{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T15:03:13Z","timestamp":1777388593761,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":162,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]],"date-time":"2025-04-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1744070400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Key Programs of the National Social Science Fund of China","award":["22AZD135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22AZD135"]}]},{"name":"Key Programs of the National Social Science Fund of China","award":["RKX20231110090804008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090804008"]}]},{"name":"henzhen Science and Technology R&amp;D Fund Soft Science Research Basic Research Program (Natural Science Foundation)","award":["22AZD135"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["22AZD135"]}]},{"name":"henzhen Science and Technology R&amp;D Fund Soft Science Research Basic Research Program (Natural Science Foundation)","award":["RKX20231110090804008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RKX20231110090804008"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Corruption in public procurement remains a challenge to good governance, especially in developing nations. Blockchain technology has been espoused as a new paradigm for achieving sustainable public procurement practices for effective service delivery and, by extension, promoting sustainable development. Given the potential of blockchain technology, its implementation has been slow in developing countries. Additionally, there is an inadequate decision support framework to prioritize corruption-prone stages of the public procurement cycle for strategic blockchain integration at the most critical corruption-prone stages of the public procurement cycle given the scarce resources available in developing countries. Therefore, we employed a matured theory that is the principal-agent theory to identify key agency problems related to public procurement in developing countries. An interview with 25 experts and a thorough review of Ghana\u2019s Auditor General produced seven public procurement cycle stages. Further, a survey was designed for experts and stakeholders to prioritize the identified procurement stages under the agency problems through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Our results revealed that tender evaluation was the most critical stage susceptible to corruption, followed by contract management and procurement planning in the public procurement stages. Additionally, for the relative importance of the criteria, information asymmetry was ranked first, followed by moral hazard, and then adverse selection. This study offers a targeted framework for blockchain deployment in public procurement from an African country perspective. The outcome of this study provides insights for policymakers and procurement practitioners to know the most critical stages of public procurement stages and leverage blockchain technology given the scarcity of resources in developing countries to aid sustainable public procurement. The proposed blockchain framework can enhance service delivery, citizens\u2019 trust, and international donor confidence in partnership and funding for public procurement projects in developing countries.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13040267","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,9]],"date-time":"2025-04-09T03:32:53Z","timestamp":1744169573000},"page":"267","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Evaluating Corruption-Prone Public Procurement Stages for Blockchain Integration Using AHP Approach"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7480-4448","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gideon","family":"Adjorlolo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China"},{"name":"Center for West Africa Studies, University of Electronics Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China"},{"name":"Directorate of Information Communication Technology, University for Development Studies, Tamale P.O. Box TL1350, Ghana"}]},{"given":"Zhiwei","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5060-2435","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gladys","family":"Wauk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4082-4341","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Philip","family":"Adu Sarfo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management, Zhengzhou University, High Tech Zone, Zhengzhou 450001, China"}]},{"given":"Alhassan Baako","family":"Braimah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Directorate of Procurement, University for Development Studies, Tamale P.O. Box TL1350, Ghana"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Blankson Safo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China"}]},{"given":"Benedict","family":"N-yanyi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Nyankpala P.O. Box 1882, Ghana"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"European Commission (2024, November 12). Public Procurement. Available online: https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/growth\/single-market\/public-procurement\/index_en.htm."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Open Contracting Partnership (2025, March 01). How Governments Spend: Opening Up the Value of Global Public Procurement. 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