TALENT MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS INNOVATIVENESS OF INDIGENOUS OIL AND GAS COMPANIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65336/WJEBM.2026.3101Keywords:
Talent Management, Business Innovativeness, Indigenous Oil and Gas Companies, South-South, NigeriaAbstract
This study examined the relationship between talent management and business innovation in indigenous oil and gas companies in South-South Nigeria. The objective was to investigate how talent acquisition, talent development, and reward management influenced service innovation, process innovation, and marketing innovation, with organizational adhocracy culture serving as a moderating variable. The research adopted a positivist paradigm and utilized a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from 117 Management Staff using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using Statistical software for data Analysis (SPSS) Version 25, while the ten hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS Version 4.1.1.1. Findings revealed that talent acquisition significantly enhanced marketing innovation but had no meaningful influence on service or process innovation. Talent development positively influenced both marketing and process innovation, with particularly strong effects on process improvement, but had no significant effect on service innovation. Reward management showed a positive effect on service innovation but negatively affected marketing and process innovation, indicating a misalignment between incentive structures and innovation goals. Furthermore, organizational adhocracy culture significantly moderated the relationship between talent management and business innovation, but in a negative direction—implying that in highly flexible and less structured environments, the impact of talent strategies on innovation was weakened. The study concluded that while talent management is critical to innovation, its impact varies across innovation types and is influenced by the organizational culture. It was recommended that firms strengthen the alignment between recruitment practices, training programs, and innovation goals. Reward systems should be redesigned to support creativity and operational improvements, and greater structural clarity should be introduced in adhocratic environments to balance flexibility with accountability. These steps are essential to unlocking the full innovation potential of talent strategies in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
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