Policy interpretation, project management practices and performance of construction projects

Abstract

he study sought to determine whether the performance of construction projects was influenced by school infrastructure policy interpretation and whether project management practices mediated that relationship. A cross-sectional survey using a correlational design was used. The target population comprised of 920 headteachers and 82 District Education Officers (DEOs) in all the 13 regions of Somaliland. Purposive sampling and proportionate stratified random sampling with replacement were used to sample 257 headteachers while simple random sampling was used to sample 20 DEOs. Data collection was by self- administered questionnaires for headteachers and semi-structured interviews for DEOs. Questionnaires pilot testing was done on 28 headteachers. Variable relationships were tested using t-tests at 5% level of significance. School infrastructure policy interpretation exerted a significant direct effect (b = -0.3215, p< 0.001, R2 = 0.4183) on the performance of construction projects. Project management practices mediated the relationship with a significant positive indirect effect of 0.4548, CI [0.3505, 0.5642]. A direct negative linear relationship existed between school infrastructure policy interpretation and the performance of construction projects. Policy interpretation exerts its influence on the performance of construction projects through project management practices.