Institutional and stakeholder determinants of resilience in tourism public-private partnerships in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have become increasingly important mechanisms for tourism infrastructure and destination development. However, the long-term resilience of tourism PPPs may be constrained by institutional uncertainty, regulatory changes, financial risks, and coordination problems between public and private partners and other stakeholders. This study examines the determinants of resilience in tourism PPPs in Kazakhstan by integrating institutional and stakeholder perspectives. A mixed-methods explanatory design was employed. The quantitative component was based on 189 valid questionnaires collected between 3 March and 29 May 2026 through Google Forms using a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was available in Kazakh, Russian, and English. The respondents represented public authorities, private tourism and hospitality businesses, PPP professionals, investors, destination-management organisations, support institutions, and other tourism stakeholders. The qualitative component comprised 15 semi-structured interviews conducted online and offline. Interviews lasted approximately 20–90 minutes and were audio- and video-recorded with participants' consent, transcribed, and thematically coded. Quantitative data were analysed using PLS-SEM. The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. The structural model indicated positive relationships between institutional support, regulatory stability, risk-sharing mechanisms, stakeholder communication, stakeholder involvement, and PPP resilience. Stakeholder involvement showed the strongest relationship with PPP resilience (β = 0.267, p < 0.001), followed by risk-sharing mechanisms (β = 0.241, p < 0.001) and institutional support (β = 0.214, p < 0.001). The model explained 61.2% of the variance in PPP resilience. The qualitative findings further indicated that regulatory predictability, adaptive risk allocation, communication, and stakeholder participation are important mechanisms through which tourism PPPs respond to uncertainty. The study contributes an integrated governance-based framework for understanding how institutional conditions, risk-sharing arrangements, and stakeholder relationships shape resilience in tourism PPPs in an emerging tourism economy and provides policy implications for strengthening PPP governance in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: public-private partnerships, tourism PPPs, PPP resilience, institutional support, regulatory stability, stakeholder involvement, Kazakhstan.