Abstract: Tourism and travel is one of the world’s largest sectors, supporting over 266 million jobs and generating 9.5% globally. The viability of the industry is however under threat in the recent past. It has experienced declining revenue contribution especially to the Kenyan GDP. The main driver of performance of any sector is its capability to transform their strategies into deliverable results. It is however clear from literature that organization’s capabilities have failed hence poor performance due to incapacity to implement their strategies. This is because strategy implementation is critical than strategy formulation. This study sought to provide an opportunity to empirically test the drivers of performance and the mediating role of strategy implementation by looking at information technology capabilities. The study employed descriptive and cross-sectional research designs. The target population was all the Tourism state corporations in Kenya with the management of these firms being the respondents. A census was carried out due to small nature of the target population. Data collection involved the use of questionnaires which attracted quantitative responses. The data was analyzed using regression analysis. ANOVA test was carried out to test the significance of the model. The findings of the study indicated that automated systems affect profitability of most of the organizations. Automated systems were found to contribute above 51% to performance of most organizations in Kenya. Further results indicated that majority of organizations in tourism sector use E-ticketing in their operations. The findings further indicated that using IT to keep customers informed, using IT to provide information to frequently asked questions, using IT for customer and organization interaction on IT platform and acquiring new IT systems regularly were efficient to a great extent. The regression results indicated that using IT to provide information to frequently asked questions, Customer and Organization interaction on IT platforms and acquiring new IT systems regularly were positively and significantly related to performance of tourism organizations. The regression results also indicated that that information technology capability was positively and significantly related to performance of tourism state corporations in Kenya. The study concluded that automated systems affect profitability of most Tourism state corporations in Kenya. The study also concluded that Information Technology capability has a significant effect on performance of tourism state corporations in Kenya. The study recommended that those Tourism state corporations in Kenya that have not adopted E-ticketing should adopt it as it positively influences performance. Furthermore, the use of IT to keep customers informed, to provide information to frequently asked questions, for customer and organization interaction on IT platform and acquiring new IT systems regularly should be embraced as they are efficient and improves performance.
Keywords: Performance drivers, strategy implementation, information technology capability, tourism state corporations, Kenya.
Title: Impact of Information Technology Capability in the Tourism State Corporations in Kenya: The Mediating Role of Strategy Implementation
Author: Miriam Muthoka, Dr. Margaret Oloko, Prof. Martin Ogutu, Dr. George Orwa
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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