| dc.description.abstract | The construction industry in Kenya and the public sector in general has not been efficient and effective in projects delivery. Projects are costly and high risk undertakings that need to be accomplished by certain date, for a certain amount of money and within some expected level of performance. Considerable percentages of projects are falling behind schedule. This informed the purpose of the study which was to examine the influence of project critical success factors, government policy and completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to assess how project characteristics influence completion of construction projects, determine how attributes of project manager influence completion of construction projects, establish how top management support influences completion of construction projects, examine how availability of resources influences completion of construction projects, examine to what extent socio-economic factors influence completion of construction projects, establish the combined influence of project critical success factors on completion of construction projects and assess the moderating influence of government policy compliance on the relationship between project critical success factors and completion of construction projects. .The study used a mixed method approach which embraced both qualitative and quantitative approaches including hypothesis testing. The study target population of 610 consisted of principals, PTA Chairpersons and Quality Assurance Officer’s from which the sample size of 461 was drawn. The study used a questionnaire and an interview schedule as the main instruments of data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and data presented in frequency tables while qualitative data was presented in narrative form. Hypotheses were tested using linear regression at 0.05 level of significance to determine the degree and direction of relationships among variables. The study attained Cronbach Alpha of coefficient of 0.748 for all the items implying that the instrument was reliable. The results showed that project characteristic (r2=0.393, p<0.05), attributes of a project manager (r2=0.599, p<0.05), top management support (r2=0.425, p<0.05), availability of resources (r2=0.333, p<0.05) and socio-economic factors (r2=0.423, p<0.05) had statistically significant influence on completion of construction projects. In addition, government policy compliance had a statistically significant moderating influence on critical success factors and completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Bungoma County (procurement r=0.393, p<0.05 and usage and audit of school project r=0.623, p<0.05). The results showed that 52.8% (r=0.528, p<0.05) of completion of the construction projects was attributed to combined critical success factors. The importance of each critical success factor is key to guarantee success of completion of construction projects. The study recommends the ministry of Education Science and Technology to provide policy regarding the use of critical success factors guiding completion of construction projects. This study was conducted in public secondary schools in Bungoma County Kenya. Future studies are encouraged to cover private schools and other sectors to compare with the current findings. This findings form basis for future reference in the field of project planning and management. | en_US |
