Adoption of public-private partnership (PPP) in smart infrastructure development projects in developing nations: An explorative structural equation modelling analysis

The needs for smart infrastructure (SI) are increasingly evident, given the expanding imperatives of rapid-urbanisation, environmental difficulties, and worldwide pandemics. To pool diverse resources, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are identified as a suitable procurement and delivery vehicle. However, there has not been much research on the factors affecting PPP procured SI developments in developing nations, particularly utilising quantitative methods. Hence, the purpose of this article is to evaluate the key-elements that contribute to PPP success in SI projects in developing nations, where satisfaction of the public-sector (S1), private-sector (S2) and end-users (S3) define the success of the project holistically. A literature review, expert interviews, a questionnaire survey and a case study were synergised to develop and validate the models illustrating the causal relationship between the affecting factors to S1, S2 and S3. The results indicate that S1 is greatly affected by technical and social factors, while political and legal factors mostly influence S2, and technical barriers affect S3. These insightful and detailed findings could serve as a good foundation for promulgating relevant government policies, informed decisions, and investigating the viability of PPP in developing nations in order to profit from and avoid potential difficulties associated with successful SI projects through PPP.