Assessing potential critical success factors to adopting blockchain-enabled smart contracts in infrastructure PPP projects

Infrastructure Public-private partnership (PPP) projects still utilise paper-based contracting systems that are susceptible to inefficiencies, corruption, disputes, weak accountability and contract enforcement, which can ultimately lead to failure and/or termination of PPP contracts. Although blockchain-enabled smart contracts (BSC) have the potential to mitigate these challenges, prior studies on BSC adoption in PPPs are limited and did not present results that were measurable and empirically validated, especially regarding the critical success factors (CSFs) for adopting BSC PPP projects. This study addresses this gap by investigating the CSFs influencing the adoption of BSC in PPP infrastructure projects using a hybrid Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) and Institutional Theory framework. Data was collected from 123 experts across countries using a structured questionnaire and purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, fuzzy set theory (FST), and Spearman correlation analysis. The results reveal that the six constructs of the hybrid model are ‘very critical’ to successful BSC adoption, with technological, organisational, and coercive factors emerging as the most influential. The findings empirically offer measurable success variables for adopting BSC and provide theoretical and practical guidance for policymakers, PPP practitioners, and infrastructure stakeholders seeking to digitalise PPP infrastructure contract administration and improve PPP performance.