Accommodating, Compromising and Collaborating Behaviours as Determinants of Employee Performance of Rice Mills in Anambra and Enugu States, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the effect of accommodating behaviour, compromising behaviour and collaborating behaviour on the employee performance of rice mills in Anambra and Enugu States, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of accommodating behaviour on employee performance, to examine the effect of compromising behaviour on employee performance, and to evaluate the effect of collaborating behaviour on employee performance of rice mills in Anambra and Enugu States. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population comprised 1,345 employees of four rice mills, namely Cosharis Rice Mills, Anambra Rice Mills Ltd., Adani Rice Integrated Resources Ltd. and Umejit Rice Mill Manufacturing, Ugbawka, from which a sample size of 262 employees was determined using the Borg and Gall formula and selected through simple random sampling. The instrument was validated for content validity by experts in management, and reliability was established through the test-retest method with a Spearman's Rank Order Correlation coefficient of 0.84. Out of the 262 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 242 copies (92.4%) were correctly completed and used for analysis. The three hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis with the aid of SPSS Version 23 at the 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that accommodating behaviour, compromising behaviour and collaborating behaviour each have a positive and significant effect on employee performance of rice mills in Anambra and Enugu States, with collaborating behaviour being the strongest predictor. The study concluded that the way conflicts are managed in rice mills is not incidental to, but forms a genuine determinant of, how well employees perform their duties. It was recommended, among others, that management of rice mills should institutionalize collaborating behaviour through joint problem-solving committees and open dialogue forums, that rice mill managers should formally adopt compromising as a frontline approach to settling disputes over wages, working conditions, resource allocation.