E-Procurement Adoption in the Danish Public Sector: The Influence of Economic and Political Rationality

E-Procurement is on the political agenda throughout Europe. Denmark was among the forerunners in Europe, but the adoption of the public eprocurement portal (PePP) has been slow. In this paper, we use the lens of economic and political rationality to discuss and analyze possible explanations for slow adoption rates. We find that despite awareness of potential efficiency gains of IT in public procurement functions, political-structural factors slow down the adoption process. We suggest that while the awareness of economic factors stressing efficiency of e-procurement is a necessary condition for PePP adoption, enabling faster adoption requires considering and addressing political-structural factors that are specific to a particular political and administrative context.