Stakeholder engagement and construction project performance in Ghana

Some Ghanaian government construction projects are completed beyond their contractual periods resulting in cost overruns, time overruns, litigation, arbitration, and project abandonment by the government. Based on the Stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study using thematic analysis was to explore project managers' perceptions of stakeholder engagement (SE) in construction project performance in Ghana. Four central research questions were developed while 338 PMP certified project managers were contacted and 16 conveniently selected through purposive sampling. Data was collected primarily through interviews and analyzed with NVivo 12 based on the six-step approach to analyzing qualitative data. Transcription was manually done by the researcher. Stakeholder engagement practices such as stakeholder types, stakeholder engagement approaches, and level of stakeholder engagement enhanced project performance in the Ghanaian construction industry. The researcher recommended Ghanaian construction project managers continue with best SE practices including continuous SE, use of an appropriate SE approach or a combination of approaches, and encourage high stakeholder participation throughout the PLC. Future research recommended by the researcher based on research findings include exploring the extent of SE and project performance in the Ghanaian construction industry as well as using a quantitative methodology with a larger sample size aimed at generalizing research findings.