UNVEILING THE NEXUS: COLLABORATIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE AND BUSINESS EDUCATION LECTURERS' PERFORMANCE IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

 The need to improve the performance of business education lecturers necessitated this study. The study determined the nexus between collaborative workplace culture and business education lecturers’ performance in universities in South east, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted correlation research design, and 142 business education lecturers in public universities in South East, Nigeria that offer business education programme were studied without sampling. Two instruments namely; Collaborative Workplace Culture Survey (CWCS) and Business Education Lecturers’ Performance Questionnaire (BELPQ) with 20 items and 15 items respectively, and structured in four point rating scales were used for data collection. Face and construct validity of the instrument were established by three experts in the field of Business Education and Educational Foundations of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University. Pilot-testing was used to establish the reliability of the instruments and data collected were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha and Coefficient values of 0.79 and 0.88 for clusters B1 to B2 with an overall reliability value of 0.84, while coefficient value of 0.78 was obtained for BELPQ. The researcher and six research assistants were involved in administering copies of the questionnaires to the respondents. Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. The findings revealed that there were strong and positive relationships between teamwork-oriented culture and supportive workplace culture with business education lecturers’ performance. Types of institutions and years of experience did not moderate the relationships between team-oriented and supportive workplace cultures and business education lecturers’ performance. Based on the findings of the study, the researchers concluded that collaborative workplace culture is a determinant factor in business education lecturers’ performance. It was recommended among others that; administrators of universities should develop and maintain collaborative workplace culture of teamwork and support in order to improve the attitudes, well-being and positive job experiences of business education lecturers. The adoption of these collaborative workplace cultures will no doubt result to better performance by business education lecturers.