Despite growing policy and practitioner interest in social procurement, there has been relatively little conceptual or empirical thinking published on the issue. Taking a critically informed approach, this innovative text examines emerging approaches to social procurement within the context of New Public Governance (NPG), and examines the practices of social procurement across Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.

1. Introduction 2. Socio-economic and Political Drivers of Social Procurement 3. Historical and Contemporary Developments in Social Procurement 4. Institutional and Resource Enablers of Social Procurement 5. Social Procurement and the Corporate Sector 6. Governing Beyond Government: Third sector and next practice networks 7. Assessing and Measuring Social Value 8. Theoretical Implications and Practical Portents 9. Conclusion

Jo Barraket is Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

Robyn Keast is Professor and Chair of the Collaborative Research Network: Policy and Planning for Regional Sustainability, Southern Cross University, Australia.

Craig Furneaux is Lecturer at The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-profit Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.