Antecedents of supplier selection decisions in the public sector in Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to develop and test a conceptual model of supplier selection decisions in the public sector. The study seeks to determine the relative importance of a broad range of non-economic variables in explaining supplier selection decisions during strategic organizational purchases. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a national sample of 341 senior staff and top management team (TMT) members in 40 public sector organizations in Nigeria by using structured questionnaires. Findings Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis shows that government policy requirements, social ties of organizational actors, party politics, decision-makers’ experience and the perception of instrumental ethical work climates are the most important determinants of strategic supplier selection decisions, followed in a descending order of importance by the perception of rules ethical work climates, self-enhancement personal values, CEOs’ structural position, self-transcendent personal values and the perception of time pressure. Findings also indicate that the choice of a supplier per se is not an important determinant of organizational performance. Originality/value No prior study has brought together, in a single model, the broad range of variables employed in this study with a view to exploring their relative importance in explaining public sector supplier selection decisions in a non-western country context. The findings of this study have implications for Marketing Managers looking to do business with public sector firms in emerging markets.

Effects of supplier selection and supplier monitoring on public procurement efficiency in Tanzania: a cost-reduction perspective

“…Therefore, by concluding that supplier selection and monitoring contribute positively to procurement cost reduction in the public sector, our study contributes to developing a new perspective on how to conceptualise public procurement efficiency from cost reduction. As supplier selection is among the important decisions in purchasing and supply chain management (Essien et al, 2019;Olanrewaju et al, 2020;Taherdoost and Brard, 2019), the current study then supports the rational choice theory regarding the important decision-making problems in procurement and supply chain management contexts. Finally, Akamp and Müller (2013) and Yang and Zhang (2017) examined supplier selection and supplier monitoring as supplier management practices.…”

“…It should be noted that the environmental constraints placed on the agents, rather than their personalities, are responsible for their behaviour (Satz and Ferejohn, 1994). It is relevant and very popular in modelling organisational buying decisions (Essien et al , 2019).…”

“…For example, research has focused on supplier selection and business performance (van der Westhuizen and Ntshingila, 2020) and restaurant performance (Cho et al , 2021), whereas our study focuses on public procuring organisations. Furthermore, in Nigeria, results from Essien et al (2019) show that supplier selection decisions made by public sector organisations would not have a significant impact on their performance in terms of meeting the goals established for such decisions, which calls for further empirical investigation. The second research question has also been addressed in manufacturing firms and other industries, with contradictory results (Akamp and Müller, 2013; Maestrini et al , 2018; Shafiq et al , 2022; Yang and Zhang, 2017).…”

Procurement practices in international development projects: trends, networks and performances

“…International development projects follow transactional processes that have been codified by the lending institutions under guidelines to guarantee that projects maintain rigor and transparency in how tasks are performed and contracts awarded (Diallo and Thuillier, 2005; Tineo, 2007). Procurement is one of the essential processes of international development projects that play a vital role in overall performance (Ambaw and Telgen, 2017a; Essien et al , 2019). On the other hand, countries’ capacity varies, and most developing countries seek to purchase offshore products and services.…”

“…Evidently, numerous projects fail to deliver much-needed impact for beneficiaries (Andrews, 2018;Banerjee et al, 2011;Ika et al, 2012). There are, however, many international development successes (Feeny and Vuong, 2017;Honig, 2018;Ika et al, 2018). A conspicuous gap exists in our understanding of the role procurement practices play in these mixed outcomes, as no study has comprehensively examined this relationship.…”