Predicting the Impact of Managerial Competencies on the Behavioral Outcomes of Employees in the Selected Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

The effective utilization of a company’s precious human resources is critical to its success. Organizations are increasingly relying on management competencies to ensure the optimal utilization of their human resources. However, due to a plethora of problems, businesses, particularly industrial firms, are behind in realizing the benefits of managerial competencies. To address the inadequacies mentioned above, the current study explored the influence of management abilities on employee behavioral outcomes in selected Nigerian manufacturing enterprises. The notion of diffusion of innovation was used to explain the unavoidability of management competencies. Managers and supervisors from selected Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) in Nigeria formed the target population. More specifically, the purposive sampling technique was used to pick participants for this study. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to a varied cross-section of managers and supervisors to collect data. The data gathered were analyzed using structural equation modelling. Global awareness, communication, self-management, and strategic action competency were discovered to be predictors of employees’ behavioral outcomes. The study discovered recurring barriers that prevent managers from learning and developing, such as a lack of leadership drive, awareness, little or no performance feedback, insufficient cost-benefit analysis, insufficient budgets, and resource allocation, ineffective communication, a lack of specificity of competencies, and a rigid bureaucratic structure. According to the findings, individual managers should take greater responsibility for their learning, superiors should play a more prominent role in management development, and senior leaders should implement processes to strengthen managing competencies. As businesses and society advance, people at all levels should learn and adapt to function in changing situations. Performance will suffer if this learning and alignment are not implemented. It is plausible to argue that the same factors that promote organizational transformation impede managerial competencies.

1. Introduction

The manufacturing industry has been considered the engine of the economy’s growth and it plays a vital role in sustaining the development of any country locally and globally [1]. The ability of any manufacturing firm to succeed or fail depends on an employee behavior at work. Employee behavioral outcomes depend on various variables such as the competency of various managers and leaders, and given that management competencies are concerned with people’s behavior, identifying and developing the competencies of managers in relation to their decision-making role either on a local or global scale, activities and specific responsibilities will have a significant impact on how employees behave at the workplace because they have been rated the most important factor to success in any business [2].

Training skills and habits should be transmitted to the workplace to increase job performance, maintained over time, and generalized across settings [3]. According to Alabri, Siron, and Alam [4], there is a favorable association between training programs and employee motivation, which results in individuals being more invested in their professions and, as a result, higher performance and productivity for both employees and businesses. Due to current dynamic development and changes in the workplace, employees tend to respond to specific scenarios differently because no two individuals behave the same way. A lack of managerial competencies has been identified as the key stumbling block to employees attaining positive behavioral outcomes [5]. Understanding the best approach to adopt as a manager has posed a more significant challenge to employee behavioral outcomes.

According to research [5], the success of management abilities is influenced by the quality of leadership. Leaders should consider the long term, provide the necessary resources, and adjust the management process to meet the changes in the business environment [6]. They also discovered that poorly managed needed managerial abilities may sometimes cause chaos and weaken the process itself. Unavailability of resources such as materials, people, sophisticated technology machines, time, and expert assistance may impede the adoption of essential management abilities in manufacturing businesses.

Prior studies have identified various challenges affecting managers’ competency at various levels. These include poorly planned procedures, unclear linkages between company strategy, measurement flaws, and a lack of organizational support in the restructuring project [7]. Employee attitudes and reinforcements have been impacted by the complexities and problems of applying essential managerial competency ideas. Due to significant problems such as fluctuating demand, increased consumer expectations, and rivalry in globalised marketplaces, the notion of management competencies has extended throughout the world and sectors. Over the last decade, managerial competencies have significantly impacted both the academic and industrial spheres.

Organizations worldwide are opting to embrace essential management abilities to decrease waste and boost productivity since this strategy has had a significant impact on the global industry’s reorganization. As a result, most organizations have encouraged essential managerial abilities, as the primary goal is to boost employees’ productivity and innovative performance by eliminating waste in all forms. Most of these wastes include human elements, and organizations should show tremendous respect and empowerment to their people resources by establishing a more favorable working culture and continuous development. This research aims to identify the primary factors impacting management competencies on the behavioral outcomes of employees in selected Nigerian manufacturing organizations. Furthermore, it seeks to identify the critical impediment to implementing various competence programs at various management levels in manufacturing businesses.

According to Eid and Anter [8] managerial competencies may enhance present job performance, improve the quality of goods or services, adjust to new technologies, produce a more flexible workforce, and increase employee safety. According to Alabri, Siron, and Alam [4], managerial competencies have become a critical instrument for managers to attain greater levels of performance, generate better outcomes, get promoted, and secure their job. However, fewer of these studies have attempted to explore how managerial competencies affect the behavioral outcomes of employees. For instance, the concept of employee behavioral outcomes has mostly been considered from a standalone perspective based on the notion that it is only dependent on the employees [9]. There is a debate on whether employee behavior is inherent and dependent solely on the employee, regardless of managerial competencies, management style, or other external inputs. A substantial proportion of related studies assume that managerial competencies have minimal effect, if any, on employee behavioral outcomes. Hence, there exists a gap in the literature on the relationship between managerial competencies and employee behavioral outcomes, a gap that this study attempts to fill. This research stands to fill that missing intellectual gap by answering the following research questions:

• To what extent can global awareness competency influence employees’ behavioral outcomes?
• In what ways can communication competency affect employees’ behavioral outcomes?
• To what extent can self-management competency influence employees’ behavioral outcomes?
• To what extent can strategic action competency affect employees’ behavioral outcomes?

1.1. Managerial Competencies

According to Neumeyer and Liu [7], managerial competencies are a highly specialized subcategory of the skills that articulate the desire to have different impacts. Managerial competencies are vital HR management techniques for accomplishing organizational objectives and goals. Due to today’s dynamic changes and advancements, managers’ personalities and competencies are receiving increasing attention, as they are regarded as the main ingredients of building a sustainable competitive edge. People hold information in knowledge-based companies; hence emphasis should be made on the selection and execution of their capabilities.

Managerial competency assessment and selection are significant instruments of HRM aimed at accomplishing the organization’s objectives. When combined with effective organizational management, managerial competencies, i.e., the conduct required to achieve the requisite level of a manager’s performance, becomes a significant determinant of success and, as a result, a competitive edge [10,11]. Competence, according to Matić [12], is a generally used phrase for persons demonstrating their professional capacity in real-world tasks.

In general, individual definitions of competencies are based on one of two major meanings. The first defines competencies as power and range of authority linked with a specific individual or body. The second definition of competencies is the ability to do a certain activity, to have certain general and unique qualities and skills, and to be qualified in the given field. Generally, it is a set of specialized information, talents, skills, qualities, intentions, dispositions, and ideals required for individual growth and achievement.

In the context of an organization, this can be understood as a manager’s ability to deliver outcomes or accomplish goals in all of the organization’s activities. For a company to perform at its best, managers should work with and through subordinates. Business managers have various resources at their disposal, and the quality of work depends on how well these resources have been used to achieve corporate goals.

1.2. Dimensions of Managerial Competencies

Shahvari, Yaghoubi, and Vafadar [13] note that there are four main dimensions of managerial competencies: strategic action competency, communication competency, self-management competency, and global awareness competency.

• Strategic Action Competency [SAC]

Managers must have strategic action competencies to effectively implement employees’ efforts in alignment with the organization’s overall strategy [14]. Strategic action competency requires that a manager have certain abilities, skills, and industry knowledge to generate maximum benefit for the organization and ensure that employees are committed, satisfied, engaged, and loyal to work. According to McFarlin [15], the two critical elements of strategic action are forecasting and anticipating your rivals’ actions.

• Communication Competency

These skills foster effective interpersonal interactions inside the workplace [15]. These qualities are linked to activities that increase workers’ relationship capacities and job success. Examples of such competencies include human skills, utilization of socialized power and controlling group dynamics, social decision-making, personal direction and interactions, and collaboration and partnership [14].

• Self-Management Competencies

These are skills aimed at building identity and expertise and becoming an excellent manager. Such abilities are linked to an individual’s internal judgment and instructional practices. Self-confidence, discipline, adaptability [16], transparency and developing self and others, and empathy are all related competencies found in numerous models.

• Global Awareness Competency

A globally competent individual possesses sufficient substantial information, perceptive awareness, and cross-cultural communication abilities to operate appropriately in our globally interdependent environment. Understanding the culture, languages, international challenges, global interactions, and human decisions are examples of global awareness competency [17]. It is worthy to note that employees should be equipped with the required information, awareness, and abilities, as well as values that guide such competence.

1.3. Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

Employees’ behavioral outcomes can only be wholly implemented with great leadership at the top of an organization. This comprises both intellectual and physical participation in the curriculum. Top management must understand and provide enough assistance to employees to maintain their dedication, loyalty, and engagement [18]. Other issues that may arise due to a lack of commitment include restricted access to resources, delayed decision-making procedures, and communication failures. Employee resistance may emerge as a result of the “fear factor” of losing their employment if they discover that their jobs do not offer value to the organizations. Many organizations look forward to developing activities that will encourage positive behavioral outcomes in their personnel (EBOs). Despite the continuous dedication of managers at all levels to maintaining workers’ involvement, loyalty, and commitment, retention remains worrisome and unabated [19].

1.4. Hypothesis Development for Managerial Competencies and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

1.4.1. Global Awareness Competency and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

Global awareness competency is a multidimensional capacity. As shown in studies [5,7], globally competent individuals are individuals that examine intercultural issues, understand different perspectives, interact with others, and respond proactively to the rapid changes in the business environment. Concerns for the environment, economic change, global poverty, population growth, human rights and political conflict may seem intractable and overwhelming, but they certainly require thoughtful action for sustainable behavioral outcomes [10,15]. Addressing these challenges requires high-quality knowledge and thinking skills, as well as a shared cultural understanding [17,20] and awareness [11,21]. Businesses may now interact with stakeholders (customers, workers, outside consultants, etc.) from different nations to satisfy organizational needs and boost sustainable behavioral outcomes. A diversified, international setting often offers chances for novel ideas, but it is common for these opportunities to be accompanied by a team’s productivity being hampered by cultural awareness issues in the multinational corporations. Therefore, it is crucial to cultivate cultural awareness and a more effective global workforce. This study, therefore, hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

Global Awareness Competency positively influences Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes.

1.4.2. Communication Competency and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

Managers at all levels need to develop key competencies such as communication competency in order to expedite the behavioral outcome of employees. Prior studies [22,23] have shown that speaking, writing, reading, and listening are all forms of communication competency. One factor that is equally crucial to other factors in enhancing employee behavioral outcomes is communication competence. If there is a chain of effective communication, employees will understand the direction of the leadership in carrying out every task. Regardless of how challenging the work may be, it will be completed if managers and employees can build strong relationships [24]. Employees’ behavioral outcomes may be improved by managers’ excellent information dissemination [22]. Hence, this study therefore, hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

Communication Competency positively influences Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes.

1.4.3. Self-Management Competency and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

Self-management as an essential managerial competency is increasingly contributing to the personal success of a manager; it entails taking responsibility for one’s own actions and behavior. Researchers such as [14,16,21] conducted research on the influence of self-management competencies on employee performance. Prior studies showed a strong relationship between self-management competency and employee performance. This means that a higher level of self-management competency leads to a positive behavioral outcome among employees. Matić [12] claimed that managers may try to understand their emotions as well as evaluate how these feelings may affect others to further improve self-awareness and self-development. Through practice, criticism, and research, people can learn and develop their competencies. Hence, this study therefore, hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

Self-management Competency positively influences Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes.

1.4.4. Strategic Action Competency and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

McFarlin [15], pointed out that strategic action competency indicates a manager’s ability to grasp the overall strategy of the company and make sure employees’ efforts are in line with the strategy. Studies [6,7,10] stated that strategic action competency requires that a manager needs to have certain abilities, skills, and industry knowledge to generate maximum benefit for the organization and foster a positive behavioral outcome among employees. Eid and Anter [8], conclude that an effective strategic action competency offers unprecedented opportunities that may influence employee behavioral outcomes. This implies that for managers to effectively implement employees’ efforts in alignment with the overall strategy of the organization, it is vital for them to have strategic action competencies. This study, therefore, hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 4 (H4).

Strategic Action Competency positively influences Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes.

1.4.5. Managerial Competencies and Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes

Employers should appropriately educate their employees on the changes being made. According to Oludayo, Falola, Obianuju, and Demilade [18], a lack of team autonomy and organizational communication influences employees’ behavioral inclinations. Furthermore, a lack of training and knowledge may result in a variety of employee behavioral effects. According to Purohit, and Shah [24] many competencies initiative programs have failed owing to a lack of understanding by both managers and staff. If the new working style necessitates acquiring new information and skills, participants must be given the necessary formal and informal training.

Managerial competence training assists practitioners in learning the fundamental skills and information required for advancement [24]. Recognition and prizes from the top will motivate involvement and continual growth. Some organizations benefit from bonus process adoption because if a supplier applies LPS on certain manufacturing lines, those lines remain devoted to that organization. According to Matić [12], a poorly structured incentive and reward plan are to blame for the inability to inspire people to become a lean organization.

Incompatibility between management abilities and the organization’s bonus, rewards, or incentive structure may lead to failure. Furthermore, if there are no effective training techniques and information transfers from lean consultants and practitioners, the dynamics of management competencies may not be wholly understood. Strong collaboration and mutual trust between employees and management may be one of the factors for promoting needed employee behavioral outcomes and increasing managerial capabilities [23].

1.5. Theoretical Justifications

The external organizational environment or business environment is becoming more turbulent, which has brought attention to capabilities and resources as the main source of competitive advantage. The implementation of the resource-based view (RBV) of organizational management is clearly indicated by this statement. According to this idea, RBV plays a significant role in helping firms develop, nurture, and retain competitive advantage as well as comprehend the pool of resources required to successfully compete in a globalized and fiercely competitive market.

To create long-lasting competitive advantages, the RBV makes use of internal organizational resources and competencies. The resource-based view (RBV), which stresses resources and capabilities in designing strategy to attain sustainable competitive advantages, examines and interprets internal organizational resources. According to the RBV, a multinational corporation will gain a competitive advantage if it has important resources and competences that are difficult for rivals to imitate and apply [24]. According to the RBV approach, knowledge is the most important resource for businesses since without it, they are unable to generate other resources or competencies [17,20]. This suggests that members of a global firm should be able to reuse knowledge and apply it to achieve sustainable behavioral outcomes.

Furthermore, widespread acceptance of the resource-based view (RBV) notion of the firm’s distinctive and crucial capabilities for obtaining long-term competitive advantage. In the literature on manufacturing, it has been suggested that facilities, technology, and policies are crucial for performance and behavioral outcomes. However, not much has been done to evaluate the capabilities and managerial competencies in terms of available resources. Also unexplored is the process through which businesses create and use managerial competencies. The complexity and frequent interdependence of various competencies inside the organizations are also frequently ignored by the literature. Hence, this study fills this knowledge gap in the literature.

2. Methodology

The target population comprised 121 managers and supervisors of the selected manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The manufacturing firms were selected based on overall assets, ROI, ranking, and performance on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). For this study, the non-probabilistic sampling technique was used. Specifically, the purposive sampling technique, also known as judgmental sampling, to acquire reliable data. The use of purposive random sampling was adopted to select the interested and relevant participants for the study. The use of a questionnaire was adopted to collect data from a diverse cross-section of the target population. It was determined that a survey (questionnaire) was the most efficient way to gather information from a dispersed population. The questionnaire was divided into five (5) sections (Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, Section 4 and Section 5). The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents are captured in Section 1. Section 2, Section 3, Section 4 and Section 5 include questions about the variables (Managerial competency dimensions and employees’ behavioral outcomes). Likert scale (4—Strongly Agreed, 3—Agree, 2—Strongly Disapprove, and 1—Disagree) was used to represent the amount to which the respondents agreed with each item of the questionnaire. The four Likert-scale questions were used in the research, and the sources of items in the questionnaire are presented in

Table 1. Sources of Items in the research instruments.

S/N	Variables	Number of Questions	Sources
1	Managerial Competencies (Independent variable)	12	Purohit and Shah [24], Steyn [17], Matić [12], Ncube and Chimucheka [14], Neumeyer [7], Hanson [2]
2	Employees’ behavioral outcomes (Dependent variable)	12	Oludayo, Falola, Obianuju, Demilade [18], Arasanmi and Krishna [9]

Source: Items adapted from relevant literature.

.

Table 1 demonstrated that the items in the questionnaire were extracted from extant literature and used to validate survey works of previous scholars in similar subject areas. Items for managerial competencies were adopted from the works of Purohit and Shah [24], Steyn [17], Matić [12], Ncube and Chimucheka [14], Neumeyer [7], Hanson [2]. Additionally, items for employees’ behavioral outcomes were extracted from the studies conducted by Falola, Oludayo, Igbinoba, Salau, and Borishade [19], Arasanmi and Krishna [9].

To compliment the cross-sectional data, the authors provided adequate information by controlling common method variance (such as Harman’s single factor or common latent factor, etc.), which also helped to ascertain the reliability of the collected data. The common method bias was demonstrated in

Table 2. Common method bias [CMB] for managerial competencies and employees’ behavioral outcomes.

S/N	Variables	VIF [<3]	Decision
1	Managerial competencies	2.41	Free of CMB
2	Employees’ behavioral outcomes	2.90	Free of CMB

.

• Common Method Bias

The common method bias was also tested using collinearity statistics. Bagozzi and Youjae [25] established that if the frequency of a VIF is greater than 3.3, it is a sign that the model is affected by common method bias. At the same time, if all VIFs at the level of factors resulting from a maximum collinearity test are equal to or lower than 3, it suggests that the model does not suffer from common system bias (See Table 2).

Table 2 indicates that all the VIF values of each of the measurement elements and constructs are, therefore, less than 3 for managerial competencies and employees’ behavioral outcomes. This implies that the hypothesis is free of common method bias.

To examine the items’ internal consistency and homogeneity, Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, and average variance extracted coefficients (AVE) were used [26]. The mean Cronbach’s alpha was used to confirm the reliability of the constructs employed to evaluate green HRM, employee motivation, and behavioral outcomes. This was true after scaling to the stated minimum value of 0.75, which was required to demonstrate the instrument’s dependability and internal consistency. The average extracted variance and the composite reliability were computed for this experiment. According to Fornell and Larker [27], composite reliability is acceptable when the values are greater than 0.8, and the average variance extracted is adequate when the values are greater than 0.5.

Table 3. Construct Validity for the latent variables.

S/N	Variables	Cronbach Alpha [>0.70]	Composite Reliability [>0.80]	Average Variance Extracted (AVE) [>0.50]
1	Managerial Competencies (Independent variable)	0.793	0.813	0.712
2	Employees’ behavioral outcomes (Dependent variable)	0.825	0.866	0.743

depicts Cronbach’s alpha, AVE, and composite reliability values for the latent variables.

This implies that the instrument’s reliability has been established. Finally, for the outer model, the strength of each indicator was assessed, and the recommended limits of 0.6 and 0.7 by [26,27] were implemented. The bootstrapping algorithm was used to determine the model’s relevance using 5000 subsamples.

3. Results

This section looks at the findings from the same data as well as the analysis of data gathered through a questionnaire. The data have been tabulated, and the research questions have been examined and addressed. The study’s unit of analysis was managers and supervisors in selected manufacturing enterprises. They are also regarded as professionals who influence and coordinate the activities of others; this group of people is a good fit for the target demographic of this study. Each target respondent has a unique set of behavioral traits. An online questionnaire was designed and distributed to the participants (that is, managers and supervisors). To ensure adequacy and representation, efforts were made to persuade the selected participants to fill out the Google form that had been created and emailed. Following follow-ups, 102 copies of the online questionnaire were appropriate for analysis. This response rate is large enough to establish a baseline and reliable enough to draw empirical conclusions.

Table 4. Distribution of Biographical Data of the Respondents (n = 102).

Variables	Frequency	Percentage
Gender
Male	48	47.1
Female	54	52.9
Age
35 years & below	22	21.6
35–45 years	61	59.8
46 years & above	19	18.6
Educational Status
OND/NCE	14	13.7
Bachelor’s Degree	65	63.7
Master’s Degree	23	22.6
Work Experience
Below 5 years	11	10.8
5–9 years	72	70.6
10 years and above	19	18.6

Source: Researcher’s Field Survey Result (2022). Note: OND/NCE means Ordinary National Diploma and National Certificate in Education.

displays the demographic characteristics of the participants (gender, age, education, and occupation).

According to the demographic variables listed above, 47.1% of respondents were male, and 52.9% were female. According to the table above, 21.6% of respondents are under the age of 35%, 59.8% are between the ages of 35% and 45%, and 18.6% are 46 years or older. In terms of educational status, the table revealed that 13.7% of respondents were OND holders, 63.7% were Bachelors’ holders, and only 22.6% were Masters’ holders. In terms of work experience, the table showed that 10.8% of respondents had 1–4 years of experience, 70.6% had 5–9 years, and 18.6% had 10 years or more.

3.1. Measurement Model and Model Fit Summary

Anderson and Gerbing [28] developed a method for assessing construct validity, model fit, and the test of research hypotheses. Anderson and Gerbing [28] employed two models: (1) measurement and (2) structural. In this study, constructs and measurement items fulfil construct validity in both the measurement and structural models (that is, convergent validity). In the first phase of the measurement model, we employed CFA to test item reliability, item loadings, composite reliability, concept validity, and error variance to verify convergent validity. Table 2 lists the three criteria used to evaluate convergent validity. The first of the three conditions is that all scale and measurement items be significant and above the 0.70 minimum value threshold, as demonstrated by the CFA loadings. Second, the total reliability of each build is greater than 0.80. Third, the average variance extracted estimate (AVE) for each notion is more than 0.50. According to the findings of the CFA analysis, the factor loadings for all major variables vary between 0.78 and 0.89, as shown in

Table 5. Construct Reliability and Average Variance Extracted (AVE).

Construct	Composite Reliability	AVE
Managerial Competencies	0.813	0.712
Global Awareness Competency	0.953	0.702
Communication Competency	0.877	0.683
Strategic Action Competency	0.883	0.690
Self-Management Competency	0.901	0.723
Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes [EBOs]	0.866	0.743
Benefits of managerial competencies	0.886	0.671
Challenges of managerial competencies	0.902	0.709

Note: The factors are labeled as follows: MCs—Managerial Competencies, EBOs—Employees’ Behavioral Outcomes.

.

The researchers employed CFA to measure composite reliability and the average variance extracted (AVE) of the individual components, as shown in Table 4. Thus, our findings show that all of the convergent validity conditions proposed and recommended by [27,29] were met.

3.2. Frequency for the Benefits and Barriers of Managerial Competencies

Table 6. Benefits, barriers, and solutions to managerial competencies [n = 102].

Benefits of Managerial Competencies	Frequency	Ranking Order
Improved Worker Safety and Morale	17	4
Reduced Overall Company Risk	15	5
Improved productivity	26	1
Improved Decision Making	20	2
Easier Recruitment and Retention	11	7
Improved Service Quality.	18	3
Reduce performance errors	14	6
Barriers to Managerial Competencies	Frequency	Ranking Order
Lack of leadership drive	19	3
Lack of awareness	10	6
Little or no performance feedback	16	4
Inadequate cost-benefit analysis	25	1
Inadequate budgets and resources allocation	21	2
Ineffective communication	15	5
Lack of specificity of competencies	6	8
Rigid bureaucratic structure	9	7

shows the benefits (enablers) and barriers (challenges) of managerial competencies among the selected manufacturing firms in Nigeria.

Table 5 revealed that the benefits of managerial competencies include improved worker safety and morale, reduced overall company risk, improved productivity, improved decision making, easier recruitment and retention, improved service quality and reduced performance errors. Despite the undeniable benefits of managerial competencies in many organizations, particularly manufacturing firms, they are also faced with several challenges, which include lack of leadership drive, lack of awareness, little or no performance feedback, inadequate cost-benefit analysis, inadequate budgets and resources allocation, ineffective communication, lack of specificity of competencies and rigid bureaucratic structure.

3.3. Hypotheses Testing and Structural Model

To test the hypothesis, structural equation modelling was used. The structural model was chosen to reflect the theory that explains how different construction types interact. The structural equation modelling (SEM) statistical approach measures and analyzes the relationships between observable and latent variables. Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3 demonstrate the model-fit measures we used to assess the overall goodness of fit of structural equation modelling based on broadly accepted thresholds established by earlier research [30].

An analysis of the data using the structural equation modeling procedure, as depicted in Figure 1, shows the relative contributions of managerial competencies dimensions on employees’ behavioral outcomes. Figure 1 indicated that communication competencies (β = 0.337, p < 0.05) is the major significant indicator of employees’ behavioral outcomes, followed by strategic action competency (β = 0.246, p < 0.05) and self-management competency (β = 0.218, p < 0.05), while global awareness competency had the least predictive value. The parameter estimates as depicted in Figure 2 indicate that communication competencies and strategic action competency are the most significant predictors of employees’ behavioral outcomes. Since all the p-values are less than 0.05, we then concluded that managerial competencies dimensions (that is, global awareness, communication, strategic action, and self-management competencies) have a significant impact on employees’ behavioral outcomes. The p-value and t-values for the variables are presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3, respectively.

4. Discussion of Findings

The first hypothesis predicted that global awareness competency has a significant influence on employees’ behavioral outcomes in the selected manufacturing firms. Using the analysis of the structural equation modelling, the result derived showed that there is a relationship between global awareness competency and employees’ behavioral outcomes. This means that employees’ have sufficient substantial information, perceptive awareness, and cross-cultural communication abilities to operate appropriately in a local and globally interdependent environment because of the competencies possessed by managers of the organization and this helps to foster a positive behavioral outcome among employees in the organization [5,20].

The second hypothesis predicted that communication competency has a significant influence on employees’ behavioral outcomes in the selected manufacturing firms. Using the analysis of the structural equation modelling, the result derived showed that there is an effect of communication competency on employees’ behavioral outcomes. According to Claudia [22], Ncube and Chimucheka [7,14], employees value their relationship with the organization because of the freedom that is given to them by their managers to freely express themselves at work, and also because of the communication skill possessed by managers to employees can easily understand what their job description entails, and this influences the employees’ behavior to work.

The third hypothesis predicted that strategic action competency has a significant influence on employees’ behavioral outcomes in the selected manufacturing firms. Using the analysis of the structural equation modelling, the result derived showed that communication competency influences employees’ behavioral outcomes. This finding is in line with the research by [17,22], who found that managers should have certain abilities, skills, and industry knowledge to adapt to the challenges of the global economy to generate maximum benefit for the organization and ensure that employees are committed and satisfied.

The fourth hypothesis predicted a significant influence of self-management competency on employees’ behavioral outcomes in the selected manufacturing firms. Using the analysis of the structural equation modelling, the result derived showed that self-management competency influences employees’ behavioral outcomes. This means that self-management is a skill that helps managers to understand and learn the impact of self-development and the development of others within the company. Managers can learn to recognize changes in the organization and how they are able to manage this change is governed by their behavior, which can, in turn, affect the behavior of other employees in the organization [21], which is also in line with the findings of [14,20].

5. Conclusions and Implication

With the undeniable advantages of managerial competencies, Nigerian manufacturing firms should prioritize developing managers abilities, skills, and knowledge in order to enhance employees’ behavioral outcomes because this study concluded that managerial competencies dimensions, that is, global awareness, communication, strategic action, and self-management competencies have a significant impact on employees’ behavioral outcomes. The findings of this study may be useful to HR executives in identifying obstacles that obstruct positive behavioral outcomes among employees in the workplace. To achieve the organizational intended outcome, manufacturing firms should be prepared to work through various barriers and challenges such as lack of leadership drive, lack of awareness, ineffective communication, lack of specificity of competencies, and rigid bureaucratic structure during the managerial competency development. Based on the findings, it was recommended that: Employees and managers should be involved in the system’s implementation and modification as much as possible, and a reasonable amount of time should be set out for managers at various levels to develop the capacity and capabilities to adapt to the changes in the business environment. Managers should make it obvious to employees how and when they may reach them with queries about the new changes, such as by email or during specified office hours as this will foster positive behavior among employees. Finally, because this study used a limited sample size, future researchers may be able to conduct more research and expect more significant findings on these topics.

5.1. Contribution to Knowledge

The research has made the following contributions to knowledge:

• The study is an enhancement to literature, being one of the relatively limited, original, and empirical accounts of the functional relationship between managerial competencies and employees’ behavioral outcomes, particularly within a developing country such as Nigeria.
• It contributes to the theory and practice of managerial competencies as it relates to employees’ behavioral outcomes in the manufacturing sector.
• This study also provides human resources scholars with a detailed explanation of global awareness competency, communication competency, self-management competency, strategic action competency, and how they foster positive behavioral outcomes among employees.

5.2. Limitations/Further Study

The limitations of this study include:

• In this study, only structural equation modeling was employed. Using the (Smart Partial Least Square 3.0) approach, the hypotheses were examined. On the other hand, future research might make use of a variety of methodologies, particularly interviews, to collect additional information that was left out of the quantitative study.
• All definitions of managerial competences, global awareness competencies, communication competencies, employee behavioral outcomes, and other related words could not be included in the study. As a result, definitions of crucial terminology should be carefully considered in future studies.
• Only manufacturing companies were highlighted (The Nigerian Fast-Moving Consumer Goods). The findings’ application to other manufacturing companies is thus limited. The study’s scope could be extended in the future to incorporate additional Nigerian zones.