THE MODERATING ROLE OF COMPETITIVE PRESSURE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN E-PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN SUSTAINABILITY OF THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The oil and gas industry in Rivers State, Nigeria, faces significant challenges in maintaining sustainable supply chains. With increasing global attention on environmental responsibility, financial efficiency, and social equity, the sustainability of supply chains has become a critical concern. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between e-procurement and supply chain sustainability of the oil and gas industry in Rivers State. Anchored on the Stakeholder theory, it adopted a quantitative and explanatory research design with a positivism research paradigm and conducted a correlational investigation without any form of manipulation in a non-contrived setting to ascertain the degree of relationship between e-procurement and supply chain sustainability of the oil and gas industry in Rivers State. The target population of this study was twenty-five (25) oil and gas firms in Rivers State according to the Nigeria Directory & Search Engine Finelib.com (2023). Due to the small size of the population, the census method was adopted. To guarantee comprehensive representation of the companies, five (5) respondents were drawn from each of them for the survey, as representatives of the firms based on their managerial roles, they include; supply chain managers, procurement managers, product managers, operations managers and brand managers.  Hence, the respondents constituted one hundred and twenty-five (125) employees of the firms. However, only one hundred and three (103) copies of the questionnaire were found useful for the study. A well-structured, self-administered survey questionnaire was adopted, validated and a reliability test conducted before it was used for primary data collection. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics; Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Partial Correlation were employed to establish the degree of relationship between the variables with the aid of Statistical Package of Social Sciences Software (SPSS) version 22. The research results revealed that E-procurement has a significant, strong, positive relationship with environmental responsibility, financial responsibility and social responsibility in the oil and gas industry in Rivers State. The study concluded that e-procurement relates positively and significantly with supply chain sustainability in the oil and gas industry in Rivers State. And competitive pressure has a positive and significant impact on the relationship between both variables. The study therefore, recommends that the oil and gas industry in Rivers State should continuously improve on their e-procurement strategies to facilitate the achievement of supply chain sustainability objectives. As well as to combat competitive pressure through strategic e-supplier collaboration and circular strategy of waste reduction in the oil and gas industry in Rivers State.