Green Supply Chain Management Practices and Operational Performance of Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

Green Supply Chain Management has gained prominence amongst many entities in the recent past as organizations, governments and consumer behavior are now focusing on giving more relevance to environmental issues. As such this has led many organizations to go green in their operations so as to conserve the environment as well as promote ethical behavior in entities. The study sought to investigate the influence of green supply chain management practices on operational performance of Public Universities in Kenya. Three objectives guided the study namely; (i) to ascertain the level of adoption of green supply chain management practices, (ii) to determine the correlation between green supply chain management practices and operational performance and (iii) to determine the challenges faced in the implementation of green supply chain management practices by the Public Universities in Kenya. The study adopted Descriptive research design. The population was made up of all the 32 accredited public universities in Kenya as listed by the Commission for University Education. Primary data was used which was acquired through the use of questionnaires. Drop and pick later as well as use of electronic mails were the mode of administering the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing objective (i) and (iii) which were measured using Means and Standard Deviations. Regression analysis was used in analyzing objective (ii). On the first objective, it was established that green purchasing, green distribution and supplier integration were adopted to a large extent while eco design and packaging was adopted to a medium extent by the Public Universities in Kenya. on objective (ii) the findings indicate that green supply chain management practices (green purchasing, green distribution, supplier integration and eco design and packaging) has a positive and significant relationship on operational performance (cost, quality and reliability) of Public Universities in Kenya as observed by their respective p values which was lower than five percent. Objective (iii) established that lack of clear statutory regulations, lack of resources for investing in human capital and new technologies, insufficient skilled labor and top management insubordination among the key challenges of implementing GSCMP. It is recommended that green purchasing, green distribution, supplier integration to be adopted to a very large extent with eco design and packaging being adopted to a large extent as it was found to have been adopted to a moderate extent by the Public Universities in Kenya. Future studies should focus on green supply chain management practices which have not been covered by this study as well as carry out the study using another context like in the private sector