Effect of technology and information systems on revenue collection by the county government of Embu, Kenya.

Abstract

Improvement of revenue collection in counties is the key to meeting their financial obligations leading to realization of their mandate to offer quality and timely services to the residents, the demand for which may exceed the available resources. Many counties have adequate revenue bases to finance the current level of services, but revenue collection levels are often low. According to reports by the Controller of Budget, revenue collection by 14 counties in Kenya fell below amounts generated by the former local authorities under their respective jurisdictions during the 2013/2014 financial year. In addition, the analysis showed that most counties failed to meet their local revenue collection targets. Several counties have been slammed with labour strikes and go-slows among their workforce due to delayed salaries and/or poor remuneration of employees working under the county governments. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of technology and information systems on revenue collection by County governments in Kenya. The study was guided by technology acceptance theory. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The target population of the study comprises all county government employees in Kenya. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling was used to select 102 respondents for the study. Content Validity was used as a validity test while Cronbach alpha coefficient was used for reliability test where a reliability coefficient of 0.7 was obtained and accepted. Data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Overall; it was found that technology and information systems had the effect on revenue collection. The study recommends a revision of the County’s Act and the integration of information systems in the management activities of Embu County. The findings of this study shall be beneficial to county governments as they were in a position to establish corrective measures and formulate policies to harness revenue collection.