Assessing the impact of corruption on the management of Ghana government educational infrastructural projects

This study assesses how corruption impacts on the management of educational infrastructural projects in Ghana. Corruption is a constant concern for countries facing economic problems. Increasingly, researchers have devoted research to the discussion of the phenomenon; however, these discussions have focused mainly on the relationship between corruption and variables such as; economic development, social effects, innovation, firm management quality, gross domestic product (GDP), returns on investment, increase in government budget, political discontent, instability and violence, rule-violating intentions, democracy, and inequality.
Despite the extensive research devoted to the subject, there is limited research on the potential impact of corruption on the management of educational infrastructural projects in developing countries. We, therefore, contribute to both academia and practice by assessing the potential impact of corruption on these projects using multiple project management success/failure criteria as the assessment tool. Using an in-depth semi-structured interview, we solicit the views of thirty (30) project management practitioners in Ghana on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption impact negatively on the management of Ghanaian educational infrastructural projects on all the performance criteria used as the evaluating tool. The findings indicate that corruption influence government projects failure on all the failure criteria used as the evaluating tool. However, most of the corrupt practices that impact negatively on these projects are traced to partisanship politics, political culture, national culture and institutional system in the country.