INFLUENCE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE OF THE PROCUREMENT FUNCTION IN THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF BUNGOMA

Abstract

Procurement function encompasses the whole process of acquiring goods, services and works; thus begins when an entity has identified a need and decided on its procurement requirement. However, although performance of the procurement function is quite significant in service delivery in both public and private organization, a number of researches have revealed varied assertions on what really influences procurement performance in public institutions. Therefore lack of adequate empirical evidence on significant factors affecting procurement performance function in County governments motivated this study to examine key factors influencing procurement performance in the county government of Bungoma. The study was informed by the Stock Diffusion theory, Efficiency theory, and Resource Based View theory. The study adopted descriptive survey design and used structured questionnaires to collect data. The study targeted 115 respondents where Yamame’s formula was applied to get a sample size of 89 respondents. A pilot study was done on 10 respondents selected from the senior management officers in the county government of Trans Nzoia which neighbors Bungoma county government, the study area. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data into meaningful form while inferential statistics was used to determine variable relationships. The study established that procurement planning, procurement staff training, procurement monitoring and inventory control have significant influence procurement performance in the county government of Bungoma. These four supply chain management practices were found to be significant predicator of procurement performance. Therefore, the study concluded that supply chain management practices significantly influenced procurement performance in the county government of Bungoma. The study recommended that county government should continuously offer procurement staff training so as to improve their skills and knowledge. The study also recommended that there is need to upscale procurement monitoring practices in county governments such as supplier compliance assessments/evaluations and regular purchase/repurchase supervision. Key Words: Procurement Planning, Procurement Staff Training, Procurement Monitoring, Inventory Control CITATION: Waswa, V. N., & Otinga, H. (2020). Influence of supply chain management practices on performance of the procurement function in the county government of Bungoma . The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 7 (4), 935 –950.