Effect of IT Personnel Capability on Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Manufacturing firms have reported dismal performance even after heavily investing in information technology (IT). Notably, this sector plays an important role in driving economic development by stimulating and sustaining high productive growth boosting employment opportunities for semi-skilled labour and building the country's' competitiveness. The manufacturing sector, respond to the surrounding conditions through deployment of appropriate strategic capabilities to overcome challenges, enhance their competitive position and sustain higher performance. Firms respond to the surrounding conditions by adjusting their purpose and shape through deployment of appropriate strategic capabilities to overcome the challenges enhance competitiveness and sustain superior performance. Several firms have made a huge investment in information technology (IT) to obtain economic value and to cope up with the ever-changing business environment. However, the economic value has not been attributed to IT personnel capability although IT personnel capability is one of the main drivers of sustainable firm performance. This paper applied cross sectional survey in collecting data from IT managers/ Chief Information Officers/ ICT directors drawn from manufacturing firms within Nairobi City County. The researcher used multistage sampling to identify regions where manufacturing firms are concentrated. A questionnaire was administered to 222 firms. A total of 140 valid responses were obtained.