Procuring Socially Responsible Services Within Sustainability-Driven Thessaloniki

This descriptive exploratory case study reveals the current state of an innovative municipal services’ design for socially responsible tenders, as well as its sustainability findings. A mixed-method approach enables the collection of rich, contextual information from the 60 participating organisations that contribute to the three-step design of this socially responsible framework. Data is analysed using bivariate analysis against the different research variables. Findings indicate an individual notion of strongly correlated procuring public services, involving traditional and digital communication approaches. They lead to innovative public private socioeconomic synergies in supply chain management (SCM), as well as the reestablishment of the city’s social and environmental profile. Growing implications in the Greek public and private sectors link the role of social responsibility to sustainable supply chain management practices (SSCM). As a result, current municipal tenders are reflecting a socially responsible framework design for the city’s growth and sustainable development. In a European post-financial crisis era where budgets are limited, this study contributes to (i) European sustainability socially responsible services and (ii) lessons learned from the participating actors of an SR design, setting a valuable SSCM example for other European counties.