| dc.description.abstract | Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is a technology implementation in the budgeting, procurement, payroll and payment functions. It has been adopted in more than 50 countries around the world. Implementation of IFMIS in sub-regions such as counties often encounter challenges related to enforcement of internal controls, lack of management support, low staff commitment and centralized organizational structures. The counties of Nairobi, Turkana, Mombasa, Makueni and Baringo exhibited more of these challenges. As the controller of budget reports indicted, all the five counties recorded a 15% deviation in budget implementation, had high rates of manual payrolls, and a high number of errors in procurement and payments. Studies examining organizational conditions and IFMIS implementation in the five counties were missing. The focus on national controls and structures and use of quantitative techniques based on single case studies further limited the in-depth understanding of the conditions in the counties. This study sought to examine internal controls conditions, management support conditions, employee commitment conditions and organizational structure conditions and their role in IFMIS implementation in the five selected county governments in Kenya. The study was undertaken in the counties of Baringo, Makueni, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Turkana. Constructivism was adopted as the research philosophy. The study used qualitative approach to obtain in-depth views and experiences from multiple data sources. Multiple case study design was adopted to allow for triangulation. Data collection used interviews and observations based on interview guide and observation codebook. The target population was 20 directors, four from each county. Purposive sampling was undertaken to obtain directors of procurement, payment, payroll and budget. A total of 17 directors were successfully reached. The study used thematic analysis based on ATLAS.ti software. Data presentation used diagrams, photos, tables and discussion. Results confirmed the lack IFMIS controls in the five counties. Lack of policies and procedures was negatively connected to accountability and role clarity. Users encountered repeated IFMIS errors due to lack of IFMIS audits and reports. Management support to IFMIS implementation was observed. The provision of resources, motivation and training was connected to reduction of service interruptions. However, the counties lacked an IFMIS coordination and communication framework. This resulted to IFMIS service delays. Employee commitment was observed in norms such as punctuality. This was connected to IFMIS task completion. There existed negative attitudes and beliefs on IFMIS performance and job fitness. This resulted to user resistance of IFMIS adoption. The IFMIS use structures were highly centralized and departmental integration was lacking. This resulted to low departmental collaborations. The study also found high power distance which resulted into redundancies and use of manual system. The study recommends that senate reviews IFMIS related legislations to allow for county-level policies, procedures and audits. The study also recommends periodic IFMIS user reviews and IFMIS reengineering to align with emerging needs. Further, the study recommends that counties set up an IFMIS coordination and communication mechanism to enhance IFMIS implementation. The study also recommends that counties adopt a flat IFMIS operational structure to reduce bureaucracies and speed up project implementation. Future studies are recommended in non-county settings for comparative analysis. The main contribution of this study was the proposed Framework for Evaluation of Management Information Systems (FEMIS). FEMIS will have applications in academic research and organizational assessments of Management Information Systems. | en_US |
