The Role of Data Visualization in Enhancing Strategic Procurement Decision-Making Effectiveness

Strategic procurement decision-making has increasingly relied on data-driven insights, reflecting the growing complexity of global supply chains and organizational imperatives for efficiency, resilience, and sustainability. While advanced analytics and big data approaches have been widely adopted, decision-makers often struggle to interpret complex datasets, limiting the effectiveness of procurement strategies. Data visualization has emerged as a critical enabler, transforming raw data into intuitive visual narratives that enhance comprehension, reveal patterns, and support evidence-based decisions. This paper examines the role of data visualization in enhancing strategic procurement decision-making effectiveness, synthesizing research published up to 2020. Through an extensive literature-based review, the study traces the evolution of visualization approaches, from descriptive dashboards to advanced visual analytics integrating predictive models and interactive tools. The findings demonstrate that data visualization not only facilitates better understanding of procurement performance metrics but also improves collaboration, transparency, and risk management across supply chains. However, challenges remain, particularly regarding standardization, cognitive overload, and integration with organizational decision processes. By consolidating theoretical and empirical contributions, this study highlights the strategic importance of visualization as a decision-support capability and identifies opportunities for future research and managerial practice.