Examining the Interrelationship among Critical Success Factors of Public Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects

Shiying Shi,Xiaosu Ye,Heap-Yih Chong,Lihong Liu

doi:10.3390/su8121313

Abstract

Examining the interrelationships among critical success factors (CSFs) for public private partnership (PPP) projects is of importance for improving PPP project performance and maintaining the sustainability of PPP project implementation. Previous studies mostly focused on the identification of the CSFs for PPP projects; limited studies investigated the interrelationships among CSFs. Hence, the research objectives are (a) to determine the interrelationships among CSFs of PPP projects taking into account the public and (b) to identify influence paths contributing to take advantage of CSFs in the process of PPP implementation. A literature review and expert interviews were adopted to construct the CSFs framework; nine hypotheses were constructed and tested by the structural equation modelling (SEM) based on the data collected from a questionnaire survey. This research reveals that the relationship between public and private partners is the leader-follower relationship, not the partnership relationship, in PPP projects, indicating that the responsibilities, power or resources existing among partners are very unequal. It also highlights that public involvement has a negative effect on the process of service provisions, and costs and risks exist in the process of public involvement in PPP projects. The determined interrelationships among CSFs will contribute to the sustainability and success of a PPP project.

Highlights

The pressure of increased inefficiency in public service provision, fiscal constraints and public demands have led to a growing number of associations between public and private sectors for service provision and maintaining the sustainability of infrastructure projects [1,2]
Based on the extensive literature review and a questionnaire survey, the critical success factors (CSFs) of private partnerships (PPP) implementation are identified, and their interrelationships are tested by the structural equation model
By examining the interrelationships among CSFs from a comparative perspective, the research finds that appropriate risk allocation and service price are the critical connections between other observed variables and the latent variables

Summary

Introduction

The pressure of increased inefficiency in public service provision, fiscal constraints and public demands have led to a growing number of associations between public and private sectors for service provision and maintaining the sustainability of infrastructure projects [1,2]. Public-private partnerships (PPP) have become the mechanism for governments to attract and leverage private investment to provide public services [3,4]. There have been many successes and some failures in PPP projects reported in the normative literature [5,6], the debate about their use has moved from ideological arguments about their strengths and weaknesses to a focus on how they can be constructed to achieve public policy goals [7]. Research on the success factors for affecting the application and implementation of PPP is important for public service provisions and achieving the sustainability of a PPP [3,8,11]. The PPP success factors and their interrelationships are examined to provide some helpful evidence for PPP sustainability

Methods

Results

Conclusion