Exploring Strategic Communication Practices in Unclaimed Property Recovery Program: A Case Study of Kenya's Unclaimed Assets Authority

Abstract

This study examined the impact of the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority's (UFAA) strategic communication practices on the recovery of unclaimed property in Kenya, identifying what works, what does not, and how it can be improved. Unclaimed property frameworks in countries around the world guarantee perpetual right to reclaim, often facilitated through public awareness campaigns. However, Kenya’s unclaimed property recovery program has experienced a persistent low recovery rate, despite a decade of policy and institutional interventions, raising concerns about the effectiveness of communication initiatives in bridging information asymmetries and overcoming behavioural barriers. The gaps this study fills lie in the limited understanding of how strategic communication fosters awareness, cultivates institutional legitimacy and influence or hinders reclaim behaviour among the rightful owners and UFAA’s stakeholders. Underpinned by Agency Theory and the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS), the study employed a constructivist intrinsic case study design. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit participants with a role within the case context. Data were generated through focus groups, interviews, and document review, and analysed using thematic and iterative qualitative strategies. The study found that UFAA lacked key strategic communication pillars, namely: structured audience segmentation, targeted messaging, a structured feedback infrastructure, and a communication measurement tool. The study revealed adaptive strategies, including image and identity strategies, corporate social responsibility initiatives, stakeholder relations, and financial literacy programs, which UFAA's recovery program utilised for strategic positioning. In addition, the study identified systemic barriers to effective organisational communication and proposes how to overcome them, offering a framework for designing communication strategies that address entrenched information asymmetries and legitimacy challenges. It concludes that while UFAA symbolic power pressures holders to surrender unclaimed property through coercive institutional isomorphism, citizens acquiesce to state power out of fear, without necessarily accepting its legitimacy and are therefore sceptical about recovering their unclaimed property. Therefore, symbolic power alone may not be sufficient to overcome the deep-seated scepticism that hinders recovery efforts. This study contributes to organisational communication theory and practice by illuminating both individual and communal agencies as fundamental catalysts in communicative actions in problem-solving situations for proactive and reactive publics. It proposes a scepticism recognition variable in public sector communication in postcolonial states. The study blends the STOPS and Agency theories into a framework contextualised for unclaimed property strategic communication situations. The study provides actionable insights for policymakers and public sector organisations seeking to mobilise citizen participation in novel policy programs in a Global South context.