The Effect of Policy Compliance on Service Delivery in State-Owned Enterprises in the Energy Sector in Kenya

Abstract

Government and private institutions all over the world greatly recognize the crucial role of service delivery in attaining a competitive and dynamic market. State-owned enterprises in the Energy sector are a major foundation upon which the economic, social and political development strategies are built on in order to actualize the vision 2030 as well as the big four agenda. They enjoy monopoly in provision of services to the public. However, despite reforms on public sector bureaucracy, the public still face many hurdles in accessing government service, the level of public dissatisfaction on service delivery is high and open government bureaucracy hasn’t led to quality and sustainable service delivery. In addition, politicization of appointments of Board of Directors translating to insufficient competence and legal frameworks which subtly are inclined to privilege a few at the expense of the entire public, have tainted government image. This paper particularly established the influence of policy compliance on service delivery in State-owned enterprises. The target population was 124 suppliers, 5,107 end-user consumers, 1,817 employees in KPLC plus 480 employees in REREC and 30 employees in the Energy regulator (EPRA). A sample of 380 individuals/households was selected using a two-stage random sampling procedure comprising of proportionate stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Empirical data for this thesis were gathered using semi-structured questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the data collection tool was assessed to confirm the suitability of the tool for use in the study. Descriptive analysis, diagnostic test for multiple linear regressions and inferential analysis were conducted on the data set that had been gathered from the field. The findings demonstrated that policy compliance positively affected delivery of services. Management of state owned enterprises should enact policies to reinforce practices on aspects of leadership power, leadership motivation and leadership delegation. The human resource divisions of state owned enterprises ought to enact policy the buttress mutual trust, team spirit, sharing of information, openness, and sense of belonging. In addition, sufficient resources should be availed for strengthening information and communication infrastructure as one of the critical support system for enhancing the processes of value creation and delivery.