Public Private Partnership Research Research Articles

Deciphering the difference puzzle of risk-sharing: A comparative analysis of infrastructure PPP development within China and US

Appropriate risk sharing is crucial for the successful implementation of Public-Private Partnership projects. However, under different social systems, the international community lacks a clear risk-sharing framework in Public-Private Partnership research. This study employs a multi-case study method to examine the practice of risk sharing in infrastructure Public-Private Partnership projects within China and the US, aiming to provide a clear risk management framework for Public-Private Partnership projects. The research findings reveal common elements and similar characteristics in risk-sharing practices. Contrary to the goal of transferring all risks to the private sector, both countries actually allocate risks to the party with stronger risk control capabilities or share risks between the government and the private sector. The US benefits from more mature policies and has a comprehensive Public-Private Partnership model implementation framework; in contrast, as an emerging market for Public-Private Partnership models, China's current laws and regulations need further improvement. The results of this study not only contribute to optimizing risk-sharing arrangements and improving investment efficiency of the project, but also promote the development of cross-border infrastructure projects, and provide valuable experience and insights for the sustainable development of global infrastructure.

A systematic review of artificial intelligence in managing climate risks of PPP infrastructure projects

PurposeRecent United Nations Climate Change Conferences recognise extreme climate change of heatwaves, floods and droughts as threatening risks to the resilience and success of public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. Such conferences together with available project reports and empirical studies recommend project managers and practitioners to adopt smart technologies and develop robust measures to tackle climate risk exposure. Comparatively, artificial intelligence (AI) risk management tools are better to mitigate climate risk, but it has been inadequately explored in the PPP sector. Thus, this study aims to explore the tools and roles of AI in climate risk management of PPP infrastructure projects.Design/methodology/approachSystematically, this study compiles and analyses 36 peer-reviewed journal articles sourced from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and PubMed.FindingsThe results demonstrate deep learning, building information modelling, robotic automations, remote sensors and fuzzy logic as major key AI-based risk models (tools) for PPP infrastructures. The roles of AI in climate risk management of PPPs include risk detection, analysis, controls and prediction.Research limitations/implicationsFor researchers, the findings provide relevant guide for further investigations into AI and climate risks within the PPP research domain.Practical implicationsThis article highlights the AI tools in mitigating climate crisis in PPP infrastructure management.Originality/valueThis article provides strong arguments for the utilisation of AI in understanding and managing numerous challenges related to climate change in PPP infrastructure projects.

Bridging the gap? Public–private partnerships and genetically modified crop development for smallholder farmers in Africa

Societal Impact StatementGenetically modified (GM) crops have the potential to address multiple challenges for African smallholder farmers but are limited by several institutional constraints. Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are seen as an organizational fix to one such constraint, bringing privately held intellectual property rights on key crop technologies to African public institutions to develop GM crops for smallholder farmers. Here, a new comprehensive dataset of GM crops in Africa is used to understand the extent and efficacy of PPP‐led GM crop development for smallholder farmers and discuss what might limit their potential in the future.Summary Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted as a key tool to address multiple challenges in Africa, including the impacts of climate change and food insecurity. Observers have noted, however, significant institutional challenges to achieving such goals, most notably, intellectual property rights (IPR) to key GM traits being held by private companies who have limited incentives to develop those technologies for smallholder farmers. To bridge the gap between privately held IPR and pro‐poor crop breeding, advocates have called for increased funding for institutional innovations such as public–private partnerships (PPPs) to facilitate the transfer of crop technologies from private companies to public research institutes. For the past two decades, donors and firms have invested considerable resources toward PPPs. However, to date, few research efforts have empirically examined the extent and effectiveness of PPPs at the continental scale. This study draws from a new comprehensive dataset on GM crop research and development in Africa to examine whether the anticipated advantages of PPPs have resulted in an improved ability to deliver GM crops to smallholder farmers. We find that although PPP research has focused on crops and traits more relevant for smallholder farmers, many of these efforts have been suspended, with only one crop thus far reaching the hands of farmers. PPPs can address some issues related to GM crop development but still appear constrained by other institutional challenges, which may limit their development, reach, and the achievement of targeted benefits for smallholder farmers.

Public Private Partnership in Transportation Infrastructure: A Review on Toll Road Development

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become an increasingly important tool for delivering infrastructure and public services worldwide. In Toll Road development, PPP scheme is often being used to deliver public infrastructure. PPPs have received a lot of attention from academics as a new approach to public procurement. To enhance our knowledge of PPPs, this study aims to analyze the trend of articles discussing collaborative governance in toll road developments with PPP schemes in Asian, African, American, Australian and European countries during the 2000–2020 period and analyze the most discussed topic in PPP research specifically in collaborative governance. The relationship between PPP research and Public Sector Accounting Theory is also analyzed. Using a qualitative method with a Systematic Literature Review approach, this study analyzed published articles from reputable international journals. Result of this study shows a positive trend in the quantity of research articles that discuss collaborative governance in toll road development by PPP scheme. Moreover, it found also that frequently discussed topics in PPP research are Risk Management, Value for Money, Critical Success Factors, PPP Challenges, PPP Evolution and Financing. This study found that Public Sector Accounting Theory (Governance Theory, Institutional Theory and Stakeholders Theory) have influenced most the PPP scheme in toll road development.

A new look at PPP in health protection: perspectives of interaction between the state and hospitals of Ukraine

In the context of modern challenges facing the healthcare system of Ukraine, in particular the limitation of financial resources, and the need to modernize the infrastructure and improve the quality of medical services, public-private partnership (PPP) emerges as a strategic tool that offers new opportunities for solving these problems. The relevance of this study lies in the in-depth analysis of the potential of PPPs in the field of health care in Ukraine, with an emphasis on the identification of key success factors, challenges, and barriers that accompany the implementation of such projects. Given the growing need for investment to improve health infrastructure and services, as well as the need to introduce innovative approaches to healthcare delivery, PPP research is becoming increasingly important. It makes it possible to identify mechanisms through which effective interaction between public authorities and the private sector is possible, which, in turn, contributes to the achievement of strategic goals in the field of health care. This study is aimed at revealing the possibilities of PPPs to improve the availability and quality of medical services, analyzes international experience, and outlines recommendations for the adaptation of best practices in the context of the Ukrainian healthcare system. The results of the study are intended to contribute to the development of effective policies and strategies for the implementation of PPPs, which will become the basis for the sustainable development of health care in Ukraine, improving the quality of medical care and providing the population with affordable and high-quality medical services.

A Review of Urban Rail Transit PPP Research

To relieve the pressure of government investment and high-cost operation in major infrastructure projects, the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) is widely used in transportation engineering projects, especially urban rail projects. In this paper, we use Excel and Citespace software to categorize the research hotspots and analyze the trend changes to visualize the cooperation network analysis by searching 217 academic papers in core journals of Zhiwang, CSI, EI, CSSCI, and CSCD by keywords "PPP and transportation". Nowadays, the research of PPP-Transportation Engineering mainly focuses on the construction of risk management systems, performance evaluation systems, subsidy scheme decision systems, and operation mode selection methods for the whole life cycle of urban rail projects. This paper also analyzes the one-sidedness and research blind spots in the field of PPP_transportation, and provides research ideas for building a complete knowledge system and application development in the field of PPP-transportation in the future.

Crisis Driven Literature in PPPs: A Network Analysis

COVID-19 crisis has simultaneously triggered a global economic crisis whose consequences will lead to a dichotomy where several governments’ debt has grown to unprecedented levels and simultaneously is required to promote new infrastructure supply. This global economic crisis scenario endangers current Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programs given their dependence on payment from the user and/or government subsidies in long-term lifecycles. This study aims for unravelling the PPP research agenda derived from the last global economic crisis in 2008 and the current one for understanding the trends developed as a tool for building a post-pandemic PPP research agenda. For understanding the last global financial crisis PPP literature review and its time and geographic evolution since 2008, this study developed a literature review employing Network Analysis. Therefore, crisis- and PPP-related keywords were combined for establishing the search in the Web of Science database. After removing duplicate papers, 67 peer-reviewed articles were identified for recognizing underpinning topics, potential gaps, and time evolution. The network analysis revealed seven clusters driven by payment sources (i.e., public financial aspects, user payments, and demand), contract mechanisms (i.e., contractual governance, and risk valuation), and project performance (i.e., project performance under crisis and project efficiency). This paper contributes to the PPP body of knowledge by unraveling the post-global economic crisis agenda and its gaps in proposing a new research agenda for overcoming the consequences of the global economic crisis derived from the COVD-19 pandemic.

Risk Identification, Assessment, and Allocation in PPP Projects: A Systematic Review

Public private partnerships (PPPs) have gained widespread adoption as an innovative way of procuring public infrastructure projects over the last two decades. Risk identification, assessment, and allocation have received considerable attention from researchers due to the risk heavy nature of PPP projects. Adoption of PPPs has triggered a sudden increase in research interest in the area in recent years. This study attempts to provide an updated systematic review of literature related to risks in PPPs using a PRISMA flowchart. The results of the study offer some valuable insights into the future and current state of research. The study found that the focus of research on PPPs has shifted from an overall risk identification and assessment approach to individual risk analysis. Moreover, this research trend is on the rise in developing countries, and that quantitative methods for risk management in PPP research and qualitative methods in practice are preferred. In developed economies, due to negative public sentiments, transparency concerns, and arguments of value for money not being achieved, PPPs are becoming less popular. For these reasons a shift to availability-based payment mechanisms such as in Design-Build-Finance-Maintain (DBFM) from traditional revenue-based mechanisms as in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) has been observed. These shifts in research trends and practice offer researchers future opportunities to investigate these relatively newer approaches.

Human capacity building strategies for improving PPP implementation in Tanzanian construction projects

PurposeImplementation of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in African projects is inundated with a number of capacity building challenges which affects growth and project performance. Further, there is paucity of empirical studies on the strategies for overcoming these challenges. Therefore, this research addresses that knowledge gap by examining the human capacity building (HCB) strategies for improving PPP implementation in construction projects in developing countries, with a focus on Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachHCB strategies identified from the scoping review were administered to 81 handpicked Tanzanian practitioners attending PPP training course. To examine the differences in the perception of the identified HCB strategies, and the relationships between different pairs of the HCB strategies, the data were subjected descriptive statistics, parametric tests, Kendall’s concordance and Pearson correlational analysis, including group wise correlation analysis.FindingsBased on the overall sample, “Engagement of stakeholders on capacity development”, “Organization of PPP seminars and training” and “Introduction of in-house training to Public institutions expected to undertake PPP projects” are the top ranked HCB strategies. “Development of study tours to stakeholders involved in PPP projects” is the least ranked. Significant differences between the sub-groups of “no PPP experience” and “some PPP experience” were evident for “Invitation of International experts to share experiences” and “Sharing of responsibilities” HCB strategies. The “no PPP experience” group rated both strategies higher than those with “some PPP experience”.Practical implicationsThe identified HCB strategies can be used as a “road map” for the development of appropriate engagement strategies with various stakeholders for the successful implementation of PPP thereby, enhancing the performance of the construction firms.Originality/valueEight strategies have been identified from the literature and tested for the Tanzanian context. The uniqueness of Tanzanian PPP implementation context arising from varying cultural, organizational, political and economic conditions differentiates the priority of HCB strategies when compared to other contexts where these strategies were investigated. This is germane to the PPP research.

A critical review of studies on renegotiation within the public-private partnerships (PPPs) scheme

PurposeFrequent renegotiations within public-private partnership (PPP) have been recognised and affect project efficiency. Literature has focussed on diverse issues associated with renegotiation within PPP, especially in Latin America and Europe. However, a systematic summary what they have already provided appears lacking. Thus, the paper aims to conduct a critical review of publications concerning PPP renegotiation and explore the status quo, future interests and gaps in research.Design/methodology/approachThis study carried out a four-phase literature review research framework to identify the quality PPP-renegotiation articles published from 2003 to 2020. Assessing the full articles for eligibility by providing a structured summary including: background; objectives; data sources; study appraisal; results; limitations; conclusions and implications of key findings. After that, filtering papers associated with PPP renegotiation in terms of the structured summary, and a total of 60 research papers were selected in the database of web of science and Scopus for review.FindingsMethods adopted by researchers, research topics and theoretical foundations of PPP renegotiation research in different disciplines were identified through content analysis. Amongst the popular research topics identified were renegotiation factors, the outcomes with renegotiations, the framework to deal with renegotiations and contract design dealing with renegotiation based on rigid or flexible contracts.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the current body of PPP knowledge by revealing the research trend in the past 20 years. It also points out the directions that the renegotiations of PPP research may go towards in the future. Moreover, this study is very valuable in understanding how governments and concessionaires effectively handle renegotiations.

A Conceptual Framework for Modeling Social Risk Tolerance for PPP Projects: An Empirical Case of China

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are a useful approach that allows the public sector to collaborate with private investors in financing, implementing, and operating public sector facilities. Over the past few decades, the occurrence of social risks and the vulnerability of PPP projects to these risks have caused numerous project failures. While practitioners claim to manage the social risks of PPP projects, little effort has been made to explore the proper ways of doing this. In this study, we present a social risk tolerance (SRT) concept and propose a model to quantify the tolerance of PPP projects to social risks. One hundred and twenty-three PPP projects were collected from China for model validation. The results indicate a positive relationship between SRT values and project size and that the SRT has diminishing marginal values. This paper presents a new concept in PPP research and provides an appropriate approach for managing the social risks of PPP projects. The research findings can help both the public and private sectors understand the social risks associated with PPP projects and determine effective countermeasures to control these risks.

A bibliometric and meta-analysis of studies on public–private partnership in China

China is one of the countries with the highest public-private partnership (PPP) experience. Although numerous studies on PPP in China have been published in different international journals in the past decades, few relevant reviews have been found. In this research, a bibliometric analysis of 139 peer-reviewed articles on PPP in China is performed to reveal the research evolution and trend. Besides, a meta-analysis of 111 empirical articles among the total 139 articles is conducted using multinomial logistic regression to examine how data characteristics and analytical features have been utilized in this area. The major findings suggest that, first, many studies are published in the subject areas of Business, Management and Accounting, and Engineering, and most topics are discussed from the micro-level perspective. Second, the issues in the procurement phase lack enough attention. Third, for studies with different research themes, how data characteristics and analytical features have been utilized significantly differ. In general, how PPP studies are approached in China contrasts with the global PPP research. Future research directions are proposed. The research contributes to the global PPP body of knowledge and methodology by providing the first quantitative review of studies on PPP in China and by combining the research methods.

SUSTAINABILITY IN PPPS: A NETWORK ANALYSIS

Over the last decades, sustainability-related topics have increased their relevance to infrastructure development. Researchers have conducted studies analyzing the relationship between Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and sustainability. However, despite the PPPs have been recognized as a relevant factor for sustainable development, no bibliometric analyses have been conducted studying the relation between PPPs and sustainability. This paper introduces a comprehensive understanding of the body of knowledge of the nexus between sustainability and PPPs, their evolution, and the connections of their main topics. This analysis allows for integrating disperse studies within a comprehensive PPP-sustainable framework. The Network Analysis unraveled that the significance of sustainability within PPPs has grown over time evolving from traditional developed English-speaking countries to developing countries. Overall, the PPP research agenda has evolved from road infrastructure dominance driven by a public sector’s perspective of social welfare to increasing types of infrastructure driven by economic and environmental performance yet remaining to strengthen the latter.

Semantic Network Analysis of Literature on Public-Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have motivated diverse bibliometric analyses of PPP research. Nevertheless, the evolution and connections between the main topics in the PPP domain have not been explored. To improve the understanding of the PPP research agenda, this study uses Content Analysis (CA) and Semantic Network Analysis (SNA) to expose relationships and trends in PPP research topics over the last two decades. These methodologies helped researchers to move beyond analyzing thematic trends in isolation in order to gain insight into the interrelationships among PPP topics by using qualitative and quantitative tools, which is difficult to achieve with other methodological approaches. The SNA metrics showed that the PPP research agenda evolved into a high-clustered network driven by five macrokeywords: financing and economic aspects, road infrastructure, public sector management, risk management, and contract management. These macrokeywords may enable the growth of the entire PPP research agenda, but they could also jeopardize the emergence of new research trends. Results show that the participation of some traditional PPP infrastructure types, such as power generation, rail, and tunnel, has been reduced, in contrast to more recent types such as healthcare and, especially, airport infrastructure. Similarly, research focus has shifted from examining traditional PPP issues in the US and European Union to analyzing PPP development in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Overall, this study presents a more holistic understanding of the PPP body of knowledge, its evolution, and the interaction of its main topics.

Risk allocation of PPP waste to energy projects in Indonesia: A research framework

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme has been widely adopted in both developed and developing countries to fulfill the need of infrastructure facilities such as toll roads and water supply. In Indonesia, another sector that would be feasible to be developed using the scheme is the energy sector through Waste to Energy (WTE) projects. However, the lack of knowledge and experience of public sectors on the PPP field particularly risk-allocation issues may barrier the project success. This paper presents a research framework to develop a model of risk allocation decision making for PPP WTE projects in Indonesia. A combination of qualitative (literature review and semi-structured interview) and quantitative (Delphi survey) research method is utilized to identify critical risk factors in PPP WTE projects. To develop a risk allocation model, an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) with two outputs (public and private risk share) is proposed. A set of surveys to collect data for training and checking will be distributed to PPP experts representing government and private sectors in Indonesia, while selected WTE projects are used for data testing. The proposed model is a novel approach in risk allocation PPP research and would be useful for local authorities in Indonesia in proposing the WTE project using the PPP scheme.

Comprehensive metrological and content analysis of the public–private partnerships (PPPs) research field: a new bibliometric journey

Studies around public–private partnerships (PPPs) have shaped a complex and colorful research field. A series of review studies have been performed to explore the knowledge base of this field. Despite their significant contributions, bibliometric research on the PPPs literature is still needed to capture more comprehensive, diverse and detailed information in this area from a holistic perspective, for reducing subjectivity and one-sidedness. Under this situation, this paper continues the bibliometric journey by conducting a comprehensive metrological and content analysis of the PPPs research field. By applying a newly developed Bibliometrix R-package tool, the overview of PPPs research is presented via metrological analysis using a series of indexes. The intellectual structure of this domain is then explored via content analysis using the methods of keywords analysis and citation analysis from both static and dynamic perspectives. Consequently, the panoramic view including the overview, pivotal points of topics, thematic evolution and research focuses of this domain are depicted visually and intuitively via a set of science maps. This new attempt crystallizes out key findings and valuable information of PPPs research, which can consolidate and broaden the bibliometric findings of previous PPPs literature studies and act as a guidance for analyzing the knowledge base of other research fields.

Systematic analysis of PPP research in construction journals: from 2009 to 2019

PurposeThe aims of this study are to conduct a systematic review of public–private partnership (PPP) studies published from 2009 to 2019, to compare the results with Ke et al. (2009) who reviewed the PPP literature published from 1998 to 2008, and to trace the evolution of the PPP knowledge in the past two decades. This study also presents the possible directions that the PPP research may go towards in the future, arguably.Design/methodology/approachThis study carried out a top journal-based search to identify the quality PPP articles published from 2009 to 2019. A total of 12 top-tier construction journals were systematically searched in the database of web of science (WOS), from which 279 PPP articles were identified for review.FindingsThe number of the identified articles, the titles of the journals, institutions, the most cited papers, and prevalent research methods were analyzed and compared. The existing PPP studies in construction journals were classified into seven streams. Through analysis of the PPP research status and gaps, five future research directions were revealed.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the current body of knowledge by revealing the research trend of PPP from 2009 to 2019. It presents the change of PPP development trend in the past decade through comparison with Ke et al. (2009). It also reveals the major research streams and points out the directions that the PPP research may go towards in the future. Moreover, this study is helpful to the practice as well. It can enhance the practitioners' understanding of the PPP development in the past decade. In addition, it identified the research institutions contributing the most in the area of PPP, which may serve as valuable reference for practitioners to locate the best institutions for consultancy or collaboration.

Institutional work and infrastructure public–private partnerships (PPPs): the roles of religious symbolic work and power in implementing PPP projects

PurposeExisting public–private partnership (PPP) literature that explicitly adopts neo-institutional theory, tends to elucidate the impact of isomorphic pressures and organizational fields and structuration on PPP projects. This paper advances this literature by presenting the institutional work and micro-level dynamics through which actors initiate and implement a new form of project delivery. The authors show how actors enact responses to institutional structuration in the expansion and transformation of an airport from a public entity into a PPP in Saudi Arabia.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a single case study design that offers an empirically rich and thick description of events such as the dynamic processes, practices and types of institutional work carried out by actors and organizations to deliver the project under investigation.FindingsReligious symbolic work as social integration triggered system integration work, which expanded the power capabilities of individual actors leading the project. Repair work then followed to alleviate the negative effects of disempowering the agency of actors negatively affected by the PPP model and to streamline the project implementation process.Practical implicationsThis research offers several practical implications. For PPPs to operate successfully in contexts similar to the Gulf region, policymakers should provide strong political support and be willing to bear a considerable risk of losses or minimal outcomes during the early phases of experimentation with PPPs. Also, policymakers should not only focus their attention on technical requirements of PPPs but also associate new meanings with the normative and cultural-cognitive elements that are integral to the success of PPP implementation. In order to design strategies for change that are designed to fit the unique cultural and sociopolitical settings of each country, policymakers should empower capable individual actors and provide them with resources and access to power, which will enable them to enforce changes that diverge from institutionalized practices.Social implicationsThis research connected the PPP literature with theoretical frameworks drawn from neo-institutional theory and power. It would be valuable for further research, however, to connect ideas from the PPP literature with other disciplines such as psychology and social entrepreneurship. PPP research examines a recent phenomenon that can potentially be combined with non-traditional streams of research in analyzing projects. Expanding the realm of PPP research beyond traditional theoretical boundaries could potentially yield exciting insights into how the overall institutional and psychological environments surrounding projects affect their initiation and implementation.Originality/valueThe paper contributes new insights regarding the roles of religious symbolic work, allied with social and system integration of power relations in implementing PPP projects. It suggests a theoretical shift from structures and organizational fields – macro- and meso-levels of analysis – to individuals – micro-level – as triggers of new forms of project delivery that break with the status quo.

System dynamics approaches to public–private partnerships: A literature review

AbstractIncreased complexity has been recognized as a dominant characteristic of public–private partnerships (PPPs). In this article, we review system dynamics (SD) approaches to the PPP field because SD modelling can support the policymaking process in systems with increased structural and functional complexity. Although papers published in journals and conferences have documented SD approaches to PPP problems, there appears to be a lack of systematically reviewing what they have already provided. The objectives are to compare the findings of the studies to provide insights for directing further PPP research with the use of SD. To achieve the review objectives, we categorize the papers by the problem topic raised and provide a summary of particular insights. Problem topics include construction risk assessment, risk allocation, project financing, performance of infrastructure, demand forecast, procurement strategies, and strategic policy at national levels. The paper concludes with recommendations for future SD applications.

A multi-disciplinary meta-review of the public–private partnerships research

Public-private partnerships (PPP) research is very diverse. This field of research covers different topics across multiple disciplines and is disseminated in many journals. This has led to numerous review studies with a single discipline focus that apply mostly subjective or descriptive analyses. With the purpose of providing an integrated overview of all the disciplines that involve PPP and uncovering connections between these, this research provides an extensive PPP literature meta-review that uses objective bibliometric measures on 1970 articles from 773 journals. The methodology involves ranking journals, identifying topical trends over 1989–2018, and clustering the literature to create a PPP knowledge map with associated research domains. The findings reaffirm that PPP is not only a multi-disciplinary research area but also a self-contained meta-discipline that integrates some allied disciplines with their foundational theories. The PPP meta-discipline is largely dominated by Construction Management and Economics (CME), Public Administration and Management, and Transportation Research disciplines, and integrates emerging topics such as sustainability, governance and stakeholders management. This study contributes to the CME scholarly community as it offers the first comprehensive meta-analysis of PPP literature and helps understanding PPP under the lens of a multi-disciplinary perspective.