Ngacho, C (2013) An assessment of the performance of public sector construction projects: An empirical study of projects funded under constituency development fund (CDF) in Western Province Kenya. PhD thesis, University of Delhi, India.
Abstract
The present work attempts to develop a multidimensional performance evaluation framework of public sector construction projects by considering all relevant measures of performance and the factors that influence success of these kinds of projects. In order to demonstrate the workability of this framework, it has considered the case of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) construction projects constructed between 2003 and 2011 and conducted the study at two phases: exploratory and confirmatory. The exploratory study collected the viewpoints of 175 respondents comprising clients, consultants and contractors involved in the implementation of CDF projects with regard to their perception on 35 performance related variables and 30 project success variables. Confirmatory study, on the other hand, separately collected viewpoints of 211 respondents from the same target population with regard to their perception on 27 performance related variables and 27 project success variables obtained from exploratory study. A five-point Likert scale was used as a response format for different variables with the assigned values ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = strongly Agree. The findings of the exploratory study reveal that the individual items constituting six factors of performance measurement variables essentially represent six key performance indicators (KPIs) namely time, cost, quality, safety, site disputes and environmental impact. The relative influence of each KPI towards overall performance of construction projects shows that time is the most important measure followed by cost while safety comes last in order of importance in the performance evaluation of CDF construction projects. Similarly, the six factors of project success variables represent the six critical success factors (CSFs) namely project-related, client-related, consultant-related, contractor-related, supply chain-related and external environment-related factor. The relative influence of each success factor towards project success reveals that project related factor is the most important factor followed by client related factor while contractor related factor come last in order of importance amongst the factors influencing the success of CDF construction projects. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results show that cost, time and quality are significantly correlated with overall project performance while the relationship of project performance with site disputes, safety and environmental impact are not statistically significant. In terms of their importance, based on factor loadings, cost was the most important, followed by quality, while environmental impact comes last in order of importance. Further, all the six CSFs, project-related, client-related, consultant-related, contractor-related, supply chain-related and external environment-related factor were found to have significant influence on project success with external environment related factor being the most important followed by project related factor, consultant related factor, contractor related factor, client related factor and supply chain related factor in that order. The two measurement models: one for KPIs and the other for CSFs were combined into a single performance evaluation model and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied on 211 responses in order to examine the influence of the six CSFs on project success, the association between project success and overall project performance and the relationship between overall project performance and the six KPIs. It was found that, in order of importance, project related, consultant related, client related, contractor related, supply chain related and external environment related factors influence the success of public sector construction projects. It was also found that external environment related factor does not mediate the influence of CSFs on the success of the project. Further, the results show that project success is positively associated with the overall performance of public sector construction project. Of the six KPIs earlier determined, four of them namely cost, time, quality and site dispute performance were found to be significant measures of overall project performance, whereas safety and environmental impact were found insignificant. The findings of this study have significant bearing on other similar kind of public sector construction projects undertaken in developing countries.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Das, D |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | measurement; population; environmental impact; key performance indicators; performance evaluation; project success; public sector; safety; Kenya; factor analysis; project performance; structural equation modelling; client; consultant; critical success factor |
| Index terms: | critical success factor, Kenya, performance evaluation, construction project, population, environmental impact, Likert scale, structural equation modelling, development fund, confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory study, success factor, developing country, workability, loading, implementation, empirical study, project performance, factor analysis, dispute, public sector, performance measurement, project success, key performance indicator |
| Subjects: | dispute resolution, design methods, control systems, data collection methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics, project delivery, project management theory and practice, performance measurement, statistical analysis, administrative law, environmental impact, economic analysis, contractual arrangements, construction operations, development economics, Geography, production management, research methods, demography |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Project Management, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Procurement, Quality Management, Legal Issues, Research Practice, Business Strategy, International Construction, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here