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This study aims to test a public–private partnership (PPP) success model by examining the direct effects of two input factors (facilitative leadership and communication quality) on an outcome factor, namely, PPP success (PPP project success and PPP relational success), as well as the mediating effect of trust as a process factor on these relationships.

The present research uses the sociotechnical systems theory as the guiding framework. This is a quantitative study that uses a questionnaire survey and purposive sampling. The respondents comprise 266 public and private sector employees who have been involved in various PPP projects. The data gathered from the survey are analysed using SPSS and structural equation modelling (AMOS version 23.0).

The findings of this study indicate that facilitative leadership, communication quality and trust are positively correlated with PPP success, that is, PPP relational and PPP project success. Trust is found to mediate the relationship between facilitative leadership and communication quality with PPP success.

This paper upholds the importance of facilitative leadership, communication quality and trust in a PPP setting.

This study enriches the knowledge of PPP projects regarding facilitative leadership, communication quality and trust. It also discusses the vital role of these variables in ensuring PPP success.

Introduction: One of the main goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to represent gender equality due to its essential role in sustainable progress. At the same time, the balance between women and men in management is explicitly mentioned as a desideratum, given that more women in leadership roles positively impact business performance and sustainability.

Purpose: The study investigates the dynamic relationship between gender inequalities in management positions and sustainable competitiveness. Our contribution is twofold: we examine this interrelationship and its causality.

Methodology: We used panel data of 350 observations for 2012–2021, and we employ a Vector Auto-Regression model and Granger causality method to examine the relationship between the gender gap in management and sustainable competitiveness. The panel VAR for analysing the impulse response function was enriched using Monte Carlo simulations with 5% and 95%.

Findings: The results highlighted that a bidirectional causality between the gender gap in management and sustainable competitiveness is manifested in the European countries. Our results are similar to other studies found in the literature, with gender equality and sustainability positively associated. As an element of originality, our study demonstrates that gender equality in management contributes to sustainable performance, and, on the other hand, a more competitive and sustainable environment contributes to eliminating the gap between men and women in management.

This study aims to help uncover corporate culture and values to attract and retain talent by understanding job reviews written by business-to-business (B2B) salespeople.

Over 40,000 job reviews on Glassdoor.com are analyzed by a dictionary-based content analysis tool, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015), to explore the links between corporate culture and linguistics characteristics of reviews as articulated by B2B salespeople. This study adopted a multidimensional scaling approach based on the nine cultural value scores to create a map of corporate profiles. A projection of the LIWC2015 scores on this map uncovers differences in language patterns and emotions expressed across the profiles.

Findings reveal a map of corporate profiles with two dimensions, namely, product-centricity and customer-centricity, that divide salesforce subculture into a 2 × 2 matrix of four types: Empathic Innovators, Product Pioneers, Customer Champions and Commodity Traders.

This study combined two data sets, scores on CultureX’s nine cultural values (agility, collaboration, customer orientation, diversity, execution, innovation, integrity, performance and respect) and job reviews on Glassdoor.com. This research seeks to develop profiles of the organizational culture and to use a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods. This study adds to the literature on salesforce subculture and showcases a solution to the methodological difficulty in categorizing and measuring culture.

Drawing on Foa and Foa’s elaboration of social exchange theory, the authors propose that buyers reciprocate perceived commitment on the part of the salesperson and supplier with commitment on their own parts because of strengthening of the relationship’s tacit governance mechanism – cooperative norms.

This study uses data from 155 buyers doing business with a multinational supplier. The buyers were from firms generating less than $100,000 in billings. The salesforce of the supplier firm sponsoring the research is responsible for account management and communicating directly with buyers.

Buyers, who feel that their suppliers are providing a symbolic, long-term, particularistic benefit (commitment), respond with their own strengthened commitment to the relationship; this mutualism is explained entirely by the mediating effect of the relationship’s cooperative norms. Where buyers perceive generally favorable treatment (satisfaction), without these three qualities, their own reciprocal commitment increases directly and cooperative norms play no part. The results also demonstrate the transition of buyer perceptions of the salesperson as they develop into beliefs about the selling firm as a whole.

Drawing on the “reciprocation-in-kind” principle, supplier firms seeking long-term, open-ended commitment from their customers should cultivate it via similarly long-term and open-ended commitments of their own. Attention must be given to the unwritten, often unstated “rules of the road” for business relationships, as these rules represent the mechanism through which investments in long-term, profitable partnerships bear fruit.

The conceptual model draws on and empirically tests Foa and Foa’s framework within social exchange theory to predict what form of buyer reciprocation will result, based on the characteristics of perceived seller-provided benefits. This study illustrates that the tacit governance structure of a B2B relationship – its cooperative norms – plays a critical role in the strength of a buyer’s commitment to its supplier.

The amount of expenditure required to scale up smart infrastructure projects is often enormous. Public–private partnership (PPP) is one of the proposed and viable solutions for addressing the financial issues of smart infrastructure projects. However, the most important criterion in choosing PPP over other procurement methods is that the project under the PPP method should deliver the best value for money (VFM) while also including defined economic and social objectives, rather than relying exclusively on efficiency factors. While PPP provides a variety of advantages for developing infrastructure, significant challenges may arise as a result of smart infrastructure initiatives. Diverse PPP approaches have been used to build smart infrastructure around the world, with varying degrees of success. The purpose of this study is to identify the VFM factors that are suitable for smart infrastructure projects and to examine the impact of their interrelationships.

The methodology for this study consisted of three stages: identifying VFM factors in PPP for smart cities based on an extensive literature review, analyzing data from a sample of 90 PPP practitioners using a Likert scale questionnaire and estimating interrelationships among VFM factors using structural equation modeling (SEM).

After performing a SEM analysis on the gathered data, the best fitted measurement model consisted of 11 VFM factors acting as indicators of three latent variables for smart infrastructure projects (clear output specification for measuring performance, efficient dispute resolutions, optimized risk allocation and business models, improved and integrated community services, economic sustainability, appropriate capital structure and collaterals, smart asset management, diffusion of smart technologies, technical innovation, Ince) and three clusters of their interrelations (economic sustainability, integration drive, optimization and smart technology).

This research has resulted in a useful and readily applicable list of factors and clusters of value for money criteria for the implementation of PPP in smart infrastructure projects, assisting public sector management by providing a measure of pre-conditions that can be used as an assessment tool when determining whether a PPP should be used instead of conventional methods.

In addition to the theoretical and methodological contributions, this study produced a usable and readily adaptable list and clusters of value for money factors for the implementation of PPP in smart infrastructure projects.

Scaling up smart city infrastructure projects will require a large financial investment. Using public–private partnerships is one of the most effective ways to address budget constraints. Numerous factors have varying degrees of influence on the performance of Public private partnerships (PPP) projects; certain PPP factors are more crucial to the success of a smart city infrastructure project than others, and their influence can be greatly increased when they are fulfilled collectively. This study aims to find out what factors are unique to smart city PPP initiatives, as well as how these factors work together, so that successful smart city infrastructure PPP projects can be scaled up.

The methodology included three sequential stages: identifying the critical success factors (CSF) of PPP for smart cities based on an extensive literature review, collecting data from a sample of 90 PPP practitioners using a Likert scale questionnaire and estimating interrelationships among the CSF and their emergent clusters using structural equation modelling.

The best fit model developed in this study demonstrated the significance of each factor and their interrelationships within their categories in enhancing the performance of PPPs in smart city infrastructure projects. Five categories of critical success factors for PPPs in smart city infrastructure projects have been established: partnership and collaboration; financial sustainability; contractual duties and outsourcing; smart integration; and contract governance.

The proposed model represented the causal interrelationships among relevant critical success factors derived from literature, which may help in directing the organization’s attention and resources to more critical areas, leading to the effective fulfilment of the smart city infrastructure project’s objectives. In addition to the theoretical and methodological contributions, this study produced a usable and readily adaptable list and clusters of critical success factors for research in the area of the implementation of PPP in smart city infrastructure projects.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to identify PPP critical success factors and their themed clusters for smart city infrastructure projects.