{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T01:46:54Z","timestamp":1785376014018,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,2]],"date-time":"2026-01-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767312000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012554","name":"Hubei Provincial Department of Education","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["24Z325"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["24Z325"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012554","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Jiangsu Federation of Philosophy and Social Science","award":["23SYB-085"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23SYB-085"]}]},{"name":"National Party Schools of C.P.C.","award":["2023DXXTZDDYKT032"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023DXXTZDDYKT032"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The investment in PPP projects in China is large but quite uneven. Based on the political economy theory, using data from the public\u2012private partnership (PPP) industry issued by local municipal authorities from 2014 to 2018 in China, this paper explains the phenomenon of uneven PPP investment from a politically performance-driven perspective. The study shows that local officials have a strong incentive to increase investment in PPP projects that have positive visual effects on performance appraisal. Driven by promotion incentive, PPP investment demonstrates a phenomenon of \u201cemphasizing performance over livelihood\u201d and \u201cemphasizing aboveground over underground\u201d. The correlation between promotion incentives for municipal party secretaries and the annual incremental investment amount in growth-based PPP categories has an inverted U-shaped curve. Furthermore, the age of mayors has a heterogeneous influence on PPP investment, with those under 52 years of age being more willing to increase investment in growth-based PPP categories, as well as growth-based-visible PPP categories. Our study explores the political reasons for project investment mismatch and reveals the negative effect of local officials\u2019 promotion incentives, which provides empirical experience in China for other countries to explore the relationship between officials\u2019 promotion incentives and project investment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0337404","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,2]],"date-time":"2026-01-02T18:45:01Z","timestamp":1767379501000},"page":"e0337404","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The influence of local officials\u2019 promotion incentives on Public-Private Partnership project investment from a political-performance-driven perspective: Empirical evidence from China"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-8018-1274","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Lisha","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2439-3668","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mingyang","family":"Yue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shasha","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rong","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tao","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boyuan","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,2]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0337404.ref001","first-page":"82","article-title":"Why do PPPs distribute unevenly in different sectors: An optimal contract arrangement based on sector characteristics","volume":"38","author":"DM Yao","year":"2017","journal-title":"Finance & Trade Economics"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0337404.ref002","first-page":"131","article-title":"Institutional quality and promotion pressure: analysis on the influence factors of chinese infrastructure PPP Project Investment","volume":"165","author":"Y Jiang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Administrative Tribune"},{"key":"pone.0337404.ref003","first-page":"150","article-title":"Impact of promotion incentive on public-private partnership project","volume":"3","author":"XJ Cai","year":"2020","journal-title":"China Soft Science"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0337404.ref004","first-page":"97","article-title":"Political incentives and city construction: The visibility of public projects","volume":"53","author":"M Wu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Economic Research Journal"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0337404.ref005","first-page":"999","article-title":"PPP: Social monitoring, external regulation and the design of optimal incentive contract","volume":"21","author":"QZ Liu","year":"2021","journal-title":"China Economic Quarterly"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0337404.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000213","article-title":"Public-private partnership experience in the international arena: case of Turkey","volume":"30","author":"AP Gurgun","year":"2014","journal-title":"J Manage Eng"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0337404.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"484","DOI":"10.1061\/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000152","article-title":"Critical success factors for PPPs in infrastructure developments: Chinese Perspective","volume":"136","author":"APC Chan","year":"2010","journal-title":"J Constr Eng Manage"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0337404.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102","DOI":"10.1016\/j.retrec.2010.10.011","article-title":"Does the political and economic context influence the success of a transport project? 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