TITLE:
Users’ Perception Regarding the Effect of E-Procurement Practice on Customer Satisfaction in Public Procurement in Tanzania
AUTHORS:
Barnabas Maagi, Adam Mwakalobo
KEYWORDS:
Users’ Perception, E-Procurement, Customer Satisfaction
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.11 No.2,
March
17,
2023
ABSTRACT: E-procurement is a technological system that was
introduced for the purpose of increasing efficiency in procurement. Following
emergent of this new technology people within the organization (users) had some
expectations regarding performance improvement in procurement as compared to
the old manual procurement system. In this view, this study aimed at examining
users’ perception on the effect of e-procurement practice on customer
satisfaction in public procurement. The study adopted explanatory sequential
mixed method involving both quantitative and qualitative data that were
collected in two different phases. The population of study included user staff
working in five selected procuring entities whereby questionnaires were used to
collect quantitative data from respondents who were approached by using simple
random sampling technique. Also, interview guide was used to collect
qualitative data from Heads of Departments whereby the obtained data were
analyzed by using content analysis. In order to determine user’s satisfaction
on procurement service delivery, data were analyzed in two steps: first, the
mean difference between perception and expectation of customers was computed
(P-E). The obtained value was divided by total number of items to get index
score for each service quality dimension. Then, the index score was divided by
the five service quality dimensions to get the overall index score. Second,
Binary Logistics Regression Model was applied to estimate the effect of independent
variable (Tangibility, Responsiveness, Reliability, Empathy and Assurance) on
dependent variable (customer satisfaction). The study concluded that there is a
significant relationship between use of e-procurement and increase in customer
satisfaction in procurement. Therefore, it is recommended that chief executive officers in public
organizations should take e-procurement as a solution to improve service
delivery to their customers.