An exploration of social procurement intrapreneurship in the Australian construction industry using bricolage theory – a public procurement policy perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the results of research which used bricolage theory to investigate the process of social procurement intrapreneurship in the Australian construction industry. The aim is to inform improved public procurement policymaking in this area to maximise the significant untapped social value which can be created by effectively implementing social procurement into this major industry. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports a thematic analysis of data from semi-structured interviews with thirty social procurement intrapreneurs who were purposefully sampled from a national community of practice and who have the responsibility to implement social procurement policies into the Australian construction industry. Findings Findings highlight the significant untapped social value which can be leveraged through implementing social procurement in the construction industry. They also highlight the severe resource constraints under which construction social procurement professionals work and the various intrapreneurial bricolage strategies used to overcome these resource constraints. The findings raise important new policy questions about the need to ensure that social procurement targets are realistic in relation to the construction industry’s capacity to respond. Furthermore, it is found that social procurement policies need to provide the necessary incentives, resources, monitoring and enforcement regimes to support effective policy implementation. Social implications The effective implementation of social procurement into the construction industry has significant social implications given the relatively large size of the industry and its major economic multiplier affect into the wider economy. Originality/value This paper contributes to the paucity of social intrapreneurship and social innovation research by providing new insights into the implementation of social procurement policies into the construction industry. The results contribute new theoretical and practical insights into the types of resource constraints which can undermine intrapreneurial efforts to implement social procurement into the construction industry, what causes them and how they can be overcome.