DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i01.003

Pages: 13-17

The presence of street children is a phenomenon experienced in many towns and cities in Kenya. The main objective of the study is to find effect of street children on supermarket shopper’s behavior in urban centers in Kenya. This study relied on social capital theory by Coleman that posits that in the absence of social capital in the family, provision of basic needs becomes a problem leading children to leave their homes to seek alternative avenues of comfort. Random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were used to select a study sample, which was subjected to interviews. The data was keyed into the computer and both qualitative and quantitative statistical techniques used for analysis. The output of the analysis was presented in tables. The findings reveal that supermarkets in Kenya have problems on existence of street children majority of who are located in CBDs. Some of them steal from shoppers and therefore affecting the behaviors of the shoppers. Consequently, the supermarkets and other business premises are affected since they lose customers. However, the study also found that street children were also exploited by some people who come to shop at supermarkets through prostitution and drug trafficking. The study recommends for enhancement of government efforts towards the alleviation of problem faced by street children, building community responsibility on alleviation of street children, and starting programmes for educating street-children on economic exploitation.