EFFECTS OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND RETENTION STRATEGIES ON SERVICE DELIVERY IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY GOVERNMENT, KENYA

Abstract

Knowledge transfer is the sharing of experiences within an organisation. The sharing is rooted in the field the expert is knowledgeable in. Knowledge retention is the capturing of an expert’s knowledge so that an organisation does not lose the knowledge during transition caused by events such as death, retirement or resignation of their employees. In such instances, intellectual capital is lost when employees are unwilling to share the knowledge they possess and leave with it. The challenge facing organisations in the 21st Century is how to transfer and retain knowledge. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of knowledge transfer and retention strategies on service delivery in Nairobi City County Government. The specific objectives of the study were to: investigate the knowledge transfer and retention methods used by the Nairobi City County Government, Kenya; establish knowledge transfer and retention challenges and their effects on service delivery in Nairobi City County Government, Kenya; determine the relationship between knowledge transfer and retention methods and service delivery in Nairobi City County Government, Kenya; and propose strategies of enhancing positive influence of knowledge transfer and retention on service delivery at the Nairobi City County Government. The study adopted a convergent parallel mixed methods research design. The target population of the study was 12,363 respondents from the Nairobi City County Government, Kenya. The study applied a multi-stage sampling technique. The first stage involved stratified sampling through which the respondents were divided into top level management, middle level management and lower level employees. This was then followed by an information-oriented purposive sampling to select information-rich subjects from top level management. Simple random sampling was used to select participants from the middle and lower level clusters. Thus, a total of 40 out of 84 directors of departments were selected from the top level management and 706 respondents from middle management and lower level management. The total sample size for the three clusters was 746 respondents. The study used interview schedules and structured questionnaires to collect data. Quantitative data was analysed using inferential statistics by help of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) while the qualitative data was analysed thematically using ATLAS.ti. This study established that the most preferred method of knowledge transfer and retention in Nairobi City County Government was departmental meetings. The challenges hindering knowledge transfer and retention were lack of support from top management, technophobia, lack of funding, performance contracting and fear of job losses. The study confirmed that the knowledge transfer and retention challenges affect service delivery by the Nairobi City County Government in terms of accessibility, timeliness, quality, accountability, efficiency and costs. These findings demonstrate that knowledge transfer and retention methods positively influence service delivery. The study proposes a knowledge transfer and retention framework that can positively influence service delivery. The findings can be used by the county government to leverage on knowledge transfer and retention as a way to improve services.