An Exploration of Sustainable Procurement Practice in Irish Construction-Contracting Firms

Extant studies suggest that sustainable procurement can promote collaboration and innovation to achieve sustainable development (SD) objectives. However, despite the calls for construction firms to adopt and implement sustainable procurement practices, most firms seem slow in embracing such practices. This chapter presents an exploratory sequential mixed methods study into the relevance of organisational strategies adopted by the top 50 large construction-contracting firms in the Republic of Ireland in facilitating the adoption and implementation of sustainable procurement. The use of this research design made the examination of the internal organisational strategies, sustainability policies, practice and performance of the top 50 large construction-contracting firms in the Republic of Ireland possible. This resulted in the identification of areas relating to sustainable procurement practice requiring improvement.