Perceptions of public-private partnerships transportation project success factors in developing countries: An explanatory sequential investigation

Inadequate transportation infrastructure is a significant obstacle to any economy’s growth and development potential. A primary challenge to sustainable delivery is finance. Concerns about the efficacy of innovative mechanisms for financing infrastructure investments, primarily through public-private partnerships (PPPs), abound in the literature and practice. Few studies focus on the critical success factors (CSFs) for PPPs transport projects in emerging markets. This study aims to identify the taxonomy and manifestations of CSFs associated with executing PPP-based transportation projects in developing countries. The study collected and analysed data using a questionnaire and in-depth interviews using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory investigation among built environment professionals, including general contractors, consultants and government agencies. Findings indicated that good governance, the project’s technical feasibility, the commitment of the public and private partners, appropriate risk allocation and sharing and experience were the most critical success factors. Multivariate techniques using factor analysis identified four principal components: partnership and procurement, economic and governance technical factors and political and social factors. The study contributes to the body of knowledge using mixed methods within an underexplored context: developing countries. The findings could be extended further using more robust statistical techniques. The localisation conditions for the effective delivery of transportation projects should be considered.