Procurement Management Practices and Supply Chain Performance of County Referral Hospitals in Kenya.

Abstract

Currently, the health business environment is characterized by increasing uncertainties. Procurement management has emerged as an important approach for enterprises to achieve profit and market share objectives by reducing environmental risk experienced due to poor technology adoption. The primary aim of this study was to determine the influence of procurement management on the supply chain performance of county referral hospitals in Kenya. The research was based on specific objectives, such as procurement risk management, stakeholder management, supplier appraisal, and contract management on the supply chain performance of county referral hospitals. Theories, such as the Resource-Based View Theory, stakeholder theory, relational view theory, and agency theory, also guided the study. This study employed a cross-sectional survey approach, mainly concentrating on 47 county referral hospitals in Kenya. To meet the research objectives, the departmental heads in the procurement department was used as observation units across the firms. The pilot study targeted 10 respondents, 10% of the final study sample size, of which respondents were randomly chosen in each firm. The primary data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire that included open and closed-ended questions designed to obtain definite responses. For this study, the quantitative data collected was analyzed by using SPSS version 28 to calculate the response rate using descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The Cronbach’s Alpha value was greater than 0.7 which indicated that the questionnaire met the minimum acceptable threshold. The study findings showed that procurement management practices namely procurement risk management, stakeholder management, supplier appraisal and contract management significantly influence the supply chain performance of county referral hospitals in Kenya. The study concluded that supply chain performance was predicted to improve for every unit increase in these practices. The study further recommends that county referral hospitals should ensure their risk register is regularly reviewed and revised. To achieve this, companies should establish a structured schedule for risk reviews based on risk severity, assign clear risk owners responsible for updates, and integrate these reviews into routine committee meetings such as quality or risk management committees to monitor and act on changes promptly. This will ensure improved procurement management practices and improve supply chain performance of county referral hospitals.