Influence of Social Economic Factors on Completion of Construction Projects in Public Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

The aim of this paper was to establish the influence of social economic factors on completion of construction projects in public secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya. The study was informed by construction management and soft value management theories. In the study purposive sampling technique was used in choosing 461study respondents (Principals and Chairpersons of Parents Teachers Association) who were sampled to ensure homogeneity of the selected sample in ensuring that samples were drawn from each region encompassed in the target population, then followed by simple random sampling technique from each sub county. Questionnaires and interview schedules were the main data collection instruments. Data analysis involved use of statistical package for social sciences, SPSS version 21 tool where both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Cronbach Alpha of coefficient of 0.831 was attained on all constructs of social economic factors, which was above 0.7 as recommended by Cronbach (1951) implying the research instruments were reliable. The correlation coefficient (R) or the beta value β of 0.423≠0 at p=0.00 indicated that the hypothesis was accepted. The coefficient of determination, R-square of 0.422 implied that 42.2% of the variance in completion of construction projects was attributed to social economic factors. From the study findings, social economic factors namely; interpersonal skills of project manager, inflation, corruption and community involvement affects completion of construction project progress. The community should be involved directly in school projects. This will improve their perception and goodwill towards completion of construction projects in public secondary schools. The management need to be keen on price fluctuations that eventually have an effect on completion of construction projects. Future research is encouraged to cover other sectors other than education and compare the findings. The findings are of importance to the Ministry of Education in Kenya and other interested parties in future. Researchers in future have a basis for reference from this study. Keywords: Social economic factors, Completion of construction projects, Public Secondary schools. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-12-05 Publication date: April 30th 201