Project Management Practices Influence levels on Successful Implementation of Borehole Water Projects in Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

The existence of poor project implementation is likely to lead to low development levels in a country. This is because development of a country is dependent on successful project implementation. This study examined influence level of project management practices: change management, project team competency, stakeholders’ involvement, and project resource management on implementation of borehole water project. It also determined the moderating effect of project environment of the study variable. It adopted cross sectional survey approach. Quantitative data was collected using a semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire which was administered to 89 chairpersons of borehole water projects and analyzed by statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 24. Qualitative data was collected using interview guide and analyzed by Content Analysis. Multiple regression analysis was done to establish whether there is any relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study found that: change management positively influence implementation of borehole water projects in Makueni County (r = 0.346 and P-value <0.001), project team competency was found also to positively influence implementation of borehole water projects (r = 0.265 and P-value <0.001), stakeholders’ involvement positively influence successful implementation of water projects in Makueni County (r = 0.233 and P-value <0.001), and project resource management influences successful implementation of borehole water projects in Makueni County (r = 0. 0.400 and P-value <0.001). Project environment was found not a moderator of all study variables. The study concluded that: project resource management influence level was the highest (0.593), followed by change management (0.546), then stakeholders’ involvement (0.474) and the least was project team competency (0.440). The study thus, contributed to previous knowledge by identifying the influence levels of the variables. The study recommends these practices to be given due consideration during project design, planning and implementation. Further, the study recommends further research using longitudinal study design to validate these findings, and similar research to be done in other areas to compare study findings.