The Private Scope in Public–Private Collaborations: An Institutional and Capability-Based Perspective

There has been a growing interest in the organization of business activities at the public interface as illustrated by the emergent phenomenon of public–private partnerships (PPPs). In this study, we analyze the determinants of private scope in partnering with public actors—that is, the extent to which private actors are involved in multiple, consecutive value-creating activities in the partnership. Based on a unique data set of public–private agreements worldwide over two decades, we find that institutional and capability-based determinants jointly affect the extent of private scope in public–private collaborations. Our results highlight the contingent role of the quality of the institutional environment. Institutions not only facilitate greater private scope directly but also, moderate the effect of public and private capabilities on private scope. We find that prior public experience in PPPs enhances private scope in settings with high-quality institutions while having an opposing effect in low-quality environments. Moreover, public governance capabilities accumulated via units designed to deal with PPPs seem to substitute for the lack of high-quality institutions, suggesting that, even under weak institutional settings, countries can foster high private scope with the creation of pockets of specialized public capabilities. In contrast, private capabilities in PPPs, expressed as firm engagement in recurring government cofunded projects, seem to have a complementary effect: they help to increase private scope in PPPs but only when domestic institutions are of high quality. By highlighting the determinants of private actor involvement in public sector activities, our study offers important implications for the theory and practice of hybrid (cross-sector) organizational forms.