Sustainable Procurement Practices and Operational Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Ghana

Abstract

Sustainable procurement has become an important agenda for governments and organisations across the globe. Governments in quest of demonstrating sustainable development in reaction to the Sustainable Development goals (Goal 12.7), among other things, seek to promote public procurement practices. According to United Nations World Summit (WSSD, 2014), public procurement practices ensure sustainable consumption and production (Goal 12). The aim of the study was to examine the effect of sustainable procurement practice on the operational performance of manufacturing firms in Ghana. The research philosophy adopted in the study was the positivism paradigm. The descriptive research design was adopted for this study where a quantitative approach was employed. Data was collected by administering structured questionnaires to 248 randomly sampled manufacturing firms. The findings on study indicated that, sustainable procurement practice (supplier involvement, ethical procurement and green procurement) had a positive significant effect on operational performance of manufacturing firms in Ghana. The study recommended that Ghanaian manufacturing firms should start to view sustainable procurement as strategic in value, since it will change the future of firm, impact society and the environment at large.