Unit of Analysis in Digitally-Enabled Electronic Procurement Research

Abstract

E-procurement systems that have been in place for over a decade have begun incorporating digital tools like big data, cloud computing, internet of things, and data mining. Hence, there exists a rich literature on earlier e-procurement systems and advanced digitally-enabled e-procurement systems. Existing literature on these systems addresses many research issues (e.g., adoption) associated with e-procurement. However, one critical issue that has so far received no rigorous attention is about “unit of analysis,” a methodological concern of importance, for e-procurement research context. Hence, the aim of this chapter is twofold: 1) to discuss how the notion of “unit of analysis” has been conceptualised in the e-procurement literature and 2) to discuss how its use has been justified by e-procurement scholars to address the research issues under investigation. Finally, the chapter provides several interesting findings and outlines future research directions.