‘Like drinking water after being in the desert’: social-symbolic work of procurement professionals in driving sustainable procurement

Abstract

Sustainable procurement aims to strategically embed environmental, social, and economic considerations into purchasing decisions to minimise negative impacts and generate positive outcomes across the entire supply chain (Meehan & Bryde, 2011). Recent studies have argued that procurement professionals can play a pivotal role in sustainable procurement by acting as change makers and implementers within their organisations (Luzzini et al., 2024). However, individual-level perspectives on their agency remain limited and under-documented (Villena, 2019; Walker et al., 2012). The study examines how procurement professionals use agency to change procurement functions and incorporate sustainability. It draws on the notion of social-symbolic work which refers to the ‘purposeful, reflexive efforts of individuals, collective actors and networks of actors to shape social symbolic objects’ (Lawrence & Phillips, 2019, p.31). Where a social symbolic object is considered ‘a combination of discursive, relational, and material elements that constitute a meaningful pattern in a social system’ (Lawrence & Phillips, 2019, p.24). In this study, we examine procurement as the social-symbolic object where the discursive elements encompass the language and narratives related to purchasing. The relational elements pertain to the networks of relationships between procurement professionals, suppliers, internal departments, and regulatory bodies. Lastly, the material elements include the tools, technologies, policies, and procedures that enable procurement activities.