An analysis of effect of unethical practices on supply chain Performance among county governments in Kenya, a case of County Government of Kisumu

Abstract

All government agencies have fallen victim to procurement irregularities at some point. The Auditor General's report for Kisumu County for the fiscal years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 details improper contract awards, payments for products and services that were never given, and irregular expenditure. In contrast, the purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of the effect of unethical practices on supply chain performance among county governments in Kenya a case of Kisumu County Government. Specifically, the study looked at the effects of uncompetitive procurement processes, irregular expenditure and inadequate contract management on supply chain performance within the county government of Kisumu. The study was guided by null hypothesis as follows; uncompetitive procurement process has no significant effect on supply chain performance, irregular expenditure has no significant effect on supply chain performance and inadequate contract management has no significant effect on supply chain performance. The study was anchored on the fraud triangle theory, the differential association theory and the theory of ethics. The research relied on correlational research design. The target population for the study was 70, because of the small number, all of them were selected using census survey to participate in the final study. From a pool of seventy respondents to a census survey, 70 were chosen at random. Primary data collected using structured questionnaire was used in data analysis. Seven county administrators from Siaya took part in the pilot study. The data collection tool was checked with the manager and subject matter experts. Validity of the instrument was confirmed through expert’s review. Cronbach alpha was used to ascertain reliability establishing a coefficient of 0.96 for all the variable confirming reliability at a suggested threshold of 0.7. Using multiple regression, it was established that uncompetitive procurement practices have a positive significant effect on the Supply chain Performance of County Government of Kisumu. This implies that uncompetitive practices have enhance the performance of the County Government of Kisumu County. The study also established that irregular expenditure have a minimal positive insignificant effect on the Supply Chain Performance of County Government of Kisumu. This implies that irregular expenditure impact positive on the Supply Chain Performance of County Government of Kisumu although minimally. Anti-competitive procurement practices have a detrimental effect on supply chain efficiency, as will be shown below. The study recommends objective engagement of uncompetitive processes circumstantially, strict adherence to the procurement plan and therefore avoiding irregular expenditure, proper contract management of procurement contracts to enhance supply chain performance of the County Government.