From Adoption Factors to Project-Level Conditions: Assessing the Transferability of Blockchain-Enabled Smart Contract Evidence to PPP Infrastructure Projects

Abstract Background: Blockchain-enabled smart contract (BESC) adoption factors are reported at different analytical levels, but their relevance to adoption does not establish that they can be assessed as conditions of individual public–private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects. Methods: This study applied a structured, theory-informed Project-Level Transferability Assessment to 132 harmonised literature-derived factors. Five tests examined construct meaning, analytical level, actor or object, project connection and meaning preservation. Factors were classified as direct transfers, reformulated transfers, contextual influences or withheld. Results: Of the 132 factors, 38 (28.8%) transferred directly and 58 (43.9%) required reformulation, producing 96 candidate project-level conditions (72.7%). Seventeen factors (12.9%) remained contextual influences and 19 (14.4%) were withheld. Reformulation was especially important for organisational and stakeholder constructs, while wider regulatory and industry conditions generally remained contextual. Conclusions: The assessment provides a traceable way to move from multi-level adoption evidence towards project-level research without redefining the original constructs. The resulting conditions are candidates for later contextual refinement and empirical investigation; they are not validated indicators of BESC suitability.