IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/busres/v13y2020i2d10.1007_s40685-019-0097-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Partnering for good? An analysis of how to achieve sustainability-related outcomes in public–private partnerships

Author

Listed:
  • Katharina Spraul

    (Technische Universität Kaiserslautern)

  • Julia Thaler

    (Universität der Bundeswehr München)

Abstract

Since 1987, members of the United Nations have strived for improving sustainability to fulfill the vision of sustainable development. Current discussions focus on the role of collaborations between public and private actors to realize social, ecological, and economic sustainability. This study explores how public–private partnerships may contribute to the achievement of sustainability-related outcomes by analyzing a longitudinal case in the German public bathing and swimming pool sector. The empirical findings illustrate how both external conditions, such as regulation or industry-self regulation, and internal elements, such as specific structure and process elements of the public–private partnership, contribute to sustainability-related outcomes. Results reveal an interaction of specific external conditions and some internal elements. Our findings serve as a starting point for further empirical investigations of the sustainable provision of public services via public–private partnerships, and form a basis for theory development. The revealed insights result in practical implications for partners involved in public–private partnerships.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharina Spraul & Julia Thaler, 2020. "Partnering for good? An analysis of how to achieve sustainability-related outcomes in public–private partnerships," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(2), pages 485-511, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:busres:v:13:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s40685-019-0097-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s40685-019-0097-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40685-019-0097-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40685-019-0097-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Erik G. Hansen & Friedrich Grosse-Dunker & Ralf Reichwald, 2009. "Sustainability Innovation Cube — A Framework To Evaluate Sustainability-Oriented Innovations," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 683-713.
    3. Bill Hopwood & Mary Mellor & Geoff O'Brien, 2005. "Sustainable development: mapping different approaches," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 38-52.
    4. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    5. Burkard Eberlein & Dirk Matten, 2009. "Business Responses to Climate Change Regulation in Canada and Germany: Lessons for MNCs from Emerging Economies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 241-255, March.
    6. Hans-Gerd Ridder, 2017. "The theory contribution of case study research designs," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 10(2), pages 281-305, October.
    7. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    8. Roehrich, Jens K. & Lewis, Michael A. & George, Gerard, 2014. "Are public–private partnerships a healthy option? A systematic literature review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 110-119.
    9. Nicolette van Gestel & Joop Koppenjan & Ilse Schrijver & Arnoud van de Ven & Wijnand Veeneman, 2008. "Managing Public Values in Public-Private Networks: A Comparative Study of Innovative Public Infrastructure Projects," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 139-145, June.
    10. Cheng Chen & Michael Hubbard & Chun-Sung Liao, 2013. "When Public-Private Partnerships Fail," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 839-857, September.
    11. Susan Hart, 2010. "Self-regulation, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Business Case: Do they Work in Achieving Workplace Equality and Safety?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(4), pages 585-600, April.
    12. Danielle Galliano & Simon Nadel, 2015. "Firms' Eco-innovation Intensity and Sectoral System of Innovation: The Case of French Industry," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 467-495, August.
    13. Laura Albareda & Josep Lozano & Tamyko Ysa, 2007. "Public Policies on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Governments in Europe," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 391-407, September.
    14. Alexander Pinz & Nahid Roudyani & Julia Thaler, 2018. "Public–private partnerships as instruments to achieve sustainability-related objectives: the state of the art and a research agenda," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 1-22, January.
    15. Carlos Rufin & Miguel Rivera-Santos, 2012. "Between Commonweal and Competition : Understanding the Governance of Public–Private Partnerships," Post-Print hal-02313126, HAL.
    16. Rianne Warsen & José Nederhand & Erik Hans Klijn & Sanne Grotenbreg & Joop Koppenjan, 2018. "What makes public-private partnerships work? Survey research into the outcomes and the quality of cooperation in PPPs," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(8), pages 1165-1185, August.
    17. Mariateresa Torchia & Andrea Calabrò & Michèle Morner, 2015. "Public-Private Partnerships in the Health Care Sector: A systematic review of the literature," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 236-261, February.
    18. Josep M. Lozano & Laura Albareda & Tamyko Ysa & Heike Roscher & Manila Marcuccio, 2008. "Governments and Corporate Social Responsibility," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-59751-8, December.
    19. Sam Peltzman, 1989. "The Economic Theory of Regulation after a Decade of Deregulation," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1989 Micr), pages 1-59.
    20. Nilesh A. Patil & Dolla Tharun & Boeing Laishram, 2016. "Infrastructure development through PPPs in India: criteria for sustainability assessment," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(4), pages 708-729, April.
    21. Christian Magin, 2010. "Die Wirkungslosigkeit der neuen Schuldenbremse," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 90(4), pages 262-268, April.
    22. Guido Palazzo & Andreas Scherer, 2006. "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 71-88, June.
    23. Dellas, Eleni, 2011. "CSD water partnerships: Privatization, participation and legitimacy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1916-1923, September.
    24. Frances E. Bowen & Pratima Bansal & Natalie Slawinski, 2018. "Scale matters: The scale of environmental issues in corporate collective actions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1411-1436, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abimbola A. Adebayo & Kris Lulofs & Michiel Adriaan Heldeweg, 2023. "Indicators, Strategies, and Rule Settings for Sustainable Public–Private Infrastructure Partnerships: From Literature Review towards Institutional Designs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Jiang, Ke & Zhang, Jiaming & Zhang, Leilei & Wang, Die & Wang, Yusheng, 2023. "Sustainable cooperation in the watershed ecological compensation public-private partnership project: Lessons from China's Chishui river basin," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ivan Bozhikin & Nikolay Dentchev, 2018. "Discovering a Wilderness of Regulatory Mechanisms for Corporate Social Responsibility: Literature Review," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 145-174, June.
    2. Mehdi Jabbari & Majid Shafiepour Motlagh & Khosro Ashrafi & Ghahreman Abdoli, 2020. "Differentiating countries based on the sustainable development proximities using the SDG indicators," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6405-6423, October.
    3. Mikuła, Aneta, 2020. "Level Of Sustainable Development Of Counties In Poland," Roczniki (Annals), Polish Association of Agricultural Economists and Agribusiness - Stowarzyszenie Ekonomistow Rolnictwa e Agrobiznesu (SERiA), vol. 2020(1).
    4. Nannan Wang & Minxun Ma, 2021. "Public–private partnership as a tool for sustainable development – What literatures say?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 243-258, January.
    5. Reinhard Steurer, 2010. "The role of governments in corporate social responsibility: characterising public policies on CSR in Europe," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 43(1), pages 49-72, March.
    6. Rosanna Cataldo & Corrado Crocetta & Maria Gabriella Grassia & Natale Carlo Lauro & Marina Marino & Viktoriya Voytsekhovska, 2021. "Methodological PLS-PM Framework for SDGs System," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 701-723, August.
    7. Itziar Castelló & Michael Etter & Finn Årup Nielsen, 2016. "Strategies of Legitimacy Through Social Media: The Networked Strategy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 402-432, May.
    8. Brennan Lowery & John Dagevos & Ratana Chuenpagdee & Kelly Vodden, 2020. "Storytelling for sustainable development in rural communities: An alternative approach," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1813-1826, November.
    9. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    10. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    11. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    12. Ingrid Boas & Frank Biermann & Norichika Kanie, 2016. "Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 449-464, June.
    13. Wilson, Christopher & van der Velden, Maja, 2022. "Sustainable AI: An integrated model to guide public sector decision-making," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Małgorzata Janicka & Aleksandra Pieloch-Babiarz & Artur Sajnóg, 2020. "Does Short-Termism Influence the Market Value of Companies? Evidence from EU Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, November.
    15. Dawid Szostek, 2019. "The Impact of the Quality of Interpersonal Relationships between Employees on Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Study of Employees in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-33, October.
    16. Hametner, Markus, 2022. "Economics without ecology: How the SDGs fail to align socioeconomic development with environmental sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    17. Reinhard Steurer & Andre Martinuzzi & Sharon Margula, 2012. "Public Policies on CSR in Europe: Themes, Instruments, and Regional Differences," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 206-227, July.
    18. Anne P. M. Velenturf & Phil Purnell, 2017. "Resource Recovery from Waste: Restoring the Balance between Resource Scarcity and Waste Overload," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-17, September.
    19. Nikos Chatzistamoulou & Phoebe Koundouri, 2020. "The Economics of Sustainable Development," DEOS Working Papers 2005, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    20. Shaikha R. Al-Nuaimi & Sami G. Al-Ghamdi, 2022. "Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Sustainability Aspects among Higher Education Students in Qatar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:busres:v:13:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s40685-019-0097-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.