Identification of critical success factors for public–private partnership projects

• Author: Ashish Mohan Dubey,Reetika Sehgal
• Date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1956
• Published date: 01 November 2019

ACADEMIC PAPER

Identification of critical success factors for public–private

partnership projects

Reetika Sehgal

1,2

|Ashish Mohan Dubey

3

1

Department of Management, Birla Institute

of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi (Allahabad

Campus), Allahabad, India

2

Department of Management, United College

of Engineering and Management, Naini,

Prayagraj, Allahabad, India

3

Department of Management, Birla Institute

of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, (Patna Campus),

Patna, India

Correspondence

Reetika Sehgal, Research Scholar and Assistant

Professor, Department of Management, Birla

Institute of Technology, Mesra Ranchi

(Allahabad Campus), B7, Industrial Area, Naini,

Allahabad 211010, India; or Department of

Management, United College of Engineering &

Management, D‐II UPSIDC Industrial Area,

Naini, Allahabad 211010, India.

Email: reetikasehgal14@gmail.com

Public–private partnership (PPP) is one of the popular mechanisms for the develop-

ment of infrastructure worldwide; governments across the globe are engaged in

discovering a range of PPP policies and strategies for growth of infrastructure.

The growth of infrastructure is imperative of the sustainable development of an

economy. Therefore, it is pertinent to identify key success factors for the

development of infrastructure through PPP model. The current paper aims to explore

significant factors for successful execution and completion of PPP projects in

infrastructure. A total of 517 employees who had hand‐on experience on PPP

projects located in India were interviewed through a structured questionnaire.

Exploratory factor analysis yielded 14 components as a significant factor for the

success of PPP in infrastructure. This study highlights that the development of

infrastructure would be rapid through PPP if government considers these factors in

the implementation phase.

1|INTRODUCTION

Infrastructure is considered to be the most imperative asset for any

country. It has been noticed that the infrastructure had not achieved

the goals expected from the infrastructure services in the country

through government. This was the major cause of anxiety and disap-

pointment for many countries (Zhang, Gao, Feng, & Sun, 2015). One

of the major causes for the unacceptable performance could be the

unavailability of adequate finances with the government (Matos‐

Castano, Dewulf, & Mahalingam, 2014; Qiu & Wang, 2011).

But from past few years, governments all over the world have been

vigorously discovering a range of public–private partnership (PPP) pol-

icies. The rising demand of infrastructure facility by government

coupled with the deficiency of funds in the hands of public sector

and the greater need for efficiency in delivery and project operation

has made the role of PPP very crucial (Wang, 2015).

To attain sustainable growth on a continuous basis, there must be

eminent facility of infrastructure. Infrastructure is crucial for improving

the export competitiveness and overall development of the economy.

The target for XII Five‐Year Plan (2012–2017) is U.S. $1 trillion

investment in infrastructure, which is predicted two times than the

investment in XI Plan (Kelkar, 2015).

For the smooth implementation of PPP projects, key factors should

be identified before the actual execution of the project. Initially, suc-

cess factors were identified through comprehensive literature reviews,

which were used to develop the questionnaire for survey. The ques-

tionnaire was distributed to the employees of both public and private

sector who had hand‐on experience on PPP projects. The analysis of

questionnaire was conducted using exploratory factor analysis. The

basic purpose was to identify the factors significant for the success

of PPP and also to find out the ranking of those factors according to

the precedence.

2|LITERATURE REVIEW

The well‐established infrastructure of any nation depicts its prosperity

in terms of its assets. It also plays a vital role in attracting foreign

investment. It will promote economic and social stability in the

economy. For the purpose of understanding the concept of PPP, an

extensive literature review is conducted, which has been divided into

three sections: concept of PPP, its role in infrastructure, and

researcher perspective of critical success factors (CSFs) for PPP.

Received: 28 February 2019 Accepted: 31 March 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1956

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1956.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1956

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of11