As above, not so below

Developing Social Procurement Practices on Strategic and Operative Levels

Bibliographic Data

ID6058856
AuthorsDaniella Troje (0000-0003-3290-3792, Chalmers University of Technology), Thomas Andersson (0000-0002-1989-2745, University of Skövde)
Year2020
Volume40
Issue3
Pages242-258
Publication date2020-08-26
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEqual Opportunities International (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1758-7093 • E-ISSN: 2040-7149
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/edi-03-2020-0054
OpenAlexW3080444355
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited20

Purpose Procurement is increasingly used as a strategic tool to mitigate societal issues such as social exclusion and unemployment of marginalized groups. By conducting social procurement and imposing so-called employment requirements, organizations can create job opportunities for marginalized people. Such practices are becoming increasingly popular in the construction sector, but remain scattered, which hinders the effective creation, use and dissemination of cohesive and commonly shared social procurement practices. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the creation, use and dissemination of social procurement practices in the Swedish construction sector. Design/methodology/approach The theory of proto-institutions, which refers to institutions under development, is applied to analyze 46 interviews with construction practitioners. Findings There is currently little convergence of social procurement practices, due to practices not being fully internalized across organizations and projects; interns hired through employment requirements not having strong enough incentives to engage with their internships; actors working strategically and operatively having different possibilities to create social procurement practices; and the development of maintenance mechanisms for the formalization of sustainable practices being weak. Originality/value This paper contextualizes efforts to increase equality, diversity and inclusion of marginalized groups in the construction sector. The adoption of an institutional perspective of practice development elucidates the institutional constellation of existing institutional logics that impact on this practice development. This paper also indicates how the work with social procurement can become more effective and efficient and maximize the social value output for marginalized people living in social exclusion. For institutional theory, it illustrates how proto-institutions can be driven by both top-down and bottom-up perspectives

Best practice · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Management · Originality · Political science · Procurement · Public relations · Social exclusion · Social science · Sociology · Construction Project Management and Performance · Public Procurement and Policy · Sustainable Supply Chain Management · Marketing

Tools

Open DOI