The Prediction of Stakeholder participation in Project Execution on Completion of Urban Roads Transport Infrastructure Projects in Kenya

This paper examines the influence of stakeholder participation in project execution on completion of road projects implemented by Kenya Urban Roads Authority. Descriptive research survey design was used for collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. Analysis was performed using correlation and regression analysis. The results were r = 0.796, R2 = 0.634, F (4, 209) = 90.503 and p<0.000<0.05. The findings revealed that stakeholder participation in project execution showed a strong, positive and statistically significant relationship with completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects and accounted for 63.4% of total variation in such projects. The study recommends government agencies should endeavour should work together during project implementation to ensure that service lines and acquisition of land is done ahead of time to avoid delay in completion. This will aim at ensuring quality work is achieved by both the client and the consultant through a collaborative stakeholder engagement. In conclusion, the findings of this study will shape the future of road construction and stakeholder engagement in road construction projects.


Introduction
Stakeholder participation in project life cycle management is complex and thus requires the participation of stakeholders to ensure project are essentially completed successfully (Silvius and Schipper 2019;Newcombe, 2013). For example Miller (2015) the role of stakeholder in project's decision making process is fundamentally critical to project's success. However, other scholars posit that determining the level of stakeholder participation or engagement should be need-based process (Olander & Landin, 2015;Jailaubekov, Willard, Tritsch, Chan, Sai, Gearba & Zhu, 2013). The need to include stakeholder in the execution phase is very crucial to the success of the road construction projects. In project execution phase, two processes are involved: pre-construction and construction. Pre-construction takes into consideration activities such as: procurement of supplies, financing, preparation of the site, and manufacturing of the construction supplies (Maunda & Moronge, 2016). The construction process critically must be flexible and adjust for any unanticipated situations that are likely to occur despite the ction plan guidelines. Maintaining communication lines with stakeholders is critical for progress.
Project execution aims to actively involve the stakeholders in project activities. This promotes effective and efficient implementation of the project. This is done without distorting project plans. According to Project Management Institute (2013), project execution relies on plans derived from the planning phase and lack of defined project activities, each particular project would use their best practices to implement these activities. Important elements for considerations are duration an activity is likely to last, resource productivity variability and unanticipated risks. During the project execution activities are executed in line with the approved policies and plans. Using these plans, the project team acquires and gathers the resources needed to achieve the project goals. It involves managing the cost, quality and scheduled plans. It is the responsibility of project team to ensure that stakeholders are provided with the necessary information in time (Meridith & Mantel, 2009).
to be more meaningful. The more the stakeholders know about a project, the more they create a greater sense of ownership and engagement in its implementation. It is at the activity execution stage that the stakeholders mostly participate in projects. Execution phase demands people and resource coordination and management of stakeholders' expectations (Hartwell, Upadhyay & Sourani, 2019). Stakeholder participation in this phase has been observed to be inadequate due to the incidences reported on work disruption or stoppage of work arising from low stakeholder involvement in both the initiation and planning phase of the project. It has also been observed that the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and the complimentary service providers are not adequately involved in the projects as evidenced by many stoppages and disruptions of work activities by the landowners due to failure to compensate them on time and also stalling of the works in areas where service lines are located within the road reserve. These stakeholders are crucial in mitigating and controlling risks in this phase of the project (Lehtiranta, 2014). At this juncture, the study aimed to assess the extent to which stakeholder participation in execution of project would influence the completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya. Both the null and alternate hypotheses were tested to determine the prediction of stakeholder participation in project execution towards urban roads completion.

Stakeholder Participation in Project Execution and Completion of Urban Road Transport Infrastructure Projects
In the literature of the Project Management Institute (PMI), the execution phase is the stage where all planned activities are carried out to actualize the project. Execution is all about building deliverables that satisfy the intended beneficiaries or customers (Project Management Institute, 2013). It is often expected that team leaders make this happen by allocating resources and keeping the team members focused on their assigned tasks. According to the PMI, project execution is directly influenced by planning phase and stakeholders' strength. The team's effort in this phase is derived from documented project plan. Usman, Kamau and Mireri (2014) clarify that: "Implementation phase principle is the third segment of the Life Cycle Management (LCM). This is a process for improving project delivery. The implementation phase principles include: mobilization, commissioning of the project, procurement, determination of cash flow, consultants and Government agencies as well as the construction processes which affects cost, time and quality standards." (Usman et al., 2014) Ling and Ma (2014) project quality is measured by observing how project is implemented in conformity with specifications such as budgets, desired aesthetics, and satisfaction of stakeholder with project's quality. It affirms mutuality between stakeholder participation in project lifecycle and project quality. As noted by Nankoris and Gakuu (2017), "Community participation otherwise known as participatory development is critical especially in aligning Kenya's development to the Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)." During this phase, results may require planning updates and come up with fresh milestones. This changes are manifested project's durations, resource productivity and risks. During the project execution phase, the project team is required to work as together to manage cost, quality and schedules (Meridith & Mantel, 2009).
In his study, Khwaja (2014) assessed the impact of project construction in Northern Pakistan. The findings revelaed that community participation is not 'always' beneficial it is only valuable in non-technical matters and not technical ones. On the contrary by involving the community in cash contribution and in-kind can lead to sustainable projects. Similarly, Paddock (2013) noted that in El Salvadoran and Honduran, the community members contributed cash towards construction of bridges and collaborated with government in the design and assessment of quality of the finished product. Olander and Landin (2015) indicated that it is necessary to consider stakeholder demands and their power to influence projects throughout the phases of project. However, a critical examination of this study reveals that only a case study was used with a limited geographical scope and hence difficult to generalize the results. This study was also conducted in a developed country, which has different socioeconomic and economic circumstance as the LDCs. Monitoring, controlling and execution of projects are activities combined because they happen in tandem. While it is important to execute project plans, the teams involved should be keen on monitoring their progress. This is usually done to guarantee delivery of what was promised (project's objectives). Stakeholders need to monitor tasks to keep the project within the scope, maintain cost and time and ensure it moves ahead smoothly (Project Management Institute, 2013).
Implementation of development projects must incorporate M&E to ensure effective implementation of the project. Sheikh, (2010) studied the participation of grass-root people in development projects in Bangldesh. The focus was on Lampur and Jagannathpur union parishad. The study revealed that poor people in the community are hardly or not at all included in the committed responsible for project Implementation. In most cases, these committees are dominated by those people considered to have strong socio-economic and sometimes political background or both.
Similarly, the project committees are used as patronage distribution mechanisms. The local representatives take advantage of these development projects to build a political mileage for themselves. Hence Sheikh identified socioeconomic and political contexts as common deterrents to participation in grassroots development process. Sheikh's assertions are supported by Sulemnana, Musah and Simon (2018) undertook a study to assess the level of participation of stakeholder in Monitoring and Evaluation of projects within the district assembly in Savelugu-Nanton Municipality Assembly of Ghana. The study used semi-structured interviews and questionnaires for data collection according to thematic areas. The study revealed that stakeholder participation of Municipal Planning and Co-coordinating Unit (MPCU) members and the District Assembly members in M&E of projects and programmes was high but low among the Zonal Council and also at the community levels which had negative impact on three things regarding development projects and programmes: first, transparency; second, accountability; and third, the sustenance. These studies are a revelation that community participation that needs to be supported.
Incorporating various types of communication media have influence on stakeholders' participation in the development process by contributing in the design, implementation, and also monitoring of development activities (Asian Development Bank, 2011). The stakeholders include the government, the private sector, and civil society. The Asian Development bank goes further to explain, that: "Notwithstanding the level of participation, communication can contribute to increasing awareness, fostering behavioral changes, facilitating mobilization, and establishing partnerships in pursuit of common goals. However, the lack of it can also break down negotiations, limit alternatives to addressing problems, constrain benefit distribution of development interventions, lead to marginalization of stakeholders and, ultimately, restrict the attainment of desired outcomes." Asian Development Bank (2011) A study by Ndunda, Paul and Mbura (2017) showed that road projects implementation was positively and significantly influenced by project beneficiary participation (r=0.712, p< 0.05). An exploratory study by Lopes and Antonio (2013) on what might be the cause of delays in Information Technology (IT) projects in Brazil found that, as part of project execution, poor communication involving one or more stakeholders could adversely affect the project's deadline. These convergence of opinions among the authors confirms that stakeholder participation in project execution could result to implementation of projects within planned time, cost while meeting stakeholders' satisfaction. A case study by Olander and Landin (2015) studied the influence project execution on the implementation of construction projects. The target population was 391 respondents within construction projects. The research was carried out using a questionnaire and interview guide. The findings from the study established there was team work acquiring resources needed for construction projects.
In a descriptive survey by Mugabo and Mulyungi (2019) on "Effect of Stakeholder Engagement on Project Success in Rwanda," a total of 43 project staff combined with representative stakeholders of youth project were included. The results based on analysis, revelaed a strong positive relationship (p=0.006 <0.05) between stakeholder engagement in project execution and its success (r=0.903). Hence, there was need to study this variable further basing it on urban roads transport infrastructure. Further, the analysis revealed that an unstandardized beta coefficient demonstrates that a 1% increase of stakeholder engagement in project execution would result to an increase of 0.063 on success of the project. Although this study focused on the youth project, it is assumed that as a project, it must have undergone the same methodological approaches of project management and hence it is deemed significant in reviewing of the current literature. In addition, the project was in Rwanda while the current study is in Kenya.
Stakeholder may not always be required to participate in the development projects. On this note, Musyoki and Gakuu (2018) studied on the institutional factors and implementation of infrastructure projects. The authors examined the influence of stakeholders during implementation of infrastructural projects. Both descriptive and correlational research designs were adopted to establish empirical results. The target population comprised of 55 employees at the Department of Transport and Infrastructure and 45 attaches working on temporary basis. The study however involved everyone in the target population qualifying for census. The study concluded that stakeholders had a negative and significant influence given a negative B coefficient of -0.0253 and a significant p value of 0.000 less than 0.05 the level of significance.

Conceptual Framework
Stakeholder participation can take place in different phases of project cycle and also at different levels of society (Andersen, 2009;Yu, Shen, Kelly & Hunter 2016;Maunda and Moronge (2016). This informed the conceptual framework of the study. This paper is based upon this conceptual analysis framework. The indicators for stakeholder participation in project execution are not exhaustive of the stages of a project life cycle. Completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects was evaluated in terms completion of within time, within cost, quality specifications and stakeholder satisfaction

Theoretical Framework
The theory of change guided this study. Stein (2012), explain that the theory of change was first used in the United States as a result of improving the evaluation theory and also the practice of community initiatives. According to Connell et al. (2009), it seeks to promote social change. It distinguishes between the desired and actual outcomes modeled by the stakeholders (Stein, 2012). This clearly expound on the vital need to work with all stakeholders in road construction. Vogel (2012) says that application of this theory can commence at any particular stage. However, it is the duty of the project manager to decide which stakeholders' interest deserves immediate attention to warrant their involvement (Freeman, 2010). The theory of change, in the context of this study, is suitable in the identification of the methodology to be used by the project managers in the participation of stakeholders in all phases of project lifecycle management so as to influence the completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects. The theory of change contextualized in the current study provides an understanding of the importance of situational analysis during project implementation and innovative approaches in which project managers can embark on to reduce resistance to change.

Methodology
This study was pragmatic and employed mixed method approach to study the phenomena in its natural setting Sarantakos 2010).The target population (1593 particpants) drawn from Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), Project Affected Persons (PAPs) and service providers. Using Yamane (1967)

Descriptive Analysis of Stakeholder Participation in Project Execution
Stakeholder participation in project execution was considered in terms of their participation in pre-construction meetings, execution of planned activities, monitoring and controlling of project activities and communication (Table 1). Results in Table 1 indicate that the overall mean or composite mean of participation in project execution was 3.93. The most dominant dimension was communication (M=4.15). The study revealed that sociologists and environmentalists educated the community members on the effects of project. The project's team held meetings whereby project analysis on the status, way forward and possible challenges of the current project. The stakeholders also confirmed that they were constantly receiving information on the progress of work through appropriate communication channels, which included; emails, telephone and public meetings. On the average, meetings with the political leaders were held to address community concerns. It should be noted that the influence of community leaders is significant in matters of community development to capture their support for the project and also promote sustainability of the same. The sub composite standard deviation recorded was 0.875 higher than the composite standard deviation of 0.847, which implied divergence in opinions recorded in the study.
Pre-construction meeting (M=4.14) influenced the road performance significantly. It is in this meeting that the client articulated the scope of the project, contractor prepared programme of works and cash flow projects. Upon these activities, the roles and the responsibilities of each stakeholder were clearly spelt out and at the same time, the goals discussed and understood. The findings also showed that all the stakeholders except the representatives of the community. The sub composite standard deviation recorded was 0.845 higher than the composite standard deviation of 0.847, which implied convergence in opinions recorded in the study on this particular pre-construction meeting.
Execution of planned activities (M=3.78) averagely influenced the performance of the road and this was greatly affected by government agencies inability to remove and relocate service lines and acquire land far ahead of the planned construction activities. Four items indicated execution of planned activities were properly done, these include: first, mobilization and management of project's team; second, implementation of project activities through site inspections and regular meetings; third, consultation of stakeholders when changing original plans; and fourth, community following up construction activities to ensure their interests were taken care of. The sub composite standard deviation recorded was 0.745 lower than the composite standard deviation of 0.847, which implied convergence in opinions recorded in the study on execution of planned activities.
Monitoring and controlling of project activities (M=3.64) was properly carried out although to an average extent. The study evidently indicated that all items observed the principles of stakeholder participation in monitoring and controlling. Feedback from the stakeholders was sought to ascertain the quality of work. The control of project costs was observed while community concerns were considered and incorporated in the agenda for monthly progress meetings. The government agencies were inefficient in monitoring activities associated with relocation of service lines. The findings also showed that the consultants monitored and controlled the quality of work. The sub composite standard deviation recorded was 0.921 higher than the composite standard deviation of 0.847, which implied inconsistency in opinions recorded in the study on this particular dimension.

Qualitative Information of Stakeholder Participation in Project Execution and Completion of Urban Roads Transport Infrastructure
The fact that this study was informed by mixed methods research relevant qualitative information was sought from key informant interviews as well as opened ended items. From the opened questions, the respondents were asked to indicate whether they think stakeholder participation in the execution phase contributes to successful completion of urban road projects. The findings were as illustrated in Table 2. As indicated in Table 2, majority (93.9%) of the respondents agreed that their participation in the execution phase could contribute to successful completion of urban road projects. To them, their involvement as stakeholders in the project execution can influence design implementation of the project and effectively increase the realization of their rights and as well minimize disputes arising from land acquisition.
The respondents also indicated other reasons were that "they help in team formation and execution of the task assignments together with updating the project schedule which works to the benefit of the project; their views can be used to improve the design of the project and also ensure important problems are addressed; there are stakeholders who are technically able and can offer expertise regarding some issues in execution and also in quality checks to ensure proper execution of the project plan; the works would not run well within the timelines without their proper involvement; they participate in the review of implementation of the project activities through site inspections and meetings; they offer guidance throughout the execution stages as well as other stages on crucial areas of the project".
The respondents further indicated that they participated in the review and implementation of the project activities through site inspections, ensures all stakeholders follow up on their roles defined in design phase up to execution stage, they gauge the progress of the project based on the goals and objectives to see whether the project is being implemented accordingly, they have the mandate to inspect and evaluate completed works and check on the progress which is healthy for the project and increases early identification and solution to problem encountered when exercising planned activities.
During interview, the respondents were asked to give their opinion on extent of stakeholders' contribution to substantial project completion through the execution phase. They indicated that they help in speeding up relocation of service lines and land acquisition process to give way for the execution of the project. This to them served as a kind of motivation to the execution team, which is healthy for team building, update on the project schedule and evaluation of work done to ensure quality is observed. They also indicated their involvement in regular meetings for monitoring progress of work and solving challenge faced during project execution. This could ensure better management and project governance. However, on unique challenges that the authority faces in the implementation of urban roads.
KURA-2 said that, "The Authority has faced a challenge related to funding where we have not at some instances been allocated adequate funds for project implementation".
On how they identify the road projects to be implemented and whether they consult the beneficiaries in the identification of those projects KURA-3 said that, "We identify the projects through Pre-feasibility and feasibility studies where all the stakeholders' including beneficiaries are consulted." When further asked to rate the level of participation of stakeholders in the projects they have been involved in various phases of the project life cycle management, KURA-4 representative said, "The level of participation of stakeholders in the initiation phase was 80%, planning was 100% and at Execution was 50%".
On phases of the project life cycle in which land owners and PAPS should be involved, KURA-5 representative said,

Correlation Analysis
Data was collected from the respondents on participation in project execution variables and then the composite index on each of the participation in project execution variable indicators (pre-construction meeting, execution of planned activities, monitoring and controlling of project activities and communication) was computed and used in the analysis. The results are presented in Table 3. Table 3. Correlation between stakeholder participation in project execution and completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects  Table 3 show that participation in project execution has a positive strong and significant correlation with the completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects (r=0.796; p=0.028<0.05).

Regression Analysis
In testing its hypothesis, likewise data was collected from the respondents on participation in project execution variables and then the composite index for each of the project execution variable indicators (pre-construction meeting, execution of planned activities, monitoring and controlling of project activities and communication) was computed and used in the analysis.

Hypothesis Testing
The following hypothesis was tested using simple regression model to satisfy the study objective.
H0: Stakeholder Participation in project execution does not significantly influence completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya.

H1:
There is a significant relationship between stakeholder participation in project execution and completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya

Regression Model
The mathematical model used for testing the null hypothesis was as follows: Completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects = f (Participation in project execution) Where Y = Completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects X 3 = Participation in project execution β 0 = Constant term jsd.ccsenet.org Journal of Sustainable Development Vol. 13, No. 6; β 2 = Beta coefficients ε = Error term Data was analyzed and the regression results for the influence of participation in project execution on completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya are presented in Table 4.  (Table 4) show that r=0.796. This indicates that participation in project execution has a strong relationship with completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya. R 2 = 0.634 indicating that participation in project execution explains 63.4% of the variations in the completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya.
The overall F statistics, (F = 367.208, p<0.000<0.05), indicated that there was a very statistical significant relationship between participation in project execution and completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya. The null hypothesis was therefore rejected and it was concluded that participation in project execution significantly influences completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya.

Discussion of the Findings
The findings of the current study show that majority of stakeholders did not participate in monitoring and controlling of project activities, even though the government agencies responsible for land acquisition and relocation of service lines efficiently monitor the activities (Statement E-15). It is also evident that the community members are not keen on following up the construction activities thus their interests end up not being taken care of (Statement-E-10). These findings thus agree with Sulemnana, Musah and Simon (2018) who showed that the participation in monitoring activities by the upper cadre of government stakeholders (Municipal Planning and Coordinating Unit members and the District Assembly members in M&E of projects and programmes) was higher as opposed to zonal Council and the community which negatively impacted on the development projects in terms of transparency, accountability and project sustenance. It is for this reason the road project are not completed on schedule. The current findings also support Sheikh (2010) whose study revealed that poor people [local people] at the grass root level did not take part in project implementation [execution]. This therefore imply that there is need to engage all the stakeholder in monitoring activities concurrently.
The findings of current study also reveal that communication was positively upheld and hence positive influence on completion of urban roads transport infrastructure. The findings resonate well with Asian Development Bank (2011) that noted that stakeholder participation and communication can lead to increased awareness, foster behavioral changes facilitate mobilization, and further establish partnerships in pursuit of project's common goals. However, the meetings with political leaders were not adequately held to address concerns affecting the community and community members at large (Statement E-18). In general, the correlational analysis of the current study (r=0.796,p<0.05) shows that there exist a strong positive influence between stakeholder participation in project execution and completion of urban road transport infrastructure. The findings supports Ndunda, Paul and Mbura (2017) who established that project beneficiary participation positively and significantly influenced implementation of road projects (r=0.712, p< 0.05). It can be deduced that stakeholder particpation during project implementation or execution is vital to ensure successful completion of development projects. Thus, the current study support Mugabo and Mulyungi (2019) who found in a strong positive relationship between stakeholder engagement in project execution and its success. The current study however contradicts Musyoki and Gakuu (2018) who found that stakeholders' participation does not influence implementation of the infrastructural projects although with a positive significance. A negative B coefficient (-0.0253) was reported as opposed to a B value of 0.802 in the current study. This implies that stakeholder should not be ignored in the important phase of project execution in the project life cycle management for this can facilitate in the efficient and effective project completion.

Conclusion
Although information concerning the progress of work was frequently channeled through project supervisors and that there were meetings organized for discussing the progress of the projects, stakeholders still need to be involved fully. In the other words, it can be concluded that there is need for all the stakeholders to participate in addressing community concerns since stakeholders somehow were not consulted whenever there was a proposed change in original planned activities. Monitoring and controlling of project activities has the greatest influence on the completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya. Thus, the project sociologists and the environmentalists need to continuously engage the community and explain to them how the project would affect or benefit them. It is, however, concluded that there was a positive influence of participation in project execution on completion of urban road transport infrastructure projects in Kenya. This implies that key stakeholders should participate in the review and implementation of project activities through site inspections and regular site meetings.

Recommendation
It is evident that there was poor monitoring of activities such as relocation of service lines and land acquisition. The study also wishes to recommend that the government agencies, KPLC, NLC and KURA, should endeavor to work together during project implementation to ensure that service lines and acquisition of land is done much ahead of time to avoid delay in completion. Moreover, this will ensure quality of work is achieved by both the client and the consultant through a collaborative stakeholder engagement.