Moderating Influence of Process Monitoring on the Relationship between Contractors Capacity Evaluation in Tender Award and Performance of Road Construction Infrastructural Projects

The quality of road infrastructure is dependent on many factors including materials used and contractor competency in terms of managing the project and the team. Poor workmanship has been mostly blamed on these factors. Kenya and Africa at large has realized the road to grow economy is through infrastructural development projects hence investing billions of money into this noble course. Although many studies have been conducted on road construction, the focus is always drawn on the implementation phase thereby forgetting the post-delivery phase. The study aimed to assess the moderating influence of process monitoring on the relationship between contractors’ capacity evaluation in tender award and performance of road construction infrastructural project in the context of Nairobi county, Kenya. The study used both a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design and correlation research design. A sample size of 210 was obtained from a target population of 460 comprising of 106 contractors and 104 Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) drivers. Stratified sampling and proportionate sampling were used to arrive at the right sample size. Simple random sampling helped in distribution of research instruments. Pilot test was done to ensure validity and reliability of research instruments is achieved. Validity of instruments was done by use of content validity to ensure research questions aided in achieving research objective. To maintain reliability of data, Cronbach alpha values of above 0.7 were deemed important. Questionnaires were administered to contractors registered by National Construction Authority of Kenya whereas structured interview schedules were distributed to the drivers in Nairobi County. In total, 153(72.8%) of response rate was recorded. Quantitative data was descriptively analyzed whereby measure of central tendency and dispersion was done through means and standard deviation. Karl Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to show relationship between variables under the study. Hypothesis was tested by use of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) whereby multiple regression and hierarchical analysis were conducted to explain the direction, the strength and the nature of relationship between the study variables. The results showed that in both step one and two, F-values were statistically significant. That in step one R=0.826, adjusted R2=0.673, F(4,148)=79.226, p=0.000<0.05 and in step two: R=0.837, adjusted R2=0.690, F(5,147)=68.520, p=0.000<0.05. This implies that contractors’ capacity evaluation in tender award alone explains 67.3% of variation in road performance. However when put together with process monitoring they explain 69.0% of total variation in road performance. Thus the null hypothesis was rejected and alternate hypothesis accepted that process monitoring significantly moderates the relationship between combined factors of contractors’ capacity evaluation in tender award and performance of road construction infrastructural projects. The study concludes that process monitoring indeed moderates contractors’ capacity to carry out construction work and hence road performance. The study further recommends that future road construction should aim to incorporate process monitoring in its operations to ensure that the right inputs or resources are utilized to yield quality outputs and that the required standards, policies and laws are adhered to.