An investigation of opportunistic behaviour in public-private partnerships

While the use of public-private partnership (PPP) is an attractive policy option, the concept of partnership at the centre of the approach has been taken for granted and the fundamental question that whether PPPs operate as true partnerships has not been explored. This thesis addresses this question, based on considerable evidence that relationships on many PPP projects are characterized by opportunistic behaviour on the part of one party to exploit their own interests to the detriment of another. More specifically, this thesis explores the following questions: (1) what is opportunistic behaviour in PPPs and what form does it take; (2) why does opportunistic behaviour occur in PPPs; (3) how can theories of opportunistic behaviour be used to better understand the risks in PPP projects. A conceptual model is developed to explore the forms, causes and justifications of opportunistic behaviour in PPPs, as well as the association rules in risk and opportunistic behaviour in PPPs. Four propositions are developed and validated by secondary data from 20 published PPP case studies, and then tested through 84 interviews with key stakeholders on ten PPP projects in five cities in China.The results show that opportunistic behaviour in PPP projects takes six forms: strategic misrepresentation, free riding, breach, obstruction, social surplus capture and power misuse. It is found that opportunistic behaviours are caused by: incomplete contracts, asset specificity, imperfect control and centralized in decision-making authority. The results also reveal that opportunistic behaviours are widely justified through the concepts of externalization, normalization, superordination and contribution. Finally the results generated three association rules in risk and opportunistic behaviour which can help people better understand the risks in PPP projects. It is concluded that accountability, democracy and transparency are the three central solutions to improve partnership in PPPs.