HUMAN CAPITAL EXPERIENCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

This study investigated human capital experience and organizational performance of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to determine the extent to which human capital experience boosts market share of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria and ascertain the degree to which career management/personal attributes enhances employee retention rate of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted. The researcher made use of primary and secondary sources of data. The population of this study was one thousand, six hundred and seventy-six (1,676) obtained from the ten (10) selected manufacturing firms in South East, Nigeria. Therefore, the sample size of the selected manufacturing firms in South East, Nigeria was four hundred and forty-two (442). A total of four hundred and forty-two (442) copies of the questionnaire were distributed to manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria, nine one (91) copies of questionnaire were lost/wrongly filled with percentage ratio of 20.5% while three hundred and fifty-one (351) copies of questionnaire were correctly filled and returned with percentage ratio of 79.4% which formed the basis of the study. A stratified sampling method was adopted. The researcher adopted both inferential and descriptive statistics to analyze the data for the study and in order to realize the objectives of the study, objectives were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings of the study stated human capital experience positively boost market share of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria and career management/personal attributes significantly enhance employee retention rate of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria. The study concluded that human capital development positively and significantly enhanced organizational performance of manufacturing firms in South-East, Nigeria. The study recommended that human resource managers should ensure constant proper diagnosis, determination and assessment of human capital needs in the organization as this will guarantee that the right number and categories of staff are selected for the training and development programs.