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AbstractResponse to customers' needs is considered a key to success of micro and small food agro-processing enterprises. However, these firms tend lose customers as a result of fast changing customers' tastes and preferences in the market. Arguments are directed on the learning culture of micro and small food processing enterprises to appropriately capture and provide for the requirements of customers. This paper assessed the learning orientation of micro and small food agro-processing enterprises by specifically determine the extent to which learning orientation influence the response of micro and small food agro-processing firms to the customers' needs. The study employed quantitative method approach and a cross sectional survey design. A stratified sampling technique was used in the study, whereby data were collected using structured questionnaire from 302 owner-managers in Arusha, Morogoro and Dar es Salaam regions in Tanzania. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The findings revealed statistically significant relationship between learning orientation and response of micro and small food agro-processing enterprises to customers' needs. More specifically, commitment to learning was found to be positive significant related to response to customers' needs. Again, open-mindedness was found to be positive and significant related to response to customers' needs. Furthermore, the relationship between shared vision and response to customers' needs was found to be positive and significant. The results provide an implication that, enterprises with strong learning orientation are in better position to respond to customers' needs than enterprises with low learning orientation. This shows that, to be able to appropriately respond to the needs of the customers, the entrepreneurs need to put commitment in learning, open-up for new ideas and information and have a shared-vision which provide a clear direction for learning. This study advocates for policy makers and trainers to establish relevant tools to support learning environment for the micro and small enterprises to improve response to the varying needs of customers in the market.

This paper examines the relationship between financial development and private sector investment in the post-financial sector liberalization episode in Tanzania. The proxies for financial development were the financial market depth index and financial institutions depth index. Applying Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique, the results show the nexus between financial development and private sector investment in Tanzania. We find that the financial market depth index has a positive and significant impact on private sector investment in the long run but not in the short run. This is linked to the underdevelopment of capital markets in Tanzania at present. Similarly, we find that the financial institution depth index positively and significantly impacts private sector investment in both the long and short run. The degree of openness of the economy recorded a positive and significant impact on private investment in both periods suggesting that it has played a critical role in the financial development and growth of the private sector in Tanzania. In contrast, we observe that the real exchange rate has recorded a negative and significant impact on private investment in the long and short run. This suggests that appreciation of the real exchange rate had a negative impact on private investment. We recommend increasing financial openness and reinforcing the financial regulatory reforms to widen and deepen the financial system that can effectively support the mobilization of short, medium, and long-term finance for private sector investment.

Purpose – The combination of strategic orientation and digitalization for sustainable competitive advantage among small businesses is still not given much attention in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to understand the influence of strategic orientation on sustainable competitive advantage while mediating the relationship with digitalization. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a cross-sectional design. This design helped collect data from 234 small businesses in Arusha city, Tanzania. Since the study used latent variables, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze relationships and conduct confirmatory factor analysis. Through bootstrapping confidence intervals, Hayes's Process was also used to test how digitalization mediates the relationship between strategic orientations and sustainable competitive advantage. Findings – The strategic orientation attributes that include market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation were positively and significantly related to digitalization. Furthermore, the results on digitalization and sustainable competitive advantage show a significant positive relationship. Finally, digitalization was analyzed to mediate the relationship between strategic orientation, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation and sustainable competitive advantage. Hence, all hypotheses were supported. Research limitations/implications – This study adopted a cross-sectional design that helped to capture the quantitative information. In addition, the current study is limited to Tanzania's small businesses; thus, the findings cannot assure generalization of the conclusion to other countries because of the differences in social, cultural and technology across countries. Originality/value – This study integrates the concepts of strategic orientation from the strategic management discipline and digitalization from a technology perspective. As a result, the study adds new knowledge about combining two aspects and determining whether they add value in terms of providing a sustainable competitive advantage. This knowledge comes from digitalization, which acts as a mediator between strategic orientation dimensions and a sustainable competitive advantage.

Purpose – Over time, the concept of word of mouth (WOM) has spread beyond marketing into other disciplines. This is because WOM is important in decision-making at both the individual and organisational levels. Also, people are more likely to trust recommendations from their peers than those from companies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived usefulness of WOM messages for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) suppliers in participating in Tanzanian public procurement opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – The study collected cross-sectional data from 214 SME suppliers who supply common use items to public procuring organisations in Dodoma City, Tanzania. Structural equation modelling was used to test the direct relationships between study variables, and Hayes' PROCESS macro was used to test for the indirect effect of WOM message delivery on WOM attributes and the perceived usefulness of WOM. Findings – WOM attributes that include expertise differential, perceptual homophily, and trustworthiness are related to the perceived usefulness of WOM. Also, WOM message delivery mediates the relationship between the WOM attributes and the perceived usefulness of WOM in enhancing public procurement participation. Therefore, the study's findings revealed that WOM is applicable in the public procurement context, under which public buyers act as senders and suppliers act as receivers. The latter finds out about public procurement opportunities and responds to them, while the former gives suppliers whatever information they need to respond to public procurement tenders that have been advertised. Research limitations/implications – Because the study was cross-sectional, it was difficult to determine whether the opinions gathered over time remained consistent. Furthermore, only suppliers who are parties to framework contracts under Government Procurement Services Agency were included in the study. Therefore, the sample was limited to only suppliers supplying common use items to various public organisations in Dodoma City, Tanzania. Originality/value – This paper integrates the concept of WOM from the marketing discipline and public procurement. As a result, the study adds to the understanding of the use of information transmission in terms of the contribution of WOM messages from public buyers to suppliers to enhance small and medium enterprises' participation in public procurement opportunities.

Purpose – Consumer psychology research has established the importance of customer satisfaction as a determinant of customer repurchasing intention. Nonetheless, even satisfied customers switch brands. Also, even dissatisfied customers have repurchasing intentions. This means that customer repurchasing behaviour is extremely difficult to predict, necessitating additional research to identify additional factors that can help organizations better understand the methods to predict customer repurchasing intention. To fill this knowledge gap, this study examined the mediating effects of brand love (BL) and positive word of mouth (PWOM) on psychological contract fulfilment (PCF) and customer repurchasing intentions. Design/methodology/approach – This is a cross-sectional study. The study used structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse relationships from a sample size of 400 beauty salon customers. Also, a process macro mediation test was used to analyse the mediating effects of BL and PWOM on the relationship between PCF and customer repurchase intentions. Findings – The findings indicate that transactional and relational psychological contracts have a positive and significant relationship with BL and PWOM. As well, BL and PWOM positively and significantly influence customer repurchase intentions. Finally, the findings indicate that BL and PWOM mediate the relationship between psychological contract fulfilment and customer repurchase intentions. Research limitations/implications – This survey sampled beauty salons solely. Given that each type of organization may have a unique way of fulfilling psychological contracts, future studies may include more categories such as restaurants and craftsmanship to broaden the sample. Additionally, this study utilized female beauty salons. Therefore, future research could include salons that cater to women and men to boost the sample's generalizability. Finally, this study concluded that BL and positive recommendations are the most effective variables for resolving consumer satisfaction challenges. However, additional factors can probably amplify this fact by focusing on additional elements to broaden the arguments. Originality/value – Past studies have extensively covered customer repurchasing intention in relation to customer satisfaction. However, it was noted that even some satisfied customers could switch to other brands, and those who were dissatisfied could repurchase the brand. Given that little is known about how other factors than customer satisfaction can affect repurchasing intentions, this study examines the mediating effects of BL and PWOM on PCF and customer repurchase intentions.

Purpose – While empirical studies establish the importance of procurement planning in achieving value for money (VfM) in procurement, there is scant evidence demonstrating a link between procurement planning and procurement regulatory compliance, and thus VfM. As a result, this study examined how procurement regulatory compliance can be applied when procurement practitioners in Tanzania seek to maximize VfM through procurement planning. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional research design was adopted from which data were collected once through a structured questionnaire. The structural equation modeling (SEM) and Hayes' PROCESS macro test for mediation analysis were used to analyze the collected data. Findings – Procurement planning has a significant and positive relationship with procurement regulatory compliance (ß = 0.491, p

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic undesirably affected the hospitality industry, and therefore, preventive measures have been advocated as crucial when revitalizing or rejuvenating the industry. This study investigated the interplay of predicting role of COVID-19 preventive measures, perceived brand ethicality, and brand legitimacy in the hospitality industry in Tanzania during the period of reviving the industry. Furthermore, the study examines the mediating role of perceived brand ethicality in the relationship between COVID-19 preventive measures and brand legitimacy. Data were collected from a total of 405 customers of hospitality organizations recruited via an on-site survey. Data analyses were done using structural equation modeling. Overall, the results have shown that COVID-19 preventive measures had a direct positive effect on brand legitimacy. Additionally, COVID-19 preventive measures could enhance brand legitimacy indirectly via perceived brand ethicality. The study has significant implications for different hospitality organizations and operators in Tanzania and other countries during post the COVID-19 period.

Abstract This article synthesizes current insights into supplier management practices that professional buyers can apply in the public procurement context. Specifically, it discusses the practices, rationale, and challenges associated with implementing supplier development as an important activity within supplier management practices. Drawing from the literature, the main arguments are on the applicability of indirect supplier development practices in the public procurement context. Therefore, it is concluded that public buyers can consider applying these practices in public organizations. However, caution should be exercised regarding the legal and regulatory structure that governs the country’s public procurement system. It further recommends empirical studies to be done on supplier development practices for local suppliers in specific public procurement projects.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of word of mouth (WOM) attributes on the resilience of customers to negative word of mouth (NWOM) about locally made products when mediated by message quality. The study’s findings contribute to a variety of areas. To begin, available empirical evidence has primarily examined WOM from a source perspective, with an emphasis on the message’s design and delivery to receivers. Thus, it is necessary to study WOM from the perspective of the receiver, as the decision to accept or reject products is highly dependent on the perspective of the receiver (user). Further, available literature has not sufficiently connected the attributes of WOM with resilience to NWOM when mediated by message quality, especially of locally made products. This study attempts to cover that gap in knowledge. The study used a cross-sectional design involving 201 customers. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) revealed that WOM attributes such as expertise, homophily, and trustworthiness between the sender and the receiver positively and significantly influence the message quality, and that message quality influences the resilience of NWOM about locally made products. Furthermore, message quality was found to partially mediate the relationship between WOM attributes and resilience to NWOM. The findings have both theoretical and practical implications.

This paper investigates the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance in the public sector. Furthermore, the paper examines the moderating role of contract management difficulty on the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance. Using cross-sectional data collected from 179 public procuring entities, the main findings of the study are two-fold. Firstly, the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance in public sector is positive and significant (β = 0.2343 and p = 0.0014). Also, contract management difficulty negatively and significantly moderates the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance (β = −0.1447 and p = 0.0190). In this aspect, the influence of supplier development on procurement performance is negatively affected by contract management difficulties. The study contributes to the supplier management, procurement performance, and contract management literature by providing empirical evidence on the role of supplier development on procurement performance in developing countries like Tanzania. Also, the conditional effects of contract management difficulty on the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance matter. The study’s findings have important implications for procurement practitioners in the public sector and policy makers.

Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) do not often survive beyond five years. The major challenge is the transition from the maturity stage to a sustainable stage. However, apart from a few studies done on SME sustainability with the majority engaged in SME performance, a gap has been identified in the body of literature, especially the exclusion of the mediating effects of key variables. This study, therefore, aims at looking into the mediating role of entrepreneurial innovations on entrepreneurs’ competencies and the sustainability of SMEs in Tanzania. The study applied a cross-sectional design, in which a structured questionnaire was adopted to capture information from 384 sampled SMEs. The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) in doing a confirmatory factor analysis and a path analysis. The findings show that entrepreneurs’ competencies have positive and significant effects on entrepreneurial innovations, and the effects of entrepreneurial innovation on SME sustainability are also positive and significant. The study further found partial mediation effects of entrepreneurial innovations on entrepreneurs’ competencies and SME sustainability. It was found that establishing SME sustainability is the outcome of competencies and innovation. Therefore, this study’s findings can help enrich the limited literature on competencies and innovations and increase the chances of SME sustainability. Further, the current study recommends providing key competence-based training that will help equip entrepreneurs with innovative skills for the sustainability of SMEs.

This paper examines the relationship between financial development and private sector investment in the post-financial sector liberalization episode in Tanzania. The proxies for financial development were the financial market depth index and financial institutions depth index. Applying Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique, the results show the nexus between financial development and private sector investment in Tanzania. We find that the financial market depth index has a positive and significant impact on private sector investment in the long run but not in the short run. This is linked to the underdevelopment of capital markets in Tanzania at present. Similarly, we find that the financial institution depth index positively and significantly impacts private sector investment in both the long and short run. The degree of openness of the economy recorded a positive and significant impact on private investment in both periods suggesting that it has played a critical role in the financial development and growth of the private sector in Tanzania. In contrast, we observe that the real exchange rate has recorded a negative and significant impact on private investment in the long and short run. This suggests that appreciation of the real exchange rate had a negative impact on private investment. We recommend increasing financial openness and reinforcing the financial regulatory reforms to widen and deepen the financial system that can effectively support the mobilization of short, medium, and long-term finance for private sector investment.