DETERMINANTS OF COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL IN MERU COUNTY, KENYA
Mwirabua Mwenda Desmond - Master of Business Administration (Project Management), Kenyatta University, Kenya
Prof. Jain K. Mohinder - Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Upholding a steady completion of construction projects in public secondary schools have been a substance of stern distress both to the education stakeholders and contractors. There have been abundant cases of delays and non-completion of projects which have backed to the severe cost to education stakeholders and the community as whole. The study aims at analysing the factors that influence the completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Meru county guided by the following specific objectives; to find out how the availability of funds influences the completion of projects, to determine how the stakeholders’ involvement influences the completion of construction projects, to examine the effects of managerial skills of the personnel on completion of construction projects and to find out how project planning influences the successful completion of building projects in public secondary schools. The study was carried out in Meru County which has 192 registered public secondary schools. Samples of 28 public secondary schools in Meru County were selected randomly. This sample present 10% of the target population. From the selected public schools, one BOM member and one PTA members were selected randomly. The selected sample of the study was 84 respondents. The data was collected using questionnaires. This study adopted descriptive research design and both primary and secondary data were collected. The validity and reliability of the instrument was enhanced through pilot testing on a small group of respondents (two head teachers) who were from schools not included in the final study. Quantitative data collected were coded, organized and analysed descriptively with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) V.20. Qualitative data was organized into themes and the findings were analysed in line with the research questions. The analysed data was presented using frequency tables, pie-charts and bar-graphs. It was notable that there exists strong positive relationship between the independent variables and dependent variable as shown by R value (0.912). The coefficient of determination (R2) explains the extent to which changes in the dependent variable can be explained by the change in the independent variables or the percentage of variation in the dependent variable and the four independent variables that were studied explain 84.6% of the completion of construction projects in public secondary schools as represented by the R2. This therefore means that other factors not studied in this research contributed 15.4% of the completion of construction projects in public secondary schools. This implies that these variables are very significant therefore need to be considered in any effort to boost completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Meru County. The study recommended that adequate funding and resources should be availed to enable standards and quality assurance officers to reach as many schools as possible in the country. The government should design policies that govern the construction of projects in the learning institutions that allows for proper engagement of the major stakeholders, procurement process, sourcing of finance and engagement of the constructors in the construction of projects in public learning institutions to ensure successful completion of the projects among others.
