Environmental Scanning and its Influence on Performance of Water Service Providers in the Lower-Eastern Counties of Kenya
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study examined the influence of environmental scanning on performance of Water Service Providers (WSPs) in the Lower-Eastern counties of Kenya. The research problem focused on persistent operational inefficiencies within the sector, particularly Non-Revenue Water (NRW) quantified above 45% (Water Services Regulatory Board [WASREB], 2022), resulting in significant economic losses and constraining Kenya's agricultural developmental potential. The core issue identified is that WSPs operate in a complex, dynamic environment but often lack systematic environmental intelligence for proactive strategic decision-making. The Null Hypothesis (H01) was that environmental scanning does not significantly influence performance of water service providers in the Lower-Eastern Counties of Kenya. The study was anchored on the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, which posits that a firm's unique internal resources and capabilities are primary sources of superior performance and sustainable competitive advantage. The study adopted a descriptive survey design grounded on positivist philosophy. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires issued to 183 respondents sampled non-probabilistically out of 758 in ten entities using the Yamane’s formula. The returned 154 questionnaires translated to 84.2% response rate. Descriptive and inferential data analysis using SPSS indicated that environmental scanning significantly and positively influences performance (β=0.473, P<0.05). Further, R² = 0.253 confirmed that environmental scanning alone explains 25.3% of the variance in organizational performance of WSPs. WSPs effectively monitored customer needs and regulatory changes, but their scanning of technological trends and competitor activities is limited. Consequently, it is recommended that WSPs invest in comprehensive environmental scanning systems, particularly in technological and competitiveness scanning, and develop analytical capabilities to transform environmental data into actionable strategies for better operational efficiency and improved service delivery. Future research should pursue longitudinal studies and comparative analyses across different regions.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
I/We agree to transfer the copyright of this manuscript to the International Journal of Professional Practice (The IJPP) in the event that the manuscript is published in the Journal.
I/We give the undersigned authors of the manuscript have made the following declaration:
(a) That I/We have made substantial contribution during the conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of the data,
(b) That I/We have participated in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content,
(c) That I/We have read and confirm the content of the manuscript and have agreed to it,
(d) That I/We have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the paper,
(e) That I/We give guarantee that the content of the manuscript is original, and has not beenvpublished elsewhere and is not currently being considered for publication by another journal.
