Exploring the Challenges of Sustainable Procurement Implementation: Insights from Botswana's Public Sector

Joseph Kuruneri^*

• Botswana Accountancy College, Gaborone, Botswana

Sustainable procurement (SP) is gaining prominence as a strategic tool for addressing critical environmental (carbon emissions, pollution, deforestation), social (unemployment, discrimination), and economic (inequality, poor SME support) challenges in developing countries like Botswana. As the largest purchaser, the public sector holds significant potential to leverage its procurement budgets for sustainable development. Yet persistent implementation barriers undermine this potential, prompting our investigation of SP challenges through procurement personnel perspectives. Data was collected from 15 participants using convenience sampling, and thematic analysis was applied to semi-structured interview responses. The study uncovers three underexplored barriers in SP literature: undue pressure from leaders or political figures, ineffective government payment system and ineffective reporting channels. These findings highlight systemic institutional vulnerabilities that are often overlooked in SP frameworks. Beyond this novel perspective, the study delineates five main challenge domains: resource constraints (knowledge gaps, rising costs, inefficient payment systems), policy constraints (lack of management support, inadequate policies, poor reporting lines), monitoring and evaluation constraints (poor implementation, weak evaluation processes), cultural constraints (resistance to change), and political constraints (undue pressure). Notably, institutional barriers (policy, monitoring, cultural, and political) dominated, constituting 7 of the 10 subthemes, while resource-based challenges accounted for only 3-a disparity underscoring the need for governance reforms alongside financial investments. This study proposes several mitigation strategies: revising procurement policies, offering supplier incentives like tax breaks for SP adoption, implementing modern e-payment systems, capacity building, reviewing procurement personnels reporting lines and stakeholder collaboration. The insights from procurement personnels provides a comparative baseline for future studies and policy reforms to curb the SP implementation barriers.