Moderating Role of Supply Chain Performance in the Relationship Between Inventory Management Practices and Operational Performance of Public Hospitals in Kenya: Evidence from Siaya County
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Kenyan public hospitals face persistent operational performance challenges arising from medicine stock-outs, replenishment delays, and service delivery inefficiencies linked to weaknesses in inventory management and underperforming public healthcare supply chains. This study examined the moderating role of supply chain performance on the relationship between inventory management practices and operational performance of public hospitals in Kenya, using evidence from Siaya County. Inventory management practices were operationalized through Just-in-Time (JIT) replenishment, Inventory Categorization, and Demand Forecasting, while supply chain performance captured supplier responsiveness, delivery reliability, and procurement coordination. The study was anchored on the Resource-Based View and Network Perspective Theory, which explain how internal inventory capabilities and inter-organizational supply chain relationships jointly influence organizational performance. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. From a target population of 106 hospital personnel, a sample of 84 respondents was selected using the Yamane formula, with stratified proportionate and simple random sampling techniques applied. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and interview guides. Reliability was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha (α ≥ 0.70), and validity was established through expert evaluation. Descriptive statistics summarized the data, while hierarchical regression analysis tested direct and moderating effects. Results revealed that inventory management practices had a positive and statistically significant effect on operational performance (F-statistics (1, 79) was 12.631, p < 0.002). Further, supply chain performance significantly moderated this relationship, such that hospitals with stronger supplier responsiveness and delivery reliability experienced greater operational gains from effective inventory management. The study concludes that improving supply chain performance strengthens the impact of inventory management practices on hospital operational outcomes, including medicine availability, reduced stock-outs, and service delivery efficiency. It recommends that public healthcare systems strengthen supplier integration, procurement coordination, and replenishment reliability to enhance the effectiveness of inventory management and optimize hospital performance.
Downloads
References
Abuya, J. O., Onditi, A., & Magutu, P. (2016a). Information flow, supply chain performance and lead time of road construction projects in Kenya. African Journal of Business and Industry, 1(2), 1–16. https://www.academia.edu/26652272/
Abuya, J. O., Onditi, A., & Magutu, P. (2016b). Material flow, supply chain performance and lead time of road construction projects in Kenya. African Journal of Business and Industry, 1(2), 17–33. https://www.academia.edu/39247787/
Amin, M. E. (2005). Social science research: Conception, methodology and analysis. Makerere University Printery.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2014). Business research methods (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02310555
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2003). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference (4th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.
Hill, R. (1998). What sample size is “enough” in internet survey research? Interpersonal Computing and Technology, 6(3–4), 1–10.
Isaksson, O. H. D., & Seifert, R. W. (2014). Inventory leanness and the financial performance of firms. Production Planning & Control, 25(12), 999–1014. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2013.798083
Kobia, R. G. (2018). Effect of inventory management practices on operational performance of government hospitals in Kenya. International Journal of Management, 7(8).
Lysons, K., & Farrington, B. (2016). Purchasing and supply chain management (9th ed.). Pearson Education.
Ministry of Health. (2018). Annual health sector performance report. Government of Kenya.
Muijs, D. (2004). Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS. Sage.
Mutai, B. K. (2000). How to write quality research proposal. Thelley Publications.
Neely, A. D. (2005). The evolution of performance measurement research: Developments in the last decade and a research agenda for the next. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(12), 1264–1277. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570510633648
Njoroge, W. M. (2015). Inventory management practices and performance of public hospitals in Kenya. International Journal of Logistics Management, 12(1), 1–19.
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Olema, H. (2018). Supply chain performance practices and SMEs performance in Arua municipality, Uganda. International Journal of Business Management and Strategy, 10(2).
Sekaran, U. (2003). Research methods for business: A skill-building approach (4th ed.). Wiley.
Stevenson, W. J. (2010). Operations management (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. Cambridge University Press.
Wernerfelt, B. (1984). A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 5(2), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250050207
World Health Organization. (2017). HIV prevalence estimates in Kenya. WHO.
Yamane, T. (1967). Statistics: An introductory analysis (2nd ed.). Harper & Row
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in our journal are licensed under CC-BY 4.0, which permits authors to retain copyright of their work. This license allows for unrestricted use, sharing, and reproduction of the articles, provided that proper credit is given to the original authors and the source.