Effect of procurement practices on performance of supply chain in public sector: A case of agriculture and food authority in Kenya

Abstract

The nature of contemporary economy has shifted the battlefield from the traditional individualized performance of companies to what has been termed as the Supply Chain Performance. Supply chain has been potentially identified as one of the key item that can significantly improve a company efficiency hence reducing the costs. The main objective of this study was to establish the effect of procurement practices on performance of supply chain in public sector guided by the following specific variables; to establish the effects of e-procurement on supply chain performance; to establish the effect of staff competency on supply chain performance; to examine the effect of green purchasing on the supply chain performance and to examine the effect of buyer-supplier relationship on supply chain performance at Agriculture and food authority (AFA). The study employed a descriptive research design. The target population for the study was 503 employees in all AFA Directorates. The study employed the use of stratified sampling to select respondents and then employed the use of simple random sampling to select the employees in the various departments. The sample size selected for the study was 151 respondents. The study used questionnaires as the instrument for data collection. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages and standard deviation and inferential statistics such as correlation, analysis of variance and Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). The study established that E-Procurement had a significant effect on supply chain performance (β 1 = 0.264, p = 0.03); Staff competency had a significant effect on supply chain performance (β 2 = 0.290, p = 0.03); Green purchasing had a significant effect on supply chain performance (β 3 = 0.294, p = 0.04); and Buyer-Supplier relationship had a significant effect on supply chain performance (β 4 = 0.289, p = 0.03). The study concluded that e-procurement, Staff Competence, Green Purchasing and Buyer-Supplier Relationship are critical determinants on Supply Chain Performance and therefore firms should pay attention to these procurement practices if they hope to boost the performance of their supply chains. A similar study may be carried out in Private as well as other Public institutions. The study recommends that the government should encourage public organizations to fully adopt procurement practices that add value to supply chain among them the specific variables examined under this study. Further the government should also put in resources for further research to find out other variables that positively impacts on performance of supply chain