Influence of Organizational Knowledge on Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Kenya Civil Aviation Authority

Abstract

Aviation industry plays a vital role in Kenyan economy, to gain a dominant position in the era of knowledge economy, one part is to enhance organizational performance through employee's knowledge-sharing and absorption to hence create positive organizational performance through employee's knowledge-sharing. Organization knowledge if properly utilized generate higher business value, enhance organizational performance, bring a competitive edge to the company, and become the core competitiveness needed for the company to survive. A major concern is little has been done to understand and exploit the relationship between knowledge sharing practices of organizational knowledge and its influence on organizational performance gap. The main purpose of this research therefore, is to investigate ways in which organizational knowledge sharing practices influence organization's performance in Kenyan aviation industries via a case study focusing on Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). This study adopted descriptive research design this is because it reports the way things are which involves observing and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way also it's a case study. The targeted population was made up of 701 employees of Kenya Civil Aviation Authority; the population was structured into 5 departments and 35 sections in different areas and regions, sharing different pieces of knowledge in different ways. The study used a sample size of 70 employees representing 10% of the total population of 701 eligible employees. The study used of stratified random and probability sampling technique which means that every member of the targeted population had a known, non-zero probability of selection. The study utilized questionnaire and interviews for data collection. Data from the field was coded and entered in the computer using. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics means, standard deviations and cross tabulation to help generate influence, trends and patterns. The study findings revealed sharing individual knowledge will influence service delivery supported by 40.1% of the respondents. 37.2% of the respondents said sharing Knowledge embedded in organizations influences aviation standards and 35.5% of respondents said sharing of Systemic Knowledge influences safety. The study's recommendations will be beneficial to authorities in utilization of organizational knowledge to enhance their performance.