Exploring Interorganizational Trust in Public–Private Partnership Projects under Digital Scenarios: An Evolutionary Game Approach

Interorganizational trust in public–private partnership (PPP) projects significantly impacts the transaction costs, performance, and operational efficiency of the project, which is the key to safeguarding the quality of engineering projects. Behaviors such as lack of government credibility or speculation by the private sector can erode mutual trust, thus hindering project success. This study examines the dynamic evolution of trust among PPP project participants and stakeholder strategy selection under digital scenarios. We construct a tripartite evolutionary game model encompassing government, private sector, and public entities to investigate how multiple factors influence strategic choices. Based on the system dynamics model, the sensitivity analysis of a single factor, two factors, and multiple factors is carried out respectively. It is found that (1) trust asymmetry negatively affects the cooperation between two parties, yet a digital construction platform can significantly enhance the efficiency of government regulation and the transparency of project information, thereby mitigating this negative effect; and (2) regardless of whether the government regulates or not, the willingness for the private sector to cooperate is relatively strong when both parties have a high degree of trust. Government regulation can effectively inhibit the opportunistic behavior of the private sector, especially in the early stage of the project. However, excessive punishment and regulation may reduce the enthusiasm of the private sector, potentially obstructing project progress. (3) Public participation plays a facilitating role in the cooperation of the project. The aforementioned research is crucial for understanding PPP project management and contributes to advancing PPP projects toward being more efficient, transparent, and sustainable.