This paper aims to identify the critical success factors for technology adoption in procurement and to develop a strategic roadmap to facilitate this process.
The research employed a three-phase methodology combining systematic literature review using the probabilistic composition of preferences, field research using the critical incident technique with procurement experts and Grounded Theory for data analysis. The resulting roadmap was compared with established innovation adoption theories.
Twelve critical success factors were identified, with structured process optimization emerging as the foundation for successful technology adoption in procurement. The strategic roadmap integrates these factors in a sequential implementation process. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory, Institutional Theory and Actor-Network Theory provide theoretical support for different stages of the adoption process.
The study focused on the procurement area with a sample of ten experienced professionals, potentially limiting generalizability. The literature review primarily utilized the Scopus database, which may have excluded some relevant research.
The strategic roadmap offers procurement professionals a structured approach to technology adoption with specific, actionable implementation steps for each phase. It can improve success rates in the adoption of new technologies within the procurement areas of organizations, leading to increased productivity.
This paper uniquely integrates practitioner experience with theoretical frameworks to create a process-first – rather than technology-first – approach to procurement digitalization, providing both temporal sequencing of success factors and empirically derived implementation guidance.
