- Agilo Elijah Osena¹, ²Dr. Lawrence Odollo, ³Dr. Abraham Kiflemariam
- 1, 2&3Department of Graduate Business Studies, School of Business and Economics, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa
- FAR Journal of Financial and Business Research (FARJFBR)
- DOI
Faith-Based Basic Education Institutions (FBBEIs) in Kenya continue to face financial instability arising from increased operating costs, declining donor support, and heavy dependence on tuition income, prompting increasing interest in digital transformation as a lever for institutional efficiency and financial resilience. This study examined the effect of digital transformation on the financial sustainability of Catholic Private Educational Institutions Association (CaPEIA) schools in the Diocese of Kisii, Kenya. The study was anchored on the Resource-Based View and adopted a pragmatist, mixed-methods, descriptive research design. A sample of 120 Senior Administrative Assistants drawn from twelve systematically sampled CaPEIA schools completed closed-ended questionnaires, while 17 key informants (head teachers, Board of Management chairpersons, and the Diocesan Education Secretary) were purposively selected for structured interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and linear regression in SPSS version 25.0, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. Findings show that teacher digital literacy and social-media engagement are well established, while automated management systems, virtual classrooms, and digital whiteboards remain underdeveloped. Digital transformation was found to have a very strong, positive, and statistically significant relationship with financial sustainability (r = .931, p < .001), and regression analysis indicated that digital transformation explains approximately 86.7% of the variance in financial sustainability (R² = .867, F(1, 85) = 554.4, p < .001; β = .931, p < .001). The study recommends deliberate diocesan and institutional investment in automated administrative systems, virtual-learning infrastructure, and continuous digital-skills training for teachers, administrators, and Board of Management members.
