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Cited by 26Public Procurement and PolicySustainable Supply Chain ManagementSustainability in Higher Education

Sustainable public procurement in a Brazilian higher education institution

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Mendonça, Renata C. A., Pedrosa, Ivo V., Camara, Maria Amália O. A.·2021·Environment, Development and Sustainability
DOI 10.1007/s10668-021-01345-9PMC PMC8019980
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Abstract

Public policies have required public agencies to adopt sustainable public procurement. It is necessary to understand the importance of the requirement for sustainable purchases to happen. Thus, this study aims to examine the main difficulties in adopting SPP at a public university in Brazil. To that end, research on the topic was carried out based on critical theory using qualitative methodology through a case study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups selected intentionally: requesters, purchasers and suppliers. Aspects related to the understanding of sustainability, SPP and the relationship between ethics and sustainability were analysed. The study revealed that the interviewees understand that ethics is directly related to the practice of sustainability, but it is a difficult issue because of its historical roots and changes in paradigms. Due to the complexity of the SPP theme, one of the main implementation difficulties mentioned by the interviewees was the lack of training. For suppliers, the understanding of sustainability was already consolidated, but it required agreement between being sustainable and economically viable for the company. Thus, this work sought to expose how those involved in SPP understood, refuted or validated sustainability issues in government procurement. Previous studies revealed the difficulties and conceptions of buyers, but we did not find research that investigated requesters and suppliers. It is hoped that this information will serve actions in favour of sustainable production and consumption and as a basis for other studies on sustainable public procurement.

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  • The development of skills and confidence among procurement professionals is required through training to overcome barriers.

    “To overcome these barriers, the development of skills and confidence among procurement professionals is required through training (Aragão & Jabbour, 2017;Mendonça et al., 2021) that can enhance environmental skills (Michelsen & de Boer, 2009).”

    From Green public procurement as an effective way for sustainable development: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Mendonça et al., 2021

    The Results and discussion > Interviews section (page not available) recommends training and capacity-building for purchasing staff and says that a lack of training is associated with weak competencies and demotivation. This supports developing skills through training to address barriers, but the paper does not specifically identify building confidence as a training outcome. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Authors
Mendonça, R. C. A., Pedrosa, I. V., & Camara, M. A. O. A.
Affiliations
  • Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (BR)
  • Universidade de Pernambuco (BR)
Corresponding author
Mendonça, Renata C. A.
ORCID
Venue
Environment, Development and Sustainability
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-04-05
Volume
23
Issue
11
Pages
17094-17125
ISSN
  • 1387-585X (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-2975
DOI
10.1007/s10668-021-01345-9
PMC
PMC8019980
OpenAlex
W3139572241
Cited by
26
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2
FWCI
2.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Environment Development and Sustainability (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Public Procurement and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
  • Social Sciences › Education › Sustainability in Higher Education
Keywords
sustainable public procurement, public universities, higher education institutions, sustainability ethics, implementation barriers, buyers, suppliers, sustainable consumption and production, sustainable procurement, Brazil

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