PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES AND PERFORMANCE OF PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NAIROBI CITY COUNTY, KENYA

This study investigated the relationship between project management capabilities and the success of projects at commercial banks in Kenya. The research focused on four specific areas: influence of managerial skills on project performance, role of stakeholder engagement on commercial bank projects, effect of budget allocation on project performance, and the influence of employee training on selected commercial bank projects in Nairobi City County. The study was based on program theory and stakeholder theory and used a descriptive survey design. The population for the study were project managers from various commercial banks (N=294). A sample of 165 projects were chosen using proportionate stratified random sampling while data was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to project managers. SPSS version 25.0 was used to compute descriptive and inferential statistics, while the results were presented in tables and figures. Results indicated that all four predictor variables had a significant and positive linear relationship with project performance (p < .05). The study recommended that commercial banks should focus on improving managerial skills, increasing stakeholder participation, allocating adequate budgets, and providing relevant employee training to enhance project performance. However, the four variables only explained 57.9% of the variance in project performance, indicating the need for further research to include additional variables and explore other sectors beyond commercial banks. Future studies can also adopt qualitative techniques to supplement the quantitative findings in this study. Key Words: Managerial Skills, Stakeholder Engagement, Budget Allocation , Employee Training CITATION : Charo, F. & Gachengo, L. (2023). Project management capabilities and performance of projects implemented by commercial banks in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (4), 143 – 162. http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i4.2740