The determinants of the compliance to public procurement policy requirements among public enterprises in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Many public entities in Zimbabwe are operating in a very volatile environment characterised by public procurement systems open to abuse. Zimbabwe is one of the first countries in Africa to have a Procurement Act however non-compliance issues are still a challenge. Public procurement scandals have been a hot topic with the media and also with the Report of the Auditor General for the financial year ended December 31, 2014 having picked on a lot of issues relating to non-compliance with procurement regulations in a number of public enterprises. The purpose of the study was to assess the influence selected factors (enforcement, professionalism, political interference, familiarity with Procurement Act regulations and ethics) on compliance to procurement regulations within the public entities. A quantitative survey research approach was used to collect data from 144 public procurement professionals in public entities in Harare, Zimbabwe. SPSS software version 21 was used to process the data that were later analysed through correlation and regression analyses. Familiarity with procurement regulations, enforcement and political interference were found to be statistically significant predictors of compliance. The managerial implications and direction for future research are provided.