Impact factors on level of participation in transport infrastructure technology development: The role of technology capability

Transport infrastructure plays a pivotal role in economic development by enhancing connectivity, resilience, and operational efficiency. However, stakeholder participation in transport infrastructure technology projects is often hindered by concerns over high costs, extended timelines, and uncertainty in outcomes. Therefore, this empirical research is carried out to study the impacts of technology-related factors on stakeholders’ participation in technology projects, which helps to mitigate the stakeholders’ concerns and encourages participation in such projects. Drawing on national innovation system theory and the demand-pull and technology-push framework, the research investigates the impact of three key enablers—technology capability, innovation input, and government incentives—on the level of stakeholder participation in transport infrastructure technology development. The results show that national technology capability has a direct positive relationship on stakeholder participation and mediates the indirect effects of innovation input and government incentives. High government support and sustained innovation efforts translate into stronger technological capability, which leads to a higher level of participation, implying the technology-related factors’ ability to mitigate risk and improve feasibility to stakeholders. High relations are also found between government incentives and innovation input. The research has significance in exploring transport infrastructure development from a novel technology-related perspective, which could provide policy implications for policymakers and decision support for investors when participating in projects to progress the transport infrastructure technology level.