The role of political and economic stability on the success of public-private partnership (PPP) construction projects from a project management perspective

Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPP) is an efficient approach for procuring construction projects. Although many governments have implemented PPP construction projects in their countries, not all projects have been successful. Among the main reasons for the failure of these projects are the political and/or economic decisions in the host country, which may prevent the achievement of the PPP parties’ business goals. However, research is yet to fully consider this issue. Therefore, this thesis focuses on understanding the impact of political and economic stability on the success of PPP construction projects. To address the aim of this thesis, two theoretical studies and one empirical study in Saudi Arabia were conducted.

In the first study, the literature on PPP construction projects undertaken between 1997 to 2021 was systematically reviewed. The review identified the key challenges facing PPP construction projects that were negatively affected by a lack of political and economic stability. By synthesising the totality of the evidence from the literature and highlighting the critical challenges of PPP construction projects, it was concluded that political and economic stability created many challenges for successfully implementing PPP construction projects.

To understand the thesis aim further, the second study focused on identifying the impact of political and economic stability on the success of PPP construction projects by studying the factors leading to their success, namely the Critical Success Factors (CSFs), during the PPP project life cycle. A systematic review of literature on the CSFs for PPP construction projects between 1997 to 2021 was conducted. The identified CSFs were mapped according to the best-fit phases in the PPP project life cycle. This study concluded that political and economic stability, or a lack thereof, may well moderate the association between the CSFs and a PPP construction project’s success.

To validate the previous study's findings, study three aimed to examine the moderating impact of political and economic stability on the association between CSFs and the success of a PPP construction project in Saudi Arabia. A conceptual model was developed representing the relationship between CSFs, the success of PPP construction projects and political and economic stability. The model was fed by questionnaire data from practitioners of PPP construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The statistical analysis, which was conducted using a structural equation model, revealed significant evidence of the moderating impact of economic stability on PPP construction project success in Saudi Arabia.

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ORCID for Maxwell Chipulu: orcid.org/0000-0002-0139-6188

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