Role of Human Resource Strategies on Sustained Firm Competitive Advantage within Telecommunication Sector in Kenya

Abstract

Sustained firm competitive advantage is one of the important objectives for an establishment of long-term survival in any business. This can be achieved by human resource strategies aligned to business strategies which in turn result in a sustained firm competitive advantage. The firm's success depends on the collaboration of human resource strategies with business strategies. This paper aims to review current literature and contributes a set of empirical evidence that relates human resource strategies and sustained firm competitive advantage which affects the success of telecommunication firms in Kenya.  Pragmatism philosophical paradigm and explanatory survey research design were utilized. Target population of 116 registered telecommunication firms was considered, out of which a sample of 90 Chief Executive Officers obtained using Yamane's sample size formula representing the firms selected by simple random sampling technique. Questionnaires were administered to these CEOs. Data collected was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The findings indicated significant positive relationship between resourcing strategy and sustained firm competitive advantage, between human resource development strategy and sustained firm competitive advantage, between reward strategy and sustained firm competitive advantage and between employee relations strategy and sustained firm competitive advantage. Similarly, the overall test of significance with F-test confirmed a high significant effect of human resource strategies on sustained firm competitive advantage. It was concluded by the findings the extension use of resource-based view theory and theory of competitive advantage. Subsequently, it contributed towards enriching the literature of human resource strategies and sustained firm competitive advantage. The findings clarified that human resource practitioners should align human resource strategies to achieve sustained competitive advantage of firms.