ABSTRACT

The successful involvement of consultants in organizational projects is increased by suitably deciding if internal or external consulting resources will add value. It is not clear whether the use of both internal and external consultants will contribute to the quality of projects. The general objective of the study was to analyse the influence of consultant’s characteristics on project quality of companies listed at the NSE. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the influence of the experience of internal and external consultants on project quality, to determine the influence of skills of internal and external consultants on project quality and to analyse the influence of the association of internal and external consultants on project quality of companies listed at the NSE. The target population was 65 listed firms at the NSE in Kenya. A census was done and a rate of response of 72 percent was observed from the study. The study adopted descriptive research design with a questionnaire being used as an instrument of data collection. The researcher analysed primary data that provided information to the study. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics aided by SPSS and the findings were presented in frequency tables, pie charts and graphs. The six independent variables that were studied, explain 68.1% of variance in project quality of companies listed at the NSE. The findings presented showed that internal consultant skills, external consultant skills, internal consultant experience, internal consultant association, external consultant experience and external consultant association have an influence on the project quality of companies listed at the NSE. The study recommended that project quality is enhanced by involvement of internal and external consultants in projects. The study recommended the same study be conducted in companies that are not listed at the NSE and also on other factors that are part of consultant characteristics but not covered by the study.