Moderating Role of Regulatory Compliance on the Relationship Between Safety Management Systems and Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Kenyan Aviation Companies

This study investigated the moderating influence of regulatory compliance on the relationship between Strategic Safety Management Systems (SSMS) implementation and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in the Kenyan aviation industry. Drawing on institutional theory, sequential mixed methods and using a census-based sample of 360 managers from all the 60 Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)-licensed aviation companies, hierarchical moderated regression and PROCESS Macro Model 1 (5,000 bootstraps) were employed to test the interaction effects. Results show that regulatory compliance significantly moderates the relationship between SSMS and SCA (ΔR² = 0.046, p < 0.001). All four interaction terms that constitute SSMS had positive and significant influence, with the strongest amplification observed for Strategic Quality Management Systems (β = 0.384, p = 0.005), followed by Strategic Flight Operations Management (β = 0.318, p = 0.014), Strategic Aircraft Maintenance Systems (β = 0.265, p = 0.047), and Strategic Human Resource Planning (β = 0.152, p = 0.033). Conditional process analysis revealed positive effects of SSMS components on SCA improved and in some cases only reach significance when regulatory compliance is high (+1 SD). Qualitative findings confirmed that rigorous oversight transforms mandated safety practices into a genuine source of competitiveness. Thus, in the Kenyan context, regulatory compliance is not merely a legal requirement but a strategic amplifier that determines whether SSMS investments translate into sustainable competitive advantage. In lieu of this, it is recommended that Kenya Civil Aviation Authority should strengthen audit frequency and feedback to enhance safety performance, while the operators should prioritize full regulatory compliance before investing in advanced safety technologies or extensive training programmes.