Influence of Innovativeness On Performance of Kenyan Owned Airline Enterprises

This study sought to investigate the influence of innovativeness on the performance of Kenyan airlines. The study adopted a descriptive design. The research focused on a population of 47 Kenyan owned airlines, both passenger and cargo, from whom a sample of 42 firms was selected through simple random sampling method.  In the 42 airlines, the researcher accessed two subjects, a chief executive officer and a senior level manager giving a total sample size of 84. The study employed structured questionnaires to collect primary data. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics was generated. From this data, a regression model was used to show the relationship between the independent variables to the dependent variable. The results indicate that there is a relatively strong but significantly positive association between innovativeness and Kenyan owned airlines’ performance (R=.483). The coefficient of determination R2 =.233 implies that innovation explains 23.3% of the Kenyan owned airlines’ performance. The study recommends that Kenyan owned airlines to continuously adopt entrepreneurial innovativeness since this leads to improved performance. The practices should include all scientific, technological, organizational, financial and commercial steps which actually, or are intended to, lead to the implementation of innovations. Keywords: Innovativeness, performance, Kenyan owned airlines.