Influence of risk management strategies on project perfomance: A survey of selected international development organizations based in Nairobi city, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to present a systematic evidence based literature on the practice of risk management during implementation phase of project management and more specifically risk response plans and how they impact on the success of the project where success was seen as ability to utilize planned time to meet project objectives without experiencing delays or time overruns. Empirical literature is abound with the articles on the topic of risk management. However these publications fall short of mentioning how risk response strategies influence performance of projects in terms of duration in the context of international development projects. In the present paper the investigation sought to establish the level of correlation that exists between independent variables (various risk response strategies) and the dependent variables (project duration) additionally the investigation seeks to establish the most utilized and also most effective risk response strategy. The methodology applied was based on documentary study review and analysis of the concepts used by the literature. Relevant data for the investigation was collected by way of printed and online structured questionnaires that was tested for validity and reliability with questions that were administered to project/programme managers involved in management of international development projects and the research design that was adopted was Correlational/Predictive so as to establish the association between the dependent and independent variables. The investigation used Cronbach's alpha (𝛼) of 0.65and above to test for internal reliability or internal consistency of five-point Likert scale online questionnaires. Data was later be captured in Microsoft Access 2013 version database before being analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013 version and statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) to establish the relationship between variables using Pearson Chi-square (𝜒2) test for independence as well as Spearman correlation analysis to establish association between dependent and independent variables. It was hoped that the findings emanating from the current investigation would be of benefit to both academicians and practitioners involved in the field of project management.