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Sustainable Procurement Practice: The Effect of Procurement Officers’ Perceptions

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Abstract

Effective implementation and committed practice of sustainable procurement remain a significant challenge for many organisations across the globe. This paper sought to understand the extent to which employees’ perceptions influence the practice of sustainable procurement in the context of a developing country where sustainability awareness is low. Drawing on the Diffusion of Innovation theory, procurement officers’ perceptions of sustainable procurement were examined relative to the attributes of complexity, compatibility and relative advantage. Empirical data from 322 Ghanaian organisations were analysed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling to determine the nature of procurement officers’ perceptions of sustainable procurement and the effects of the perceptions on relevant organisational practices. The findings indicate that whereas perceptions of relative advantage did not significantly influence the practice of sustainable procurement, perceptions of compatibility had a significant positive effect, and perceptions of complexity had a significant negative effect on sustainable procurement. This study offers insights into the link between employees’ perceptions and organisational sustainable procurement practice, thereby providing a conceptual basis for effective management of the pertinent relationships with implications for enhanced ethical practices in procurement and supply chain management.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ghana

    Daniel Etse

  2. College of Business, Government & Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

    Adela McMurray

  3. RMIT University College of Business, Melbourne, Australia

    Nuttawuth Muenjohn

Authors
  1. Daniel Etse
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  2. Adela McMurray
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  3. Nuttawuth Muenjohn
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Correspondence to Daniel Etse.

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Research Instrument

1 Sustainable Procurement Scale


Safety

Our organisation ensures suppliers operational sites are operated in a safe manner.

Our organisation visits suppliers’ operational site to ensure that the work environment is conducive.

Our organisation ensures inbound, internal and outbound logistics at its operational sites are done in a safe manner.


Environment

Our organisation commits its suppliers to waste reduction goals.

Our organisation evaluates whole life environmental friendliness of products before procuring.

Our organisation practices reduce, reuse and recycle.

Our organisation is committed to reduced use of packaging materials.

Our organisation participates in the design of products for disassembly.


Philanthropy

Our organisation donates to communities in which it operates.

Our organisation donates to philanthropic organisations.

Our organisation volunteers at local charities.


Diversity

Our organisation has a policy on buying from minority and women based enterprises.

Our organisation buys from minority and women based enterprises.


Human Rights

Our organisation ensures its suppliers are not using child labour.

Our organisation asks its suppliers to pay employees a living wage.

Our organisation visits suppliers’ sites to ensure sweatshop labour is not being used.

2 SP Perceptions Scale


Perceptions of Complexity

Sustainable procurement is difficult to understand.

Sustainable procurement is difficult to practice.

Sustainable procurement is difficult to explain to others.

It is difficult to acquire relevant experiences for sustainable procurement practice.


Perceptions of Compatibility

Sustainable procurement is consistent with our organisational values.

Integrating sustainable procurement into our organisational system is easy.

Sustainable procurement practice is consistent with our existing operations.


Perceptions of Relative Advantage

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our organisation’s reputation.

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our international business potentials.

Sustainable procurement practice will save our organisation from sanctions.

Sustainable procurement will improve our organisation’s environmental performance.

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our organisation’s economic performance

Appendix 2: Paired samples test

 

Paired differences

t

df

Sig. (2-tailed)

Mean

SD

Std. error Mean

95% Confidence interval of the difference

Lower

Upper

Pair 1

Sustainable procurement is easy to understand—Sustainable procurement is easy to practice

0.27950

0.86620

0.04827

0.18454

0.37447

5.790

321

0.000

Pair 2

Sustainable procurement is easy to understand—Sustainable procurement is easy to explain to others

0.10248

0.86759

0.04835

0.00736

0.19760

2.120

321

0.035

Pair 3

Sustainable procurement is easy to understand—It is easy to acquire relevant experience for sustainable procurement practice

0.70807

1.19782

0.06675

0.57675

0.83940

10.608

321

0.000

Pair 4

Sustainable procurement is easy to practice—Sustainable procurement is easy to explain to others

− 0.17702

0.91527

0.05101

− 0.27737

− 0.07667

− 3.471

321

0.001

Pair 5

Sustainable procurement is easy to practice—It is easy to acquire relevant experience for sustainable procurement practice

0.42857

1.26153

0.07030

0.29026

0.56688

6.096

321

0.000

Pair 6

Sustainable procurement is easy to explain to others—It is easy to acquire relevant experience for sustainable procurement practice

0.60559

1.15593

0.06442

0.47886

0.73232

9.401

321

0.000

Pair 7

Sustainable procurement is consistent with our organisational values—Integrating sustainable procurement into our organisational system is easy

0.27329

1.03212

0.05752

0.16013

0.38645

4.751

321

0.000

Pair 8

Sustainable procurement is consistent with our organisational values—Sustainable procurement practice is compatible with our existing operations

0.15528

0.98309

0.05479

0.04750

0.26306

2.834

321

0.005

Pair 9

Integrating sustainable procurement into our organisational system is easy—Sustainable procurement practice is compatible with our existing operations

− 0.11801

0.85656

0.04773

− 0.21192

− 0.02410

− 2.472

321

0.014

Pair 10

Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s reputation—Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our potential for international business

0.14907

0.74224

0.04136

0.06769

0.23045

3.604

321

0.000

Pair 11

Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s reputation—Sustainable procurement will help our organisation avoid sanctions

0.20186

0.82386

0.04591

0.11154

0.29219

4.397

321

0.000

Pair 12

Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s reputation—Sustainable procurement will improve our organisation’s environmental performance

0.06211

0.77892

0.04341

− 0.02329

0.14751

1.431

321

0.153

Pair 13

Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s reputation—Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s economic performance

0.03727

0.78845

0.04394

− 0.04918

0.12371

0.848

321

0.397

Pair 14

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our potential for international business—Sustainable procurement will help our organisation avoid sanctions

0.05280

0.75732

0.04220

− 0.03024

0.13583

1.251

321

0.212

Pair 15

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our potential for international business—Sustainable procurement will improve our organisation’s environmental performance

− 0.08696

0.86749

0.04834

− 0.18207

0.00815

− 1.799

321

0.073

Pair 16

Sustainable procurement practice will enhance our potential for international business—Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s economic performance

− 0.11180

0.82405

0.04592

− 0.20215

− 0.02145

− 2.435

321

0.015

Pair 17

Sustainable procurement will help our organisation avoid sanctions—Sustainable procurement will improve our organisation’s environmental performance

− 0.13975

0.67605

0.03767

− 0.21387

− 0.06563

− 3.709

321

0.000

Pair 18

Sustainable procurement will help our organisation avoid sanctions—Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation’s economic performance

− 0.16460

0.76585

0.04268

− 0.24856

− 0.08063

− 3.857

321

0.000

Pair 19

Sustainable procurement will improve our organisation’s environmental performance—Sustainable procurement will enhance our organisation's economic performance

− 0.02484

0.78101

0.04352

− 0.11047

0.06078

− 0.571

321

0.569

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Etse, D., McMurray, A. & Muenjohn, N. Sustainable Procurement Practice: The Effect of Procurement Officers’ Perceptions. J Bus Ethics 184, 525–548 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05150-w

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