Breaking the Public Procurement Walls: Organisational Changes for a Collaborative Approach Towards Sustainabillity

Sustainable public procurement (SPP) aims to foster sustainable consumption and production. SPP implementation has been addressed through several disciplinary approaches, entailing efforts to understand and manage organisational changes. Previous research has proposed collaboration between stakeholders as a driver for organisational changes towards implementing SPP. However, there is a research gap in providing a more complete understanding of collaboration in SPP. This thesis provides a more complete understanding of collaboration in SPP, proposing a framework for understanding the complexity of implementing SPP – including knowledge on managing organisational changes for collaboration. This thesis is composed of five papers, supported by archival research and grounded theory as research strategies, and includes analysis of secondary data and interviews with SPP practitioners. The first provides an understanding of the elements comprising the SPP system, including stakeholder interactions. The second explores organisational changes for implementing SPP through an analysis of drivers. The third provides a more complete understanding of the barriers hindering organisational changes for SPP and strategies to overcome such barriers. The fourth analyses the elements of collaboration in SPP, including who collaborates, how to collaborate, why and why not collaborate, and collaboration facilitators. The fifth explores organisational changes for implementing collaboration in SPP. This thesis’s findings shed light on the role of collaboration in SPP. Collaboration is a key force influencing organisational changes for SPP. However, there are limits to which aspects of SPP can be addressed through collaboration, and collaboration costs must be considered. Collaboration can break the public procurement walls but is not a silver bullet for implementing SPP. This thesis contributes to organisational change management for sustainability and collaboration, providing a systemic approach to understanding SPP. The thesis offers practical tools to implement SPP better and promote collaboration, contributing to practitioners’ efforts.