The Impact of Employee Empowerment on Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Telecommunication Industry in Rwanda Case Study: Tigo Rwanda

Abstract

Employees empowerment is recognized as a key factor for building trustful-relationships in the organizations, which in turn lead to innovation and higher level of sustainable competitive advantage. The general objective of this study was to assess the contribution of empowering employees on sustainable competitive advantages in telecommunication industry in Rwanda. Specific objectives were to analyze the contribution of employee promotion to sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Rwanda; to examine how capacity building influences sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Rwanda; to ascertain the effect of accountability to the sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Rwanda and to analyze the relationship between employee empowerment and sustainable competitive advantage in Rwanda. The study is both descriptive and analytical research design with the intention of ensuring that issues related to empowering employees and competitive advantages can be identified. The total targeted population under study was 224 Tigo employees. The researcher used Slovin's Formula and arrived at a sample size of 69 people. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Tables and figures were used to present data, descriptive statistics were on percentages and frequencies of the views collected from respondents. In relation to the first research objective, employee promotion as a factor to the sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication industry, according to the results obtained  equals to 23.826 and .048 is less than .05, validates that employee promotion has positive influence on sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication industry. In relation to the second research objective, the result indicated that  equals to 54.652 and .000 is less than .05, signifying that capacity building has also positive influence to the sustainable competitive advantage of telecommunication industry. The study recommends that TIGO maintains employee promotion and capacity building as this motivates employees and empowers them to take up full responsibility and grow the company in achievement of organizational goals and strategic objectives which in the long run contributes to its competitiveness.