Implicit incentives in green public procurement: Good intentions versus rigid regulations

Shadrina, E. V., Vinogradov, D. and Kashin, D. V. (2022) Implicit incentives in green public procurement: Good intentions versus rigid regulations. Ecological Economics, 198, 107458. (doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107458)

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Abstract

Governments promote pro-environmental behavior explicitly, through regulatory provisions, or implicitly, by setting general environmental objectives without explicit requirements. Shared values and commitment to government objectives supposedly help towards greener behavior. We argue that the lack of explicit guidance counteracts, especially if green options are perceived as conflicting with strict regulatory requirements on other issues. In Russian public procurement, organizations are subject to either a rigid procurement law, or a flexible law, or both; neither law formalizes environmental priorities or approaches. We design a survey on practices of green procurement, collecting 223 responses from the whole range of organizations subject to public procurement regulation. Results from probit regressions, robustified on further 800 responses from an additional survey and 250,000 official procurement records, show that regulatory rigidity hinders green practices. Federal authorities are more likely to apply environmental criteria than local governments, but this is rather due to the expertise of their staff than to their commitment to governmental objectives. Publicly funded institutions are less likely to adopt green procurement than state corporations. Caution and avoidance of unintended contraventions seem to impede adoption of green procurement. Provision of information, guidance and improved expertise can help overcome this effect.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:The authors acknowledge support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Reseacrh (RFBR) grant 18-010-01166 (Vinogradov and Shadrina), in what relates to the conceptual development and the analysis of the first survey, and 20-310-90010 (Vinogradov and Kashin) in what relates to the additional data collection, second survey and robustness checks. Part of the paper was written while Vinogradov was Leverhulme Research Fellow, RF-2020-581.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Vinogradov, Professor Dmitri
Authors: Shadrina, E. V., Vinogradov, D., and Kashin, D. V.
College/School:College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
Journal Name:Ecological Economics
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0921-8009
ISSN (Online):1873-6106
Published Online:06 May 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Authors
First Published:First published in Ecological Economics 198: 107458
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
309614Formation of expectations and beliefs: exploring the impact of news and mediaDmitri VinogradovLeverhulme Trust (LEVERHUL)RF-2020-581\7BS - Accounting & Finance