Sustainable innovation in public procurement: the decisive role of the individual
| Pages | 190-201 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-09-2018-012 |
| Date | 03 September 2018 |
| Published date | 03 September 2018 |
| Author | Martin E. Eikelboom,Cees Gelderman,Janjaap Semeijn |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public finance/economics,Taxation/public revenue |
Sustainable innovation in public
procurement: the decisive role
of the individual
Martin E. Eikelboom
ProRail, The Netherlands, and
Cees Gelderman and Janjaap Semeijn
Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to highlight the effect of individual attributes of procurement professionals on
goals concerning public procurement of sustainable innovation. Several barriers haven been observed regarding
the application of public money to achieve these goals. Most research concerning these barriers focuses on
organizational factors. Corporate initiatives are typically presented as a way forward tot achieve sustainable
innovation. Less attention is paid to the efforts and attributes of the individual procurement professional.
Design/methodology/approach –A questionnaire was sent to 283 officials, involved in the
procurementprocess of a large public organization.
Findings –As expected, a lack of top management support has a negative impact on sustainable
innovation. Legal and regulatorycomplexity is less of a hindrance. The results indicate thatboth individual
innovativeness and individual collectivism have a significant positive effect on sustainable innovation.
Findings further suggest thatan important way for an organization to achieve sustainable innovationis to
allow individuals sufficientdiscretion to pursue sustainable initiatives. Many initiativescan be attributed to
the individualinnovativeness of procurement professionals.
Originality/value –The relation beween individual attributes of procurement professionals on the
applicationof public money to achieve goals of sustainable innovationis investigated and can serve as a basis
for further sudy on this subject.
Keywords Public procurement, Sustainable innovation, The individual
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In recent years, public procurement has been recognized as an important driver for
encouraging innovation (Knutsson and Thomasson, 2013;Uyarra et al., 2014;Uyarra
and Flanagan, 2009). Concerning the stimulation of innovation transfers, the European
Commission (EC) observes a “market failure”in the European market. The demand
seems unable to encourage the market to sufficiently invest in innovations. In this field,
the potential power of public procurement to develop new markets is left unused (EC,
2009). The potential contribution of public procurement to sustainability is evident
considering the size and impact of the sector in percent of the GDP of a country (Preuss,
2009). Additional research on intra-organizational processes in public buying
organizations could provide insight in the malfunction of the market concerning
sustainable innovations.
Most studies use a suppliers’perspective to investigate the barriers that hinder public
organizations to act as intelligent and informed customers (Uyarra et al., 2014). Very few
studies have looked inside public buying organizations themselves to identify how specific
JOPP
18,3
190
Journalof Public Procurement
Vol.18 No. 3, 2018
pp. 190-201
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1535-0118
DOI 10.1108/JOPP-09-2018-012
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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