Impact of Organizational, Innovation and Environmental Attributes in ICT Uptake for Kwale Hotels, Kenya
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Date
2019
Authors
Guyo, Abraham Galgallo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
In Kenya, tourism is considered an important industry that contributes to the
economy of the nation. As such, the government carries out regular marketing
campaigns to publicize the country to the outside world as an important tourist
destination. Further, the fast pace of development in Information and
communication technology (ICT) have changed the structures of tourism industry
regionally and around the world. New technologies have emerged and the trend is
likely to continue in future. While Diani Beach (in Kwale County) was rated as
the best beach in Africa five years in a row (2014-2018) by World Travel Award,
little is known about its ICT uptake. As a result, there is a need for an evaluation
of the factors for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) uptake
by Kwale Hotels and how it deploys ICT resources to attain competitive
advantage. The study examined factors that affect ICT uptake of hotels in Kwale
County. Based on attributes used by various ICT researchers in tourism industry,
the researcher sought to identify the impact of organizational, innovation and
environmental factors and how it impacts on the use of information and
communication technology by Kwale Hotels. The study sought to answer the
following research questions: What was the level of usage of ICT by Kwale
Hotels? Secondly, what were the effects of organizational factors on the uptake of
ICT for Kwale Hotels? Thirdly, what are the effects of environmental factors in
the uptake of ICT? Finally, what are the effects of technological innovation
factors on the uptake of ICT for Kwale Hotels? The study covered 3-5 star and
Boutique hotels in Kwale County. Further, it was delimited to the variables
specified. The target population was 32 hotels but only 26 hotels were accessible.
Since the accessible population was small, a census of all the 26 hotels was taken
and 4 respondents from each hotel were included where the actual respondents of
the study totaled to 104. Descriptive research design was adopted by the study
while stratified random sampling was used to stratify the 104 respondents into 4
categories which included: Operations, reservations, Marketing and ICT
managers. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data while descriptive
statistics were used to analyze the data. The results showed that there was
significant uptake of ICT in all categories of the hotels. In addition,
organizational, environmental and technological innovation factors significantly
influenced ICT uptake of Kwale Hotels. Key recommendations of the study were
more engagement in online marketing and diversification of the types of online
marketing in order to optimize on visibility, enhance marketing funnel and
ultimately increase profitability.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Hospitality Management in the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Studies of Kenyatta University, October, 2019