Abstract:
Firms integrate logistic capabilities in their operations to improve performance, which is advocated
by the resource‐based view theory. Many forms of logistic capabilities exist, but the most widely used
is the logistic service reliability capability. There are numerous attributes of logistic service reliability
capabilities used by firms which could potentially affect the effectiveness of the logistic service
reliability capabilities on firm performance. Therefore, this study determined the influence of the
attributes of logistic service reliability capability on firm performance of manufacturing firms in
Kenya. The independent variables were firm reviews, client services, research for firm performance,
reverse logistics operations, logistics service differentiation and logistics solutions. Using an
explanatory research design, the study targeted 750 manufacturing firms registered under Kenya
Association of Manufacturers from where a sample size of 442 firms was selected. The samples were
selected using stratified and simple random sampling approaches. The findings of the study
established that there was a positive significant influence of the attributes of logistic service reliability
on firm performance (R‐squared = 0.6421, P < 0.05). Therefore, whenever firms aim at optimizing
logistic service reliability capability, the firms must pay more attention to each attribute of the logistic
service reliability capability. Therefore, exploring avenues of improving each attribute of logistic
service reliability capability of firms may eventually improve the overall performance of the
manufacturing firms.