Managing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Infrastructure Projects in Jordan

Abstract

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly being utilised internationally as new avenues for providing goods and services to the public with over 1,100 projects worth US$ 450 billion built around the globe between 1985 and 2008 (Siemiatycki, 2010). However, managing PPPs, particularly in the implementation phase, is both theoretically and practically complex with success largely determined by how well partnerships are managed (Grossman, 2010). Yet, PPP scholars (e.g. Bach & Whitehill, 2008; Jones & Noble, 2008) have noted that little is known about managing PPP arrangements and have called for further research to understand the ‘black box’ of PPPs (Weihe, 2008). The current research is significant in elucidating this ‘black box’ and in analysing management challenges that partnerships experience in the implementation phase. Inter-organisational relationships (IORs) and inter-organisational culture (IOC) have been identified as closely related to the PPP research and are utilised within this research to provide important insights into understanding the management of PPPs in the implementation phase. This research examines PPPs in the Jordanian context; one of the newer but most common users of PPPs in the Middle Eastern region, where PPPs are of economic strategic importance and entail significant investment risk (El-Khatib, 2008). Specifically, the current research explores ‘How effectively managed is the implementation of PPP infrastructure projects in Jordan?’ This question is explored through perceptions of PPP managers within two Jordanian case study organisations. The intention is to critically analyse how PPPs should be managed in order to contribute to the development of what might be regarded as universal theory of PPPs that can be tested, applied and generalised to other contexts. To achieve the objectives of this research, an exploratory, ontologically-oriented, qualitative research design was utilised. Data were collected from 21 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with selected informants at the senior managerial level representing different partnering organisations. Content thematic analysis was used to analyse interview data and documentary data.