Innovation in Public Management: Is Public E-Procurement a Wave of the Future? A Theoretical and Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Project management has become an answer to many traditional organizational structuration and performance shortcomings, while gaining currency in business and public sector organizations. Public procurement systems have evolved into public electronic procurement systems with variations and distinctions in the age of globalization and digitalized complexities. This article examines the development of public e-procurement as an innovation in public management in the contexts of project management, public procurement management, and e-governance. It also links practice to theory—through a fourfold theoretical perspective—with contributions to the knowledge in public procurement, governance, and public administration.

Keywords:

• electronic governance
• electronic procurement
• public management
• public procurement

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This author wishes to thank Dr. Farazmand of the School of Public Administration, Florida Atlantic University, for his guidance on the numerous versions of the article, in the preparation of this article, and sharing points of his forthcoming book on institutional theory.