Exploring the impact of public sector entity resources on public-private partnership project performance in Ghana: the influence of competition and transparency in the tendering process

Abstract

An innovative approach is needed to achieve value for money in public infrastructure provision in Ghana. Private-Public Partnership (PPP) is now used in Ghana to meet general infrastructural needs despite its limitations. The efforts to create value in public projects require effective and efficient utilisation of public entity resources through an effective tender process. This approach is intended to improve performance. In Ghana, quality, time and cost are used to measure project performance. The lack of knowledge, experience, and skills in PPP-related issues in public construction, and public-sector agencies lack of ability to procure public infrastructural projects due to inability to successfully apply project management approaches or processes to create value and meet the country infrastructural need has been a challenge for both previous and successive governments. This study investigated the impact of public sector entity project organisational resources on PPP performance in Ghana. The influence of competition and transparency in the tendering process. The study is underpinned by the Resource-Based View, the Resource Dependency Theory, the Stewardship Theory of Corporate Governance, and the principles of public procurement. Deductive reasoning was used where hypotheses developed from the conceptual model which were tested. Random sampling was used to select respondents. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from project participants between July-December, 2021 in the Volta Region of Ghana. A total of 500 questionnaires were sent out, and 453 of them were retrieved representing a 92% response rate. The data was analysed using the Partial Least-Square Structural Equation Modelling. The findings indicate that public entity internal factors (hereafter called resources) such as project value (PV), quality project brief (QPB), public sector capacity (PSQ), quality governance structure (QGS), and risk sharing model (RSM) directly or indirectly affect successful PPP performance. Except for quality of governance, other public entity resources significantly impact PPP performance (on cost and within time). It was established that the PPP project performance criterion is met when the public entity factors and tendering process are effective, efficient, and complied with in PPPs. It was further found that organisational resources have significantly positive direct and indirect effects on performance. The study contributes to PPP and project management theory, policy, and practice in several ways, at least in the Ghanaian context. Firstly, the study has empirically confirmed specific public entity resources as organizational assets necessary to improve PPP project performance. Practice-wise, the study has revealed that effective quality governance structures (formal and informal) are prerequisites for project performance. Likewise, the study indicates that accurate risk-sharing models, public sector capacities, and resilient business cases attract private investments. Also, the study highlights accurate project value determination and competitive and transparent tendering systems as innovative practices in public project management.