Influence of Human Resource Competency on Implementation of Electronic Logistics in FMCG Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi County

Abstract

Human resource competency is crucial in adopting and implementing electronic logistics (e-logistics) in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing firms. The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturing sector significantly contributes to Kenya’s economy, accounting for approximately 9.2% of the country’s GDP and employing a substantial portion of the workforce in the manufacturing industry. The core of this persistent struggle lies in the weak or inadequate human resource competency that underpin logistics operations. E-logistics. The study objective was to assess the influence of human resource competency on the implementation of electronic logistics in FMCG manufacturing firms in Nairobi. The study used descriptive and explanatory design to achieve the research objectives. The study targeted 309 respondents drawn from logistics, supply chain, procurement, finance, IT, marketing departments of the representative FMCG firms. This research used stratified sampling, and 6 clusters of departments were used to categorize participants, while simple random sampling was utilized to select participants from each individual cluster. The researcher utilized questionnaires as instruments for data collection. The structured questionnaires contained close-ended questions to provide rich quantitative data for quantitative analysis. The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 25 to analyze data. The independent variable was the human resource competency while the dependent variable was the implementation of electronic logistics. The survey of 151 respondents revealed mixed readiness in human resource competency for e-Logistics implementation in FMCG firms. While 62.9% agreed employees possess technical skills, 52.3% felt training was inadequate, and 53.7% said staff couldn’t troubleshoot basic issues. Although 60.9% acknowledged strong management support, only 38.4% felt capable of addressing technical problems, highlighting a gap between leadership intent and staff execution. Awareness of e-Logistics efficiency was high (58.3%), but 55.6% noted poor investment in continuous skill development. Motivation remained low, with only 36.5% feeling encouraged, and 61.6% citing weak HR policies. These findings suggest the need for ongoing, practical training, policy reform, and employee incentives to fully harness e-Logistics’ potential. Regression analysis revealed that by increasing Human Resource Competency by 0.894.