What social value do Indigenous contractors create?

Governments have developed Indigenous procurement policies (IPPs) in Australia and other colonised countries with Indigenous populations to collaboratively close socioeconomic inequities experienced by Indigenous communities. These policies are widely used in the construction industry because of the volume of government spending on this sector and its significant social impact. However, recent research argues that Indigenous peoples’ notions of social value are not reflected in IPP designs, implementation, or evaluation frameworks. To investigate this claim, this research uses a holistic Aboriginal evaluation framework called ‘Ngaa-bi-nya’ to investigate how IPPs promote social value creation. Using community-based participatory research principles, semi-structured interviews were held with owners and senior managers of Indigenous construction companies in Australia. Findings highlight how social value is created by IPPs when Indigenous contractors use strategic actions to improve Indigenous socioeconomic outcomes, social and cultural development, create stronger connections in the construction industry and promote self-determination. The findings provide new conceptual and operational insights into how IPPs can create social value through partnerships with Indigenous contractors. The insights can be used by buyers and builders to strengthen social value in their supply chains through new ways of collaborative working to support social value creation. They also highlight potential risks of continuing to design and assess social value without the involvement of stakeholders for whom it is intended.