Effect of Leadership Transparency on Perceived Levels of Corruption in the Procurement Department in the Judiciary of Kenya

Abstract

Corruption is a major impediment to the development of a nation because it impairs public services, distorts public spending, disrupts the natural law of the economy, and undermines trust in government. This study aimed to examine the effects of leadership accountability on perceived levels of corruption in procurement departments in the judiciary of Kenya. It made use of the concurrent triangulation design and targeted the population of 278 heads of procurement committees in 278 court stations of the Kenyan judiciary and key informants from six oversight organizations. From this population, a sample of 164 heads of procurement committees was selected using the stratified proportionate random sampling technique. Quantitative data was collected from the heads of procurement committees using questionnaires, while qualitative data were collected by interviewing 12 key informants that were purposefully selected from the six oversight organizations. The study found that leadership transparency has a statistically significant and negative effect on levels of corruption in the procurement departments in the Kenyan judiciary (chi-square (X2) = 42.016, df = 2, sig. =.000). Based on the findings, the study concludes that the transparency of leaders of procurement units reduces levels of corruption in government procurement. The study recommends the formulation of laws, policies, and strategies aimed at improving the transparency of leaders in government procurement departments.