The Impact of ICT on Export Behaviour of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya.

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the impact of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) on firm export behavior in Kenya. More specifically, the study sought to evaluate how the use of company website, cellphones, emails, foreign technology and mobile money transfer influence the performance of export in the manufacturing sector of Kenya. The study utilized a firmlevel panel data analysis from the three waves of World Bank Enterprise Surveys conducted in the years 2007, 2013 and 2018. Using a Random effect model regression analysis, the study findings support the use of mobile money to pay suppliers, use of a company website, using a company’s cell phone to communicate to the customers and suppliers to boost firm’s export level. However, the study does not support the use of email platform to communicate with the suppliers and customers and use mobile money to receive payments for sales from customers as they were found to have a negative impact on the firm’s export. We thus recommend that the Government should invest heavily on ICT infrastructural development and continue to promote ICT usage among the manufacturing firms in their day-to-day activities. Firms should maximize the use of ICT components to pay its orders and suppliers, invest in clear marketing websites that defines who they are and what product they offer, optimal hire workers as well as strategic location of new branches to take care of logistics such as proximity to the exit points (airport, seaport and/or railway stations