A Governance Perspective on Contract Operation Policies in Palestine within the Framework of Human Resources: A Study on the Impact of Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity on the Public Sector

DOI: 10.46988/IJIHRM.05.02.2024.004

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the level of implementation of governance principles—namely accountability, Integrity, and transparency—in the Palestinian public sector from the perspective of employees in the study sample. It also aimed to assess the respondents' level of awareness regarding the contract operation policy in the Palestinian public sector, and to investigate whether there is a statistically significant effect at the significance level (α ≤ 0.05) between the application of governance principles in their various dimensions (accountability, transparency, and integrity) and the contract operation policy in the Palestinian public sector. The practical significance of this study lies in the potential application of its results to enhance contract-based employment policies and strengthen governance practices within Palestinian public institutions, thereby improving transparency, accountability, and institutional efficiency. Using a descriptive-analytical methodology and drawing on previous literature, a questionnaire was developed consisting of 22 items distributed across four domains: accountability, transparency, Integrity, and contract operation policy. After verifying its validity and reliability, the researcher adopted a quantitative approach. The study population consisted of employees from three ministries, ensuring representation of the Palestinian public sector, comprising a total of 250 employees. Purposive sampling was used in this study to specifically target contract-based employees, as they are the group most closely related to the study's subject on governance and contract operation policies. This method was chosen for several methodological reasons, most notably: focusing on a specific group that represents the core of the phenomenon under investigation, enabling the collection of more accurate and in-depth data from individuals with direct experience, as well as considerations related to ease of access and prioritizing data quality over quantity. A total of 121 questionnaires were collected, and two responses were later excluded as outliers. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and structural equation modeling via SmartPLS 4 to test the study's hypotheses and extract results. The study concluded that the level of implementation of governance principles was high, the level of contract operation policy was also high, and there was a statistically significant effect at the (α ≤ 0.05) level between the application of governance principles and the contract operation policy.