Dispute root causes and prevention in Iranian public-private partnership projects: a causal-predictive model

Abstract

PurposePublic–private partnerships (PPPs) are notoriously prone to disputes among stakeholders, some of which may unduly jeopardize contract performance. Contract disputes arising in Iran are often due to inefficiency of PPP concession agreements and practice. This study presents a causal-predictive model of the root causes and preventive measures for inter-organization disputes to enhance the likelihood of achieving desirable performance in PPP projects.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical “causal-predictive” model was developed with fourteen hypotheses based on extant literature and contractual agency theory, which resulted in the creation of a pool of 110 published items. Data were obtained from a questionnaire survey with 75 valid responses, completed by 4 stratified groups of Iranian PPP experts. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for validating the proposed model via a case study.FindingsResults reveal that the main three factors of PPP desirable performance are as follows: on-time project completion, high quality of activities/products and services for public satisfaction. Further, the most influential factors of the lifecycle problems, construction stage, and preferred risk allocation included risk misallocation, improper payment mechanism and failure to facilitate a timely approval process.Originality/valueFor researchers, the findings contribute to the theory of contractual agency; specifically, how different influences among the model's elements lead to better PPP performance. In practical terms, proposed outcome-based strategies will inform PPP stakeholders to avoid dispute occurrence and thus improve the time, quality and services of projects.

Mitigation strategies of public–private partnership (PPP) barriers in Palestinian construction projects

“…This study's findings have identified the final 21 barriers based on questionnaires, followed by prioritized barriers using mean scores, classified barriers consisted of 5 clusters, ranked strategies to alleviate the barriers and determined execution period. Meanwhile, previous studies have revealed different findings and have not determined the execution period for implementing the barrier-alleviation strategies, such as Amiri et al (2022), Cao et al (2022), Owusu-Manu et al (2022, Adu Gyamfi et al (2022), Ghorbany et al (2022), Mirzaee et al (2022), ECAM 31,8 Wang et al (2022). The possible reason for the different barriers identified is that this study focuses on the war-torn country of Palestine.…”

“…financial innovations, viability research, macro-atmosphere effect, proper financing choice, risk detection, transfer, sharing and allocation, financial setup and conformity with the regulatory and legal agenda. In other PPP construction projects in Iran, academicians Mirzaee et al. (2022) disclosed three most vital barriers: failure to enable a well-timed approval process, inappropriate payment system and risk misallocation.…”

“…financial innovations, viability research, macro-atmosphere effect, proper financing choice, risk detection, transfer, sharing and allocation, financial setup and conformity with the regulatory and legal agenda. In other PPP construction projects in Iran, academicians Mirzaee et al (2022) disclosed three most vital barriers: failure to enable a well-timed approval process, inappropriate payment system and risk misallocation. Wang et al (2022) studied China's PPP projects in construction waste recycling and found that the most vital risks and main determinants for enhanced PPP performance are income risk, financing and investment risk and policy-change risk.…”