Product Leadership and Competitive Advantage of Commercial Banks in Kenya

Hezron Juma Odhiambo, Dr. Abel Anyieni — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Purpose: Due to increased competition, the Kenyan banking system has had erratic performance in recent years. As a result, the major question is whether Kenyan commercial banks can use value disciplines to help them maintain their competitiveness. The study aimed to investigate the effect product leadership on competitiveness of Kenyan commercial banks.

Methodology:. The research used a descriptive research design. The study comprised of businesses rendering commercial banking services in Kenya. A non-probability method of sampling was utilized. Structured questionnaires were used as applicable. The study targeted all the 42 Kenyan commercial banks/lenders. The 42 commercial bank managers were targeted as the unit of observation and the 42 commercial banks as the unit of analysis. Since the population in the current study was small but adequate for study research, that is, 42, the study used a census survey (thus no sampling was done) and thus the targeted population were still the commercial banks. Questionnaires were the instruments of data collection. The SPSS application was used to help with this analysis (v.25.0). Descriptive analytics and inferential metrics were used to analyze the data. Charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, and illustrations were used to present the findings.

Results: The findings indicated that product leadership has a positive and significant relationship with the competitive advantage of Kenyan lenders (β =0.359, p=0.000). This implies that gains in a single unit of product leadership result in a 0.359-unit shift in the competitive edge of Kenyan lenders.

Contribution to policy and practice: The study reveals a positive and significant connection between product leadership and the competitive advantage of Kenyan commercial banks/lenders. This suggests that banks that focus on developing innovative products, offering unique value propositions, and staying ahead in terms of product offerings are more likely to attain a competitive advantage. This finding contributes to knowledge by emphasizing the importance of product innovation and differentiation for achieving a competitive edge in the banking industry.

Edith Cowan Journal of Human Resource and Leadership

Product Leadership and Competitive Advantage of Commercial Banks in Kenya