Theory in public procurement research

Abstract

This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory in public procurement. With the field starting to mature, addressing this issue is timely. From conducting a systematic literature review we find that 29 percent of articles are theoretically grounded, with the incidence of theory having increased in recent years. Economic, sociological, psychological, and management theories are all in evidence, but micro-economic theories predominate. Our findings also show that survey reporting and case studies account for almost half of all studies; procurement research is focused on organizational-level aspects more than regulatory-policy issues or public buyers; and studies to date have largely emanated from the North American and European regions. The contribution of this paper lies in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of public procurement. Out of this we highlight the need for greater theoretical rigour, point to the under-use and even absence of theories that could have high validity and utility, and suggest a narrowing of research foci.

Maximising “Community Benefits” in public procurement: tensions and trade-offs

“…Second, it addresses the lack of dyadic studies in the field of SSCM (Hall, 2000;Huq, Stevenson, & Zorzini, 2014;Zorzini, Hendry, Huq, & Stevenson, 2015), by examining both buyer and supplier perspectives. Third, relatively few studies concerned with SSCM or public procurement develop theoretical insights (Flynn & Davies, 2014;Touboulic & Walker, 2015;Zorzini et al, 2015), and this study makes a theoretical contribution by adopting resource dependence theory (RDT) (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) to guide our study of CBs. Finally, it provides insights for policymakers and buyer and supplier practitioners seeking to implement CBs in a public procurement context.…”

“…A review of public procurement academic literature reported that less than a third of the articles contained any reference to theory (Flynn & Davies, 2014). Given the dearth of theoretical framing in public procurement research, our aim is to take an established theory to help us better understand the implementation of CBs.…”

Framing sustainability in public procurement by typologizing sustainability indicators – the case of Switzerland

“…For the further course of this paper, we refer to public procurement as acquisition of goods and services by government of public sector organizations (Uyarra and Flanagan, 2010). At the same time we acknowledge the different factettes in the theoretical field (Brammer and Walker, 2011;Gelderman et al, 2015;Preuss, 2009) and understand within this definition public procurement as a broad field, involving more than the procurement process, but also its potential as a policy tool, its importance for government efficiency, its impacts on innovation and development, as well as the strategic implications it brings along (Flynn and Davis, 2014;Koala and Steinfeld, 2018;Patrucco et al, 2017;Thai, 2008). Adding sustainability to public procurement, we understand public procurement as sustainable when it enfolds the economic, environmental and social dimensions in all public purchases (Brammer and Walker, 2011;Knebel et al, 2019;McCrudden, 2004).…”

Analyzing buyer behavior when selecting green criteria in public procurement

“…Despite this being a non-exhaustive review, it is clear that there has been little focus placed on public buyers themselves (Flynn & Davis, 2014) in discussion of GPP. So far, affective and habitual elements have emerged as influential individual factors.…”