How can public procurement foster sustainability along global supply chains? A systematic and critical review

Public administrations across the globe are increasingly adopting sustainable public procurement (SPP), as their substantial expenditures are expected to orient their potential suppliers towards sustainability. However, the existing research on SPP is fragmented across disciplines, lacking a comprehensive understanding and conceptualization of its effects on the suppliers, along their supply chains. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review of 49 empirical peer-reviewed articles exploring how and under which circumstances SPP practices can foster sustainability in Global Supply Chains (GSCs). The resulting conceptual framework illustrates the relationship between public procurement and sustainability in GSCs, along with influencing factors. Our findings reveal that intra-organizational and inter-organizational SPP practices indirectly influence GSC sustainability performance. Moreover, the study highlights the indirect influence of institutional distance between buyers and suppliers’ environments on GSC sustainability performance. Finally, various endogenous and exogenous factors are identified that directly influence the effectiveness of SPP and global sustainable supply chain management practices. The study stands out as the first to conceptualize the interplay of context-specific differences and factors influencing SPP effectiveness beyond the direct supplier, along supply chains. It underscores the potential for public buyers to influence firms' SSCM through SPP practices, contingent on internal capacities and external regulatory support. While firms, in turn, shall strategically select multi-tier SSCM practices based on environmental contexts and be aware of the effects of their pressures on lower-tiers suppliers to meet sustainability requirements effectively.