Demand-Oriented Sustainable Public Procurement in Health Service – A Case Study on Community Health Service in Beijing, China

Sustainable public procurement is a development issue and an evolving process. The aim of this research is – Through the design and development of an exploratory, comprehensive SPP motivation conceptual framework, to improve the SPP motivation knowledge and practice. This research is based on the Interpretivism philosophy. This research has analysed a wide range of literature, in order to determine the general problems in SPP motivation research. The design of conceptual framework has included system thinking, Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and governance theory. The research applied qualitative approaches and used semi-structured interview based on idea of Phenomenology and Neo-naturalism to collect data. This research has revealed the reason of complexity throughout SPP that includes various stakeholders, demand and interest difference, and the connections between people and organisations. The determinant of SPP development is an integrated power, it includes the pulling force of internal motivations and the pushing force of external factors. The most important motivation source comes from the interest-based internal motivation. Under the guidance of system thinking, this research has adopted an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective and goes beyond the previous research ideas of local and individual motivation factors. The research has constructed an exploratory and comprehensive conceptual framework of SPP motivation mechanism, which has integrated external and internal motivation. The conceptual framework is the main contribution of this research. The framework reveals the mechanism of internal motivation in SPP. This proves that SPP should be ‘demand-oriented’. This conclusion has cracked the deep-seated reason why the SPP has not achieved good results for a long time by relying on external power or government power, determined the direction of the SPP power system, and found the public power that has been neglected for a long time. The research has compared and validated the framework with the real-world viewpoints of relevant practitioners, thus making some supplements and improvements to the framework and enhancing confidence in its practical applicability. The framework can be used for further theoretical and practical research of SPP, and provides necessary guidance and support for research and decision-making of motivation mechanism of SPP. This research has closed the gap in the current literature on the development motivation of SPP, especially the research gaps in the health service field and the key issues affecting the SPP motivation. This research has made significant contributions to both scholars and practitioners. It not only provides a strong theoretical framework for the in-depth study of the comprehensive motivation mechanism of SPP, but also provides practical suggestions for SPP and becomes a general guide for further study and implementation of SPP in the future.