Implementation of sustainable public procurement practices and policies: A sorting framework
Abstract
In general, there are many disincentives standing in the way of promoting change in public procurement practices by government agencies. Because engaging in sustainable purchasing requires some level of entrepreneurialism and risk-taking, a sorting framework is adopted to gauge whether some organizations are systematically more likely to pursue sustainable public purchasing (SPP) efforts than others. One-way analysis of variance and other methods are applied to a survey of public procurement practitioners across over 300 governments in the U.S. Results strongly suggest that agencies of various scope and reach tend to abstain from aggressively pursuing SPP efforts. However, when they do employ SPP, these efforts tend to be quite variable across and within levels of government and organizational size. In an effort to bridge theory with empirical data, a strong case can be made that the current state of SPP in the United States is the result of random and very cautious experimentation with little systematic pattern to SPP adoption.
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Risk aversion can represent a barrier to GPP.
“Leadership has also been identified as a key driver of GPP (Melon, 2020), while risk aversion can represent a barrier (Prier et al., 2016).”
From Green public procurement as an effective way for sustainable development: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Prier et al., 2016
Risk aversion is a barrier to GPP.
“Risk aversion Prier et al. (2016)”
From Green public procurement as an effective way for sustainable development: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis (2025) · cites this paper as Prier et al. (2016)
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- Authors
- Prier, E., Schwerin, E., & McCue, C. P.
- Affiliations
- Florida Atlantic University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Public Procurement
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2016-03-01
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 312-346
- ISSN
- 1535-0118 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2771352826
- Cited by
- 61
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 7.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Public Procurement (publishedVersion)
- 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 › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
- Keywords
- sustainable public procurement, sustainable procurement, government agencies, organizational characteristics, organizational size, levels of government, risk-taking, adoption of sustainable practices, public procurement policy
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