An Analysis on factors affecting adoption e-procurement, a case of ZIMRA

Author

Mutale, Johan

Title

An Analysis on factors affecting adoption e-procurement, a case of ZIMRA

Abstract

This study was built upon the thrust to analyses the adoption of electronic procurement and its impact on the procurement capabilities in the public sector in Zimbabwe, citing the case of Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA). The objective that drove this study was: to identify drivers to the development, adoption and implementation of electronic procurement systems in the public sector in Zimbabwe, to identify the benefits of adopting and implementation of electronic procurement systems in the public sector in Zimbabwe, to examine the extent of electronic procurement systems adoption and implementation in public sector in the public sector in Zimbabwe and to explore the challenges or barriers in the adoption and implementation of electronic procurement in the public sector in Zimbabwe. The benefits of electronic procurement adoption were examined in the literature basing on the research objectives to create rapport between theory in the literature and empirical findings. A mixed research methodology was applied for this study. Both qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted in this study. To enhance the validity and reliability, both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were employed. 30 respondents were sample out of the targeted population of 300 and these involved 8 revenue officers, 12 procurement assistants, 5 procurement managers and 5 administration supervisors. Research instruments used were questionnaires, with both open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires, interviews, and observations. Empirical evidence from this study revealed that, Zimbabwe government policies (legal framework), lack of adequate funding, lack of proper employee training, lack of necessary hardware and software, exorbitant implementation costs, lack of upper management support (poor coordination) and knowledge gap among other contributed significantly to the failure of electronic procurement development, adoption, and implementation in the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZMRA). The study concluded that, if electronic procurement had been adopted effectively and efficiently, it can deliver more benefits than the manual procurement system in the public organizations. Therefore, recommendations were passed in the study that, the government of Zimbabwe is supposed to create an enabling environment so that organizations in the public sector can consolidates its own resources and strive to develop, adopt, and implement electronic procurement not just wait for government assistance or funding. Therefore, the adoption of electronic procurement in the public sector needs to be a stakeholder wide intervention and inclusive in nature.

Date

December 2021

Publisher

BUSE

Keywords

E-procurement

Public sector

Supervisor

NIL