Social enterprise and public procurement/Theory

Theoretical underpinnings

The overriding approach of this research is to derive theory i.e. lessons and a structure in which progress may be built, from the evidence placed before the research team. Rather than deriving a theory about procurement in the social economy and seeking to prove, or disprove, that theory, the concept is to observe the organisations that will participate in the DP on both the supply and demand side of the market and to develop a theory from what is observed.

Given that the research is concerned with values, perceptions and meanings, it is clearly qualitative in nature, particularly as it seeks to develop an in-depth understanding of the experience of people in organisations and to explore why they think and act the way they do (Meloy, 2002).

• This research is Inductive in nature because it does not test theory but provides inferences to inform theory (Maxwell,1996).
• This research is Interpretivist in that the research is based on the understanding and values of the participants and the interviewer's own interpretation of their perceptions (Kincheloe and McLaren, 2001
• This research is Constructivist in that the 'reality' of the supply and demand relationships that are being researched are 'constructed' by individuals in their interaction with each other (Lincoln and Guba, 1985).

In terms of the methodological approach, the intent is to compare two locations, Nottingham City and Northamptonshire, looking at the policy responses of the two councils in their engagement with and procurement from social enterprises in their area. The two local authorities differ in wealth, political background and social structure (details to be developed later) and early bipartite discussions with local authority officials has indicated that their councils have adopted quite different political strategies with respect to their response to social justice, community development, infrastructure and procurement processes. The response and nature of social enterprises engaging with these councils can be expected to be different, especially in the nature of the procurement opportunities.

Methodological theory

Grounded theory: Glasser

Wikipedia -Grounded Theory Grounded theory %28Glaser%29

The goal of a GT is to formulate hypotheses based on conceptual ideas that others may try to verify. In these circumstances, the research project is designed to undertake research in the 'real world' which is by necessity messy and contigent, in order to develop hypotheses about the utility of public procurement as a means of improving labour market equality through public procurement processes, with social enterprises. It may be possible to verify some of the hypotheses that will be developed- certainly the quantitative techniques to be employed may contribute to this verifucation.

Validity in its traditional sense is consequently not an issue in GT, which instead should be judged by fit, relevance, workability, and modifiability (Glaser & Strauss 1967, Glaser 1978, Glaser 1998).

Fit has to do with how closely concepts fit with the incidents they are representing, and this is related to how thoroughly the constant comparison of incidents to concepts was done. The imperative in BEST Procurement will be to accurately reflect the 'incidents' i.e the emerging procurement opportunities and the responses of both the local authority and the social enterprises to the situations presented by BEST Procurement. Close engagement on behalf of the research team with the different stakeholders over an extended period will help to put them at their ease and allow the researchers ask searching questions. Recordings of the interviews will be made to ensure that the research team have the opportunity to review the interviews in detail after the fact and allow group evaluations to limit researcher bias

Relevance. A relevant study deals with the real concern of participants, evokes "grab" (captures the attention) and is not only of academic interest.

Workability. The theory works when it explains how the problem is being solved with much variation.

Modifiability. A modifiable theory can be altered when new relevant data is compared to existing data. A GT is never right or wrong, it just has more or less fit, relevance, workability and modifiability, and readers of Paper V are asked to judge its quality according to these principles.