A performance evaluation framework of development projects: An empirical study of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) construction projects in Kenya

• We have developed a performance evaluation framework of development projects.
• The performance is operationalised through 35 observable performance variables.
• Factor analysis on the data provides an instrument with 27 items and six factors.
• The six factors represent six key performance indicators (KPIs).
• The KPIs are time, cost, quality, site disputes, safety and environmental impact.

The present work attempts to develop a multidimensional performance evaluation framework of development projects by considering all relevant measures of performance. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this performance evaluation framework, it has considered the case of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects constructed between 2003 and 2011 in Kenya and collected the viewpoints of 175 respondents comprising clients, consultants and contractors involved in the implementation of CDF projects with regard to their perception on 35 performance related variables. A five-point Likert scale was used as a response format for different variables with the assigned values ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to the collected data which gave rise to an instrument consisting of 27 items representing six factors. The findings further reveal that the items constituting these six factors essentially represent six key performance indicators (KPIs) namely time, cost, quality, safety, site disputes and environmental impact. The relative influence of each KPI towards overall performance of construction projects shows that time is the most important measure followed by cost while safety comes last in order of importance in the performance evaluation of CDF construction projects. The findings of this study have significant bearing on other similar kind of development projects undertaken in developing countries.