Information Technology Governance and Public Sector Performance: Empirical Evidence from the National Treasury and Economic Planning, Kenya

East African Journal of Information Technology

Bridging Capability and Outcomes: Strategic Decision-Making Capability and Service Delivery in County Governments in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya

This study focused on the relationship between strategic decision-making capability and public service delivery in the County governments in the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB), Kenya. Persistent performance gaps, as evidenced by the total of Ksh 13.66 billion of unfulfilled developmental infrastructure across the LREB, indicate severe execution challenges as a result of devolved governance outlined in the Constitution of Kenya (2010) that was meant to optimise resource allocation and enhance public accountability. The research is built on the Dynamic Capability Theory and tests the implications of this theory in relation to how sub-national administrative frameworks make use of strategic decisions to achieve institutional results. Primary data were collected using the five-point Likert scale questionnaires from an initial sample of 301 senior county administrative officials, and 291 questionnaires were received and analysed using a correlational and triangular research design. The results of inferential data analysis by a simple linear regression model showed that the strategic decision-making of the study had a moderate-to-strong positive correlation with service delivery, with a magnitude of r = 0.541 and p < 0.01. Additionally, the influence of strategic decision-making processes on localised service performance measures was significant and positive (β = 0.165, t = 3.664, p < 0.001), which means that the null hypothesis was rejected. The study findings are that structured decision-making, systematic policy alignment, and evidence-based prioritisation are the core administrative processes that regional governments use to implement public policies into tangible service results. Therefore, it is recommended that county governments institutionalise processes for making decisions based on data, implement participatory planning processes, and build a strong leadership development program in order to reduce the lack of progress on infrastructure development and improve the devolution outcomes.

Vision Compliance, Strategic Planning, and Risk Management for Governance Performance: Evidence from Muscat Municipality

Objective: Governmental and public sector entities face ever-increasing pressures for enhanced governance, more accountability, better services to the public, etc. It is usually argued that both planning and risk management are important tools for good management. However, limited empirical research is available about how the combined effect of planning and risk management contributes to improving governance in local governments and especially in the Gulf region. In Muscat Municipality, we examined the linkages between strategic planning, risk management and the performance of governance.   Theoretical Framework: The governance performance was captured into three aspects of governance: managerial, resourceful and project governance.   Methodology: We followed a cross-sectional quantitative research design methodology, where data were gathered using a structured questionnaire from 303 respondents from various departments and managerial levels within Muscat Municipality. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.   Results: Results show that both strategic planning and risk management had positive effects on the improvement of governance performance in all three dimensions; while strategic planning had higher significance as a predictor of the success of governance performance and more relevance to project governance, focusing on prioritization, coordination, and performance measurement. Likewise, risk management contributed positively towards governance performance through improving the effectiveness of the controls, making good decisions by managers, and dealing efficiently with internal uncertainties. The current research contributes to the strategic management and enterprise risk management research streams by examining the role of Omani municipalities (an under-studied area) in strategic risk management.

DBA AFRICA MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Assessment of Factors Affecting the Implementation of Framework Contracts in Local Government Authorities: A Case of Tanga City Council

Public procurement performance is critical to the public sector due to the substantial public funds spent on acquiring goods, works, and services. The study aimed to examine the moderating effect of political interference on staff competency toward the achievement of procurement performance in parastatal organizations in Tanzania. Grounded on the stakeholder and the resource-based view theories, the study adopted the explanatory research design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from heads of departments from 93 state-owned organizations in the Dar es Salaam Region. A sample of 256 respondents was randomly selected using the Yamane formula from a population of 712 heads of departments. Data were analyzed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro (Model 1) to examine whether political interference moderates the relationship between procurement staff competence and procurement performance. The findings revealed that staff competence has a positive influence on the performance of the procurement function within the organization. On the other hand, the study found that political interference in the procurement process, particularly during the tendering stage and contract implementation, negatively affects procurement performance. However, the results further indicated that political interference does not significantly moderate the relationship between staff competence and procurement performance. The study concluded that improved procurement performance within the organization is largely attributable to competent staff, whereas political interference contributes to poor procurement performance. The study recommends that organizational management should invest in enhancing staff competence, particularly through training, certification, clear career paths, and competence management systems in order to improve procurement performance, and should ensure that the procurement function is protected from political interference; as such interference has a detrimental effect on procurement processes.

Evaluation of Fundamental Concerns of Public Financial Management and Efficient Reform Infrastructure: The Case of Nigeria

The efficiency of the public service is largely driven by an efficient public financial management (PFM), which has a core responsibility of promoting public finance in allocating resources, distributing goods and services, and in stabilizing the economy. The joint effects of these thrusts are the promotion of the citizens’ welfare and the development of the nation. Against the backdrop of the perceived inefficiencies of PFM the study evaluated them on the framework of the fundamental concerns of PFM and the extant reform infrastructure .The study sourced its input data from both the secondary and primary sources ,on the basis of which descriptive survey and explanatory research design were used..The secondary sources were garnered from the relevant budget statistics in Nigeria, from 2010 - 2021.On the other hand the primary data were derived from the outcome of a 30-item structured questionnaire on designated respondents in the South East of Nigeria on the perceived inefficiencies in the following areas: information communication and technology( ICT),budget system, revenue allocation machinery, machinery for public procurement and payroll, the financial reporting system ,and the institutional arrangements for fraud control .The polychotomous variables ,the likert ratings with varying values ,were used to quantify the responses while the statistical tool of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The findings unveiled poor performance arising from inadequate IT penetration, unwholesome cashless support policy in the face of the dominantly unbridled cash mentality attitude. Others included poor legal infrastructure, inadequate crime fighting arrangement and leadership challenge. In conclusion the work recommended increased reform agenda to propel proven creditability in government operations, patriotic disposition of the citizens in being rule-compliant and the re-orientation of shared mindsets, with all targeted to grow the financial system to efficiency.