Increasing the Adoption of E-Procurement Services at the Municipal Level

Abstract

Despite high potentials and sophisticated goals set by federal policy-makers, local authorities are reluctant to move procurement to the Internet. This paper investigates the reasons of this phenomenon by presenting insights from a positivist multiple-case study among thirteen German municipalities. Our results suggest that perceived risks and benefits, acceptance among local businesses and neighboring municipalities are the strongest determinants for adoption. In order to tap the full potential of eprocurement in the public sector, federal policy-makers on the one hand should encourage pioneering municipalities to demonstrate other municipalities that eprocurement positively impacts public procurement and on the other hand should foster standardization of procurement platforms, thereby attracting more enterprises to build up the capabilities of using these platforms.