Effect of Staff Competencies and Skills on the Effectiveness of Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) in Kajiado County, Kenya

Abstract

Governments in developing counties are increasingly exploring methods and systems to modernize and improve their financial management. Information technology is one of the strategies that can be used by these governments to enhance their financial management systems. However, little has been done in Kenya, in terms of evaluating the effect of staff competencies and skills on the effectiveness of IFMIS in improving the financial management in county governments. Specifically, the study sought to assess the influence of staff competencies on effectiveness of IFMIS in Kajiado County. The study adopted the descriptive case study design. The target population constituted 105 employees from the ICT, Procurement, and Finance departments of the county government. 105 employees drawn from were three departments ICT, Procurement and Finance. A sample of 84 respondents was selected from the three departments proportionately, using the stratified random sampling method. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires designed using the five point Likert Scale. The quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical data analysis. On the other hand, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used for determining the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables, while regression analysis was used to assess the magnitude of the relationship. Over 75% of the respondents who participated in the study agreed with most of the statement that were used to establish the level of staff competence on the implementation of IFMIS since the mean response on all the statement items was above 3.0. The study further established that there was a weak but positive R- value (0.001) respectively. The regression analysis indicated that the amount of change in the effective implementation of the IFMIS in county governments could be explained by 32.2 % success of staff competencies discussed in this study. It is also noted that the factor had a correlation factor of 0.000, which is statistically significant. This shows that the factors discussed have an influence on the implementation of IFMIS by themselves but they have a combined effect. The study concluded that effective implementation of IFMIS must be supported by staff competence. This indicates that organizations that aim at getting the best out of their information systems must be able to effectively address the issues of employee’s competencies and skills required to support the entire process. This study recommends that organizations must be able to look into other factors behind the successful implementation of IFMIS besides the consideration of level staff competence. Since it contributes only 32.2% then there is need for further study to probe more into the factors that can increase the success of the implementation of IFMIS in the Kenyan county governments. The finding of this study is expected to be of significance to various people such Kenyan, Kajiado County.