An analysis into the factors affecting the uptake of applications of e-procurement, within the UK public sector

Electronic procurement (e-procurement) has been widely adopted across the private sector, and as such various aspects of its adoption has been researched. The adoption of e-procurement in the public sector is not as widespread, especially in relation the UK Central and Local Government sectors, and accordingly there has been limited research into the factors affecting the adoption of e-procurement technologies, within this context. Consequently, this study, which has been undertaken with five case study organisations spread across the UK Central and Local Government sectors, aims to add to current published literature, and in particular provide an understanding of the relationship between the factors identified which have affected adoption, and the extent of adoption of e-procurement solutions. This research provides a number of significant contributions to current published literature including a comprehensive definition and conceptualisation of e-procurement and a holistic research framework which facilitates understanding the relationships between the level of adoption by the case study organisations and the factors affecting their decisions. Additionally, this study demonstrates that there is a high degree of commonality between the case study organisations in terms of their levels of adoption, and the factors that have affected such adoption. Of these factors, there are four that are particularly important, as they haven’t previously attracted much attention in the literature. More specifically, this research highlights the importance of understanding an organisation’s procurement landscape, the impact (both negative and positive) of public policy on adoption, the impact of enhanced organisational standing and the need for vision and leadership from senior stakeholders.