Influence of Strategic Change Management on the Performance of County Development Projects in Meru County, Kenya

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of strategic change management on performance of county government development projects in Meru County, Kenya.
 Methodology: The study adopted descriptive design. The target population of the study were 139 respondents comprising 9 sub-county departmental heads, 65 project management committee members, 20 county chief officers and 45 members of county assembly. A sample size of 103 respondents were drawn from the population to participate in the study. The main research tool was questioners. The data was analyses using SPSS. Descriptive statistics mainly percentages and frequency distribution were used for data presentation. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to establish the level of statistical significance of difference between the observed and expected values. Regression analysis was used to estimate the model coefficient while Pearson coefficient of correlation was used to establish the strength of relationship among the variables. Test of hypothesis was also carried out.
 Results: After carrying out regression analysis, the research indicated that leadership was found to be statistically significant in explaining performance of county governments development projects since a unit change in leadership caused 0.488 units change in performance of county governments development projects as indicated by regression coefficient. The findings further revealed that there exists a positive and significant relationship between leadership and performance of county governments development projects (r = 0.339; p value < 0.05).
 Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: It’s recommended that the county government should recruit competent managers to enhance performance of the county development projects. Further, management of county should be include all professionals from all the communities in Kenya