The Adoption and Deployment of Technology in Inventory Management Systems of Public Institutions: A Case Study of Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC)

Abstract

Adoption and deployment of technology is universally regarded as essential in enhancing the competitiveness of the economy of a country (Oliveira & Martins, 2011). Today, improving government service delivery has become a vital agenda for most governments. In view of this quality service delivery has become a measure for public sector management (Kaliannan, Awang & Raman, 2007) which has placed a demand on public institutions to adopt Information Technology (IT) in their operations, including effective management of inventory. According to Silver, Pyke & Peterson (1998), effective inventory management seeks to control costs through inventory in total value of the goods and the tax burden in cumulative inventory value. This study examined the adoption and deployment of technology in inventory management systems using Electoral Commission of Ghana as a specific case. A descriptive survey was used for the study.  Purposive and convenience sampling procedure was adopted. The study sample was 200 employees from the Electoral Commission of Ghana. Questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and the Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) version 21 were used to analyze the data. The findings of the study indicate that IT investment leads to better inventory performance at the Electoral Commission of Ghana. It was recommended that the Electoral Commission of Ghana should ensure proper and efficient integration of information technology in inventory management systems which would further enhance transparency, credibility and integrity of Ghana's democracy.