Development of a sustainable stakeholder management framework for construction projects in Ghana

Abstract

D.Phil. (Engineering Management)Abstract: The construction industry’s role in the infrastructure development and other sectors of the economy in developing countries is well acknowledged for its importance. Moreover, the need for an accelerated growth has led to the establishment of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and currently the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) for public-sector projects. Nevertheless, the diverse stakeholders involved in project development coupled with the high rate of public-sector project failure has made it receive negative public attention. Efforts by project managers to use the project management hard skills to improve project delivery have failed. However, the use of innovative stakeholder management (SM) soft skill approach has been embraced in developed countries to enhance stakeholder management success and project delivery. The identified challenge is the factors that need to be considered by project managers and a formal model to be used in Ghana as a developing country. The main aim of this study was to develop a sustainable stakeholder management framework for project SM success and enhanced project delivery. A Mixed-Method research approach was employed using a literature review and qualitative Delphi survey to explore key constructs and measurement variables. Twelve out of the Twenty experts purposively sampled from the industry using eight-factor criteria initially agreed to participate in the study. However, ten experts participated in the three-rounds Delphi survey that identified eighty-one measured variables. The variables were categorised into critical success factors CSF (59) barrier factors CBF (8) and SM output (14). Also, identified were six exogenous critical success factors and one endogenous SM success construct. The study identified SSM as a six-factor model defined by the exogenous factors of pre-stakeholder identification; stakeholder identification; stakeholder assessment; stakeholder engagement; conflict resolution; implementation, monitoring and feedback. Also identified is the direct effect of external environment (CBF) on SSM success. A quantitative questionnaire survey involving 350 purposively sampled industry participants was conducted. The 289-valid returned questionnaire constituted 82.5% response rate. Using an SPSS 16.0 for data entry, a Pre-CFA PC Varimax test was used to examine the validity and reliability of the measured variables and latent constructs. All the exogenous constructs (CSF and CBF) met the data internal consistency pre-set thresholds. Furthermore, a CFA test was conducted using a robust analytical structural equation modeling SEM IBM SPSS AMOS 22 for model fit..