Infrastructure development and community wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa: A structural equation modeling – based contribution from Cameroon

Abstract

Infrastructure development’s contribution to community wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is largely unknown. Existing scholarship over-represents externally funded projects, sidelining micro-level initiatives. Empirical studies hardly apply Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approaches that estimate wellbeing as a composite function of infrastructure development. We review the topical literature on infrastructure development and community wellbeing in SSA. We find positive effects of infrastructure development on community wellbeing in SSA. SEM was not applied in any reviewed case study. We then use the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Model (PLS – SEM) to assess the impacts of multiple micro-level infrastructure projects on community wellbeing in Cameroon. All four examined micro-projects had positive effects on community wellbeing. However, only the effects of two projects (hospitals and schools) were statistically significant. The study recommends more SEM-based studies as prerequisite to disentangling composite wellbeing benefits of infrastructure development in SSA, with cost efficiency and outcome-optimizing implications.

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