Abstract:
Project performance is evaluated differently by various stakeholders of the project based on their
expectations in relation to the actual quality, cost and time. The aim of this study was to investigate the
influence of stakeholder management on project performance with the specific objectives being: to determine
the influence of stakeholder need and expectation identification; communication; conflict management and
stakeholder participation on project performance. The research adopted both descriptive and explanatory
research design. The target population was all the six Open air upgrading projects in Nyeri County funded
under Economic Stimulus Programme. The target population was appropriate as it represented all the
constituencies in Nyeri County. The study targeted 255 respondents out of which 213 successfully filled the
questionnaire. The respondents comprised of project managers, vendors, general public, project staffs and the
local authorities. The researcher used questionnaires to collect primary data. Descriptive data analysis was
employed in the study where the researcher ran the data through the SPSS to obtain the descriptive statistics
such as:the mean, mode, frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study were presented using charts,
graphs and tables. The results of the study established that the coefficients of independent variables were
positive and significant and thus these factors determine project performance. It was recommended that: the
government must ensure the aspect of stakeholder involvement is adequately covered during the feasibility study
of the intervention; that the channels, format, frequency and responsibility of sharing of the progress report to
the stakeholders be well defined during the conception stages of the intervention; that project management must
change their reactive approach on occurrence of conflict but rather adopt a proactive approach in determining
the highly susceptible issues and identify possible solution.
