Abstract
End user involvement in specifications development refers to a process in which an explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service is given by a buyer to the supplier. The research concerns itself with the critical role played by the end users in the supply chain performance. The study sought to establish the effects of end user involvement in the supply chain performance of higher learning institutions in Kenya. This study therefore, assessed the effect of procurement planning, specification preparation, monitoring and evaluation, and inspection and receipt of goods, on the dependent variable of supply chain performance. The study was guided by Institutional theory and Socio-economic theory. The study was conducted at Chuka University procurement department and user departments comprising of 64 respondents from user departments and procurement. The study employed cross-sectional descriptive research design. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection. In order to determine the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, pretesting of the research instruments was conducted. To establish the validity of the research instrument, content validity was used while internal consistency method was used to determine the reliability. Correlation analysis followed by multivariate regression analysis was conducted between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Results showed strong and statistical significance between procurement planning and supply chain performance. The study also established that there was a strong and statistical significance between specification preparation and supply chain performance. It was also established that there was strong and statistical significance between monitoring and evaluation and supply chain performance. Lastly, there was strong and statistical significance between inspection and receipt of goods and supply chain performance. Among the four variables, procurement planning was ranked highest, followed by specification preparation, monitoring and evaluation while receipt and inspection of goods would be the least. The study concluded that procurement planning, specification preparation, monitoring and evaluation, and inspection and receipt of goods are good measures of the end user involvement in the effective performance of supply chain, but that more studies need to be done to unearth the hidden variables contributing to supply chain performance in order to get a full picture of the impact of the end-users on supply chain performance. The research findings will help the public organization as well as the private sector in improving on their supply chain. Research institutes and scholars will gain vital insights from the study when they want to research further and lastly government together with all its agencies will also gain important information that will inform the policies they come up with in future.