Skills Shift and Organisational Sustainability: Perspectives for the Future of Work

  • Sunday Adebowale Department of Business Administration and Marketing School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
  • Adefulu Adesoga Department of Business Administration and Marketing School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
  • Ajike Emmanuel Department of Business Administration and Marketing School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
  • Amos- Fidelis Benita Department of Business Administration and Marketing School of Management Sciences, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria
Keywords: Analytical Skill; Business Process Redesign; Critical Thinking Skill; Organisational Creativity; Organisational Sustainability; Problem-Solving; Skills Shift.

Abstract

Organisational sustainability becomes a nascent concept in the world of business and in academic community. The insurance industry sustainability is beleaguered with low performance of business process, absence of lean structure, poor organisational creativity and excessive talent poaching; suggestively exacerbated by low demand in skills shift (organisational knowledge, critical thinking skill, problem-solving skill and analytical skill). The article addresses this gap by investigating the effect of skills shift on organisational sustainability of selected insurance firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methodologically, cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The findings showed that skills shift had positive significant effect on organisational sustainability (Adj R2 = 0.704, F(2, 337) = 404.206, p < 0.05). The research concludes that skills shift affects organisational sustainability of the selected Insurance companies in Lagos State, Nigeria. The research highlights the need for insurance business to move towards investing in capabilities, knowledge improvement, enhancing critical thinking skill, problem-solving skill, and analytical skill which are valuable enablers of organisational sustainability. These findings suggest unique implications for chief executives, managers, regulators and policy makers.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Adebowale, S., & Adefulu, A. (2019). Training and employee productivity of selected insurance: Perspectives for the board of directors. Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition, 15(3), 1 - 10.
[2] Alberani, A. (2015). The impact of soft skills on the paths and careers of employees. Speech at Soft skills and their role in employability - New perspectives in teaching, assessment and certification. Bertinoro, FC, Italy: Sage Publication.
[3] Allsop, D., & Calveley, M. (2009). Miners' identity and the changing face of the labour process within the UK coal mining industry. Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, 6(1), 57 - 69.
[4] Asuquo, A. I., Dada, E. T., & Onyeogaziri, U. R. (2018). The effect of sustainability reporting on corporate performance of selected quoted brewery firms in Nigeria. International Journal of Business & Law Research, 6(3), 1 10.
[5] Autor, D., Levy, F., & Murnane, R. J. (2003). The skill content of recent technological change: An empirical exploration. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1297 - 1333.
[6] Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis with special reference to education. New York: Colombia University Press.
[7] Burnett, N., & Jayaram, S. (2012). Skills for employebility in Africa and Asia. Innovative Secondary Education for skills enhancement (ISESE). Washington, DC: Results for Development Institute (R4D).
[8] Capgemini. (2018). World insurance report 2018. Retrieved from https://www.capgemini.com/service/world-insurance-report-2015
[9] Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). (2012). Responsible and sustainable business: HR leading the way - A collection of thought pieces. London: CIPD Publications.
[10] Ciappei, C. (2015). Soft skills to govern action; Speech at soft skills and their role in employability - New perspectives in teaching, assessment and certification. Bertinoro FC, Italy: Conference Proceedings.
[11] Colbert, B., & Kurucz, E. (2007). Three conceptions of triple bottom line business sustainability and the role for HRM. Human Resource Planning, 5(3), 1 - 30.
[12] Dankyi, A. B., Yusheng, K., Ankomah-Asare, E., Dankyi, J. K., & Addo, A. A. (2020). Acquisition of human capital for organizational sustainability: A BASS-SIR forecasting approach. International Journal of Engineering, 12, 1 - 15.
[13] Deloitte. (2015). Global human capital trends - financial services: Insurance responses. Retrieved from http://www2.deloitte.com/content/Deloitte/gobal/documents/about-deloitte/gx-wef-215-millennial-survey-executivesummary.pdf
[14] Dess, G. G., & Pickens, J. C. (1999). Beyond productivity: How leading companies achieve superior by leveraging their human capital. New York: America Management Association.
[15] Elkington, J. (1997). Cannibals with forks. Oxford: Capstone.
[16] Elliot, S. (2011). Transdisciplinary perspectives on environmental sustainability: A resource base and framework for IT-enabled business transformation. MIS Quarterly, 35(1), 197 - 236.
[17] Engelberg, S. (2015). A developmental perspective on the soft skills: Speech at soft skills and their role in the employability - New perspectives in teaching, assessment and certification. Bertinoro, FC, Italy: Congress publication.
[18] Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. R. (2011). Solving the sustainability implementation. New York: Harper Business.
[19] Esterhuyse, W. P. (2008). The sustainability balanced scorecard: Its theory and applications to companies operating within the South African fishing industry (Doctoral dissertation). South Africa: University of Stellenbosch.
[20] Eze, B. U., Adelekan, S. A., & Nwaba, E. K. (2019). Business process reengineering and the performance of insurance firms in Nigeria. Emerging Markets Journal, 9(1), 45 - 48.Grisi, C. G. (2014). Soft skills: A close link between enterprises and ethics. Bertinoro, Italy: World press.
[21] Grisi, C. G. (2014). Soft skills: A close link between enterprises and ethics. Bertinoro, Italy: World press.
[22] Global Data. (2017). General insurance survey. Retrieved from https://www.globaldata.com/industries-we-cover/insurance
[23] Henrik, J. & Ede, N. (2015). Pilot evaluation study of the life skills program rebound: Effects on substance use, knowledge about substances, and risk perception. Journal of Creative Commons Attribution, 4(1), 100 - 113.
[24] Horak, S., Arya, B., & Kiran, M. I. (2018). Organisational sustainability determinants in different cultural settings: A conceptual framework. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27, 528 - 546.
[25] Huhn, A., & Do, A. (2017). Digital literacy in a digital age: A discussion paper. Retrieved from https://www.brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/Brookfieldinstitute_DigitalLiteracy_DigitalAge.pdf
[26] Lengnick-Hall, M. L., & Lengnick-Hall, C. A. (2003). Human resource management in the knowledge economy. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
[27] McKinsey Global Institute. (2018). Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce. United States of America: McKinsey & Company.
[28] Nduna, A. J. (2013). Low insurance penetration in emerging economics and way forward - The African experience. Colombo, Srilanka: Zimbre Holdings Limited.
[29] Okafor, P. A., & Okeke-Ezeanyanwu, J. A. (2018). Business process reengineering and organisational performance of rice production firms: Evidence from South-East, Nigeria. Journal of Arts, Management and Social Science, 3(1), 180 - 1888.
[30] Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (2011). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1 - 2), 62 - 77.
[31] Schultz, T. W. (1979). Investment in entrepreneurship and agricultural research. Kaldor, USA: Iowa State University.
[32] Schultz, T. W., & Becker, G. (1962). Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 70, 9 - 49.
[33] Suehye, K. (2020). A quasi-experimental analysis of the adult learning effect on problem-solving skills. Adult Education Quarterly, 70(1), 6 - 25.
[34] Thomsen, C. (2013). Sustainability, World Commission on Environment and Development: Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
[35] Tinwala, R., & Biswas, U. N. (2019). Perceived sustainability practices, turnover intentions, and organisational identification in hotel industries. Journal of Sustainable Business and Management Solutions in Emerging Economies, 5(2), 1 - 11.
[36] United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation. (2012). Youth and skills: Putting education to work. Education for all Global Monitoring Report. Paris: UNESCO.
[37] Wales, T. (2013). Organisational sustainability: What it is and why does it matter? Review of Enterprise and Manabement Studies, 1(1), 38 - 49.
Published
2021-04-29
How to Cite
Adebowale, S., Adesoga, A., Emmanuel, A., & Benita, A.-. (2021). Skills Shift and Organisational Sustainability: Perspectives for the Future of Work. Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management, 16(1), 41-51. Retrieved from http://scitecresearch.com/journals/index.php/jrbem/article/view/2044
Section
Articles