MBA Theses and Dissertations (2023)

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Browsing MBA Theses and Dissertations (2023) by Author "Ikol, G."

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    The Effect of digital technology adoption on the operational performance of travel agencies in Kenya
    (Strathmore University, 2023) Ikol, G.
    The use of digital technologies has proved to be a significant contributor to efficiency, effectiveness and quality service provision within firms. Especially with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic which has disrupted physical work arrangements, firms that adopted digital technologies found it easier to continue with their service provision. The travel agency was one of the biggest hit industry’s’ by the pandemic which resulted in disruption in service provision which ultimately led to poor operational performance of the firms. Locally, the industry faced monumental losses in jobs, declining in revenue, customer satisfaction and service quality. Hence, this study sought to identify if the digital technology adoption influenced the operational performance of travel agency firms. The study analysed on the effect of interactive websites, digital analytics, social media and e-commerce tools on operational performance. The research was grounded on the innovation diffusion theory. A positivist philosophy was used in the course of the study with a quantitative descriptive research design being applied. The population for this study was the 142 firms registered under the Kenya Association of Travel Agencies. The sample size for the study as computed by the Yamane formula was 104 firms. A structured research questionnaire was employed in the collection of quantitative research data. Both drop and pick as well as electronic data collection procedures were used. The study conducted a pilot test to check on the reliability and validity of the research tool. The collected study data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential tests. The research findings were presented using figures and tables. The research obtained 94 responses which translated into 72% with only 28% of the sample participants not being involved in the final survey. The correlation results showed a weak positive relationship between adoption of interactive website, adoption of social media tools and operational performance of travel agency firms in Kenya, a moderate positive relationship between adoption of e-commerce tools and operational performance of travel agency firms in Kenya and a strong positive linear relationship between adoption of digital analytics and operational performance of travel agency firms in Kenya. The regression analysis showed that digital technology adoption could be used to explain about 71.7% of the variance in the operational performance of travel agency firms in Kenya. The study concluded that digital analytics, adoption of social media tools and adoption of e-commerce tools had a positive and significant effect on the operational performance of the travel agency firms while interactive websites reflected a statistically significant negative effect on the operational performance of travel agency firms in Kenya. The study recommends that the travel agencies continuously gather and analyse customer feedback to identify areas of improvement on their websites. The study also recommends more utilization of social media platforms to promote travel deals and packages to target audiences. Further, the study recommends that the firms implement a data analytics system to track customer behaviour, preferences, and buying patterns as well as identifying customer segments and tailor marketing efforts to specific groups. Finally, the study therefore recommends that the travel firms offer a variety of payment options, including online payments, to make the booking process as seamless as possible. Keywords: Digital technology, interactive websites, social media tools, data analytics, ecommerce tools, travel agencies