Relational quality in public–private partnerships: understanding social relationships in contract-based exchanges

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-02-2021-0034
• Published date: 14 March 2023
• Date: 14 March 2023
• Pages: 171-189
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management
• Author: Rianne Warsen

Relational quality in public–private

partnerships: understanding

social relationships in

contract-based exchanges

Rianne Warsen

Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam,

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review of studies addressing

relational quality in public–private partnerships (PPPs). The ambition of this study is twofold: first, to present

more clarity regarding the definition of the concept. Second, to develop a framework that explains the

antecedents, characteristics and outcomes of relational quality in PPPs.

Design/methodology/approach –A systematic literature review of 99 academic articles, which were

analyzed and coded on the definition, characteristics, antecedents and outcomes of relational quality.

Findings –The study shows that trust, communication, commitment, openness and reciprocity areconsidered

core aspects of the concept. The analysis further identifies important antecedents (e.g. shared values,

leadership) and outcomes (performance, innovation) of relational quality in PPPs. The findings result in the

development of a framework on relational quality in PPPs to be used for further research.

Research limitations/implications –The findings indicate that relational quality is valuable for the

functioning of PPPs, but the current focus of this review excludes studies addressing relational quality in other

types of collaboration and public–private exchange. The lessons from these research fields might further

improve people’s understanding of relational quality.

Practical implications –Practitioners should pay attention to relational quality in long-term PPPs.Among

others, (process) management activities might contribute to relational quality as it stimulates communication

and openness.

Originality/value –The presented framework explaining antecedents, characteristics and outcomes of

relational quality allows for more structured use of this concept in future research.

Keywords Public–private partnerships, PPPs, Relational quality, Systematic literature review

Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are globally popular as am eansof realizing public products

and services. Its potential for efficient service delivery and the opportunity to share costs, benefits

and risks has led to extensive use in many countries. A PPP can be defined as “a cooperation

between public and private actors with a durable character in which actors develop mutual products

and/or services and in which risks, costs, and profits are shared”(Klijn and Teisman, 2003, p. 137).

Principal-agent and transaction cost theory are frequently used to explain how the exchange

Relational

quality in PPPs

171

© Rianne Warsen. Published by Emerald P ublishing Limite d. This article is publ ished under the

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and

create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to

full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at

http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

This work was supported by the Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

(grant number 409-14-014); and co-financed by NSOB; Deltares; Rebel group; Resetmanagement;

Twynstra Gudde; and Rijkswaterstaat. It has been written as a result of the research project

“Governance for smartening public private partnership”.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0951-3558.htm

Received 8 February 2021

Revised 4 January 2022

1 September 2022

22 January 2023

Accepted 26 January 2023

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 36 No. 2, 2023

pp. 171-189

Emerald Publishing Limited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-02-2021-0034

between public client and private contractor in these partnerships takes shape. Elaborate

contracts including formal requirements regarding performance, payment and sanctions are

designed to prevent opportunistic behavior(Wang et al. ,2018).However, the i ncomplete nature of

contracts has sparked interest in the role of relational mechanisms. Earlier studies have pointed

out the relational nature of contracting itself (see MacNeil, 1980). Socially embedded personal

relationships play an important role in economic exchange (e.g. Granovetter, 1985). Various

studies address the balance between relational and contractual mechanisms and emphasize the

importance of relational aspects as complements to contracts in PPPs (e.g. Argento and Peda,

2015;Weihe, 2009;Warsen et al.,2019).

The growing attentionfor relational aspectsin PPP research fits within a growing trendon

relationality in, among others, the field of public administration. Bartels and Turnbull (2020)

analyze this trend and show the varied use and overlapping and contested meanings of the

concept. They refer to relationship marketingwhich addresses the role of relational quality in

business–customer relationships (Bartels and Turnbull, 2020). It employs relational qualityto

determine the likelihood of continued exchange between salespersons and customers. Trust

and commitment are considered fundamental principles (Crosby et al.,1990). The relational

marketingliterature might useful as it extents theidea of relationality beyond more than mere

trust. Instead, they have developed the concept of relational quality. Although alike in some

aspects, PPPs differ from traditional business–customer relationships in their degree of

complexity, the long-term nature of the exchange, and their network-like character (e.g.

Alexander, 2012;Edelenbos and Klijn, 2007) in which internal and external stakeholdersplay

an important role. Therefore, more research is needed to see if and to what degree the

antecedents,characteristics and outcomesof relational qualityin PPPs differ from those in the

business–customer relationships addressed in relationship marketing theory.

1.1 The importance of relational quality for public–private partnerships

There is still much to learn about relational quality in contract-based PPPs. Attention for

relational aspects in PPP research is lagging behind compared to the attention for contractual

and risk-related topics (Weihe, 2009). The review of Wang et al. (2018) shows that relational

topics are not among the most frequent topics in PPP research. This is quite surprising, as

previous studies have shown relational quality is a particularly relevant concept in light of

the complex and long-term character of PPPs (e.g. Argento and Peda, 2015;Weihe, 2009;

Warsen et al., 2018). Contracts are unable to capture its full complexity nor take into account

all potential events in the lifetime of a PPP (Brown et al., 2016). Hence, relational aspects are

necessary to provide flexibility to deal with complexity and unexpected circumstances

(Roehrich and Lewis, 2014).

So, relational quality might be important for the functioning of PPPs. But, although

research into relational aspects is increasing, it is still fragmented. Existing studies focus

predominantly on trust (e.g. English and Baxter, 2010;Warsen et al., 2018) but relational

quality consists of more than mere trust. Therefore, this review aims to synthesize the

existing body of scientific research into this topic to achieve a coherent overview and robust

conclusions on the concept of relational quality and its use for PPP research, by studying the

antecedents, characteristics and outcomes of relational quality in PPPs. This leads to the

following research question:

RQ1. How can we understand relational quality and what do we know about its

characteristics, antecedents and outcomes in the con text of public–private

partnerships?

The ambition of this study is twofold. First, to present more clarity regarding the definition of the

concept. Second, the findings of this review are translated into a framework explaining

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