EFFECT OF INFORMATION SHARING PRACTICES ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF FOOD PROCESSING FIRMS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Abstract
The information sharing practices account to about fifty percent of the profitability and better performance of
any firm (KAM 2023). The food processing subsector performance has been declining thus its contribution to
the Gross Domestic Product has reduced to 10% thus leading to operation inefficiency. Information sharing
can significantly enhance the contribution of food processing firms to a country's GDP by improving efficiency, innovation, market access, and value addition. The objective of the study was to probe the effect of information sharing practices on performance of food processing firms in Nairobi County. The study was premised
on the grey system theory. Descriptive research design was employed. A population of 172 food processing
firms and a sample size of 120 firms was determined. Stratified and simple random sampling were used to select specific firms while data were collected using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics aided in
describing the primary characteristics of the data. Regression analysis was used to establish the relationship
between information sharing practices and operational performance of food processing firms with the aid of
SPSS version 28. T-statistics were used to gauge the significance of individual objectives at 5% confidence
level while F-statistic was used to establish the overall significance of the model. The study established that
information sharing practices positively affected operational performance, (regression coefficient 0.247, p =
0.029). The study concludes that enhanced information sharing substantially improves the performance of food
processing firms. It recommends increased investment in platforms such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
to facilitate timely, accurate, and reliable information flow, streamline supply chain coordination, and improve
overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, the study contributes to academic literature by offering
theoretical and empirical insights into supply chain management practices, thereby serving as a resource for
future research.