Multiple Regression Analysis of Sustainable Stakeholder Engagement and Project Success. Evidence from Road Infrastructure Projects in Rwanda

Academic Paper from the year 2025 in the subject Business economics - Project Management, University of Lay Adventists of Kigali (Independent Researcher), course: Finance and Project Management, language: English, abstract: Infrastructure agencies increasingly treat stakeholder engagement as a governance requirement rather than a measurable predictor of delivery outcomes, leaving practitioners with limited quantitative guidance on which engagement practices actually move the needle on project success. This gap is particularly acute in Sub-Saharan African infrastructure programs, where engagement research has relied largely on descriptive or single-case accounts rather than tested predictive models. This study addresses that gap by modelling the statistical relationship between sustainable stakeholder engagement (SSE) and project success across three World Bank-supported urban road corridors in Rwanda (Huye, Musanze, and Nyarugenge/Kigali). Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 107 respondents, 77 technical stakeholders drawn through stratified proportional sampling from a population of 95, and 30 purposively selected community representatives, and complemented by 34 key-informant interviews. Sustainable stakeholder engagement was operationalized across four dimensions (transparent communication, community engagement and inclusion, environmental responsibility, and long-term relationship building) and entered as predictors of project success in a multiple linear regression model, alongside project size and location as controls.