Institutional readiness for business process integration in Tanzania’s public sector: a TOE-based analysis

Purpose The study aims to identify and validate the key readiness factors for Business Process Integration (BPI) and interoperability in Tanzania’s public sector and to develop a context-relevant readiness perspective grounded in the Technology–Organization–Environment framework. Design/methodology/approach The study used a two-phase quantitative design. Phase I applied the Fuzzy Delphi Method to evaluate and prioritize readiness indicators across the technological, organizational and environmental dimensions. Phase II used a targeted financial sustainability validation module to examine the weakest organizational readiness factor identified in Phase I, focusing on budget structure, adequacy, release reliability, recurrent financing and implementation support. Findings The most important readiness factors are government policy support, top management leadership and alignment with national Information and Communication Technology and e-government strategy. Technological factors, such as infrastructure and information security, also ranked highly. However, financial resources emerged as the weakest readiness condition. The Phase II financial sustainability results showed that institutions report moderate capacity to sustain existing systems but weaker capacity to finance training, change management, integration platforms, middleware and Application Program Interface management tools. Research limitations/implications The study relies on expert judgment rather than direct performance measurement of integrated systems and its contextual focus on Tanzania’s public sector may limit generalizability to other settings. Practical implications The study provides an evidence-based foundation for designing readiness assessment tools, guiding interoperability reforms and strengthening policy, leadership and financing arrangements for BPI implementation. Social implications Improved BPI readiness can support more coordinated, transparent and citizen-centered public service delivery. Originality/value The study contributes primarily empirical, contextual and methodological value by providing an expert-validated empirical baseline for assessing BPI readiness in Tanzania’s public sector. Rather than proposing a new TOE framework, the study shows how the Fuzzy Delphi Method can contextually prioritize technology-organization-environment-based indicators to reveal the institutional conditions required for sustained cross-organizational integration.