Strategic Configuration of Physical Resources and Urban Mobility Outcomes in Nairobi, Kenya: The Role of Asset Prioritisation, Procurement and Sustainability

Abstract

How physical transport assets are prioritised, procured and sustained over their life cycles matters as much as whether they are available. In Nairobi City, congestion, maintenance deficits and safety concerns persist despite substantial infrastructure investment. Anchored in the Resource-Based View and complemented by Resource Orchestration Theory, this study examined the association between the strategic configuration of physical resources and perceived urban mobility outcomes (efficiency, safety and reliability). Strategic configuration comprised asset prioritisation, procurement and asset sustainability practices applied to road infrastructure, fleets, terminals and related equipment. A positivist, cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was adopted. From a population of 765 organisational actors in 25 public, private and international development institutions, a sample of 263, computed with Yamane’s formula, was allocated proportionally across three stakeholder strata. Knowledgeable respondents within strata were selected purposively; 220 questionnaires were returned (83.7%) and 214 were analysed. Using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and simple linear regression in SPSS version 30, the study found that physical resource configuration was positively associated with perceived urban mobility outcomes (r = .610, p < .001). It accounted for 37.3% of their variance, F(1, 212) = 125.88, p < .001; B = 0.305, 95% CI [0.251, 0.359]. Descriptively, asset prioritisation was the least favourably rated phase (M = 3.66), and its lowest-rated item concerned the capacity of data-driven prioritisation to reduce political interference (M = 3.48); asset sustainability was rated highest (M = 3.84). Limitations include; perception-based, single-source, cross-sectional data from a purposive sample limit causal inference and generalisation. Thus, agencies should shield asset prioritisation from political interference through transparent, data-driven criteria and track asset performance against objective mobility indicators.