Procurement Transparency and its Impact on Sustainable Supply Chain Performance in Developing Economies

Abstract

Transparency in procurement has become one of the most important factors for success of sustainable supply chains, especially in institutional and infrastructural contexts of developing economies. This paper explores conceptual, theoretical and empirical relationships between transparency in procurement processes and the three dimensions of sustainable supply chain performance (economic, environmental and social) as defined by the triple bottom line approach. The study is based on a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature, multilateral institutional reports, and comparison of country-level performance data from 2020 to 2026, and is based on the institutional theory, stakeholder theory and the triple bottom line framework to help explain how transparency reforms influence supply chain outcomes. The analysis shows that, at each of the three sustainability dimensions, the higher transparency procurement environments outperform the lower transparency ones in the developing economy, with differences between the two of 28 to 43 percentage points on selected indicators. The paper also highlights the most significant obstacles to procurement transparency in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas of the world (such as systemic corruption, institutional capacity, digital infrastructure and political economy constraints) and assesses the effectiveness of the various mechanisms and tools that facilitate transparency (such as e-procurement platforms, open contracting data standards, blockchain based traceability, mandatory ESG supplier disclosure). The results confirm that institutionally anchored reform packages with integrated elements of sustainable supply chain performance provide the highest expected impact on sustainable supply chain performance, but also highlight that without sufficient enforcement power and stakeholder oversight, formal disclosure requirements can generate decoupled rather than real change. Policy-relevant recommendations are presented at the end of the paper for governments, development finance institutions, the private sector and international organisations in developing economy supply chain contexts.