Navigating Institutional Distance: How Private Partners Accumulate Network Positional Advantages in Cross‐Country Public–Private Partnership Projects

ABSTRACT Institutional distance shapes how private partners participate in cross‐country public–private partnership (PPP) projects, yet its effects remain underexplored. Drawing on organizational institutionalism, we argue that institutional distance generates adaptation pressures that prompt private partners to engage in sustained collaborations. Such collaborations lead private partners to build relationships and connect into networks, within which positional advantages are accumulated. Using data on 3223 PPP projects across 91 countries from 1998 to 2022, we establish longitudinal networks and measure three types of positional advantages: linkage, brokerage, and independence. Our results show that greater institutional distance is associated with the accumulation of these advantages over time. Moreover, host countries' involvement in economic‐political alliances moderates these relationships in contrasting ways, weakening the effect on linkage and brokerage advantages while strengthening the effect on independence advantages. We highlight implications for how governments can better support private partners' participation in cross‐country PPP projects.