Ethical Procurement Practices and Performance of Public Procuring Entities in Tanzania: Empirical Evidences from Moshi District Council

Abstract

 Compliance to ethical practices has emerged as one of the critical issues in government and non – governmental organisations over the past decades, particularly in public financed procurement projects. This empirical study was conducted to analyses the relationship between and influence of ethical public procurement practices and organisation performance. The study adopted descriptive research design while simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to sample 44 respondents in Moshi District Council. Questionnaire, documentary review and key informants interview guide were the tools of data collection for quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis technique whereby data were transcribed, categorised, coded and thereafter grouped into themes. The analysis of quantitative data involved the use of chi square, correlation and ordinal logistic regression in order to determine the influence of ethical procurement practices on organisation performance. The study findings revealed that to a greater extent Moshi District Council adopted ethical procurement practices of transparency, accountability, fairness as well as procurement professional practices which were significantly related and associated with organisation performance (p < 0.05). The adopted ethical procurement practices also had significant and positive influence on organisation performance (p < 0.05). Therefore, adoption of ethical public procurement practices either jointly or singlehandedly improved organisation performance by ensuring timely and quality delivery as well as achieve cost efficiency in procurement. Despite effective adoption of ethical practices, the study recommended on the need to strengthen internal and external legal framework, enhance ethical training, hiring technically, qualified and professional procurement staffs.