Unifying the fragmented landscape of electronic public procurement research: A systematic review and future directions

Abstract

Despite the considerable body of research in the arena of electronic public procurement (e-PP), most of the literature is in fragmented form due to the non-availability of a recent structured review of these studies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to organize, evaluate, and synthesize electronic public procurement research during the last 24 years. This paper also aims to provide some insight into the future direction of this research domain. In order to achieve this, a systematic review was conducted. A total of 37 articles were systematically identified and analyzed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The findings revealed four main areas of investigation of e-PP research: adoption and acceptance of e-PP; implementation challenges and success factors; impacts of e-PP implementation; and evaluation of e-PP technology. Moreover, a notable variation in the usage of theories, models, and frameworks was identified across the four areas. Additionally, a conceptual framework was developed, integrating the fragmented findings presented across the four key research areas. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first systematic review with a specific focus on electronic procurement in the public sector, particularly on the state-of-the-art usage of theories in this research arena. In terms of implications for future researchers, this review highlights unexplored areas within each subdomain, along with potential theoretical advancements.