Human Resource Management Reforms and Public Sector Governance in Tanzania: An Application of Decentralization Perspective

Abstract

In Tanzania, Human Resource Management (HRM) decentralization andreforms were initiated as an effort to address non-transparent and patronizingHuman Resource (HR) practices so as to improve public sector governance.However, HRM of the entire public service has been centralized and placed inthe hands of President ' s Office Public Service Management (PO-PSM). Hence,there arose the need to conduct this study by analyzing the influence ofdecentralization of HRM on public sector governance in Tanzania. Questionnaires were used for data collection, while Structural EquationModelling (SEM) was used in data analysis. Results revealed that management 12of HR in a decentralised context has a significant relationship with bothtransparency and accountability. Moreover, findings revealed that politicalsupport, technology and culture moderate the relationship between managementof HR in a decentralised context and public sector governance. The studysuggests that in order to improve governance, the Tanzanian government has toengage strong political support and devolve the controlled autonomy ondecision-making to some HRM practices to local government authorities,digitalise government, and transform employees ' behaviours towardsaccountability for performance manner.