ORGANISATIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND ORIENTATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED NIGERIAN TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS
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The role of individuals’ and group tacit and explicit knowledge in driving performance of
telecommunication firms, especially in Nigeria, has received very little empirical research
attention in existing literature. Therefore, this study examined the relationships between
organisational knowledge, orientation and performance of telecommunication firms in Nigeria.
Mixed method approach was employed using the structured questionnaire and semi-structured
interview as the instruments for data collection. Copies of questionnaire were administered to
the employees of telecommunication organisations both at MTN headquarters and customer
service centers of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat; and customers in Lagos State and
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria. A total of 980 copies of the questionnaire was
administered to the employees in the four Telecommunication firm, while 600 copies of
questionnaire was administered to customers. The analyses of the quantitative data collected
were performed using Pearson’s correlation, simple linear regression analysis, hierarchical
multiple regression and Data Envelopment Analysis. The qualitative data was analyzed and
interpreted using thematic analysis. Results of data analysis showed that there exists positive
relationship between individual-tacit knowledge and customer satisfaction (r2 = 0.015, p ≤ 0.1).
Group-tacit knowledge also had significant influence on organisational effectiveness (r2 = 0.28,
p ≤ 0.001). Moreover, the results from data envelopment analysis showed that 20 decision
making units achieved operational efficiency with the individual-explicit knowledge of
employees in the firm, while the results from 15 decision making units showed that groupexplicit
knowledge enhanced the firms’ productivity. More so, dimensions of organisational
orientation, such as: entrepreneurial, learning and market orientation had first order (r2 = 0.033,
p ≤ 0.01) and second order (r2 = 0.051, p ≤ 0.01) moderating influences on the relationship
between organisational knowledge and performance. Based on the findings, the study
recommended that employees should be encouraged at regular intervals to document their
experiences about their most prominent challenges encountered on the job and how they were
able to resolve it. It was also recommended that employees of telecommunication firms should
be encouraged to use their individual-tacit knowledge, such as intuition and experience, where
possible to resolve customer complaints. This would save time, costs and efforts involved with
long hours of solving customers’ queries.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)