A Network-Governance Approach to Enhancing Internal Audit Quality in Public Procurement: Comparative Evidence from Egypt

This study examines how a network-governance approach can enhance internal audit quality within public procurement systems, with comparative evidence from the Egyptian public sector. Public procurement environments are characterized by high complexity, fragmented accountability, and elevated corruption and compliance risks, which often limit the effectiveness of traditional, hierarchically oriented internal audit functions. To address this gap, the study develops a network-governance framework that emphasizes inter-organizational coordination, information sharing, and relational accountability among internal audit units, procurement entities, oversight bodies, and regulatory institutions. Using a mixed-method research design, the study combines comparative institutional analysis, structured interviews with internal auditors and procurement officials, and empirical assessment of audit quality indicators across selected public-sector organizations. The findings indicate that stronger governance networks—reflected in formal coordination mechanisms, shared audit platforms, and collaborative oversight arrangements—are significantly associated with improved internal audit independence, risk coverage, and audit effectiveness in public procurement processes. The study contributes to the literature by extending internal audit quality research beyond firm-level determinants to a system-level, network-based perspective, and offers policy-relevant insights for strengthening public-sector audit governance in emerging economies, particularly in contexts characterized by institutional complexity and procurement-related risk.