Practitioners’ Perception of the Effect of E-Procurement Practices on Time Saving in Public Procurement in Tanzania

The traditional procurement practices faced some challenges including delays in the acquisition of goods and services in the organization. Following the adoption of e-procurement technology, a lot of expectations emerged from practitioners and other stakeholders in terms of improving efficiency in procurement. This study aims to examine the effect of e-procurement practices on time-saving in procurement. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed method which involved both quantitative and qualitative data. Data were collected by using structured questionnaires which collected quantitative data from 290 procurement practitioners and an interview guide for collecting qualitative data from five key informants. The questionnaires had two parts: the first part was scaled to 5-point Likert scale to capture data for independent variable while the second part captured data for dependent variable with Yes and No responses. Quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. The results have indicated that the use of e-procurement practices has an influential contribution to saving time in procurement. Therefore, procuring entities have to realize that e-procurement practices are potential resources for improving efficiency in terms of saving time hence the study recommends procuring entities to use it effectively to deliver procurement services to the customers at the right time. This study gives contribution by presenting a first-step examination of practitioners’ perception of the effect of e-procurement practices on time-saving in a particular case of developing countries including Tanzania.