The Moderating Effect of Internal Controls on the Relationship between Supplier Evaluation and Procurement Performance of Public Universities in Kenya

As publicly funded institutions, public universities are expected to follow a competitive and systematic evaluation process when procuring goods, works or services. Despite legislation and regulations aimed at ensuring adherence to international best practices and promoting integrity and accountability, there have been instances of inefficiencies in the evaluation process, particularly within public universities. The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating effect of internal controls on the relationship between supplier evaluation and procurement performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was anchored on Fuzzy Set Theory. A positivist research philosophy and a correlational research design were adopted. The target population of the study was 1,016 employees from the selected public universities. The study adopted stratified and simple random sampling to select a sample of 287 respondents. Primary data was obtained using a structured questionnaire, which was self-administered using a drop-and-pick later technique. The validity of the research instrument was ensured through an extensive literature review and consultation with subject experts and supervisors from the procurement department. The reliability of the instrument was examined through a pilot study involving 29 respondents from the University of Kabianga, where a Cronbach Alpha Coefficient of 0.834 was obtained. The obtained quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using means, frequencies and standard deviation, and inferentially, correlation and regression analysis were used. The study established that internal controls had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between supplier evaluation (R2, change of 0.127; p<0.05) and procurement performance. The study concluded that supplier evaluation was an important factor in determining the procurement performance of public universities since it significantly explained the change in procurement performance. Therefore, the study recommends that public universities improve internal controls to ensure efficiency in the supplier evaluation process as well as the procurement performance of public institutions in Kenya. The study findings could be significant to the management of public institutions and policymakers in public procurement, enhancing knowledge in academia and theory development in procurement activities.