Musa Mbago, Joseph Mpeera Ntayi and Henry Mutebi
The purpose of the study is to examine the role of legitimacy in forming whistleblowing behavior in Ugandan procuring and disposing entities (PDEs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine the role of legitimacy in forming whistleblowing behavior in Ugandan procuring and disposing entities (PDEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study has adopted both a quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional research design to collect data from a sample of 97 out of the population of 129 PDEs in Kampala, which are regulated by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority.
Findings
This paper finds that improvement in the perception of public servants about the appropriateness of the Whistleblowers Act and its enforcers can increase on the reporting of unethical practices in public procurement.
Research limitations/implications
This study has used a cross-sectional survey data. The causal relationships between variables are possibly obscured; as data from all participants are collected at the same point of time, perceptions go on changing over time. Therefore, further studies should use a longitudinal approach. Second, there are no constructs for legitimacy in public procurement and those from law are domesticated.
Practical implications
There should be a promotion of legitimacy of the Whistleblowers Act and the enforcement agencies of the Act. The government should devise means for the public servants to have an obligation to obey the holders of authority, to trust and have confidence in them and to enforce the Whistleblowers Act in an ethical and normative framework.
Originality/value
This study reveals the whistleblowing intentions and behavior of public servants in PDEs. This study would help the Government of Uganda to make the Whistleblowing Act legitimate and its enforcers to increase on the reporting of unethical practices in public procurement.
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Sheila Namagembe and Musa Mbago
The study examined the influence of small and medium enterprise (SME) owner-managers' managerial competencies on supply chain performance, the mediation role of information…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examined the influence of small and medium enterprise (SME) owner-managers' managerial competencies on supply chain performance, the mediation role of information quality on the SME owner-managers' managerial competencies and supply chain performance relationship, the mediating role of information quality on the information sharing and supply chain performance relationship and the mediating role of both information sharing and information quality on SME owner-managers' managerial competences and supply chain performance relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from SME agro-processing firms. The determined sample size for the agro-processing firms was 200, while an effective sample size of 177 was obtained. The Covariance Structural Equation Modelling software was used to obtain results on the influence of SME owner-managers' managerial competencies on supply chain performance, the mediation role of information quality on the SME owner-managers' managerial competencies and supply chain performance relationship, the mediating role of information quality on the information sharing and supply chain performance relationship and the mediating role of both information sharing and information quality on SME owner-managers' managerial competences and supply chain performance relationship.
Findings
Findings indicated that a positive significant influence of SME owner-managers' managerial competencies on supply chain performance and the presence of partial mediation effects when the mediating role of information quality in the SME owner-managers' managerial competencies and supply chain performance relationship and the information sharing and supply chain performance relationship is tested. Also, a partial mediating role of information sharing and information quality is obtained in the SME owner-managers' managerial competencies and supply chain performance relationship.
Research limitations/implications
The study mainly focused on SME agro-processing firms eliminating other SME manufacturing firms. Also, the research employed a wholistic approach when studying the SME agro-processing firms without focusing on how SME owner-managers' managerial competencies would affect information sharing, information quality and supply chain performance based on the market type (local or foreign) and the source of raw materials (local or foreign) and the impact of information sharing on information quality hasn't been given significant attention in the existing literature.
Originality/value
The research focused on the mediation role of quality of information shared by SME owner-managers in the relationship between information sharing and supply chain performance, the mediating role of information quality in the SME owner-managers' managerial competencies and supply chain performance and the mediating role of both SME owner-manager's information sharing and quality of information shared in the relationship between SME owner-managers' managerial competences and supply chain performance. These mediation effects haven't been given significant attention in previous research. Further, while information sharing and information quality have been studied, they have been studied at a supply chain level, not at a managerial level.
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Benjamin R. Tukamuhabwa, Musa Mbago, Henry Mutebi and Mercy Kyoshabire
Some scholars argue that ethical awareness increases alongside work experience,whereas others agree that ethics education shapes ethical awareness and that cheating in college…
Abstract
Purpose
Some scholars argue that ethical awareness increases alongside work experience,whereas others agree that ethics education shapes ethical awareness and that cheating in college predicts unethical behaviour in subsequent professional environment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the level and antecedents of ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory descriptive survey of a sample of 303 final year procurement students from the two largest public Universities in Uganda was conducted. Using Statistical Package for (SPSS) and Amos Version 27, data were analysed by using means, standard deviations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and correlation analysis.
Findings
The study revealed that future procurement professionals exhibit low levels of ethical sensitivity. However, contrary to the general observations from the extant literature, gender and family background of students do not determine both ethical sensitivity and cynicism. Moreover, this study establishes that cynicism is positively associated with instances that depict low ethical sensitivity.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to providing an empirical understanding of the derivation of unethical behaviour in procurement practice. Grounded in Aristotle’s organic theory of state and moral habituation, this argues that future procurement professionals posses natural proclivities that trigger their social instincts and membership to multiple associations in actualising their innate potential for ethical behaviour. This supports the notion that humans are potentially virtuous, whereby morality is learned, imitated, emerges and perfects through repetitive actions and is therefore incremental.
Practical implications
The findings mirror what prevails in practice in Uganda, where procurement practitioners have been implicated in unethical practices regardless of their gender and family background. This signals that managers should not recruit or deploy procurement personnel based on gender or family background.
Originality/value
While research on ethical sensitivity of students has been focussed on other disciplines such as accounting, nursing and other business studies, this paper focusses on ethical sensitivity of procurement students aspiring to join a professional environment that is severely marred with unethical practices. Further, Aristotle’s moral habituation and organic theory of state invoked in this study underline the synergies of both nature and nurturing in inculcating ethicality in procurement professionals.
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Musa Mbago, Joseph M. Ntayi and Moses Muhwezi
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…
Abstract
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.