Stakeholder Management Strategies and Performance of Railway Construction and Rehabilitation Projects in Kenya

Frankline Ogutu Omondi, Dr. Emmy Rotich, PhD

Abstract


Railway construction and rehabilitation projects in Kenya continue to record delays, cost overruns and stakeholder dissatisfaction despite substantial public investment. This study examined the influence of two stakeholder management strategies, stakeholder mapping and communication strategies, on the performance of railway construction and rehabilitation projects in Kenya. The study was anchored on Stakeholder Theory and Communication Theory and adopted a descriptive research design. The target population comprised 192 stakeholders, including project managers, engineers, government officials and community representatives, drawn from six major railway projects using a census approach. Primary data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression in SPSS version 27. Out of 192 questionnaires administered, 159 were returned, a response rate of 82.8 percent. The findings showed that stakeholder mapping had a strong, positive and statistically significant relationship with project performance (r = 0.840, p < 0.01; ? = 0.348, p = 0.000), as did communication strategies (r = 0.720, p < 0.01; ? = 0.204, p = 0.000). The study concludes that structured stakeholder categorisation and consistent, multi-channel communication are critical enablers of timely, cost-efficient and satisfactory delivery of railway projects in Kenya. It recommends that project teams institutionalise regular stakeholder-map updates with clear documentation of roles and responsibilities, and strengthen two-way communication and feedback channels throughout the project lifecycle.

Keywords: Stakeholder Mapping, Communication Strategies, Project Performance, Railway Construction, Kenya


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