MANAGERIAL SKILL ACQUISITION AS DRIVER FOR EMPLOYEES SELF-EMPLOYMENT SWITCH POTENTIAL IN THE NIGERIA BANKING INDUSTRY

Abstract

It has been observed that when bank employees are retrenched from the industry at a very productive age in Nigeria, they lack the required skills to start their personal business. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of managerial skill acquisition on employees’ self-employment switch potential in the Nigerian banking industry. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design to collect data from respondents through a structured questionnaire. A total of 220 copies of questionnaires were distributed to employees at the head office of one of the Tier 1 banks in Lagos State, Nigeria. The sample size was informed by accessibility restrictions arising from COVID-19 pandemic challenges, which did not give room for a higher sample size. However, only 188 copies of questionnaires were returned out of which seven copies were not well completed, hence only 181 copies of questionnaires were usable for the study. Data obtained from the questionnaire were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 tool to conduct a Pearson Correlation Co-efficient and Simple Regression Analysis for the study hypothesis. The results showed that managerial skill has a significant positive effect on bank employees’ potential to switch to self-employment on sudden lay-off. The study recommends that bank employers should create a platform for employees to acquire managerial skills before exiting the industry in order to equip them with self-employment switch-ready skills.