Exploring the Perceived Impact of Smart City Dimensions on Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of a South African Municipality

Municipalities in South Africa face increasing pressure to improve service delivery, operational efficiency, and sustainability amid growing urbanisation and governance challenges. The integration of smart city dimensions such as smart governance, mobility, and infrastructure offers a transformative approach to improve public sector supply chain management. However, limited empirical research exists on how these dimensions are being applied in South African municipal contexts. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which smart city dimensions are integrated into supply chain management practices within a South African municipality and to assess the impact of these initiatives on supply chain efficiency, transparency, and sustainability. A qualitative, exploratory case study design was employed. Twenty senior managers and key stakeholders from the supply chain department of the selected municipality were purposively sampled. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews and analysed thematically using NVivo software. Lincoln and Guba’s trustworthiness framework guided the study’s rigour. The findings revealed partial and uneven integration of smart city dimensions, with notable developments in smart governance and mobility, but limited progress in areas such as infrastructure digitalisation and citizen-centric data platforms. Participants highlighted both innovation drivers and institutional barriers affecting the transition to smart-enabled supply chain practices. Smart city dimensions present significant potential to improve municipal supply chain management; however, effective integration requires structural alignment, digital investment, and organisational readiness. This study provides context-specific insights into the uneven and fragmented integration of smart city dimensions within municipal supply chain systems in a developing country context, emphasising the impact of institutional constraints, digital capability gaps, and governance misalignments on implementation outcomes.