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Amid growing calls for efficiency, transparency, and value creation in public sector supply chain management (SCM) performance, this paper aims to investigate the impact of technological modernisation on SCM practices within the context of South Africa's public service operations. Framed by modernisation theory which historically guided structural reforms in developing economies, the study examines whether readiness to adopt Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as modern digital systems, automation, and data-driven tools enhance effectiveness while influencing SCM practices and performance. Despite its growing prominence in policy discourse, the adoption of 4IR in the public sector context remains uneven and not yet formally established, creating a need for empirical evidence on whether these technologies deliver tangible performance improvements. The research adopts a quantitative research design with primary data were collected via a structured, self-administered online survey from 120 purposively selected SCM officials based in the Gauteng Province, the economic hub of South Africa and the province consisting of the largest concentration of government departments. A linear multiple regression and ANOVA techniques within SPSS was employed to test for statistical significance of the relationships between the research constructs. The findings show a significant relationship between technological modernisation and SCM performance, reinforcing the role of digitally modernising business systems and practices that lead to improved efficiency, transparency, and accountability. The study contributes to business research by providing empirical evidence that technological modernisation enhances service delivery outcomes and improves operational efficiency in the public sector.

This paper evaluates the performance of road construction contracts awarded by the Roads Authority (RA) of Namibia, addressing the persistent project delays, cost overruns, and contractor non-performance that have continued despite the enactment of the Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015. The study examines three interrelated dimensions of contract performance: the role of procurement processes in contractor selection, the effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation systems, and the influence of external factors on project outcomes. A qualitative case study design, underpinned by a constructivist research philosophy, was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires administered to 27 purposively selected participants, comprising 10 Roads Authority procurement officers and project managers and 17 contractors who undertook road projects between 2020 and 2025. Responses were analysed in ATLAS.ti through inductive open, axial, and selective coding, yielding 68 codes consolidated into 19 clusters and five overarching themes. The findings show that contract performance is undermined by (i) procurement process limitations, particularly lowest-bid bias and unverifiable paper-based capacity assessment; (ii) monitoring and supervision gaps linked to understaffing and reactive contract management; (iii) institutional capacity constraints; (iv) external pressures, most notably delayed client payments and political interference; and (v) contractor-side weaknesses including financial mismanagement and capacity misrepresentation. These findings are interpreted through Principal-Agent Theory, the Resource-Based View, and Project Management Theory, which jointly demonstrate that performance failure is multi-causal rather than attributable to any single determinant. The study recommends reforming contractor selection criteria, introducing performance-based contracting, strengthening monitoring capacity through digital systems, and improving payment discipline, offering an empirically grounded contribution to public procurement and infrastructure contract management scholarship in developing countries.

Reforms in the South African public procurement system have been declared a new era of accountability and a new beginning in procurement. The modifications sought to rectify past disparities by fostering economic inclusion for under-represented groups via preferential procurement. Historically, procurement procedures benefited established organisations, restricting market access for black-owned businesses. The implementation of the Public Procurement Act introduced additional obstacles as it aimed to rectify imbalances in public procurement. The preferred procurement policy fundamentally defines "black people" as per the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) framework, encompassing Black Africans, Indians, and Coloured individuals. This designation has resulted in definitional uncertainty and operational difficulties in guaranteeing equal procurement opportunities for "black individuals." This paper critically examines the South African government's failure to leverage its transformative potential by using the term "black people" to encompass three racial groups—Black Africans, Indians, and Coloureds—in procurement policies and legislation, thereby constraining the transformative impact on Black Africans' access to opportunities in public procurement. The essay advocates for a restructuring of the preferential procurement framework, based on empirical studies and policy evaluations, to explicitly prioritise black Africans, so ensuring greater inclusivity and verifiable socio-economic benefit. 

This study focuses on procurement processes as one of the most critical issues facing the South African local government domain today. Our main argument in this paper is that effective and efficient procurement processes are stifled by corruption emanating from political patronage which continues to menace the public sector. The trickle-down effect of this is poor service rendering in local government and the disjuncture between the services rendered and the citizens’ priorities. The principal-agent theory was used as an analytical lens of the study. The study adopted a qualitative literature review to unearth the scourge of tenderpreneurship and explore its effects on service delivery in the Eastern Cape province. Findings revealed that, despite the enactment of relevant statutory instruments and institutional structures to enhance procurement practices within local government, politics-administration dichotomy continues to negatively affect the processes. Corruption in the procurement processes has manifested itself through bribery, fraud and kickbacks and these have proven to be counterproductive in terms of service delivery. Findings have also demonstrated that the rendering of services such as water and sanitation, infrastructure and electricity remain elusive in many local municipalities in the provinces owing to the poor quality of work provided by inexperienced contractors linked to the political elite. In this regard, the study recommends the strengthening of internal financial controls within municipalities and establishing clear work procedures and oversight mechanisms between the politicians and the street bureaucrats.

This paper aims to examine the effects of public sector procurement practices on public sector service delivery in Ghana’s technical universities, while also assessing the influence of institutional leadership and stakeholder pressure as mediating mechanisms within this relationship. In this paper, it is also aimed to evaluate how internal governance conditions shape the effectiveness of procurement reforms in higher education institutions. The study employed the positivist research paradigm, a quantitative research approach and an explanatory research design, using structural equation modelling (SEM) to validate the measurement model and test the structural relationships. Primary data were collected from 235 staff across selected technical universities through a simple random sampling technique using a structured questionnaire. The main findings demonstrate that: (i) procurement practices do not have a significant direct effect on service delivery, indicating that technical interventions alone are insufficient to drive performance improvements; (ii) institutional leadership exerts a strong and positive influence on service delivery, highlighting the importance of strategic direction, governance competence and managerial oversight in shaping public sector outcomes; and finally, (iii) stakeholder pressure substantially enhances service delivery and serves as a critical channel through which procurement practices exert their influence. The results further reveal that both institutional leadership and stakeholder pressure significantly mediate the relationship between procurement practices and service delivery, suggesting that procurement reforms achieve their intended outcomes only when supported by robust institutional environments. These findings provide practical insights for policymakers and higher education managers, emphasising the need for governance-focused interventions alongside procurement reforms to achieve sustainable improvements in service delivery within Ghana’s technical universities.

This study focuses on procurement processes as one of the most critical issues facing the South African local government domain today. Our main argument in this paper is that effective and efficient procurement processes are stifled by corruption emanating from political patronage which continues to menace the public sector. The trickle-down effect of this is poor service rendering in local government and the disjuncture between the services rendered and the citizens’ priorities. The principal-agent theory was used as an analytical lens of the study. The study adopted a qualitative literature review to unearth the scourge of tenderpreneurship and explore its effects on service delivery in the Eastern Cape province. Findings revealed that, despite the enactment of relevant statutory instruments and institutional structures to enhance procurement practices within local government, politics-administration dichotomy continues to negatively affect the processes. Corruption in the procurement processes has manifested itself through bribery, fraud and kickbacks and these have proven to be counterproductive in terms of service delivery. Findings have also demonstrated that the rendering of services such as water and sanitation, infrastructure and electricity remain elusive in many local municipalities in the provinces owing to the poor quality of work provided by inexperienced contractors linked to the political elite. In this regard, the study recommends the strengthening of internal financial controls within municipalities and establishing clear work procedures and oversight mechanisms between the politicians and the street bureaucrats.

This paper evaluates the performance of road construction contracts awarded by the Roads Authority (RA) of Namibia, addressing the persistent project delays, cost overruns, and contractor non-performance that have continued despite the enactment of the Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015. The study examines three interrelated dimensions of contract performance: the role of procurement processes in contractor selection, the effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation systems, and the influence of external factors on project outcomes. A qualitative case study design, underpinned by a constructivist research philosophy, was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires administered to 27 purposively selected participants, comprising 10 Roads Authority procurement officers and project managers and 17 contractors who undertook road projects between 2020 and 2025. Responses were analysed in ATLAS.ti through inductive open, axial, and selective coding, yielding 68 codes consolidated into 19 clusters and five overarching themes. The findings show that contract performance is undermined by (i) procurement process limitations, particularly lowest-bid bias and unverifiable paper-based capacity assessment; (ii) monitoring and supervision gaps linked to understaffing and reactive contract management; (iii) institutional capacity constraints; (iv) external pressures, most notably delayed client payments and political interference; and (v) contractor-side weaknesses including financial mismanagement and capacity misrepresentation. These findings are interpreted through Principal-Agent Theory, the Resource-Based View, and Project Management Theory, which jointly demonstrate that performance failure is multi-causal rather than attributable to any single determinant. The study recommends reforming contractor selection criteria, introducing performance-based contracting, strengthening monitoring capacity through digital systems, and improving payment discipline, offering an empirically grounded contribution to public procurement and infrastructure contract management scholarship in developing countries.

This paper aims to examine the effects of public sector procurement practices on public sector service delivery in Ghana’s technical universities, while also assessing the influence of institutional leadership and stakeholder pressure as mediating mechanisms within this relationship. In this paper, it is also aimed to evaluate how internal governance conditions shape the effectiveness of procurement reforms in higher education institutions. The study employed the positivist research paradigm, a quantitative research approach and an explanatory research design, using structural equation modelling (SEM) to validate the measurement model and test the structural relationships. Primary data were collected from 235 staff across selected technical universities through a simple random sampling technique using a structured questionnaire. The main findings demonstrate that: (i) procurement practices do not have a significant direct effect on service delivery, indicating that technical interventions alone are insufficient to drive performance improvements; (ii) institutional leadership exerts a strong and positive influence on service delivery, highlighting the importance of strategic direction, governance competence and managerial oversight in shaping public sector outcomes; and finally, (iii) stakeholder pressure substantially enhances service delivery and serves as a critical channel through which procurement practices exert their influence. The results further reveal that both institutional leadership and stakeholder pressure significantly mediate the relationship between procurement practices and service delivery, suggesting that procurement reforms achieve their intended outcomes only when supported by robust institutional environments. These findings provide practical insights for policymakers and higher education managers, emphasising the need for governance-focused interventions alongside procurement reforms to achieve sustainable improvements in service delivery within Ghana’s technical universities.

This study aims to assess the public sector procurement practices implemented in technical universities in Ghana and to examine their influence on public sector service delivery within these institutions. Guided by a positivist philosophy, the study employed a quantitative research approach and an explanatory research design to test the hypothesised relationship between procurement practices and service delivery outcomes. The study employed the positivist research paradigm, a quantitative research approach, an explanatory research design and structural equation modelling (SEM) to validate the measurement model and test the structural relationships. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to 235 employees across management, procurement, finance, stores and audit departments in three technical universities, Takoradi, Cape Coast and Sunyani through the help of simple random sampling technique. Using SmartPLS and structural equation modelling, the study evaluated the reliability and validity of the measurement model, assessed model fit and estimated the structural relationships between variables. The main findings demonstrate that (i) public sector procurement practices are implemented at a moderate level across the technical universities, with higher performance in supplier evaluation, contract negotiation and payment processing, (ii) procurement practices did not significantly influence service delivery, despite a positive but statistically insignificant path coefficient, indicating that procurement alone may not be a strong driver of service delivery outcomes within the higher education context, and (iii) the factors affecting service delivery in technical universities may be broader and more complex, potentially involving governance structures, resource availability, institutional capacity and administrative efficiency. These results contribute new empirical evidence to the procurement literature by highlighting sector-specific dynamics in higher education and suggest the need for more integrated institutional reforms, enhanced procurement monitoring and further research exploring mediating and moderating variables that may influence service delivery performance in Ghana’s technical universities.

Reforms in the South African public procurement system have been declared a new era of accountability and a new beginning in procurement. The modifications sought to rectify past disparities by fostering economic inclusion for under-represented groups via preferential procurement. Historically, procurement procedures benefited established organisations, restricting market access for black-owned businesses. The implementation of the Public Procurement Act introduced additional obstacles as it aimed to rectify imbalances in public procurement. The preferred procurement policy fundamentally defines "black people" as per the Broad-Based Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) framework, encompassing Black Africans, Indians, and Coloured individuals. This designation has resulted in definitional uncertainty and operational difficulties in guaranteeing equal procurement opportunities for "black individuals." This paper critically examines the South African government's failure to leverage its transformative potential by using the term "black people" to encompass three racial groups—Black Africans, Indians, and Coloureds—in procurement policies and legislation, thereby constraining the transformative impact on Black Africans' access to opportunities in public procurement. The essay advocates for a restructuring of the preferential procurement framework, based on empirical studies and policy evaluations, to explicitly prioritise black Africans, so ensuring greater inclusivity and verifiable socio-economic benefit.