Enhancing green public procurement practices in local governments: Chinese evidence based on a new research framework

Although existing studies have specialized in the green public procurement (GPP) practices of local governments, few explored the classification of local governments. This study uses the life-cycle model to classify Chinese local governments related to GPP practices, and thus develops a comparative research framework. Econometric method is used to process survey data collected from 166 Chinese procurement officials. The results show that, for local governments at GPP introduction stage, their adoption of GPP is positively associated with officials' full awareness of GPP regulations and official documents, officials' full awareness of GPP guidelines and procurement lists, and wide coverage of GPP subsidy policy. For local governments at GPP growth stage, improving GPP performance is positively associated with officials' full awareness of guidelines and lists, and wide coverage of GPP subsidy policy, while it is negatively associated with low administrative level. The research framework and empirical results enrich the current knowledge of GPP practices in local governments and have strong practical significance. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.