END USER INVOLVEMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE IN KENYAN UNIVERSITIES, A CASE OF CHUKA UNIVERSITY, KENYA.

Abstract

Purpose: The study sought to establish the effects of end user involvement in the supply chain performance of higher learning institutions in Kenya.Methodology: The study was conducted at Chuka University procurement department and user departments comprising of 64 respondents from user departments and procurement. The study employed cross-sectional research design. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. In order to determine the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, pretesting of the research instruments was conducted. To establish the validity of the research instrument, content validity was used while internal consistency method was used to determine the reliability. Correlation analysis followed by multivariate regression analysis was conducted between the independent variables and the dependent variable.Results: Results showed strong statistical significance between supply chain performance and procurement planning. The study also established that there was a strong statistical significance between supply chain performance and specification preparation. It was also established that there was strong statistical significance between supply chain performance and monitoring and evaluation. Lastly, there was strong statistical significance between supply chain performance and inspection and receipt of goods. The findings also revealed that the four independent variables under study only contributed to 63.4% of the dependent variable’s outcome..Conclusion: The study concludes that procurement planning, specification preparation, monitoring and evaluation, and inspection and receipt of goods are good measures of the end user involvement in the effective performance of supply chain, but that more studies need to be done to unearth the hidden variables contributing to the remaining 36.6% factors/variables, in order to get a full picture of the impact of the end-users on supply chain performance. Contribution to policy and practice: Research institutes and scholars will gain vital insights from the study when they want to research further and lastly government together with all its agencies will also gain important information that will inform the policies they come up with in future