Abstract:
Purpose – This study was steered to establish how buyer–supplier collaboration’s commitment attributes
serve as an antecedent for procurement performance in large manufacturing entities in Tanzania.
Design/methodology/approach – A parallel, concurrent, mixed method was used in the study.
Quantitatively, 52 firms were surveyed from Temeke Municipality, Tanzania, using questionnaire that
specified 1 procurement manager and 1 store manager from those firms, totaling a sample size of 104
respondents. Qualitatively, expressive opinions to supplement the numeric data were gathered from supply
chain managers using the saturation principle. Explanatory design analyzed the existing cause–effect
relationship, and the null hypotheses were tested using binary logistic regression at p values < 0.05 and
ExpB > 1.
Findings – Fidelity and enthusiasm to suggest improvements to suppliers and the duration of the
collaboration antecede the procurement performance of the manufacturing firms in Tanzania, while devotion to
invest resources and initiatives on joint problem solving have no significant impact.
Research limitations/implications – The causality between buyer–supplier collaboration and
procurement performance has been revealed. Since there might be third party logistics in collaborations,
future research should center on their moderating effect.
Practical implications – A framework has been developed for liberating procurement performance in the
context of large manufacturing firms in Tanzania.
Originality/value – Based on Transaction Cost Economics and Resource Dependency Theories, the study
revealed the root cause of procurement performance in the context of Tanzanian manufacturing firms, while
also considering commitment to buyer–supplier collaboration as a prerequisit for the commendable target.
