Effect of Knowledge Management practices by Primary stakeholders on a tourism destination’s competitiveness: The case of Baringo County, Kenya

Abstract

The significance of tourism to many national economies has seen sector players pursue strategies that favourably influence destination choices by tourists. In Kenya, the National Tourism Blue Print 2030 proposes knowledge management as a transformative strategy for the sector that has to cope with unrelenting competitive pressure from emerging markets. Cognisant of the benefits of knowledge management (KM) other economic sectors unlike tourism have been quick to embrace KM as a tool for competitiveness. In addition, existing empirical studies investigating the effect of knowledge management practices on competitiveness within the tourism sector in Kenya remain few. Thus, this study used primary tourism stakeholders in Baringo County to establish the effect of knowledge management practices on a destination’s competitiveness. Specifically, the study established the effect of knowledge creation, sharing and application by primary tourism stakeholders on a destination’s competitiveness. The study was informed by the Knowledge-Based View theory of the firm, the Integrated Knowledge Management Model and the Generic Model of Competitive Strategy and used a mixture of descriptive and explanatory correlation research designs. A stratified simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 259, comprising of the top, middle and first-level managers from a target population of 732. Primary data was collected using questionnaires. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses and estimate the measurement model for each of the four latent constructs (knowledge creation, sharing, application, and destination competitiveness) and the overall hypothesised model. SEM assumptions of normality, linearity, homoscedasticity and multicollinearity were tested and met. The study hypotheses derived from the specific objectives were tested by assigning regression weights to each respective path in the modified model. The results revealed a significant effect of knowledge sharing on destination competitiveness (β= 0.325; t=3.419; p<0.05) and knowledge application on destination competitiveness (β= 0.282; t=2.753; p<0.05). However, there was no significant effect of knowledge creation on destination competitiveness (β= 0.153; t=1.438; p>0.05). Further, the findings revealed a significant covariance between; knowledge creation and sharing (β = 0.361; t=5.24; p<0.05); knowledge creation and knowledge application (β= 0.383; t=5.22; p<0.05) and knowledge sharing and knowledge application (β= 0.182; t=2.43; p<0.05). The study, therefore, concluded that sharing and applying knowledge in product and service delivery was critical for destination competitiveness. Consequently, the study recommends that for enhanced competitiveness, stakeholders in a destination should embrace knowledge sharing and knowledge application. A knowledge management model for tourism Destination Competitiveness was developed, which can be verified and tested in future studies.