EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AS A DRIVER OF WORKERS' PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN MANUFACTURING: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIAN BOTTLING COMPANY LTD, BENIN CITY

Abstract

This study empirically examined the impact of employee training and development on workers’ performance at Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (NBC), Benin City, Nigeria. Anchored in Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964), Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977), and the Transfer of Training Theory (Grossman & Salas, 2011), the study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional survey design with a population of 390 full-time employees. Using the Taro Yamane (1967) formula and proportional stratified random sampling, 120 respondents were selected. A validated 41-item five-point Likert questionnaire (overall Cronbach’s α = 0.883) was administered. Three hypotheses were tested using simple and multiple linear regression, Pearson product-moment correlation, and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey HSD comparisons at a 0.05 significance level. Results revealed: (i) on-the-job training significantly predicted employee productivity (β = 0.713, R² = 0.508, F(1, 118) = 161.48, p < .001); (ii) off-the-job training had a strong positive correlation with quality of output (r = 0.743, p < .001); and (iii) training frequency significantly differentiated overall performance across low, moderate, and high frequency groups (F(2, 117) = 18.27, p < .001). The full multiple regression model accounted for 62.6% of the variance in employee performance (R² = 0.626, Adjusted R² = 0.616, F(3, 116) = 68.43, p < .001). All three null hypotheses were rejected. The study concludes that systematic, structured, and frequent training and development interventions are critical determinants of performance in Nigerian FMCG manufacturing and recommends institutionalizing annual training needs assessments, a minimum of four training programs per employee annually, and alignment of training outcomes with performance appraisal systems.