Analysis of the relationship between procurement best practices And procurement performance in public institutions in Kenya

Abstract

ABSTRACT According to the Kenya Economic Survey 2014 public institutions are the major contributors to the country economic growth. In recent time there has been reports of public sector facing challenges on procurement best practices for instance performance of public sector has been dwindling and this has been attributed to lack of procurement best practices. Studies in this direction for public institutions are lacking. The purpose of the study was to analyse the relationship between procurement best practices and procurement performance in Public Institutions. Specifically the study sought to establish the extent of procurement performance in Public Institutions, to examine the relationship between green purchasing, supplier partnering and 'procurement performance in Public Institutions. The study was guided by a conceptual framework where the independent variable was procurement best practices and the dependent variable procurement performance. The study was anchored on Network Theory. The design used in the research was descriptive survey. The Target population was 103 with a sample size of 78. Primary data used was collected via questionnaires. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics and correlational analysis. The instrument was found to be reliable as all the four scales average reliability values 0.88 exceeded the prescribed threshold of 0.7. The study revealed that procurement performance was moderate as evidenced by a mean (M = 3.16). The study also revealed that there was a significant and positive relationship between procurement performances. The highest correlation was that between compliance with green procurement policies and product quality with a coefficient of (r=0.716, p=.O.OO)and the lowest being that between recycling of procured products and reduced lead time with a coefficient of (r=0.476, p=0.03). Moreover the study revealed that there was significant and positive relationship between procurement performance and supplier partnership. The highest correlation was that between focus on product quality and product quality with a coefficient of (r=O.816,p=O.O1) and the lowest being that between practise partnership existence in design choices and cost reduction and saving with a coefficient of (r=0.472, p=O.OI). These findings could provide valuable insight into how procurement activities in this institution should be conducted so as to achieve better purchasing performance and can also be used by suppliers as a source of information on handling the relationship with public universities. The study recommends that management of Public institutions should focus on its procurement activities and also increase their focus on green purchasing and supplierpartnership.