Collaborative procurement: A relational view acrossthe UK public sector

Collaborative procurement is increasingly on the policy agenda in different countries, yet organisations often encounter problems in cooperating. This study adopts a relational theory perspective to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of public sector organisations collaborating to buy goods and services, and explore the enablers and barriers to collaboration. Fifty senior procurement staff were interviewed from across the public sector in the UK. Some themes were identified across settings, such as advantages being economies of scale, sharing tangible and intangible resources, and better engagement with stakeholders. A common enabler was standardising procedures and processes, and common constraints were a lack of resources and a lack of procurement credibility preventing successful collaboration. There was empirical support for adopting the relational view in the public sector context, and relational theory provides a useful framework with which to conceptualise collaborative procurement.