Procurement ethical climate, enforcement of the procurement law, self- identity and corruption in Ugandan public procurement.

Abstract

This study focused on establishing the relationship between Procurement Ethical Climate, enforcement of the procurement law, self- identity and Corruption in Ugandan Public Procurement in Uganda. This study was motivated by reports of unethical behaviors which characterize public procurement like; flouting of procurement regulations at various stages of procurement process, presence of sweeteners/kickbacks and greed. A cross sectional survey design was employed and Primary data was collected from 68 Procuring and Disposing Entities (PDEs). A sample of 308 procurement officers was drawn from the population of 524 public procurement officers. A total of 269 questionnaires were returned answered and data was analyzed using SPSS software.

The results revealed that procurement ethical climate, enforcement of the procurement law, and self-identity were significant predictors of corruption in public procurement, accounting for 41.3% of the variance. Therefore it is recommended that PDEs need to improve procurement ethical climate, enforcement of the procurement law, and self-identity.