Different contexts have produced related challenges for project completion with small contextual differences. A study by Thorat, et al. in India, determined the top ten causes of delay in construction projects [12]: 1) Shortage of skilled manpower and labour; 2) Improper planning of contractor; 3) Poor site management of contractor; 4) Delay in payment by client; 5) Inadequate experience of consultant; 6) Legal disputes; 7) Shortage of materials; 8) Delay in preparation and approval of drawings by consultant; 9) Late procurement of materials; 10) Low financial capability of contractor. Seven main effects of delay were: 1) Time overrun; 2) Cost overrun; 3) Reduction of profit; 4) Poor quality of project; 5) Abandonment of project; 6) Dispute; 7) Arbitration. Sambasivan and Soon identified the delay factors and their impact on project completion in Malaysian construction industry. Ten most causes identified were [13]: a) contractor’s improper planning b) contractor’s poor site management c) contractor’s inadequate experience d) delay in payment by client e) problem with subcontractors f) shortage in material g) labour supply h) equipment availability and failure i) lack of communication j) mistakes and rework. As already aforementioned, the current study will focus on client support and contractor performance. Some of the key performance factors (KPIs) relating to project performance and not contractor performance are cost, time, quality, safety and health [14].

A study by Alinaitwe on assessment of clients’ performance in having an efficient building process in Uganda revealed that factors such as delayed payment by clients, lack of support for training the workers and poor or irregular attendance of meetings affected contractors’ performance [15]. Similarly, Simaya and Maro noted that cost, quality and time remain important aspects that need to be considered during project execution phase to contribute towards performance [16]. Mushori, Rambo and Wafula revealed performance of road construction infrastructure projects can as well be measured in terms of quality of the completed projects [17].

Client support is by show of the role assumed to ensure timely completion and cost effectiveness of the road projects hence contributing to a positive image on contractor’s performance. Jegtap and Kamble study on construction firms affirmed the significance of demarcating roles of client and contractor roles within the construction supply chain so as to enhance project performance [18]. Alinaitwe noted that the success of project depends as much on the client as it does on the consultants and contractors [15]. Client support include but is not limited to; budget allocation and prompt payments of interim progress payments [19] [20], provision of accurate project designs and approvals [21] [22], prompt issue of instructions to commence the construction work [21], early land acquisition of areas required for the construction of roads [23], project supervision to ensure quality including achievement of value for money and timely taking over inspection and certification of works once project is completed [23] [24].

One of the most important client support role is the payment for work done by a contractor in a project initiated by the client. Byaruhanga and Basheka observed that delay of contractors’ payment affects timelines in delivery of services [25]. Ramachandra argues that the performance of the participants involved and the product output is dependent on the promptness and regularity of payment [19]. He further suggests that failure to pay in the construction industry may be put in three categories; delay in paying one or more certificates, reduction in value of certificates or invoices, and not paying at all. Payments in the construction industry are seen as monetary consideration for the contractors’ performance for work done. Tran and Carmichael concluded that late and intermittent payments or non-payments or both can critically affect performance of contractors [26]. Several studies have established that the character and the diverse types of contractual payments that might be delayed or defaulted by the employer may additionally be classified as interim, stage or milestone, advance payments, payment of retention monies and final payments [4] [19] [27] [28] [29]. Governments or owners of projects should allocate adequate budgets to a project to enable its completion since it cannot continue with inadequate financing, and would affect performance of contractors to meet planned targets [20].

Another key support area is accurate project design and approval. This is critical in project execution as it eliminates the need to vary the contract. The government is also responsible for approval of the project which facilitates contractor performance. In a study by Arshi and El-Sayegh, the perspective of contractors and consultants was analysed to rank the causes of delays based on their Relative Importance Index. Contractors and consultants were in agreement on the most significant causes of delays [21]. It was noted 50% of UAE construction projects face delay challenges and untimely completions of projects. Factors associated with delays are drawings approval, poor or inadequate planning and decision making process taking longer by the project owner. A qualitative study by Sperling et al. found that project success was a result of effective communication, not forgetting consultation and sharing of information between the client, designer and constructor were vital to project success [30].

Additionally, there is a need for contractors to be given maximum support in the possession of land for the construction without any encumbrances. This means that the required land must be acquired at the early stages of the project cycle. In India, megaprojects suffer from both time and cost overruns primarily because of environmental and land acquisition controversies [23].

Trigunarsyah and Al-Solaiman stated that low client involvement can have serious negative impact on the overall projects’ outcomes particularly completion time and project quality [31]. It is however argued that client-consultant coordination has a significant effect on performance through goal congruence and building trust [32]. Gunduz and Almuajebh listed client related factors for sustainable construction project management. These include [33]: client’s experience in the construction industry, mechanism for financial payments and finally client’s influence or representative. Late payment is pointed out by Simaya and Maro as a challenge that faces local government authorities hence not being able to achieve value for money [34].

A study by Halwatura and Pathiranage revealed that locally based road construction projects in Sri Lanka experience between 56% and 88% of average time overrun compared to planned project duration as a result of financial problems on the part of the owner (client) and the contractor [35]. The findings resonate with Mushori et al. who found that road performance is correlated with financial ability [17]. All these, however, cannot be achieved without the support or involvement of the client (owner of the road projects).The adduced evidence on the importance of client role in supporting contractor performance is not empirically supported hence the current study that aims to test the relationship between these two variables, client support and contractor performance in road construction projects.

This study is based on stakeholder’s theory which, as a field of research, has tended to focus on planning and managing the complex array of activities required for delivering a construction project, such as a road or building [36]. The theory has its genesis in strategic organization, and has been applied in several areas of enquiry as well in corporate social responsibility [37], including on construction project organization lately [38].

Construction business, as an area of study, tends to focus on scheduling and organizing the multifaceted assortment of activities necessary to complete a construction project. Being able to manage construction stakeholder’s hopes and concerns is a critical skill for managers of construction projects. Failure to tackle hopes and concerns of stakeholders in a construction project has resulted in innumerable failure of projects [38], principally for the reason that stakeholders in construction have a tendency to obtain resources and ability to impede construction. Meeting the expectation of stakeholder is critical to successful execution of construction projects. Stakeholders include owners of project, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, funding bodies, users, owners, employees and project managers. As a consequence, a vigorous construction organization literature has developed on how to recognize and manage stakeholder welfare and interactions. Stakeholder theory is preferred in this study to aid in establishing important factors that have influence contractor performance within the road construction industry in Kenya.

The study sought to establish how contractor performance is influenced by client support. The results are shown in Table 1.

Results presented in Table 1 show that most of the respondents strongly agreed that the following factors hinder contractor performance in terms of

delivering road projects within time, budget and quality; highly ranked was delayed payment (mean = 4.73). This supports the findings by Alinaitwe (2008) that delay in paying contractors affects their performance. Second was land acquisition (mean = 4.45). Third was variation in scope (mean = 4.22). Fourth was delayed approvals caused by client (mean = 4.16) and fifth was cost overruns (mean = 4.08). The last one was weather conditions (mean = 3.96). The findings are consistent with Thorat et al. (2017) who indicated that contractor face myriad challenges that affect their performance.

The study sought to establish the extent to which client support influence construction of roads projects. The results are shown in Table 2.

Results presented in Table 2 show that majority of the respondents strongly agreed that prompt payments and approvals facilitates timely project completion and irregular funds disbursements cause project delays and or stalling as shown by a mean of 4.04 in each case. This finding supports Byaruhanga and Basheka (2017) who found that delay in payments adversely affects timelines allocated for delivering the services. Majority of study participants pointed out issues of cost of overrun, project disputes, project arbitration and ligation costs and project abandonment are essentially triggered by insufficient support by the client (mean = 3.84). Alinaitwe (2008) found that clients and their representatives, as part of the stakeholders, do not regularly attend meetings.

The findings of the current study are consistent with Ramachandra, (2013) who argues that the performance of the participants involved and the product output is dependent on the promptness and regularity of payment. These findings are also in agreement with Tran and Carmichael (2013) who determined that late and intermittent payments and/or non-payments can critically affect performance of contractors.

The inferential analysis was performed by use correlation analysis (Table 3) and regression analysis (Table 4).