Factors Influencing Supplier Relationship Management of County Governments in Kenya- A Case Study of County Government of Taita Taveta

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to find out what factors affect supplier relationship management in county governments. The objective of the study was to help improve supplier relationship management in county governments, by identifying the factors that hinder supplier relations in county governments, with a closer look at Information technology, ethics, partnership approach and organizational structure and how they affect supplier relations, the study will also suggest ways of enhancing the relations. Descriptive research design was used which include questionnaires that will be distributed and filled by various staff at the county government of Taita Taveta and some of the prequalified suppliers of the county government. Target population in this research was the county government staff and the suppliers of the county government of Taita Taveta. The target population was 200 employees and suppliers. Stratified method was used to draw the sample size of 50 employees and suppliers. Data analysis was done using qualitative and quantitative techniques after gathering data from questionnaires and documentary sources. All questionnaires will be adequately checked for reliability and verification. Descriptive methods will be employed and data will be presented in the form of frequency distribution tables to facilitate description and explanation of the study finding. The researcher will record the findings by use of tables, graphs and charts. From the study findings, on gender issues male respondents were the dominant group than their female counterparts and most of them were aged below 40 years. On the education, majority of respondents were college and university graduates. The study revealed that information technology positively affects supplier relationship management and that respondents were fully aware of the ethical issues in procurement at the county governments. Further the study showed that partnership approach and organizational structure have a positive impact on supplier relationship management. According to the findings, it was clear that there was a positive correlation between information technology and supplier relationship management shown by a correlation figure of 0.966; Ethics and supplier relationship management shown by a correlation figure of 0.955; Partnership approach and supplier relationship management shown by a correlation figure of 0.881; Organizational structure and supplier relationship management; shown by a correlation figure of 0.943. This showed that there was a strong positive correlation highest being noted in information technology and lowest in partnership approach with a positive correlation. Coefficient of determination explains the extent to which changes in the dependent variable can be explained by the change in the independent variables or the percentage of variation in the dependent variable (supplier relationship management) that is explained by all independent variables. From the findings this meant that 94.7% of supplier relationship management is attributed to combination of the four independent factors investigated in this study. the study concluded all the independent variables studied have significant effect on supplier relationship management of county government as indicated by the strong coefficient of correlation and a p-value which is less than 0.05.The overall effect of the analyzed factors was very high as indicated by the coefficient of determination. The overall P-value of 0.00 which is less than 0.05 (5%) is an indication of relevance of the studied variables, significant at the calculated 95% level of significance. The study recommended the following; That county governments should embrace information technology in their procurement processes; That county governments should adopt e-procurement processes that will champion supplier relationship management; That county government should have a clear partnership approach with suppliers that will be beneficial to all stakeholders concerned in procurement processes; That county organizational structure should be lean to reduce bureaucracy in procurement processes.