Employees’ Perception of Innovation Strategy, Dynamic Technological Environment and Performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service

Abstract

The study sought to establish the employee perception of innovation strategies adopted by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). The independent variables for the study were product, process, market and technology innovations. The study adopted descriptive and cross sectional survey design. Primary data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS software version 20. From the results of correlation analysis, there appears a favorable and statistically substantial correlation between product innovation and performance of KEPHIS. The study also revealed is a progressive and substantial correlation between process innovation and performance of KEPHIS. Market innovation was also found to have a positive and significant association with performance of KEPHIS. Finally, technology innovation had a positive and significant association with performance of KEPHIS. The model summary revealed that the independent variables: product innovation, process innovation, market innovation and technology innovation explains 93.7% of changes in the dependent variable as indicated by the value of R2 which implies that there are other factors not included in this model that account for 6.3% of changes in performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. The model is fit at 95% level of confidence since the F-value is 184.560. This validates that generally the multiple regression model is statistically important, in that it is an appropriate forecast model for expounding how the designated autonomous variables influences achievements of KEPHIS. Regression results showed that product innovation showed a progressive and statistically substantial relationship with performance of KEPHIS, process innovation had positive and statistically significant relationship with performance of KEPHIS while market innovation had positive and statistically significant relationship with performance of KEPHIS. Finally, regression results showed that technology innovation had positive and statistically significant relationship with performance of KEPHIS. It was concluded that product innovation, process innovation, market innovation and technology innovation influences performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. The study established that there was a positive influence of product innovation on the performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. The investigation found out a positive and statistically significant relationship between process innovation and performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. Process innovation is vital to KEPHIS as this provides a good policy towards efficiency in service delivery since this sector is service oriented. Process innovations entail the entire operations of such institutions and can be enhanced through best practices in line with industry standards. This study recommends that measures be set up so that KEPHIS can improve efficiency through process innovations. Market innovation was also found to a positive influence on the performance of Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service. This study recommends adoption of efficient market strategies to widen the market scope. The findings of the study helped bridge the identified gaps in knowledge and theories that had informed this investigation. It also informs the policy makers on innovation strategies to adopt then allocate resources accordingly to improve on firm performance.