Outsourcing and Organizational Performance in the Media Industry in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of outsourcing on organizational performance in the media industry in Kenya. The study employed descriptive and survey research design. The population of the study consisted of Royal Media Services, Nation Media Group, Standard Group Ltd, Media-Max Ltd and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation focusing on print, broadcast TV, radio and electronic business lines since they are the major media in the industry hence the target population was 34 managers. Given the relatively small number of study population, a census sampling method was conducted. This study mainly used primary data which was collected using questionnaires. Data analysis used Microsoft excel and Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) to summarize responses for further analysis and facilitate comparison. In addition, the study conducted a multiple regression analysis to show the relationship between outsourcing of services and organizational performance in the media industry in Kenya.The results indicated that correlation between types of outsourcing and organization performance shows that there was a strong positive correlation, while a correlation between level of outsourcing and organization performance shows that there was a strong negative correlation. Similarly a correlation between outsourcing and organization performance show that there was a weak positive correlation and is significant at a= 5% and implies that the increase or decrease in independent variables would not significantly affect the beta of the firm. The increase in types of outsourcing has a positive impact on the beta.The conclusion drawn from the findings of this study shows that the reliance of media organizations mainly on outsourcing is not sustainable in the future due to increase in demand for services from a number of customers, therefore there is need for the media to actively open up new avenues for services outsourced. The study suggests that a case study method be used in the future instead of a survey method. This is because generalizing the results of the survey study does not give the picture of specific organization and hence case study would act as better pointers of services outsourced and organization performance in an individual organization.