Firm’s strategic orientation enables a firm to develop optimal performance and sustain competitiveness in the market. Publicly owned hotels have however been faced with many challenges which affects their performance. These challenges included change in technology, competitive environment, social-cultural and economic challenges. The main objective of the study was to establish the influence of strategic orientation on performance of public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya. The study was guided by three theories namely; Resource-based view, Goal-setting theory and Dynamic Capabilities View. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used. The targeted institutions for the study were all the 9 existing public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample. A total of 54 respondents formed the sample size. The study adopted the use of a questionnaire for middle level managers and an interview schedule for the general managers as the main research instruments. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Both correlation and multiple linear regression analysis was carried out. The study established that resource orientation positively and significantly influences performance of public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya; entrepreneurial orientation positively and significantly influences performance of public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya; market orientation positively and significantly influences performance of public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya and that technological orientation positively and significantly influences performance of public owned hotel enterprises in Kenya. The multiple regression findings further showed that all measures of strategic orientation combined (resource orientation, technology orientation, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation) influences performance of public owned hotel enterprises. This study recommends that the public owned hotel enterprises should widely adopt information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. Public owned hotel enterprises should collect information about their current and potential guests’ desires continuously. The study also recommends that public owned hotels should be keen to generate innovations that are then converted into better performance.
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Market Orientation, Performance, resource orientation, strategic orientation
