📄 Abstract
Road infrastructure remains a critical driver of economic growth, regional integration, and access to essential services. However, despite substantial investments in road infrastructure development, many projects continue to experience delays, cost overruns, poor quality outcomes, and implementation inefficiencies. The challenge is particularly pronounced in North Eastern Kenya, where inadequate road networks continue to constrain socio-economic development, limit access to markets and public services, and undermine regional connectivity. Although previous studies have examined factors influencing infrastructure performance, limited empirical attention has been given to the role of strategic communication in enhancing the performance of road infrastructure projects, particularly within marginalized and infrastructurally constrained regions. This study therefore examined the influence of strategic communication on the performance of road infrastructure projects in North Eastern Kenya.The study was anchored on Stakeholder Theory and Resource Dependency Theory and adopted a positivist research philosophy and an explanatory research design. The target population comprised 152 respondents drawn from project managers, contractors, government agencies, and other stakeholders involved in road infrastructure projects. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 92.36%. Reliability and validity tests confirmed the adequacy of the research instrument, with the communication construct recording a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.823 and an Average Variance Extracted value of 0.813. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis were employed in data analysis.The findings revealed that communication channels, communication flow, and communication frequency were perceived to be effective in supporting project implementation. Further, strategic communication exerted a positive and statistically significant influence on road infrastructure performance (B = 0.802, p = 0.001, OR = 2.230), indicating that projects characterized by effective communication systems were more than twice as likely to achieve satisfactory performance outcomes compared to projects with weak communication practices.The study concludes that strategic communication is a critical strategic implementation capability that significantly enhances road infrastructure performance through improved stakeholder coordination, information sharing, and project execution. The study recommends the institutionalization of structured communication frameworks and stakeholder engagement mechanisms to improve the implementation and performance of road infrastructure projects.
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📚 How to Cite:
Khadra Abdullahi Mohamed, Wilson Muema, Paul Kirigia , STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION AND PERFORMANCE OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN NORTH EASTERN KENYA , Volume 13 , Issue 8, August 2026, EPRA International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Studies (EBMS) , Pages: 222 - 230 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra28892