Antecedents Of Standards Compliance For The Internationalisation Of Kenyan Horticulture

The objective of this study was to investigate the antecedents of standards compliance for the internationalisation of Kenyan horticulture. This was achieved by answering to specific objectives related to the influence of exporters’ awareness of standards compliance and exporters’ competences; input use, technology use, and infrastructure on the internationalisation of Kenyan horticulture with the moderating role of regulatory framework. This study was mainly anchored on the Competitive Advantage of Nation’s model and was guided by a positivism research philosophy. A descriptive and explanatory research design was applied by utilising qualitative and quantitative approaches.

The population of the study was made of 161 ordinary members of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) who were registered by March 2017.The sample population was 115 units guided by Yamane’s (1967) formula. A stratified random sampling was used to pick the sample units and a semi-structured questionnaire, an interview guide and a focus group guide were used to collect data. The pilot study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the data collection tools. The quantitative data was entered in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for analysis and the statistics generated were descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics included percentages and frequencies while the inferential statistics included Pearson Correlation and linear regression model. Qualitative data were processed and analysed following thematic approach.