Sustainable procurement in the Malaysian public and private sectors

The aim of this study was to explore the extent of current sustainable procurement (SP) practices, including barriers and opportunities, within Malaysian industry contexts. Analysis of the data uncovered three major findings. Firstly both public and private Malaysian organizations emphasised various dimensions of sustainable procurement that contradict the results from similar studies in other more developed countries. Secondly, the study uncovered significant variations between public and private organizations in their sustainable procurement practices. Finally, in both the public and private sector, financial pressures posed the most significant barrier to SP implementation, whilst issues of organizational efficiency and transparency provided optimal opportunities for implementing sustainable procurement practices.