ROLE OF ETHICS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF OIL MARKETING FIRMS IN KENYA

Abstract

The objective of the study was to establish the role of ethics in supply chain management \nof oil marketing companies in Kenya and how ethics can be used to improve the supply \nchain process. The study considered all the fifty one oil marketing companies who pass \ntheir products through Kenya Pipeline system. A sample size of 500 respondents were \nselected using stratified random sampling for the supply chain practitioners in these \ncompanies Primary data was collected from 434 respondents through a survey by use of \nresearch administered questionnaires and subjected to rigorous data processing and \nanalysis using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). \nBusiness practices, relativism and idealism were identified as independent variables \nwhile ethical measures as dependent variable. The findings revealed that there is positive \nassociation between business practices, relativism and ethical measures. However, the \nresearch revealed that there is an insignificant negative association between idealism and \nethical measures. It was noted that relativism (Beta = 0.731) is more influential at \nexplaining ethical behaviour than business practices \nThe study recommends that ethical behaviour concepts like honesty, integrity, probity, \ndiligence, fairness, confidentiality, trust and respect should be encouraged, monitored and \nevaluated. It recommends that supply chain organizations and managers should institute \nethics principles, moral standards, ethics training, ethics culture, code of ethics for their \nsupply chain practitioners to establish integrity in the supply chain process. \nThe study suggest that organizations should focus training not only on informing \nemployees about compliance with regulations, but also on encouraging employees to \nv \nbehave in a way that is conducive to a strong ethical culture. The findings were also \ninstructive in pointing out how organizations can tailor their ethics training to different \nlevels of employees. \nFurther research is recommended that will consider other variables other than business \npractices, relativism and idealism. The research recommended that longitudinal study \nshould be carried out to find out the role of ethics over long period of time.

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