Effect of knowledge sharing on destination competitiveness: tourism stakeholders perspectives

Abstract

This study used the case of Baringo County, Kenya, to investigate the effect of knowledge sharing by primary tourism stakeholders on a destination's competitiveness. A mixture of sampling techniques, including purposive, stratified, and simple random sampling, was used to select a sample of 259 respondents from a study population of 732 stakeholders. Baringo County was targeted purposively due to its tourism potential while stratification was done to ensure all sectors were represented in the study. A total of 246 completed questionnaires were received and used in the analysis. While the principal component analysis was used to explore the underlying knowledge sharing factors, regression analysis was used to establish the effect of knowledge sharing on destination competitiveness. The findings revealed that knowledge sharing among primary tourism stakeholders could predict 26.1% (R2 = .261) of destination competitiveness. There was no significance at p=.05 between internet connectivity, organisation linkages and social networking, and destination competitiveness. However, there was a positive and significant relationship between staff orientation and development and destination competitiveness (β=0.324, t= 4.908, p=000). Hence, knowledge management practices by stakeholders specifically sharing of knowledge in product and service delivery are crucial fo