Ethics and Procurement Performance in State Corporations in Kenya

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VI, June 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Ethics and Procurement Performance in State Corporations in Kenya

John Gichuki Kahare*, Dennis Chege
School of Procurement and Logistic, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
*Corresponding Author

Abstract: Despite the efforts put in by the government to oversee the introduction of the public procurement and disposal act of 2015 and the integrated financial management system, public institutions have continued to lose public funds through dubious procurement practices. The main aim of his study was to assess the influence that ethical practices have on the procurement performance of Kenyan state corporations with a case study of KenGen. A descriptive research design was used for this study. The population for the study included 381 procurement officers, procurement actuarial, and quantity surveyors at KenGen. Probabilistic sampling through the Yamane formula was used to arrive at a sample of 195 respondents. A questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection administered by the researcher inperson. Data collected was then analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Results of the study were presented on tables and interpretation done narratively.The study found that there are bidders present during tenders opening as shown by a mean of 4.14. The study also found a (β=0.319, t=5.281 and p-value=0.001) between tendering transparency and procurement performance. The study concluded that tendering transparency had a positive and significant influence on procurement performance.The study recommended the continuous publication of tenders, continuous appraisal of tenders by auditors, public participation of bidders during the opening of bids by ensuring that tenders are not tampered with during opening.

Key Words: Ethics, transparency, procurement, Performance.

I. INTRODUCTION

Stakeholders’ pressure has resulted in more accountability in organizations by encouraging the conduct of business ethically. The call of ethical practices in an organization is an urge to adopt behaviors that result in improved performance of the procurement of the organization and the performance of the organization as a whole in the 21st Century (Foerstl et al. (2017). Supply chain managers are required to uphold unquestionable ethical conduct in their daily duties of ensuring that organization obtains value for their money by outsourcing services and goods at the minimum cost possible but at the same time, the goods and services should be of high quality. However, they face ethical tests daily by contractors who want to circumvent professionals’ standards and involve them in fraudulent dealings through canvassing (Atkinson, 2020; Vargas, et al., 2018).

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