Can I Get Some Help Down Here? Inter-Project Support for Creating Social Value Through Social Procurement

Paper in proceeding, 2020

Employment requirements, as an aspect of social procurement, can be used as an innovative way for construction organizations to create internships for marginalized unemployed people, in the process creating social value. However, how to organize and collaborate to implement employment requirements in construction projects is unclear. Therefore, this paper investigates how practitioners working operatively in projects perceive the support from and relationship with their parent company and client when they have to implement and work with employment requirements on a daily basis. Semi-structured interviews with 23 practitioners working in three projects in Sweden were analysed using a theoretical framework of project management focused on resources and collaborative relationships. Findings show how resources and support is often lacking, and how relationships with parent companies and clients are tenuous. There is a lack of knowledge and clear goals from the parent company and client which create uncertainty. The operative actors in the projects have to deal with this uncertainty without formalized routines, standardized information sharing, or enough resources, so to cope they create their own tools and practices. The paper provides a bottom-up perspective on social procurement and illustrates concrete areas where parent companies and clients must rethink their (lack of) resources and support. For research the findings indicate what factors make collaboration regarding social procurement difficult and contributes novel insight into a scarcely researched phenomenon.