E-Waste Disposal Strategies and Competitive Advantage: The Moderating Role of Stakeholder Engagement among Utility Firms in Kenya

Abstract

Uncontrolled e-waste disposal practices can adversely affect firms’ competitive advantage through reputational damage, increased regulatory and legal exposure, inefficient resource utilization, restricted market access, reduced customer loyalty, and broader negative environmental and climate impacts. Despite the growing importance of e-waste management, empirical research examining the relationship between e-waste disposal strategies and competitive advantage remains limited in the Kenyan context, particularly within the utility sector. The study investigated the influence of e-waste disposal strategies on the competitive advantage of utility firms in Kenya. The utility companies deal with electricity, telecommunications, water and sanitation operating across all forty-seven counties and were among the largest generators of e-waste in the country. The specific objectives were to assess the effect of dumping of e-waste, and enforcement of organizational e-waste policy on competitive advantage, with stakeholder engagement explored as a moderating variable. The study was anchored on the resource-based view theory, competition theory, game theory, and waste management theory. Survey research design was adopted, targeting officers drawn from utility firms using a random sample of 235 respondents. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires. Data analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistics, with multiple regression analysis conducted using SPSS version 25. The results revealed that the disposal strategies had a positive and statistically significant relationship with competitive advantage of utility firms in Kenya. The regression model yielded an R² value of 0.279 (27.9%) without the moderating variable in Model 1. When the moderating variable was introduced in Model 2, the R² value rose to 0.484 (48.4%). In Model 3, the R² was 0.504 (50.4%) with moderator variable as both intercept and slope shifter, indicating that the independent variables jointly explained 50.4% of the variation in competitive advantage, while 49.6% was attributable to factors not captured in the study. Dumping variable had the highest beta at +0.365 which was significant before introduction of the moderator variable. Its effect on competitive advantage was reversed and became insignificant upon introduction of the moderator. Stakeholder engagement variable attained the highest beta of +0.692 and had the highest influence in model 3.  The study concluded that unsustainable non-compliant e-waste disposal practices were short lived. The perceived cost-efficiency benefits were not sustainable under the scrutiny of stakeholders and should be avoided. While dumping produced short-term financial gains, its advantage diminished in high stakeholder engagement contexts.  The study also revealed that policy became strategically effective only when moderated by stakeholder engagement. The findings contribute to theory, policy, and practice by demonstrating that unsustainable e-waste management practices are not only an environmental imperative but also non-strategic drivers of competitive advantage for utility firms in Kenya.

Keywords: E-Waste, Utility Firms, Dumping, Policy, Stakeholder Engagement, Competitive Advantage