Policy in Practice: Social Procurement Policies in the Swedish Construction Sector

Abstract

Procurement has long been used to fulfil policy goals, and social procurement policies can mitigate issues connected to social exclusion, unemployment and segregation. The target groups for such policies are disadvantaged people such as immigrants, young people and people with disabilities. Due to its close connection to exclusion and segregation issues, the construction and real estate sector has often been seen by policymakers as an appropriate sector for social procurement. However, practices to implement such policies are underdeveloped, which creates uncertainty and hinders the transition towards sustainability in the construction sector. This paper investigates how construction clients and contractors perceive the implementation of social procurement policies in practice. Drawing on policy-in-practice literature and interviewing 28 actors in the Swedish construction sector, the findings show a misalignment between: (1) social procurement policies, (2) the sector and its existing practices, and (3) the target group and their skills and needs. Although this misalignment adversely impacts policy implementation and practice formation, it can likely be mitigated if actors co-create policy goals and practices that mesh with existing practices, and provide more resources to enable policy implementation. This paper shows how procurement can help fulfil social policies and the difficulties of achieving that in practice.

The risks and opportunities of social procurement in construction projects: a cross-sector collaboration perspective

“…However, it is concerning that this perception contrasts starkly with the high risks expressed by subcontractors above, which indicates that the process of successfully transferring risk is more complex than government stakeholders understand. This adds to Troje's (2021) recent critique of social procurement policy implementation by suggesting that governments do not follow the basic principles of effective risk management espoused by Abrahamson (1983) when implementing these policies. Abrahamson (1983) argued that transferring risks to those parties who are unwilling and unable to manage them effectively will create organisational blind spots in risk management which will lead to potential problems being missed.…”

An exploratory study of the concept of social procurement in the construction industry in Botswana: contractor's perspective

“…SP was attractive to Sweden for numerous reasons, including addressing rising unemployment and marginalization (Edling, 2015; Alaraj et al ., 2019; Troje, 2021). SP is used to create jobs, train people and close the gap between rich and poor people (Raiden et al ., 2018; Loosemore et al.…”

“…SP can unlock decent construction while increasing employment opportunities (Barraket et al, 2015;Hurt-Suwan and Mahler, 2020). It is used to address issues concerning disadvantaged people, excluded minorities, young people and disabled individuals (Barraket et al, 2015;Troje and Anderson, 2020;Troje, 2021;Denny-Smith et al, 2021). Purchasing from local small and medium enterprises, providing or improving working conditions and health and safety, buying from social enterprises and minority businesses, and hiring vulnerable groups (Loosemore, 2016;Raiden et al, 2018) are some of the ways SP delivers social value in construction.…”

Sustainable innovations in Malaysia’s public procurement: strategic policy initiatives and coherences

“…It is pretty apparent that there is a strong bias towards the environmental dimension compared to other dimensions (Vörösmarty and Tátrai, 2019; Zipperer, 2019; Sönnichsen and Clement, 2020; Hamdan et al , 2021; Simanovska et al , 2021). However, decent studies have emerged that cater to social criteria in public procurement tendering (Hughes et al , 2019; Osei-Kyei et al , 2019; Vieira et al , 2020; Troje, 2021). Referring to the strategic policy framework, the Impact Driven PPISK is one of the policies that meet the social criteria requirement.…”

“…Public authorities can engage in socially responsible public procurement (SRPP) by purchasing ethical products and services and fully using public tenders to create job opportunities, decent work, social and professional inclusion, and better conditions for disabled and disadvantaged people. Similarly, SRPP in Australia focuses on the Indigenous Procurement Policy (2020), Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Policy and the Victoria State Government (2018) (Barraket et al, 2021;Troje, 2021). The same goes for the Canadian Government, which recently adopted the Community Employment Benefit Policy to improve employment opportunities for under-represented groups in significant infrastructure projects (Social Enterprise Ecosystem Project, 2015).…”