Public-Private Partnership: A Bibliometric Analysis and Historical Evolution

Abstract

The broad and extensive application of public-private partnership (PPP), as well as the divergent documented definitions and experiences, have led to a translucent perspective of PPP and strained academia and industry to reach a consensus on the major practice of this concept. Early contractor involvement (ECI), governance tools, and relational contracting are only a few of the frameworks attributed to PPP. This issue has received limited attention from researchers, despite the focus of review studies on different disciplines of PPP. Hence, this paper puts forward the idea of conducting a comprehensive review to not only shed light on the major practice of PPP but also provide a wider outlook on this concept based on the research carried out since 1979. A narrative review is initially accomplished to identify the major drivers and milestones that have contributed to the evolution of PPP. Employing bibliometric analysis in the following phase assists in conducting a multi-dimensional assessment of studies published within the last five decades. The economic and societal practices of PPP throughout its evolution path signified the dominant application of this concept as a business model. The bibliometric analysis revealed that PPP has contributed to various sectors, i.e., urban development, public infrastructure, transportation, health, and education, just to name a few. In addition, economic and organizational management of PPP was revealed as a major research stream that was accompanied by sustainable development. As a matter of fact, economic and environmental sustainability are the major cross-disciplinary elements that form an interplay between the drivers and attributes of PPP. Value for money (VfM), technology, and innovation, along with smart infrastructure (SI) and smart cities (SCs), are identified as the major directions for the future research agenda associated with PPP.

Riesgo: A Knowledge-Based Qualitative Risk Assessment System for PPP Projects

“…The bibliometric analysis of the PPP literature reveals that risk assessment ranks among the top ten keywords noted, based on occurrence frequency (Azarian et al, 2023) [25]. Numerous studies focus on PPP risk assessment using diverse scopes and techniques.…”

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) in Road Infrastructure Projects: A Review of Evolution, Approaches, and Prospects

“…There are multiple studies in the previous literature on PPPs in infrastructure projects [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], so some authors argue that they tend to lack a holistic and integrative vision [18], so this research carries out a global review of PPPs in road infrastructure projects over the last 30 years, the objective of this research being to analyze the evolution of the scientific production of PPPs in road infrastructure projects, to highlight the main advances during the period from 1993 to 2022. It highlights the most significant advances in research in this field during this period, identifies themes and trends of study, and points out the gaps in existing knowledge.…”