The Effect of Budgeting on Service Delivery By Student Body Leaders in Ugandan Universities Case Study: Umu Student Body Leaders

Abstract

This study was focused towards finding out “The effect of budgeting on service delivery by student body leaders in Ugandan Universities.” The independent variable for purposes of this study was budgeting while the dependent variable was service delivery of student body leaders in Ugandan Universities. The specific objectives for the study were; To establish the effect of Budget preparationon service delivery of Student body leaders in Ugandan Universities; To determine the effect of Budget implementation on the service delivery of student body leaders in Ugandan Universities; To determine the effect of Budget monitoring/evaluation on the service delivery of student body leaders in Ugandan Universities

Data collection for purposes of the study was with the help of questionnaires, interviews and review of relevant documents. The study population comprised of student body leaders from Lubaga and Nkozi campuses of UMU. Of the two campuses, the student body leaders chosen were made up of students from UMUSU, UMUCU and Pastoral council leadership teams for the term of service 2016/2017. The respondents chosen were 50 but only 49 responded to the questionnaires. Data analysis was done using SPSS so as to further explore the data given in the questionnaires.

The findings per objective were that; Effect of budget preparation on service delivery: The data revealed that there is a negative correlation between budget preparation and service delivery as indicated by Pearson’s correlation coefficient of -0.026. This therefore implies that regardless of whether the student leaders prepare their budgets or someone else prepares them for them, their service delivery will not be affected by this budget activity. This disagrees with the literature that says that the budget preparation is an important step in budget process as per Adah (2013) and Musaazi (2005). This could have been caused by other factors that affected the impact of budget preparation on service delivery.

Effect of budget implementation on service delivery: The data reflected a positive correlation between budget implementation and service delivery with Pearson’s correlation coefficient at 0.442. This therefore indicates that budget implementation affects the level of service delivery by the student body leaders should focus on their budget implementation process so as to achieve better service delivery. This is in line with the literature that indicates that budget implementation is crucial in service delivery as per Ogolla (2012).

Effect of budget monitoring and control on service delivery: The data showed a strong positive correlation between budget monitoring and control with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.500. This therefore shows that the budget monitoring and control also influences the level of service delivery by the student body leaders. This therefore indicates that the student body leaders should take care to follow up on their budget monitoring and control so as to improve on their service delivery. This is in line with literature that shows that budget monitoring and control helps ensure that the budgeted activities are performed well thus influencing service delivery as per Nabwire and Bashoke, (2013) and Kauta (2017). The conclusion reached, as per the research finding was that there is a positive correlation between budgeting and service delivery. This is in line with the available literature on the effect of budgeting on service delivery. This therefore suggests that the student leaders can apply budgeting activity as a means of improving on their service delivery.

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