The Impact of Trust and Cooperation on the Performance of PPP Projects: The Moderating Role of Risk Allocation

Abstract

Trust, cooperation, risk allocation and PPP project performance have been extensively investigated in literature. However, the impact of trust and cooperation on PPP project performance and the moderating role of risk allocation between them still lack empirical evidence. The present research attempts to bridge these gaps by using partial least squares (PLS) approach to analyze a sample of 216 valid responses. The results show that trust and cooperation positively affect PPP project performance, trust positively influences cooperation. Risk allocation improves the effects of trust and cooperation on PPP project performance, as well as improves the effect of trust on cooperation, and the cooperation plays partial mediate role between trust and PPP project performance. Therefore, the trust and cooperation play a key role in achieving PPP project performance while the moderating role of risk allocation should also be paid more attention. Research results can enrich the theory of relationship management (RM) and provide a theoretical reference to public sector and private sector for improvement of the performance by trust, cooperation, and risk allocation, and also in maintaining on-going relationships between them in the future.