E-procurement and Organizational Performance of Non-governmental Organizations in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The world has continued to experience information, communication and technology growth, increased knowledge by consumers about foreign goods and services, improved international relations, cooperations and agreements amongst countries, convergence of socio-cultural orientation leading to tremendous growth of international business. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between e-procurement and organizational performance on NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya. The study had three research objectives: To determine the extent of E-procurement implementation among NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya and to establish the relationship between E-procurement implementation and the performance of NGOs in Nairobi, Kenya. This study employed descriptive research design that gained an in-depth understanding on the relationship between e- procurement and performance of NGOs in Kenya. The target populations of this study are the NGOs in Nairobi Kenya. Data was collected mainly by use of a questionnaire. The researcher mainly used descriptive statistics to analyze data. This included frequency distribution tables, mean and standard deviation. The use of charts might also be considered. SPSS and Microsoft excel software was used to generate outputs. The study concluded that accountability has been encouraged; there is a competitive bidding and sourcing and that there was improved flow of information. On the other hand, lack of management support; late supplier involvement; lack of proper staff training; failure to comply with best practices and poor information quality were the hindrances to the implementation of e-procurement. Further, the study concluded that online advertisement of tenders has improved effectiveness; online short listing of tenders has ensured transparency; online requisition by organization staff has improve accountability and online advertisement of tenders has ensured the NGO gets competitive suppliers. Although e-procurement seems to have a lot positive of effects on organizations, it must be implemented with caution to ensure that it is implemented at the right time and under the right conditions. The stakeholders should also stay attune to any new e-procurement related legislation, or self-regulation mechanisms such as Code of Conducts and Interchange Agreement. In addition, they should educate their employees, modify existing policies, formulate new strategies, adopt updated security systems and software‟s, and incorporate security information management in their organizations. From the findings the significance value is .002 which is less that 0.05 thus the model is statistically significance in predicting how online advertisement of tenders, online quotations and mode of ordering is via online affects organizational performance. The F critical at 5% level of significance was 3.23. Since F calculated is greater than the F critical (value = 2.21), this shows that the overall model was significant. The findings of this study were only directly applicable to the NGOs in Nairobi. The time duration was not adequate to conduct a survey of all staff and NGOs in Nairobi therefore the study chose to identify 2 respondents per NGO. It only focused on eprocurement implementation and supply chain integration among NGOs in Nairobi. This same study should be extended to other industries and firms so that similarities and differences may be drawn. It will also be advisable to replicate this same study after some years have elapsed in order to establish the changes that have taken place since supply chain integration highly depends on technology which is subject to change.