Assessment Of The Effect Of Strategic Knowledge Management Practices On Service Delivery In Private Healthcare In Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Private hospitals just like other organizations, must practice innovation in order to keep up with fast changing business dynamics and to survive turbulent economic landscape. This innovation can only be achieved when these healthcare organizations continuously learns, stores and equip its staff with knowledge. This knowledge becomes beneficial to the organization when it is shared and utilized for the overall improvement of the organization. Quality private healthcare services play a critical role in meeting the healthcare needs of populations. However, there is a gap in understanding how

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knowledge management practices influence service delivery in private hospitals, particularly in Nairobi County, Kenya. This study sought to address this gap by exploring the impact that knowledge management practices such as knowledge creation, sharing, application, and storage have on service delivery in private healthcare facilities. The study was anchored on Resource-based view theory, knowledge-based view theory and Organizational Learning theory. Using a descriptive research design, data were collected from 28 level 4 private hospitals in Nairobi County through a census survey of hospital administrators. Data was collected through an online questionnaire in Qualtrics. An analysis was done using SPSS where a regression analysis was performed. The results from the analysis revealed that only knowledge application significantly impact service delivery (β= 0.964, p=0.03). The impacts of knowledge creation (β= 0.112, t=0.466, p=0.65), knowledge sharing (β= -0.038, t=0.123, p=0.903) and knowledge storage (β=0.148, t=0.572, p=0.573) were found not to be significant. The study concluded that good knowledge creation, sharing and storage capabilities must be accompanied by effective application for substantive improvement in service delivery to be realized. Insights gained from this research can inform strategies for optimizing knowledge management processes to enhance healthcare service quality and efficiency in Nairobi County and beyond.