Critical factors in the behavior of public managers responsible for sustainable procurement: differences between organizational and individual consumption

Abstract

This paper investigates public manager behavior, in order to identify the critical factors that undergo the decision-making of a sustainable consumption, both in individual (or housing) procurement and organizational contexts of consumer behavior (in this case, it is regarded the sustainable public procurement, concept that was inserted in the Brazilian legislation recently). After questionnaires sent to a group of public managers enrolled in the elaboration of bidding documents and its conduction, there were made statistical inferences to determine the similarities between the two contexts. From the results, it was observed some differences related to the consumer behavior context, especially those involving price, legislation and time spending to specify the products to be purchased. Moreover, it was noted that some environmental friendly standards are well established, as result of campaigns developed inside the institution.