Antecedents of Opportunism on Integrity in Competitive Tendering

Abstract

Opportunism negatively impacts relational exchange tenets in public procurement such as trust, compliance, professional values and ethics. It is manifested in behaviours such as stealing, cheating, dishonesty, and withholding information when executing competitive tendering. The problems of competitive tendering and its implications on public sector procurement have been identified as not only enormous but complex now that there is serious needs on the part of various government servants to provide poor services with little funds. However, integrity translates degree of reliability of public procurement practitioners, as bidders and all other stakeholders need to have assurance that they can rely on any information disseminated by the procurement entity, formally or informally. This study is endeavor to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between integrity on opportunism dimensions, with a special focus on behavioural aspects in public sector. Primary data were collected through self administered questionnaire to public procurement practitioners and regulators in Tanzania's Local Government Authorities of Singida and Dodoma Regions. Data were analysed through preliminary analysis, descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis to examine effects of Integrity on Opportunism in Competitive Tendering. It is evidenced that integrity practices in competitive tendering are statistically significant and negatively correlated to opportunism. The findings will help public procurement practitioners and regulators in Local Government Authorities to take necessary steps to improve integrity so as to reduce opportunistic behaviours in competitive tendering. In overall, higher integrity is associated with higher level of competitive tendering performance.