Edinburgh Napier University

  We explore the variations in importance of critical success factors (CSFs) over project lifecycle stages of construction public–private partnership (PPP) projects. A two-staged study is employed involving a literature search and identification of factors supplemented with a two-staged Delphi exercise. Our findings point to the existence of 24 CSFs with varying levels of importance over the project lifecycle. Three CSF appeared important in three of the four phases. Most CSFs appeared important in two of the four phases while six CSFs appeared in only one phase. Findings suggest project stakeholders emphasized specific endogenous CSFs as being more important during the initial phases of the project. However, these CSFs then gave way to the prominence of more exogenous CSFs emphasizing change and transformation as the project moved towards the ‘Execution’ and ‘Benefits realization’ phases. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.