Nexus Between Knowledge Management Capacity Building and Organization Productivity of Sugar Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Performance of manufacturing firms has been highly influenced by macro environmental factors ranging from political instability and socio-economic factors. As a result, knowledge management has increasingly become crucial in reducing the impact on both internal and external factors. The study aimed to determine the relationship between knowledge management capacity building and productivity of sugar companies in Kenya. The study assessed the moderating effect of transformational leadership on the relationship between capacity building and the productivity of sugar companies. This was anchored on the theory of change which explains the need for knowledge management in managing business dynamic external environment. The study adopted a positivist research philosophy and correlational research designs. Questionnaires were administered in a census survey to 218 managers working in 8 sugar companies in Kenya. Mean and standard deviation was utilized with frequencies as descriptive statistics. A simple regression was adopted to establish the relationship between knowledge management capacity building and productivity of firms. The finding revealed that the sugar firms shared knowledge, however, there was need to improve knowledge management system, knowledge retrieval and knowledge acquisition. There was significant relationship between innovative capacity building and productivity. The study concludes that there was statistically significant relationship between knowledge management capacity building and organization productivity. It is recommended that there is a need to improve the knowledge management system and policies to enhance productivity of organizations