicate the goals, vision and direction of the organization to the employees, a research on the company's culture is also key so as to identify it and align the organization's procedures accordingly and the creativity, innovation and perception of the firm's structure to be enhanced in strategic plan implementation.
Keywords: human resource, corporate leadership, organizational structure, organizational culture, implementation of strategic plans, Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limite
Monitoring and Evaluation and Performance of Youth Employment Projects in Narok County, Kenya
No full textThe purpose of this study was to assess the influence of monitoring and evaluation on the performance of youth employment projects in Narok County, Kenya. The study was guided by competency theory, theory of project management, stakeholder theory and resource based view theory. The target population was 195 respondents selected from the 32 registered and active youth employment projects in Narok County. The respondents included the project managers, youth leaders and government representatives among the youth employment projects in Narok County. The study assessed performance of the projects for the last five years between 2014- 2018. The researcher's primary data was collected using self-administered questionnaires, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analysis the data, while SPSS was used in presenting the data through tables, graphs and charts. The study found that monitoring and evaluation positively influenced performance of youth employment projects in Narok County, Kenya. The study also found that the projects M&E staff were significantly trained, knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and shared knowledge. The study also found that stakeholders participated in the M&E process through awareness, resource oversight, data collection, needs assessment and reporting. It was concluded that organization structure in terms of M&E department, staff, systems and tools was moderately but significantly embraced by the youth employment projects in Narok County. Further, it was concluded that the youth employment projects in Narok County significantly embraced feedback in the M&E process through continuous improvement, decision making, regular monitoring, reporting and integration of policy. The study recommended that project management among the youth employment projects in Narok County need to enhance capacity of its team and embrace modern technology and systems to enhance performance. The projects should have clear M&E structure, managing, systems and processing to ensure peak project performance. The projects also need to significantly enhance stakeholder involvement and participation in the M&E process to promote joint ownership, decision making and continuous improvement. The study further recommended that the projects need to ensure seamless feedback, reporting, sharing of findings to promote process improvement
Keywords: Monitoring, Evaluation, Performance, Employment Project
Authentic Leadership and Employee Engagement in the American Workplaces
No full textLeaders are very important in any of the business entity and over years, many researchers have analyzed the roles played by them in an organization. Authentic leadership encourages self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and Internalized moral perspective of information and the relations with respect to the leaders working with their subordinates, consequently cultivating positive self-improvement. This study related the idea of authentic leadership in refining employee engagement. The concepts of authentic leadership incorporate self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and relational transparency. An extensive literature review was done to infer the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. In perspective on the assessed review, authentic leadership positively affect and employee engagement. There was a significant and positive connection between authentic leadership, work fulfilment and employee engagement. Numerous studies concluded that teams with more authentic characteristics in their leaders, had more satisfied and engaged employees. The influential mentors were perceived as authentic leaders who acted within dimensions that were consistent with authentic leadership theory: self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and internalized moral perspective. Employee engagement is positively influenced by quality employee organization relationships and positive internal reputation. Results showed that both leader's consistency between words and actions as well as their balanced processing are positively related to employee engagement. As an antecedent, authentic leadership critically affects the nurturing of an organization's transparency and positive employee relational outcomes, which, in turn, enhance reputation and thus overall performance.
Keywords: Authentic Leadership, Employee Engagement & American Workplaces
Leadership Style and Occupational, Safety and Health of Police Officers in Nairobi City County, Kenya
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine how leadership style affects the occupational, safety and health of Police Officers in Nairobi City County, Kenya. In this study, data was collected from Police Officers which were the main study population. The study chose Nairobi City County where all the police stations were covered. The target population was 4,000 Police Officers which included commanding officers to have a sample size of 200. They were sampled through simple random sampling. First a 10 percent of all 33 police stations in Nairobi and the Police Officers there in were initially used for a pilot study. In the police stations which had remained, a sample of 5 percent of Police Officers and a commanding officer in each station were studied. Data from the respondents were collected by the use of questionnaires. The study was carried out on Police Officers who were on duty but after permission had been sought from relevant authorities. It was based on a simple random sampling research method where each officer had a chance of being chosen. Every officer commanding a police station was chosen. Each respondent was explained the importance of the study, that it was done freely with their willingness, at a convenient location, the questionnaires were to be collected and kept with confidence. Each respondent was requested to confirm in writing, affirmative action or signing a document without indicating a name that the study was done with their approval. Through these modes of data collection, every population was well represented as a sample. The study used Cronbach Alpha Coefficient to test on reliability of instruments. The validity of research instruments was also tested. The computer software SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the collected data. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used in data analysis. Data was then presented in the form of figures, tables and charts. Through factor analysis, all the eight statements of the variable under study were retained for they were above 0.5. The response rate of the responds was 75.5% which is acceptable. It was found out that 36.4% of the Police Officers had worked in the National Police Service for 6 to 10 years and majority of them, 82.1% were married. The four leadership styles found to be affecting the occupational, safety and health of Police Officers in Nairobi City County, Kenya were; transformational, autocratic, democratic and charismatic leadership styles. It was found out that 84.5% of the leaders of Police Officers were visionary, 60.2% valued the constitution and see it as a protector and supporter of their occupational safety and health. In fact, 85.5% and 61.6% see Kenya Human Rights and OSHA respectively as valuable Acts.
Key Words: Leadership Style, Occupational, Safety, Health, Polic
Information and Communication Technology Adoption and Students' Performance: Evidence from Malaysia
No full textThis study investigated and explored the adoption of ICT by the learning institutions in Malaysia and the effect the adoption has on the pupils' academic performance. By using a quantitative research study approach and a sample of 1000 students, information was gathered concerning the ICT fostering in universities and the loved one efficiency of trainees coming from schools in Malaysia. The research study was a literature based review. The research study concentrated on the adoption of ICT in education and learning by learning institutions in Malaysia. The findings exposed that, greater than three-quarters of respondents taken into consideration ICT applications really beneficial, while an eighth of the participants indicated that they were utilizing ICT application at all times to do their research. On top of that, under two-thirds of the individuals confessed that they use cell phone as well as a minimum of one social networks platform to eat their time; regarding fifteen percent of this number additionally indicated that they take the aid of the social media system to finish their research. These findings can be credited to the conservative society where commoner lacks recreation and entertainment centers like theaters, as well as social media just continues to be a system to recreate and also consume time. The findings of this study also contribute to the existing understanding of the procedure of ICT adoption in colleges in Malaysia and its influence on students' academic performance. The public servers, besides the high price, are very sluggish in speed which makes it difficult to use ICT systems regularly, gadgets such as cellular phones as well as laptop computers are crucial in the access of ICT centers and also search details on the web. The study therefore recommended that information need to be collected from educators as well as various other management personnel to display the efficiency of ICT in learning institution in Malaysia. The research study concluded that a lot of students lack IT gizmos like smart phones and laptop computers. The reason is both the cost of devices and the web access. The general public servers, besides the high cost, are very slow in rate that makes it challenging to make use of ICT systems on a regular basis.
Key Word: Information communication technology, adoption, performanc
Context Aware Recommender System for Online Grocery Markets in Indonesia
No full textCreating superior customer experience seems to be one of the central objectives in today’s retailing environments. Retailers around the globe have embraced the concept of customer experience management, with many incorporating the notion into their mission statements. It is necessary to establish an online platform that helps customers search products, compare prices and indicate their location. The primary step is classifying and examining some influencing factors for online purchases, so examining those factors that influence consumers' behavior via the internet is vital. Information retrieval techniques have matured with time and search engines have done a great job in indexing online content. A recommender system aims to provide users with personalized online product or service recommendations to handle the increasing online information overload problem. The goal of personalization is to provide users with what they want or need without requiring them to ask for it explicitly. This is a literature based review study. To facilitate development of the system a high quality, instructive review of current trends is conducted, not only of the theoretical research results but more importantly of the practical developments in recommender systems. This paper reviews up-to-date application developments of recommender systems and clusters their applications. It systematically examines the reported recommender systems through four dimensions: recommendation methods (such as CF), recommender systems software (such as BizSeeker), real-world application domains (such as e-business) and application platforms (such as mobile-based platforms).
Key words: Context Aware Recommender System, Online Grocery Markets, Indonesi
Ecotourism and Sustainability of the Tourism Sector: Global Perspective
No full textIn the global economy, tourism sector is a significant form of economic activity contributing 10% to global GDP, 30% of global service exports and over 236 million job opportunities. However, sustainability of tourism in terms of diversification, community empowerment and environmental conservation remains limited. There are various components of tourism and include ecotourism, cultural tourism, geotourism, industrial tourism, agritourism and many others. Moreover, ecotourism is most common and more developed. Ecotourism aims at creating sustainable economy while conserving the environment. Ecotourism presents excellent opportunities of enjoying tourism activities while at the same time learning about the need to protect the environment. From the literature review, it was identified that sustainability of the tourism sector industry takes a multidimensional approach that include economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability. The sustainability of the tourism sector has to take into consideration the economic aspect, environmental aspect and social aspect. Ecotourism helps in create a sustainable tourism industry by being conscious on in the protection of the environment, expanding tourism related economic opportunities and recognising social aspects of the humanity. Ecotourism aims at empowering the community, protecting cultures and heritages of the human society and recognizing the role of community in protecting environment. There is need to develop sustainable ecotourism by involving all stakeholders that include local communities, local authorities, government and international bodies like World Tourism Organization. This can be done through community training and awareness on the importance of conserving the environment.
Key words: Ecotourism, sustainability, tourism secto
The Influence of Social Media on Social Relationships among the Middle Class Youths in the United States of America
No full textIn today's modern era, complete with digitization and technological advancements, social media (SM) such as online networking sites have been successfully integrated into the everyday lives of almost every individual on the planet. Social media has embedded itself in the foreground of this digitized age and has defined its place by attracting people, both the young and the old, due to their increased affordability and reach. Over the past two decades, social media has gained so much growth and fame worldwide to an extent that many researchers are now interested in learning more about these social platforms and their effects on social relationships in the society. The objective of this study was to establish the influence of social media on social relationships among the youth. The specific objectives were to establish the effect of social media on youth interpersonal skills, social relationships and the extent of social media use among the youth in the society. The theories that informed the study included Uses and Gratification theory and Social Penetration Theory. The target population of the study was the American youths in the middle class where questionnaires were administered. The study findings showed majority percent of youths agreed that there is positive impact on the use of social media because it facilitates communication and support among youths in daily life. On the negative side, the findings showed that the use of social media has sometimes led to misunderstanding and destructed relationship among youths in the society. This study recommends that youths should use social media positively in such a way that their use could not affect their social relationships. The study recommends that the youths should be careful because social media is not reliable in terms of confidentiality and privacy. Therefore, people in social relationships should be wary of self-disclosure of personal information on their social media accounts for the betterment of their social relationship.
Keywords: Social Media, Social Relationships, Middle Class, Youths, United States of America