Stakeholder Communication in Enhancing Responsible Waste Disposal: A Case of Embakasi East Sub-County Residents

Abstract

Stakeholder communication lays emphasis on organizations, focusing on the attitudes, needs, and interests of stakeholders as the best approach to a problem. The study gap emphasized stakeholder communication as a proposed Corporate Communication concept for organizational improvement through an understanding of their stakeholders' needs, interests, and concerns. It sought to examine stakeholder communication in enhancing responsible waste disposal by Embakasi East sub-county residents. The study attempted to determine if organizations can utilize stakeholder communication to improve performance. The objectives included establishing the prevailing forms of communication undertaken between Nairobi City County and its Embakasi East sub-county residents; determining the response of Embakasi East sub-county residents towards waste disposal; and finding out the relationship between stakeholder communication and waste disposal among Nairobi City County and Embakasi East sub-county residents. The study was done in Embakasi East sub-county in Nairobi, Kenya, with the population being the residents of Embakasi East sub-county. The sample size comprised Sunrise Phase 3 Estate residents who covered low and middle-income residents, two officers from Nairobi City County, and 7 low-income residents working within the estate. The study mainly used a descriptive research design utilizing descriptive questionnaires, interview guides, and a focus group discussion guide as the methods of data collection. Data analysis was mainly through descriptive analysis, deriving frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The major findings included Nairobi City County utilizing a wide array of communication, which is more manual than digital, with a preference for physical interaction. Secondly, Embakasi East sub-county residents have a concern for keeping the environment clean, but there are communication gaps based on preferred communication channels. Thirdly, residents acknowledge the effectiveness of social media in accessing information, but the County prefers other channels. Lastly, Nairobi City County seeks to provide knowledge and understanding to stakeholders with an emphasis that everyone has a role to play.