Drivers of blockchain-enabled smart contract adoption in infrastructure public–private partnerships projects: an international experts survey

Abstract

The public–private partnership (PPP) remains the most widely used approach in procuring infrastructure projects. However, owing to the increasing numbers of failures, terminations and re-municipalisation recorded in both ‘PPP mature and maturing markets’ of the world, the level of investments in infrastructure PPP projects has declined. The lack of trust and transparency, poor contract compliance, inferior quality, and payment enforcement, among other issues, have been blamed for the failures/terminations of PPP projects. Furthermore, the predominance of traditional, paper-based contracting techniques in PPP arrangements, combined with the lack of automation processes and modern transformative technologies, such as blockchain and smart contracts, has worsened the situation. Blockchain technology and smart contracts can mitigate some of the issues contributing to the underperformance of PPP projects. The purpose of this study was to critically evaluate the drivers of blockchain-enabled smart contracts (BSC) adoption and implementation in long-term infrastructure projects delivered under the PPP route. A hybrid model of the TOE framework and institutional theory was adopted to guide the decision to implement smart contracts in PPP projects. The structured questionnaire was used to gather relevant data from international experts via the snowball sampling technique. With a reliability index of over 0.800, the data were analysed using the mean score, coefficient of variation (CV), Kendall test of concordance, and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). A high level of agreement was found among respondents regarding the assessed factors. Furthermore, technological drivers and coercive pressure substantially influence the decision to implement BSC in infrastructure PPP projects. Then, economic, organisational, normative, and mimetic pressures are considered in order of their contribution to the decision of the public and private sector partners to adopt smart contracts in the delivery of long-term infrastructure PPP projects.