Using explicit knowledge of groups to enhance firm productivity: A data envelopment analysis application

Background: The telecommunication industry is globally recognised to be a knowledgeintensive industry where high levels of technological sophistication are a key determinant of success and performance. Consequently, existing research has examined the role of labour hours and the firm’s capital on productivity. Nonetheless, research is yet to relate, with empirical evidence, productivity gains that accrue to organisations as a direct function of knowledge work and knowledge workers, especially with respect to group-explicit knowledge usage in emerging economies such as Nigeria. The adoption of data envelopment analysis further provides originality in the area of benchmarking group-explicit knowledge in telecommunication firms to enhance productivity. As such, this research takes on a scientific investigation to fill this gap. Aim: The purpose of this research work was to determine the influence of group-explicit knowledge on the productivity of telecommunication organisations. Setting: The setting of this research is composed of the four leading telecommunication firms in Nigeria and their customer service centres. Methods: Based on a sample size of 42 customer service centres of the four most active global system for mobile communications organisations in Lagos state and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria, the research adopted the output-oriented data envelopment analysis model to show the influence of group-explicit knowledge on productivity. Results: The results showed that 15 decision-making units (DMUs) (representing 36%) were found to be technically efficient using the constant return to scale approach, while only 12 DMUs (representing about 28.6%), based on variable return to scale approach, were found to productively engage their present input resources in outputs that achieve optimal productivity for the firm. Conclusion: Group-explicit knowledge dimensions that were investigated in this study significantly influence productivity of firms in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry. It was recommended that DMUs that were identified to be productivity deficient should hold resources input constant while their employees made efforts to scale up operations to enhance productivity

Diversity issues in Nigeria’s healthcare sector: implications on organizational commitment. A cross-sectional study

Background: Workplace diversity is increasingly gaining the attention of healthcare organizations, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. However, little is understood from existing literature about how workforce diversity affects employees’ satisfaction and organisational commitment in the workplace. Consequently, this paper showed the direct and mediating relationships between diversity of workforce, job satisfaction and employee commitment to the organization. Methods: Copies of the structured questionnaire have been given to 133 public healthcare employees in Nigeria’s Ministry of Health in Lagos state. Statistical analysis for the study included descriptive measures and multi-variate analysis, using structural equation modelling. Results: Outcomes from statistical analysis supports direct and mediating relationships between the research variables. Gender and ethical diversity had significant influences on job satisfaction at r = 0.35 (p < 0.05) and r = 0.28 (p < 0.05) respectively. The following mediating relationships were also statistically confirmed: job satisfaction related with affective commitment (r = 0.41, p < 0.05) and normative commitment (r = 0.26, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the results of the statistical analysis, the study concludes that there is a relationship between diversity of employees and job satisfaction, diversity of employees and organizational commitment and the influence of work satisfaction on organizational commitment

Developing a Model for Employees’ Intrapreneurial Engagement and Organizational Survival

The survival of any organisation in the midst of economic hardship and competitiveness is becoming a serious concern. One of the strategies organisations can adopt is to tap into the intrapreneurial potentials of their employees. The main objective of this study examines the strategic roles of employees’ intrapreneurial engagement and its implication for organisational survival. A descriptive research method (Structural Equation Model {AMOS 22}) was applied to analyse the two hundred and fifty-nine (259) copies of valid questionnaire completed by the respondents using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. However, the study indicated that fostering employees’ intrapreneurial engagement have positive significant implications on organisational survival. This suggests that employees’ empowerment, involvement, autonomy, relationships and reward system have significant effects on organisational survival. It is therefore recommended that organisations should challenge their employees by providing them with autonomy and the freedom to innovate and carve out spaces for them to take risks and experiment

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SMALL BUSINESS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION:IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE

Strategic orientations are widely required and considered for the survival and sustainability of small businesses. This study reports the comparative analysis of small business strategic orientations based on the presence of aggressiveness, futurity, riskiness, proactiveness and analysis and defensiveness for performance. For proper projection, four hypotheses were formulated. Survey research design, purposive and simple random sampling technique were adopted for the study. Data were collected from selected Covenant University strategic business Units through the administration of questionnaires were sorted and analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression and Pearson correlation analysis. The study revealed a positive effect between the various variables; product innovation and revenue turnover; research development and customer patronage; technological innovation and return on investment. Therefore it was recommended that SMEs need be innovative and proactive as possible to enable their optimal navigation and improved productivity in whatever business environments they operate and also to foster more strategic improvisational actions that can bring out change, enhance operational efficiency and contribute to organizational performance and competitive advantage

Using explicit knowledge of groups to enhance firm productivity: A data envelopment analysis application

Background: The telecommunication industry is globally recognised to be a knowledge-intensive industry where high levels of technological sophistication are a key determinant of success and performance. Consequently, existing research has examined the role of labour hours and the firm’s capital on productivity. Nonetheless, research is yet to relate, with empirical evidence, productivity gains that accrue to organisations as a direct function of knowledge work and knowledge workers, especially with respect to group-explicit knowledge usage in emerging economies such as Nigeria. The adoption of data envelopment analysis further provides originality in the area of benchmarking group-explicit knowledge in telecommunication firms to enhance productivity. As such, this research takes on a scientific investigation to fill this gap. Aim: The purpose of this research work was to determine the influence of group-explicit knowledge on the productivity of telecommunication organisations. Setting: The setting of this research is composed of the four leading telecommunication firms in Nigeria and their customer service centres. Methods: Based on a sample size of 42 customer service centres of the four most active global system for mobile communications organisations in Lagos state and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria, the research adopted the output-oriented data envelopment analysis model to show the influence of group-explicit knowledge on productivity. Results: The results showed that 15 decision-making units (DMUs) (representing 36%) were found to be technically efficient using the constant return to scale approach, while only 12 DMUs (representing about 28.6%), based on variable return to scale approach, were found to productively engage their present input resources in outputs that achieve optimal productivity for the firm. Conclusion: Group-explicit knowledge dimensions that were investigated in this study significantly influence productivity of firms in Nigeria’s telecommunication industry. It was recommended that DMUs that were identified to be productivity deficient should hold resources input constant while their employees made efforts to scale up operations to enhance productivity

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SMALL BUSINESS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE

Strategic orientations are widely required and considered for the survival and sustainability of small businesses. This study reports the comparative analysis of small business strategic orientations based on the presence of aggressiveness, futurity, riskiness, proactiveness and analysis and defensiveness for performance. For proper projection, four hypotheses were formulated. Survey research design, purposive and simple random sampling technique were adopted for the study. Data were collected from selected Covenant University strategic business Units through the administration of questionnaires were sorted and analyzed using descriptive statistics, regression and Pearson correlation analysis. The study revealed a positive effect between the various variables; product innovation and revenue turnover; research development and customer patronage; technological innovation and return on investment. Therefore it was recommended that SMEs need be innovative and proactive as possible to enable their optimal navigation and improved productivity in whatever business environments they operate and also to foster more strategic improvisational actions that can bring out change, enhance operational efficiency and contribute to organizational performance and competitive advantage

Perception of students entrepreneurship education and the emergence of e-startups in a Nigerian university

Entrepreneurship education is considered a vital tool for nurturing talents and redirecting the energy of young people for profitable engagement and economic growth. This study investigated the perception of students on entrepreneurship education as it relates to the emergence of E-start-ups in Nigeria. The study used quantitative method based on survey approach for the collection of data. A total of 306 copies of questionnaire were administered to 200-500 level students in a Nigerian university. This study used simple random sample under the probability sampling technique for the selection of the respondent. Hence, each member of the population was given equal chance of being chosen from the population in no particular order. The criteria for the selection is 200-500 students of various colleges (College of Business, Social Sciences, Engineering, Science Technology and others) in Nigeria offering courses on entrepreneurship programme. There are total of 306 respondents for this study. Regression analysis was used to analyse the stated hypotheses through statistical package for social science. The result of the analysis revealed that entrepreneurship education has significant impact on the emergence of e-start-ups. Based on the findings, it was recommended that university system should reform curriculum contents to better facilitate creation of e-start-ups © IAEME Publicatio

Making a Christian Private University Appealing to Prospective Students: The Case of Covenant University

Worldwide, universities are established to train highly skilled manpower that are expected to contribute to the development of their societies. Nigerian universities are expected to contribute to the achievement of the national goals using education as a tool. Before 1993, the provision of university education in Nigeria was a government monopoly. Many people could not be offered admissions into public universities because the existing facilities could not accommodate the deluge of requests. However, private universities have entered into the higher education service provision market. With many of them competing for prospective student enrolment, it is not surprising that some of them have deployed marketing strategies to attract students and make them stand out from the cluttered market. This paper examines how Covenant University, a Christian faith-based university and the acclaimed leader in the private university industry in the country has marketed itself. It found that it uses its product, people, work processes and serene physical location to attract new students. Importantly, it uses its relatively high tuition fees to position itself as the school for the children of the elites

The Role of Queueing Discipline and Reneging in The Nigerian Banking Industry

Queue discipline is a significant predictor of the effects of queuing efficiency on customer reneging in the queue system. The kind of queuing discipline adopted by a firm if not favourable to customers could discourage present customers from switching from one bank to the other where there will be less queues and better service delivery. This has been supported by Previous academic research observed that the kind of queue discipline adopted by a firm will greatly influence the waiting time for some set of customers. Also, find out that if a customer is aware that an organization employs the last in first out queue discipline most customers will refuse to arrive in a queue system early and this will in turn affect the behaviour of customers to the organization and also the outcome of the queue itself, as arriving customers are constantly receiving service correspondingly. It becomes important to ascertain in the Nigeria commercial bank environment the influence of’ queueing discipline on customers reneging in queuing system . This research adopted Quantitative approach for the survey in the study. The sampling techniques used for this study is simple random sampling techniques . A total of 400 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the university students who are clients of the four (4) commercial banks, but only 384 (384) were returned and determined to be usable for the analysis. The following descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used: The data received from the distributed questionnaire was analyzed using Multiple Regression. Based on these findings and gaps it was recommended that Bank management should adopt a kind of queueing discipline that is free and fair to all customers such as the first in first out queueing discipline. Banks should also be able to adopt the use of a computerized reservation system that will also handle problems resulting from customers overbooking their service and also find ways to encourage customers to visit their banking hall during off peak period

Developing a Model for Employees’ Intrapreneurial Engagement and Organizational Survival

The survival of any organisation in the midst of economic hardship and competitiveness is becoming a serious concern. One of the strategies organisations can adopt is to tap into the intrapreneurial potentials of their employees. The main objective of this study examines the strategic roles of employees’ intrapreneurial engagement and its implication for organisational survival. A descriptive research method (Structural Equation Model {AMOS 22}) was applied to analyse the two hundred and fifty-nine (259) copies of valid questionnaire completed by the respondents using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. However, the study indicated that fostering employees’ intrapreneurial engagement have positive significant implications on organisational survival. This suggests that employees’ empowerment, involvement, autonomy, relationships and reward system have significant effects on organisational survival. It is therefore recommended that organisations should challenge their employees by providing them with autonomy and the freedom to innovate and carve out spaces for them to take risks and experiment