Managing Community Expectations: It’s Moderating Role on Community Stakeholder Involvement and Project Delivery in Tullow Oil Exploration in Turkana, Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the moderating consequence of management of community expectations on the relationship between community stakeholder involvement and project delivery. Methodology: The research study employed a descriptive research design that integrated qualitative and quantitative approaches for data gathering. Although the primary approach used was qualitative design, a modicum of quantitative methods was incorporated to evaluate views. The precision and dependability of the data were ensured using a triangulated methodological design. The study employed the questionnaire method for quantitative data collection whereas qualitative method used key informant interviews and focus group discussion for data collection. The total population of the study site/area is 1401 people spread in the villages proximal to the oil and gas wells within the two Wards of Lokori / Kochodin and Lokichar falling under the two adjacent sub-counties of Turkana East and Turkana South respectively. The sample size was 138. This study employed a multistage sampling technique, specifically cluster sampling as one of the sampling methods. In the first stage of sampling, communities were divided into clusters and then randomly selected depending on their closeness to the oil wells and presence of community projects supported by Tullow Oil Exploration Company. Samples were randomly selected from two villages in Lokori / Kochodin Ward in Turkana East Sub-County and eight villages in Lokichar Ward in Turkana South Sub-County. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential analytic methodologies (cross-tabulation with chi square and binary logistic regression) with SPSS version 25. Analysis of qualitative data was conducted using the Content Analysis (CA) approach. Data was presented on tables. Findings: The relationship between community stakeholder involvement and project delivery by Tullow Oil Exploration Company in South Lokichar Basin in Turkana, Kenya is statistically significant in the management of community expectations (X2=61.566, df=1, sig. = .000). Management of stakeholder expectations goes a long way in determining the type of community projects to be initiated, hence influencing the level of stakeholder involvement and project delivery. According to binary logistic regression, the effect is statistically significant (p = 0.001). This suggests that managing and meeting community expectations are crucial for improving project delivery outcomes. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study extends Resource Dependence Theory by incorporating community expectation management as a moderating factor in the relationship between stakeholder involvement and project delivery in the oil and gas industry. To this end, this study shows that successful community expectation management reduces power imbalance caused by dependency, which is considered to result in better outcomes for project delivery. Practically, this research enlightens companies by proving that the early resolution of community concerns helps companies avoid conflicts, enhance resource acquisition, and smooth the implementation of community projects. Second, it involves policy, which calls for policies in the development of community consultation guidelines, ensuring communications are done with complete transparency, while representatives are credible to ensure the success of a resource extraction community project.