Although manufacturing firms support economic development, wealth creation and poverty alleviation, a dismal performance has been reported. In Kenya, the share of gross domestic product (GDP) from manufacturing sector has remained below 10 per cent while its growth rate remained at about 5 percent in the last 10 years. This has been attributed to low innovation and technology diffusion. This study examined the effects of IT capability on firm performance. The study was anchored on Resource Based View, and Dynamic Capability Theory. Positivism philosophical approach, descriptive and explanatory research design were adopted. Using stratified and random sampling techniques, a sample of 222 manufacturing firms from Nairobi City County, was obtained. A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared and used for data collection. To ascertain reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient measure of 0.875 was obtained. Research experts confirmed validity of the study instrument. The data was analysed through descriptive statistics to condense the survey data. To test hypotheses, inferential statistics was used. The results showed a positive significant effect of IT infrastructure capability (B=0.247, p=0.005 < 0.05), IT personnel capability (B=0.226, p=0.044 < 0.05), IT management capability (B=0.187, p=0.018 < 0.05) and IT reconfiguration capability (B=0.291, p=0.001 < 0.05) on performance. The study findings also exhibited a 49.2 per cent explanatory power of IT capability on firm performance. Study findings provide a framework for improving firm performance. Subsequently, firm managers should create interventions on IT capability to enhance and sustain superior firm performance.
Abstract:Wiki spaces are simply web pages that allow users to create, edit and share each other's work. This paper shares experiences from a group of students who were using the Wiki spaces in their course work. It attempts to use collaborative knowledge building theory to evaluate the existing Wiki spaces practices in order to inform stakeholders on the power of Wiki spaces in setting students on a knowledge building trajectory. The respondents were 150 university students from Kenyatta and KCA universities in Kenya whose lecturers had created Wiki spaces for collaborative group tasks as part of their coursework during the September to December 2013 semester. More than 50% of the students found the Wiki spaces promoting the various aspects of knowledge building such as reflective learning and propagating idea diversity to be useful. This paper underscores the importance of Wiki spaces as environments for positioning today's students on a knowledge building track which is a skill set requirement for the 21 st century graduate.
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