Richard Bitange Nyaoga

E-Commerce Products and Services in the Banking Industry: The Adoption and Usage in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Globalization, collaboration and wireless technologies have led to stiff competition. As a result, commercial banks have generally adopted the use of e-commerce products and services in their delivery of services to customers. This study’s main objective was to explore the challenges faced and benefits that accrue from adoption and usage of e-commerce products and services banking by commercial banks in Kenya. A survey was carried out to achieve the envisaged aims of the study. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed however only 70 banks responded. Overall, research showed that while the majority of the banks in Kenya have adopted e-commerce products and services, usage levels have remained relatively low, as not many customers are using this innovation in Kenya. To establish benefits and challenges in the adoption and usage of e-commerce, 32 variables were used to measure the level of application among these banks. These variables were analyzed using factor analysis procedure and in order to achieve a simple and meaningful structure, that is, have a nonzero loading of the explained variance for each individual factors, varimax rotation was done. As a result, 10 critical factors were established as the best practices which include: improved customer service, reduced number of customers in the banking hall, reduced operating costs and increased market share. The challenges faced in the adoption of e-commerce products and services include compatibility with existing legacy systems, cost of implementation and security concerns ranked high, ensuring desired levels of security and privacy. Unreliable telecommunication as well as lack of legislation governing e-commerce transactions rated highly.

A Survey of Benchmarking Practices in Higher Education in Kenya: The Case of Public Universities

Benchmarking has been used as a tool, a methodology and a technique for continuous improvements in sectoral operations to gain and maintain competitive advantage. This was a survey of benchmarking practices in higher education in Kenya, the case of public universities, whose objectives were; to document the benchmarking activities in the public universities; to establish the challenges facing the public universities in benchmarking. Cross sectional survey was used in this study to collect data from the six public universities with their respective campuses/schools in the population of interest. The respondents were senior administrators and the academic staff. Of the 53 informants who were sampled, 31 responded, thus, a response rate was of 58 percent. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and summarize the data before presenting it in the form of proportions, means, tables and graphs. This was in line with the first and second objectives, which were actually answered in relation to the benchmarking practices in the academic function of public universities in Kenya. The study found out that continuous improvement systems in Kenyan public universities are good, not excellent. The external drivers of change/continuous improvements in public universities are the customers/students as opposed to legislation, while the major internal trigger of change is the actual performance. The public universities effectively and successfully benchmark for continuous improvement. The Kenyan public universities use action research and performance indicators as the sources of referencing information on benchmarks. The most common type of benchmarking in use is development/improvement benchmarking and planning to make use of international benchmarking. Finally, the three critical factors that have influenced the success of benchmarking practices are: time and resource availability: limited duration, comparability and compatibility, which are reasons why the institutions don’t practice international benchmarking.

The effect of automated information systems on the Kenyan county government’s operations: A case study of Kiambu county government

Article history: Received September 1, 2017 Received in revised format September 11 2017 Accepted November 21 2017 Available online November 21 2017 Accounting plays a very crucial role in the management and success or failure of most organizations. As a system, automated information system records and processes data of transaction and events into useful information for use in planning, controlling and operation of businesses. Kenya is a growing economy, and the global pressure has forced it to embrace EGovernance practices. As a result, ways to improve their operations have been placed. This study aimed at establishing the effect of implementing Automated Information Systems (AIS) on the County Government’s operations. The County operations were classified in terms of transparency and record keeping as well as supervision while the AIS was operationalized in terms of the Zizi System, the County Pro System and the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). This study employed complete enumeration survey method to collect data from all the twelve sub-counties in Kiambu, Kenya. The respondents were the IT managers, Financial Officers, and the Revenue Officers. Multiple regression was used to test the effect of AIS on the Kenya County Governments’ operation. The findings of this study indicate that implementing the Automated Information Systems had a significant positive effect on the county government’s operations. .

Effect of Automated Teller Machines Usage on Operational Performance of Commercial Banks in Nakuru County, Kenya

The aim of this paper was to determine the effect of Automated Teller Machines usage on operational performance of commercial banks in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study was guided by the research objective: to establish the effect of automated teller machines (ATMs) usage on operational performance of commercial banks in Nakuru County, Kenya.The study employed the following theories namely: Diffusion of Innovation and The Theory of Reasoned Action. The study adopted a correlational-cross-sectional research design. The study population comprised 56 employees of the 28 commercial banks. There are 31 commercial banks branches in Nakuru County, Kenya with Kenya Commercial Bank, Co-operative Bank and Equity bank having 3, 2 and 3 branches respectively which makes a total of 31 commercial banks out of which the researcher, through a simple random sampling, chose 28. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. A pilot study was conducted in Eldoret Town, Uashin Gishu County to determine validity of the research instruments where Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was employed. For the purpose of determining the effect of ATMs usage on operational performance, correlation and regression analysis were carried out. The study established that ATM usage has a positive significant relationship with operational performance. The study recommends that managements of commercial banks should highly invest in ATMs as it positively influences operational performance. The study suggests that further studies should be conducted to relate ATMs with other variables like quality and flexibility.

The Relationship between Customer Arrival Practices and Customer Satisfaction in the Huduma Centre in Nakuru County, Kenya

Huduma Kenya seeks to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of Huduma Centre. One important area that defines how well and efficient the Centres deliver its services to customers is its queue management practices. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of customer arrival practices on customer satisfaction. The study focused on the customers of the Huduma Centre. The sample size of the population was determined by simple random sampling strategy. The target population is the customers of Huduma Centre in Nakuru County. The study targeted a population sample size of 384 customers. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire that were administered by the researcher. In order to test the hypothesis the inferential statistics such as the Pearson Product-Moment correlation and Regression analysis tests statistics were used in order to establish the relationship between customer arrival practices and customer satisfaction. The study found that the relationship between customer arrival and customer satisfaction is significant and positive.

The relationship between supply chain strategies and supply chain performance among large-scale manufacturing firms: the moderating effect of supply chain technology

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of supply chain technology in the relationship between supply chain strategies and supply chain performance. A sample of 138 firms was drawn using proportionate sampling from a total population of 627 large scale manufacturing firms in Kenya firms. The descriptive statistics, reliability and validity tests of the constructs, correlation analysis and factor analysis and regression analysis models were used to test the hypotheses. The study findings indicate that there is a very strong significant relationship between supply chain strategies, supply chain technology, and firm supply chain performance outcome whereby the supply chain strategies and supply chain technology explain 92.9% of the changes in the firms supply chain performance outcome. This study cleared a number of contradictions to support the position that firms should invest in supply chain configurations and technologies that lead to improved service delivery accompanied with enhanced operational and supply performance.