EFFECT OF MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED EVENT FIRMS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Despite the increased demand for event services, the situation remains challenging for event management companies in Lagos State, Nigeria, as they still struggle with weak strategic planning, suboptimal resource use, lack of brand awareness, and low customer relationship management practices. Though event management has become a major economic activity, literature on how the practices of event management influence sustainable performance together is limited, and most studies are general service-sector studies or studies focused on manufacturing and MSMEs, and not capturing the operational realities that are specific to event management-based services. The gap establishes a limitation for practitioners and policymakers in the sector to make decisions based on available evidence. The study explored the impact of event management practices on sustainable performance of selected event management companies in Lagos State, Nigeria based on this gap. A quantitative, cross sectional survey research design was used. The population of the study were 1451 registered firms and event planners in the event management industry in Lagos State. Sample size was calculated using the Taro Yamane formula at a 5% margin of error, which resulted in a minimal sample size of 314 respondents, but this was increased by 30% to make up for non-response, which returned a sample size of 408 respondents. The sampling method used was a multi stage sampling method which involved stratified sampling, simple random sampling and convenience sampling. A structured questionnaire was used to gather the data from the owners, managers and senior operational staff and 383 valid questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed by multiple regression analysis. The results showed that strategic planning had a significant impact on operational efficiency (β = 0.651 p < 0.001), resource management had a positive impact on adaptability (β = 0.650, p < 0.001), brand development had a positive impact on market visibility (β = 0.682, p < 0.001), relationship management had a positive impact on customer retention (β = 0.721, p < 0.001). < 0.001). The joint model accounted for 64.1% of the variance in sustainable performance (R² = 0.641, p < 0.001). The study found that good event management practices are key enablers of sustainable performance and long-term competitiveness of event management firms in Lagos State and recommended that event management firms improve their structured planning system, their resource allocation framework, their deliberate investment in the positioning of their brands and also invest more in their long-term customer relation management in order to improve their sustainable performance and long-term competitiveness.