Institutional politics and performance of procurement in tertiary institutions in West Nile sub-region of Uganda

Abstract

This study aimed to establish how institutional politics affect performance in public procurement in tertiary institutions in West Nile sub-region of Uganda. A crosssectional study design was used. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted in the study. The study targeted a sample of 122 respondents. Simple random sampling technique was used to select amongst the user department staff. Purposive sampling was used to select the Accounting Officers and Contracts Committee members. Quantitative data analysis mainly consisted of descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistics (Spearman Rank Order correlation). Findings revealed a very weak negative correlation ( rho = -.292) between institutional politics and performance of procurement. Thus, it was concluded that institutional politics, measured in terms of relationship between principals and agents and pursuit of individual agendas/self-interest, significantly affected performance of procurement in tertiary institutions in West Nile sub-region of Uganda. It is recommended that tertiary institutions in West Nile sub-region of Uganda should focus on institutional politics to improve their performance in public procurement.