BUDGETING AND PROJECT DELIVERY OF TERTIARY HOSPITALS IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study examined the relationship between budgeting and project delivery of tertiary hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria. The measures of project delivery used are stakeholders’ satisfaction, timing and quality. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The target population was the 2 tertiary hospitals in Rivers State as obtained from the updated directory of finelib.com. However, the study elements were 12 which comprised managers from the administration, finance, engineering services, human resources, procurement and facilities management departments of the (2) tertiary hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study adopted a census sampling technique since the population of the study was relatively small. Data for the study was collected through a structured questionnaire, while the four-point Likert scale was used to measure the responses from the respondents. Data was analyzed using mean and standard deviations with charts for the primary analysis of the study variables, while inferential statistics such as the Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient Statistics technique was used to test the hypotheses with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 27. The results of the study showed that there is a significant positive relationship between budgeting and the measures of project delivery. The study concludes that budgeting has a strong relationship with project delivery of tertiary hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study therefore recommends amongst others that tertiary hospitals should implement participatory budgeting processes that involve key stakeholders—such as project beneficiaries, department heads, and financial officers—during the planning and budget allocation stages of projects.

Keywords: Budgeting, Project Delivery, Quality, Stakeholders Satisfaction, Timing