Use of E-Procurement and Procurement Performance

Abstract

The Procurement system in Kenya has grown from a system without guidelines and principles to a legally controlled system consistent with international standards. Regardless of the presence of the legal framework and guidelines, procurement continues to be stained with corruption and losses amounting to billions of shillings. In the modern business environment, procurement entities depend more on their suppliers to deliver the right products at the right time at the right place and at the right price. Up till now often, suppliers are not capable of giving that satisfaction. Establishing, maintaining and enhancing good relationships with major suppliers over long period of time is the main issue facing managers in organizations. This study therefore sought to determine the effects of use of e-procurement on procurement performance. This was undertaken through the following specific objectives; to analyze the effects of access of procurement information onlineon procurement performance, assess the effect of information accuracy on procurement process, toassess the effects of adopting e-procurement on procurement performance and to evaluate the effects of number of documents exchanged online on procurement performance. This study was guided by the Transaction Cost Theory and the resource based theory, whilst the target population encompassed of all the public universities in Kenya; Moi University was carefully chosen using cluster sampling technique, Data was obtained using structured questionnaires. A pilot test was carried out to establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaires. A reliability coefficient of above 0.6 was accepted for this study. Data was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Findings indicated that the variables are statistically significance to influencing procurement performance of public universities. Public universities have to adopt the use of E-Procurement in their procurement activities, parties in the procurement process should be able to easily access and quickly exchange accurate procurement information this will ensure decisions are made faster which will save on time and cost leading to efficiency and effectiveness in the procurement process. Exchanging business documents online as an indicator of use of E-Procurement has the greatest influence on procurement performance. Further studies be carried out incorporating different indicators of measuring procurement performance.