Introducing public procurement tenders as part of corporate communications : a typological analysis based on CSR reporting indicators

Purpose: Corporations have to increasingly include corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication by responding to public procurement tenders because of the recently revised Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) concluded by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The authors argue that procurement tenders are to be seen as part of corporate communications, particularly when aligned with CSR reporting and performance indicators as proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The recently published ISO 20400 on sustainable procurement lacks a clear usage indication of sustainability indicators (SIs). This paper aims to close this gap. Design/methodology/approach: The paper performs a typological analysis of sustainability indicators in a sample of 665 currently used SIs. Furthermore, the paper conceptualizes a SIs selector for Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) which is based on the typological analysis and acknowledges recent developments in the evolution of SIs. Findings: The SIs typology results in three indicator types. The typology leads to the conceptualization of SI’s selector for sustainable public procurement. It enables professionals to build indicators for SPP considering the context of sustainability with impact valuations and allows scholars to advance research on measurement and decision-making. Originality/value: To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first introduction of procurement tender processes as part of corporate communications. Furthermore, the derived typology contributes an overview of existing SIs used in CSR communication. The paper contributes a self-responsible and pragmatic approach to CSR theory as private business self-regulation and a definition of SIs for corporate communications.