Correlation between Technical Skills and Sustained Competitive Advantage among Information Technology Networking Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify the strength and direction of the relationship between managers’ technical skills and firms’ sustained competitive advantage among IT networking SMEs in Kenya. The study adopted a positivist philosophy and a descriptive correlational design. A stratified random sample of 292 senior managerial employees was targeted from 365 licensed IT networking SMEs across Kenya's eight ICT Authority licensing tiers; 242 valid responses were achieved (response rate = 82.9%), using a structured, closed-ended questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale. Data were analysed using SPSS version 28, employing descriptive statistics and simple linear regression to test the hypothesised relationship. Technical skills were highly developed among managers, with ICT functional skills recording the highest mean (M = 3.99), followed by ICT problem-solving skills (M = 3.97) and ICT analytical skills (M = 3.87). At the composite level, regression analysis showed a positive and statistically significant association between technical skills (M = 3.87, SD = 0.63) and sustained competitive advantage (M = 3.87, SD = 0.36) (β = 0.607, R² = 0.369, p < .001), with technical skills accounting for 36.9% of the variance in sustained competitive advantage. The cross-sectional, single-source, self-reported design limits causal inference and may be subject to common method bias; the sample was nested within firms without adjustment for clustering, and the sampling precision estimate does not account for the study's stratified, clustered design. Findings are specific to licensed IT networking SMEs in Kenya. Therefore, firms should invest in structured technical skills training for managers to strengthen their capacity to sustain competitive advantage in a dynamic ICT market.