Strategic Safety Management System and Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Kenya's Aviation Companies

Abstract

Kenya's aviation companies operate under intensifying regulatory scrutiny, rising operational costs, and mounting competition from heavily capitalised regional carriers, yet most treat safety management as a compliance obligation rather than a source of competitive strength. This study examined the influence of Strategic Safety Management Systems (SSMS) on Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) in Kenya's aviation industry. SSMS comprised four components—Strategic Aircraft Maintenance System (SAMS), Strategic Flight Operations Management (SFOM), Strategic Quality Management System (SQMS), and Strategic Human Resource Planning (SHRP)—with Regulatory Compliance (RC) as a moderator. Anchored on Stakeholder and Total Quality Management (TQM) theories, it adopted a positivist, sequential mixed-methods design integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence through triangulation. Quantitative data were collected from 192 managers across all 60 Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)-licensed firms, yielding an 89% response rate (n = 171), and qualitative data from 21 key informants. Separate regressions showed SQMS (R² = 0.413), SFOM (R² = 0.389), SAMS (R² = 0.358), and SHRP (R² = 0.374) each significantly predicted SCA (p < 0.001). A stepwise multiple regression with RC explained 53.0% of the variance (Adjusted R² = 0.519), RC significantly moderating all SSMS–SCA relationships. Qualitative findings triangulated these results, underscoring proactive safety culture, structured audits, management commitment, and competent workforces as enablers. The study advances Stakeholder and TQM theory by showing that strategically embedded safety and quality practices become stakeholder-legitimising capabilities yielding durable competitive value. It recommends integrated SSMS implementation, real-time safety monitoring, HR capability audits, and repositioning regulatory compliance as a strategic asset.