Exploring humanitarian procurement: a systematic review

Procurement is essential to the success of humanitarian missions, yet it is relatively under-researched. This may hinder the progress in the research area and limit its potential for positive practical impact. The study aims to characterise the body of knowledge in humanitarian procurement, assess the research-practice gap, and propose future research avenues. It applies systematic review techniques to collect and analyse academic literature in humanitarian procurement and grey literature in the procurement-related information materials of humanitarian organisations. The review adopts a transparent and replicable process to analyse 56 academic papers on humanitarian procurement and 16 humanitarian organisations' procurement-related information materials. The synthesis of the reviews suggests that future research can be focused on the development of a practical framework for humanitarian procurement, exploring sustainable procurement, and investigating how technological innovations can help humanitarian procurement and the categorisation of procurement items. This is one of the first studies to systematically review both academic and grey literature in humanitarian procurement. It provides a comprehensive overview of the distinct features of humanitarian procurement in research and practice. The proposed directions may enrich future procurement research.