Student Short Biography
Stephen Kamau is a Ph.D. graduand in Project Planning and Management at the University of Nairobi majoring in Project Planning Design and Implementation. Mr. Kamau holds a Master of Arts Degree in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Education (Arts) degree majoring in Economics from Kenyatta University. He holds diplomas in Project Management (KIM), Marketing (LCCIEB), Marketing Management, Sales Management, Public Relations and Advertising (ICM _UK). He is a member of The Kenya Institute of Management (KIM), Kenya Association of Project Managers (KAPM) and The Institute of Commercial Management of UK.
A Project Management Specialist and a Trained Educator, Mr Kamau has over 20 years’ experience in the Training sector. He is a process management consultant, and an Organizational Performance Index (OPI) trained consultant and assessor in Productivity & Quality and Marketing Focus. He is a trained 5 S consultant and auditor. Mr Kamau has attended various conferences in academics, trade and industry and consulted for many organizations. A Trainer and Facilitator he has developed and delivered corporate training programmes for numerous organizations in Kenya and abroad. He is also a Researcher and Case study writer.
Mr Kamau has held various positions of Management in the Training and Education Sector in Kenya notably: Associate Director – Executive Capacity Development Programmes at the Management University of Africa and Branch Manager - The Kenya Institute of Management at Embu, Eldoret and Nairobi branches. He has also served as the Assistant Dean Executive Capacity Development Programmes at The Management University of Africa. Mr Kamau is a Lecturer in Project Management at The School of Business and Economics, Kirinyaga University.
Google Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=JF732KoAAAAJ
Research Gate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stephen_Kamau5
Academia.edu
Thesis Title
School Infrastructure Policy Implementation, Community Participation, Project Management Practices, and The Performance of Construction Projects in Primary Schools in Somaliland.
Thesis Abstract
The study sought to establish the influences of school infrastructure policy implementation aspects of policy interpretation and policy governance on the performance of construction projects; the mediating influence of project management practices on the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects; the influence of community participation on the performance of construction projects; and the moderating influence of community participation on the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects. The study was guided by the pragmatism philosophy. It was a cross-sectional survey using a correlational research design and mixed methods. The target population was 920 headteachers in 920 public primary schools in Somaliland; and 82 district education officers in the 82 districts units in Somaliland - a total of 1002. The survey adopted a multistage sampling approach using purposive, proportionate stratified random sampling, and simple random sampling techniques to draw a sample of 257 headteachers and 22 district education officers. The questionnaire was pilot tested on 28 headteachers and the interview guide on 2 MoEHS officers from Awdal district. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary quantitative data, semi-structured interviews to collect primary qualitative data and desk analysis to collect secondary data. Participation in the study by respondents was voluntary and the researcher ensured confidentiality of respondents and their responses. The response rate was 96.1% (247 headteachers) for questionnaires and 90.9% (20 DEOs) for interviews. Data were presented in tabular form in frequency and percentage distributions. Descriptive analysis was by the mean, standard deviation, mean of means and composite standard deviation. The data fulfilled the assumptions of parametric tests. Pearson correlation was used to analyse the association between the variables. Simple and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse total effects. Path analysis technique was used to calculate the direct effect, indirect effect and the path coefficients. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. Relationships among the variables were tested using t-tests at a 5% level of significance. The study found that policy interpretation (b = -0.3215, p< 0.001, R2 = 0.4183), policy governance (b = -0.3074, p< 0.001, R2 = 4308), and school infrastructure policy implementation (b = -0.7350, p< 0.001, R2 = 0.6214), each had significant direct influence on performance of construction projects. Community participation, however, did not have a significant influence on performance of construction projects (c = -0.1870, P = 0.100, R2 = 0.011). Project management practices were found to mediate the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects (p52 * p21 = 0.8008, CI [0.6411, 0.9779]). The study concluded that policy interpretation, policy governance and school infrastructure policy implementation, each had a moderate direct negative linear relationship with performance of construction projects. These variables also exerted a significant positive indirect influence on the performance of construction projects through project management practices (mediation). Project management practices exerted a partial positive mediation on the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects. Community participation had no significant total effect and direct effect on the performance of construction projects but rather exerted its influence by moderating the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects (b = -0.0309, p = 0.4380, CI [-0.0609, -0.009], R2 = 0.0279). Low community participation partially moderated the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects while moderate and high community participation levels fully moderated that relationship. The study concluded that policy interpretation, policy governance and combined school infrastructure policy implementation manifest their influence on the performance of construction projects through project management practices. The study also concluded that project management practices mediate while community participation moderates the relationship between school infrastructure policy implementation and performance of construction projects. The study recommends that the school infrastructure policy should be put together into one policy document, it should be made accessible and available to the schools and ministry officials, school management should be sensitized on the policy, headteachers be acquainted with basic project management skills and stakeholders be participated throughout the project cycle for more projects’ support and better projects’ performance. Future studies can focus on: how administration structures affect policy implementation, establishing whether other sub-variables of policy exist, why policy interpretations vary between urban schools and rural schools and, whether practices should be specified in policies.
Research Supervisors
- Prof. Charles M. Rambo,
- Prof. John M. Mbugua
