Search results

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework of achieving supplier delivery performance based on contract governance mechanisms, justice perceptions and ethical behavior using cross sectional survey data from public procuring and disposing entities (PDEs) in Uganda. Public procurement contract governance covers the design, development, implementation and enforcement of contracts. It serves to align interests of the contracting parties, reduce opportunistic behavior, lower transaction costs, promote justice perceptions, improve ethical behavior and achieve value for money procurement. Poorly managed procurement contracts result in conflicts, yet in many developing countries only rich suppliers can afford to resolve disputes through courts. For other suppliers, justice is out of reach. While it has been assumed that contracts result in good performance, little research has been carried out to corroborate this assumption. In this paper we provide theoretical, empirical and policy implications of supplier delivery performance.

The purpose of the study is to develop and test an integrated compliance model using constructs derived from the legitimacy, deterrence, institutional and stewardship theories. A Cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a sample of 97 out of the population of 129 Procuring and Disposing Entities which are regulated by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority Act (PPDA). Measurement items were derived from a critical review of literature and found to be both valid and reliable with Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.7. The findings reveal that legitimacy and stewardship behavior are significant predictors of compliance to the PPDA Act, Rules and Regulations. We therefore recommend that Procuring and Disposing Entities should continue legitimizing the procurement law through involvement of all stakeholders and promote stewardship behaviors among public employees.

Whereas social cohesion has been widely studied and researched by sociologist and psychologists, its application to public procurement is sparse. This study explores the connection between social cohesion, groupthink, ethical attitudes and ethical behavior of procurement officers. The study is based on a survey of 405 public procurement officers in central government. A cross-sectional survey design was used and a response rate of 58.5% attained. Self report items were used to study all the constructs. All the hypothesized relationships were found to be significant. Social cohesion, groupthink, and ethical attitudes were all significant predictors of ethical behavior, accounting for 56% of the variance. The strength of this prediction suggests the need for concerted policy intervention for dealing with unethical conduct and behavior of the procurement professionals.

SMEs especially those in developing countries face a number of challenges that affect their performance and survival in the long run. One of the challenges that has not been widely explored is that of SME supply chain performance. This study attempts to examine the relationship between collaborative relationships and SME supply chain performance in Uganda. SME supply chain performance is an important area because SMEs account for a large percentage of the private sector. Our study established that collaborative relationships explained 29.5 per cent of the variation in SME supply chain performance. Information sharing and incentive alignment were found to be significant predictors of SME supply chain performance while decision synchronization was not a signification predictor. These findings are important and raise implications for theory and managers of SMEs in Uganda.

The purpose of this paper is to address the building blocks for psychological contract among public institutions in Uganda by investigating the mediation effect of leader-member exchanges (LMX) in the relationship between perceived environmental dynamism and psychological contract.

The authors use structural equation modelling (AMOS) to investigate the hypotheses.

LMX is a significant mediator in the association between generational work values and psychological contract and technological advancement and psychological contract among employees in public institutions in Uganda.

At commissions and agencies level, generational work values and technological advancement seem to create better effects on employee-employer unwritten expectations and obligations when they go through LMX. This has important implications for the investment in and outcomes of these LMX endeavours from both the employer and the employee.

The study is one of the pioneers to demonstrate that the presence of LMX reflected in the form of a dyadic relationship helps to extend the positive effects generational work values and technological advancement have on psychological contract.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of project communication on project‐stakeholder commitment. Earlier studies have emphasized the significant influence of project‐stakeholder commitment to project success; and to date, lack of stakeholder commitment is still listed as a key cause of project failure. In an effort to improve project stakeholder commitment, the paper investigated project communication as a key antecedent of project‐stakeholder commitment.

The study adopted a cross sectional study design and results were drawn from a sample of 92 citizenship projects conducted by 16 commercial banks in Uganda. Data collection was based on a specific type of project in order to obtain context‐specific responses.

The results obtained after running a hierarchical regression indicated that intra‐project communication and extra‐project communication had a positive combined predictive potential of project‐stakeholder commitment with a Beta coefficient of 0.54. It was recommended that project management should create an atmosphere for effective project communication as one of the primary means of ensuring commitment of various project‐stakeholder commitment.

This is the first paper to document the effect of project communication on stakeholder commitment in Uganda. Many people in projects in Uganda have lacked commitment to projects due to inadequate information, attributable to gaps in the communication system. The results indicate that project communication has implications for project commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of competitive advantage in the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance in Uganda's microfinance institutions. The major aim is to establish the role of competitive advantage in the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance.

The paper adopts MedGraph program (Excel version), Sobel tests and the Kenny and Boran approach to test for mediation effects.

Competitive advantage is a significant mediator in the association between intellectual capital and financial performance and boosts the relationship between the two by 22.4 percent in Ugandan microfinance institutions. Further findings confirmed a partial type of mediation between the intellectual capital, competitive advantage and financial performance.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross‐sectional. Future research should be undertaken to examine the mediation effects studied in this paper across time.

In order to have a meaningful interpretation of the results of the relationships between study variables, it is always vital to assess the role of the third variable (competitive advantage) in the relationship. This enables practitioners and scholars to comprehend and make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster business growth.

This is the first study that focuses on testing the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the relationship between intellectual capital and financial performance in Ugandan microfinance institutions.

The increased poor performance of National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) projects in Uganda has become a concern of many stakeholders. Many NAADS projects have been undertaken with an aim of developing the poor in the country but none of them were successful. This paper therefore aimed at examining the performance of NAADS projects which were set up by the government in 2001 to eradicate poverty in Uganda.

The study adopted a cross‐sectional and quantitative survey research design. Data was sought from farmers and coordinators of the projects. Mukono district was used as a case study and a sample of 323 NAADS projects were used, covering a wide range of agricultural activities.

The research findings showed low performance levels of the NAADS projects and raised pertinent questions on the influence of NAADS stakeholders’ commitment to the performance of the projects. It was there recommended that an urgent review of NAADS policy and practices be done to ensure that project managers and coordinators discuss with farmers the personal benefits of carrying out activities of NAADS such that farmers fill a great deal of personal meaning of the project to their lives.

This is the first study to document the effect of stakeholder commitment on the performance of National Agricultural Advisory Services projects in Uganda. The poor people in Uganda have really not been committed to the NAADS projects despite the willingness of the government to take them out of poverty. One of the reasons is that they don’t see themselves achieving any benefits from these projects, the projects require high costs of agricultural extension services which cannot be afforded by the farmers and also because the poor people lack farmer groups to participate in the NAADS projects. Rural farmers look as if they do not have technical or professional connections to participate and take advantage of the projects.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the gaps in some existing competence frameworks and investigate the power of reflection on one’s behavior to improve the process of the competences development.

The authors used a correlational design and a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design involving a baseline assessment (pre-test) of participants’ ability to reflect on their actions instead of applying the standardized competences. Participants were placed in a treatment group and control groups. The treatment group was exposed to a coaching intervention in reflection and operant competence development. Six months later, the authors conducted post-test assessment to assess effect size caused by the coaching intervention regarding the treatment group’s ability to reflect and transform standardized competences into operant competences.

The results showed that reflection and operant competences correlates significantly. Second, there was a larger effect size between the pre-test and post-test assessment results for the treatment group implying change in reflective practice and acquisition of operant competences.

The results demonstrated the need to utilize reflection as a component that will add value to the existing competence frameworks.

The research adds value to the existing competence development frameworks by introducing reflective practice among managers to create competences that are compatible with the operational context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of intellectual capital on the relationship between board governance and perceived firm financial performance.

This study was cross-sectional. Analyses were by SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structure on a sample of 128 firms.

The mediated model provides support for the hypothesis that intellectual capital mediates the relationship between board governance and perceived firm performance. while the direct relationship between board governance and firm financial performance without the mediation effect of intellectual capital was found to be significant, this relationship becomes insignificant when mediation of intellectual capital is allowed. Thus, the entire effect does not only go through the main hypothesised predictor variable (board governance) but majorly also, through intellectual capital. Accordingly, the connection between board governance and firm financial performance is very much weakened by the presence of intellectual capital in the model – confirming that the presence of intellectual capital significantly acts as a conduit in the association between board governance and firm financial performance. Overall, 36 per cent of the variance in perceived firm performance is explained. the error variance being 64 per cent of perceived firm performance itself.

The authors surveyed directors or managers of firms and although the influence of common methods variance was minimal, the non-existence of common methods bias could not be guaranteed. Although the constructs have been defined as precisely as possible by drawing upon relevant literature and theory, the measurements used may not perfectly represent all the dimensions. For example board governance concept (used here as a behavioural concept) is very much in its infancy just as intellectual capital is. Similarly the authors have employed perceived firm financial performance as proxy for firm financial performance. The implication is that the constructs used/developed can realistically only be proxies for an underlying latent phenomenon that itself is not fully measureable.

In considering the behavioural constructs of the board, a new integrative framework for board effectiveness is much needed as a starting point, followed by examining intellectual capital in firms whose mediating effect should formally be accounted for in the board governance – financial performance equation.

Results add to the conceptual improvement in board governance studies and lend considerable support for the behavioural perspective in the study of boards and their firm performance improvement potential. Using qualitative factors for intellectual capital to predict the perceived firm financial performance, this study offers a unique dimension in understanding the causes of poor financial performance. It is always a sign of a maturing discipline (like corporate governance) to examine the role of a third variable in the relationship so as to make meaningful conclusions.