The Conditional Configuration Path for Private Enterprises Participating in PPP: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Public–private partnership (PPP) projects have been widely applied in infrastructure construction. Leveraging private capital is the key to promoting the high-quality development of PPP projects. This study examines the combined effect of seven factors determining private enterprises that participate in PPP and collects materials from 102 PPP sewage treatment projects to examine the causal configuration path of private enterprises participating in PPP (PEP3P) from an overall perspective by using necessary condition analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The findings support the fact that any single antecedent condition is not a necessary condition for PEP3P and is instead the combined effect of different factors that commonly form the diversified causal configuration paths of PEP3P. There is an obvious asymmetry between the configuration paths of the high participation and low participation of private enterprises. The enterprise technology level (ETL) and doing business (DB) are important internal driving forces and give external traction for PEP3P, while the enterprise credit level (ECL) and project investment scale (PIS) are important factors that restrict private enterprises from participating in PPP. This research fills a theoretical gap for PEP3P and can be applied to developing strategies for attracting private enterprises to participate in PPP.