The Citizen’s Seat at the Table: How Private Sector Behavior Fosters Alignment With Citizens in Public-Private Partnerships

Citizens play a crucial role in public-private partnerships (PPPs). Yet, such citizens often are poorly engaged and excluded from decision-making, leading to situations where their interests do not align with the public and private partners. Recognizing the importance of private sector behaviors in PPPs, we aim to identify how their behaviors play a role in aligning these interests to meet citizen expectations. We use the Economies of Worth framework and a comparative case study to identify behavioral mechanisms to support alignment, such as being available to citizens in person, adaptability, engaging in small goodwill gestures, and sustaining these behaviors over time.