Project Delivery Systems, Procurement Practices and Implementation of Building Construction Projects in the Kenyan Judiciary

Kenyan population increased from 20 million in 1985 to approximately 47.6 million in 2019 and with it, demand for justice also increased yet the growth did not come with improved Judiciary infrastructure. This attracted the World Bank through the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP) to fund 30 major court construction projects while the Kenyan Government also funded another 33 such projects from 2013. However, by January, 2020,only 10 projects had been completed and successfully handed over with all the 63 projects being out of the planned time and with variation on the original scope of works.This gave rise to this study that aimed to evaluate the influence of project delivery systems on implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan judiciary as moderated with the procurement practices. The study was based on general systems theory. Pragmatism paradigm and convergent parallel mixed research design was adopted and proportionate stratified sampling was used to select a population of 234 consisting of judiciary staff, construction staff  and consultants.Primary data was collected through use of questionnaires, interviews and document  content analysis. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha while data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included measures of central tendency. Qualitative data was subjected to thematic analysis to triangulate results derived from quantitative data. Inferential statistics was analyzed by correlation, simple linear regression and multiple regression analysis. Two hypotheses were tested to establish whether there were significant relationships between project delivery systems and implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary, namely  1.H0:  Project delivery systems have no significant relationship with implementation of construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary and 2.H0: There is no significant moderating influence of procurement practices on the relationship between project delivery systems  and implementation of construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary.The findings were that there was a significant influence of project delivery systems on the implementation of construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary and that procurement practices significantly moderated the relationship between project delivery systems and implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary.The slope coefficient was significant when p ≤0.05. The findings of the study will be beneficial to policy makers, project managers in public and private sectors and scholars regarding project delivery attributes on implementation of building construction projects. Keywords:Project delivery Systems, Procurement Practices and Implementation of Building Construction Projects. DOI: 10.7176/CER/13-6-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

User Involvement, Procurement Practices and Implementation of Building Construction Projects in the Kenyan Judiciary

Kenyan population increased from 20 million in 1985 to approximately 47.6 million in 2019 and with it, demand for justice also increased yet the growth did not come with improved Judiciary infrastructure. This attracted the World Bank through the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP) to fund 30 major court construction projects while the Kenyan Government also funded another 33 such projects from 2013. However, by January, 2020,only 10 projects had been completed and successfully handed over with all the 63 projects being out of the planned time and with variation on the original scope of works.This gave rise to this study that aimed to evaluate the influence of user involvement on implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan judiciary as moderated with the procurement practices. The study was based on general systems theory. Pragmatism paradigm and convergent parallel mixed research design was adopted and proportionate stratified sampling was used to select a population of 234 consisting of judiciary staff, construction staff  and consultants .Primary data was collected through use of questionnaires, interviews and document  content analysis. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha while data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included measures of central tendency. Qualitative data was subjected to thematic analysis to triangulate results derived from quantitative data. Inferential statistics was analyzed by correlation, simple linear regression and multiple regression analysis. Two hypotheses were tested to establish whether there were significant relationships between project delivery attributes and implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary, namely  1.H0:  User Involvement has no significant relationship with implementation of construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary and 2.H0: There is a significant moderating influence of procurement practices on the relationship between user involvement  and implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary. The findings were that there was a significant influence of user involvement on the implementation of construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary and that procurement practices significantly moderated the relationship between user involvement and implementation of building construction projects in the Kenyan Judiciary. The slope coefficient was significant when p ≤0.05. The findings of the study will be beneficial to policy makers, project managers in public and private sectors and scholars regarding project delivery attributes on implementation of building construction projects. Keywords: User involvement, Procurement Practices and Implementation of Building Construction Projects. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-18-12 Publication date:September 30th 202

Availability of ICT Infrastructure and use of Student Management Information System in Teacher Education Programme by Distance Learning in selected Universities in Kenya

Student management information system (SMIS) is used in educational institutions to provide easy access to students’ bio data which leads to increased efficiency, effectiveness and quality. About 80 per cent of Universities in Kenya that provide teacher education programme by distance learning. The objective of the study was to establish the extent to which availability of ICT infrastructure influences the use of SMIS in teacher education programme by distance learning in selected universities in Kenya. The study was based on Adaptive Structuration Theory, and cross-sectional survey design was used to guide the processes. A mixed approach was used for data collection involving structured questionnaires, key informant interviews and focus group discussions and data was collected from a random sample of 445 participants drawn from a target population of 9,936. Quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential. Statistical techniques were used to test the relationships between independent and dependent variables. The overall Chi-square test results revealed that there was a significant relationship between availability of ICT infrastructure and use of Student Management Information systems (Chi-Square value = 62.609; P-value=0.000<0.05) leading to rejection of the null hypothesis that here is no significant relationship between availability of ICT Infrastructure and use of Student Management Information System and acceptance of the alternative hypothesis. It was therefore concluded that availability of ICT infrastructure has an influence on the use of student management information system in teacher education programmes by distance learning. The finding will be useful to development planners and education policy makers by providing empirical knowledge for interventions that promote ICT infrastructure in universities. The study recommended that all universities in Kenya should adopt SMIS to support their administrative and academic functions and that the government should fast track rural electrification and laying of high speed internet cables to support the use of SMIS

Moderating Influence of Personal Attributes on the Relationship between Institutional Factors and Use of Student Management Information System in Teacher Education Programme by Distance Learning in Selected Universities in Kenya

Student management information systems (SMIS) are used in educational institutions to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and quality by providing easy access to students' biodata, administrative and academic information. About 80 per cent of Universities in Kenya offering teacher education programmes by distance learning still perform manual administrative tasks, with student records stored in filing cabinets, causing dust accumulation and difficulty in retrieval. Numerous studies have been conducted, but there is insufficient scientific research on the issues and challenges faced by distance learning students using SMIS. This study investigated the influence of personal attributes of learners on the use of student management information system in teacher education programme by distance learning. The indicators of personal attributes were identified as age, gender and level of education. Universities in Kenya are among the leading users of information systems that value high quality SMIS to support teacher education programme. The objective of this study was to determine the moderating influence of personal attributes on the use of SMIS in teacher education programme by distance learning in selected universities in Kenya. The study was based on Adaptive Structuration Theory, and cross-sectional survey design was used to guide the processes. Data was collected from 445 participants from selected Universities in Kenya that use SMIS in the management of teacher education programs by distance learning. A mixed approach for data collection was used that comprised structured questionnaires, interview guides and personal observation. For data analysis, Chi-square technique, Pearson correlation and regression analyses were used to test the relationships between the moderating and dependent variables. Research hypothesis was tested at α=0.05 level of significance and the null hypothesis (H0) which stated that “There is no significant moderating influence of personal attributes on use of SMIS in teacher education programme by distance learning in selected Universities in Kenya” was rejected since p=0.000<0.05. The study concluded that personal attributes of learners have a significant moderating influence on the use of SMIS in teacher education programme by distance learning in selected Universities in Kenya. The finding will be useful to development planners and education policy makers by providing evidence-based information for interventions that promote ICT infrastructure in universities. The study recommended that all universities in Kenya should adopt SMIS to support their administrative and academic functions and that learners should be given continual training on the use of SMIS. The government should also fast track rural electrification and laying of high speed internet cables to support the use of SMI

The Relationship Between Perceived Quality Dimensions and Growth in Distance Education: The Case of External Degree Programme of the University of Nairobi, Kenya

Shrinking resources from the exchequer, the demand for a more cost-effective education and competition among Kenyan Public Universities has motivated academic administrators in these universities to launch distance education programmes. However, one major concern has been quality. This study sought to determine the relationship between perceived tangibles dimension of a degree programme and its growth. Further, the study intended to establish the relationship between perceived responsiveness dimension and growth of the programmes. A questionnaire was employed to collect data from students, Distance Education administrators and lecturers. The findings showed that there was no significant relationship between the two quality dimensions and the growth of Distance Education Programme. It was observed that growth occurred in spite of perceived quality dimension deficiencies due to career driven demand for higher education. However, quality variables that were considered as key consisted of adequacy and responsibility of teaching and support staff, clarity of course objectives, and flexibility of programmes. The study recommends that Universities engage sufficient and responsible support staff and lecturers to provide learner support services. Similarly, course objectives should be clear, while programmes should be as flexible as possible for learners