Assessing stakeholder satisfaction in PPP transport projects in developing countries: evidence from Vietnam

Purpose Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model still contains the obstacle in partnership, which can lead to different satisfaction between project participants. Therefore, project managers need to consider stakeholder satisfaction to ensure success in PPP implementation. However, this problem is limited in the previous studies in developing countries. The purpose of this study is to evaluate stakeholder satisfaction of PPP transport projects in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach A total of 15 satisfaction factors were identified and four main groupings were introduced by a review of the literature and expert interview rounds, including satisfaction of general public, satisfaction of private sector, satisfaction of government and satisfaction of end-users. A PPP expressway project in Vietnam was used to illustrate for this analysis. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey with 31 validated responses. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation method was then applied to evaluate satisfaction index for the stakeholder satisfaction of PPP transport projects in Vietnam as a developing country. Findings The analyzed result showed that the project participants are basically satisfied with gained outcomes of the experimental project with the satisfaction index = 3.46. Specifically, the general public expressed that they are "satisfied" with satisfaction index = 4.08. Meanwhile, end-users, government and private sector are "basically satisfied" with the project outcome (the satisfaction index of 3.31, 3.16 and 3.04, respectively). Originality/value This study provides more depth understanding of the satisfaction factor with transport infrastructure service in developing countries through PPP procurement. In addition, the decision-makers might utilize this evaluation model for rating the stakeholder satisfaction of real PPP projects to ensure project success.