Towards more effective green public procurement: Empirical and conceptual studies of environmental criteria in decision-making and information processing
Abstract
This dissertation examines Norway’s green public procurement (GPP), or in other words, environmentally responsible procurement by public agencies, as decision-making and information processing. Public agencies in every country are major consumers with a financial spending varying from 10% to 20% of the GDP. GPP has been gaining the attentions and anticipations by governments as a policy instrument, as well as a technical tool, aiming for sustainable consumption and production. Public procurement is a complex process with the legal framework and strict procedure, GPP seems to have further increased its complexity because of the additional consideration of environmental aspects in the procurement process. However, existing literature fails to examine relevant aspects. First, how decisions are made in practice, more precisely, how environmental criteria are chosen by buyers. Second, few studies have investigated GPP as an interaction between buyers and suppliers. Furthermore, the literature in public procurement has been experiencing low theoretical grounding.
This dissertation aims to develop a deep understanding of GPP and provide insights into more effective GPP.
RQ1. What aspects of complexity do buyers face with GPP?
RQ2. How are environmental considerations incorporated into the procurement process?
RQ3. What political and practical insights can we gain for more effective GPP, based on the current practices and issues?
To investigate these questions, this research employs various methodologies; building two conceptual frameworks, one by systematic literature review and the other by document analyses, confirming the existing concepts in decision-making by interviews and a survey, and modifying an existing theoretical model in organizational learning, with focus on information processing, by interviews.
The findings extend the current knowledge of GPP. Buyers face multiple forms of complexities especially in formulating and evaluating tender documents. Most of the time, their decision-making is not comprehensive, analytic, rational, but is subject to heuristics. Interaction of buyer’s and supplier’s absorptive capabilities could determine the outcomes of GPP. Lastly, policy-makers and practitioners would benefit from this research, which provides the insights into more effective GPP based on behavioural decision-making and information processing.
Has parts
Paper 1: Igarashi, Mieko; De Boer, Luitzen; Fet, Annik Magerholm. What is required for greener supplier selection? A literature review and conceptual model development. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 2013 ;Volum 19.(4) s. 247-263 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2013.06.001Paper 2: Igarashi, Mieko; De Boer, Luitzen; Michelsen, Ottar. Investigating the anatomy of supplier selection in green public procurement. Journal of Cleaner Production 2015 ;Volum 108.(part A, 1) s. 442-450 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.010
Paper 3: Igarashi, Mieko; De Boer, Luitzen; Pfuhl, Gerit. Analyzing buyer behavior when selecting green criteria in public procurement. Journal of Public Procurement 2017 ;Volum 17.(2) s. 141-186 - Is not included due to copyright available at https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-17-02-2017-B001
Paper 4: Igarashi, M. Information exchange and processing in buyers and suppliers in green public procurement: An absorptive capacity perspective. In L. de Boer and P. Andersen (eds.), Operations Management and Sustainability - Is not included due to copyright available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93212-5_15