Financial Management Practices, IFMIS Adoption, and Perceived Performance of County Governments in Kenya: A Cross-sectional Survey
Charles Kipsang Rotich *
Mount Kenya University, P. O. Box 342-01000, Thika, Kenya.
Issack Mokono Abuga
Mount Kenya University, P. O. Box 342-01000, Thika, Kenya.
Christopher Mutembei
Mount Kenya University, P. O. Box 342-01000, Thika, Kenya.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study examined associations among financial management practices (FMP), adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), and treasury officials' perceptions of county-government performance in Kenya, including a proposed FMP-by-IFMIS interaction. A cross-sectional survey approached 127 treasury officials from 15 counties across six economic blocs, of whom 98 returned questionnaires (77.2%). Official budget-implementation and audit publications provided institutional context but were not incorporated into the respondent-level regression. On five-point agreement items, the arithmetic mean of the item means was 3.7925 for IFMIS adoption and 3.5884 for perceived performance. The reported regression sums of squares yielded R² = .8919 and F(3, 94) = 258.49 (nominal p < .001); the reported interaction coefficient was positive (B = 1.030, SE = .050). However, the transformation of the model variables, several identical marginal response profiles across distinct items, the lack of a reduced-model comparison, and unadjusted within-county clustering limit the interpretation of moderation. The evidence describes respondents' perceptions and exploratory statistical associations, not independently verified improvements in public services or fiscal outcomes. Reproducible measurement and county-aware analyses are required to establish the conditional relationship.
Keywords: County governments, financial management practices, IFMIS adoption, Kenya, perceived performance, interaction model