Project Management Practices and Success Factors of Digital Literacy Programme in Western Kenya

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to explore the relationship between project management practices and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme in Western Kenya. Specifically, the study sought; to assess the relationship between communication management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme in Western Kenya; to evaluate the relationship between risk management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme; to determine the relationship between stakeholder management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme; to determine the relationship between scope management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme; to determine moderating effect of project complexity on the relationship between project management practices and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme. This study was necessitated by the need to understand the relationship between project management practices and success factors, considering that not all the stakeholders involved in the first phase of Digital Literacy Programme, viewed the Programme as successful highlighting a concern about success measurement criteria and practices involved in the project. Ultimately, the best judge of project success is the stakeholders involved in the project. In this study, project complexity was analyzed as a moderating variable due to its influential role in the determination of project success. The target population for this study comprised of 4337 headteachers in 4337 public primary schools in Western Kenya region namely Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia, Kisii, Kisumu, Migori and Vihiga and 7 County Directors of Education in the seven devolved county units. Stratified random sampling design was used to select 354 respondents from the seven counties Western Kenya. Primary data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. Pilot study was conducted to test validity and reliability. After collecting data and subsequent cleaning, the data was processed using descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis performed to determine the relationships between project management practices and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package of Social Science. In the findings of Analysis of Variance, the coefficients indicated that project management practices had a statistically significant contribution in the prediction of success of Digital Literacy Programme. Communication management, risk management, stakeholder management, and scope management were significant at 5% level of significance. From the findings, project complexity had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between stakeholder management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme and as well as between scope management and success factors of Digital Literacy Programme whereas the interaction of project complexity with communication management and risk management was insignificant. The study concluded that project management practices were related to success factors of Digital Literacy Programme in Western Kenya and that improvements in project management practices will clearly improve on project success rates hence a better understanding of the relationship. The study recommends continuous application of project management practices and development of policies that support, training, standardization, and institutionalization of project management practices. Training on management of project complexity is also recommended.