Revisiting Relationship Cultivation Strategies: A Comparative Analysis of Strategic Communication Practice in Kenya’s County Governments and Corporate Sectors

This study examines how relationship cultivation strategies are interpreted and enacted by strategic communication practitioners in Kenya’s county governments and corporate sector. Drawing on 38 in-depth interviews and guided by relationship management theory, the study employs a theory-informed inductive approach to explore how six key strategies—access, assurances, openness, networking, positivity, and task sharing—manifest in structurally distinct institutional contexts, extending scholarship on relationship cultivation to an underexamined sub-Saharan African setting. Findings reveal that while corporate practitioners operationalize these strategies through deliberate planning, responsiveness, and integrated stakeholder engagement, county government practitioners often face bureaucratic, political, and infrastructural constraints that undermine even basic efforts at relationship building. These sectoral contrasts highlight how the institutional context influences the cultivation of relationships and strategic communication practices. The study contributes to theory by demonstrating the need for a more context-sensitive and adaptive application of relationship management theory, and it offers practical insights for enhancing public engagement in decentralized governance systems. Beyond deepening understanding of strategic communication in Kenya, these findings carry implications for the global study and practice of relationship management across diverse institutional settings.