Factors of public e-procurement adoption : an exploratory field study with french practitioners
Résumé
Eight years after its legal introduction, public e-procurement in France is undeniably progressing, but its adoption remains relatively limited. Its deployment and use in French public organizations is still very tentative compare to the initial ambitions of political decision makers and compared to its level of deployment in the private sector, and even more in other countries around the world. The goal of this exploratory study is to identify the factors that, according to practitioners, determine the adoption and use of public e-procurement in France. The analysis focuses on twenty-seven nondirected interviews with public purchasers and managers working for bidder companies on public contracts. The used research method was a content analysis. The results enabled an assessment of different factors influencing the adoption behavior of public e-procurement and also identified the trust construct as one important factor. This factor has four facets—self-trust, trust in technology, trust in partners, and trust in organization—and seems prominent when analyzing the adoption behavior, particularly for trust in technology according to practitioners.