Gender, family background, cynicism and ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals in a developing country context: evidence from Ugandan universities

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dc.contributor.authorTukamuhabwa, Benjamin R.
dc.contributor.authorMbago, Musa
dc.contributor.authorMutebi, Henry
dc.contributor.authorKyoshabire, Mercy
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-09T17:03:51Z
dc.date.available2023-03-09T17:03:51Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractSome scholars argue that ethical awareness increases alongside work experience,whereas others agree that ethics education shapes ethical awareness and that cheating in college predicts unethical behaviour in subsequent professional environment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the level and antecedents of ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory descriptive survey of a sample of 303 final year procurement students from the two largest public Universities in Uganda was conducted. Using Statistical Package for (SPSS) and Amos Version 27, data were analysed by using means, standard deviations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and correlation analysis. Findings – The study revealed that future procurement professionals exhibit low levels of ethical sensitivity. However, contrary to the general observations from the extant literature, gender and family background of students do not determine both ethical sensitivity and cynicism. Moreover, this study establishes that cynicism is positively associated with instances that depict low ethical sensitivity. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to providing an empirical understanding of the derivation of unethical behaviour in procurement practice. Grounded in Aristotle’s organic theory of state and moral habituation, this argues that future procurement professionals posses natural proclivities that trigger their social instincts and membership to multiple associations in actualising their innate potential for ethical behaviour. This supports the notion that humans are potentially virtuous, whereby morality is learned, imitated, emerges and perfects through repetitive actions and is therefore incremental. Practical implications – The findings mirror what prevails in practice in Uganda, where procurement practitioners have been implicated in unethical practices regardless of their gender and family background. This signals that managers should not recruit or deploy procurement personnel based on gender or family background. Originality/value – While research on ethical sensitivity of students has been focussed on other disciplines such as accounting, nursing and other business studies, this paper focusses on ethical sensitivity of procurement students aspiring to join a professional environment that is severely marred with unethical practices. Further, Aristotle’s moral habituation and organic theory of state invoked in this study underline the synergies of both nature and nurturing in inculcating ethicality in procurement professionals.en_US
dc.identifier.citationTukamuhabwa, B. R., Mbago, M., Mutebi, H., & Kyoshabire, M. (2023). Gender, family background, cynicism and ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals in a developing country context: evidence from Ugandan universities. International Journal of Ethics and Systems, 39(1), 81-106. DOI 10.1108/IJOES-10-2020-0167en_US
dc.identifier.other10.1108/IJOES-10-2020-0167
dc.identifier.urihttps://nru.uncst.go.ug/handle/123456789/8134
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherInternational Journal of Ethics and Systemsen_US
dc.subjectEthical sensitivityen_US
dc.subjectProcurementen_US
dc.subjectGenderen_US
dc.subjectFamily backgrounden_US
dc.subjectCynicismen_US
dc.subjectDeveloping countryen_US
dc.subjectUniversitiesen_US
dc.titleGender, family background, cynicism and ethical sensitivity of future procurement professionals in a developing country context: evidence from Ugandan universitiesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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