WORK DISCRETION AND ORGANISATIONAL INNOVATIVENESS OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN RIVERS STATE , NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between work discretion and two key measures of organisational innovativeness: product innovativeness and process innovativeness, in deposit money banks in Rivers State, Nigeria. Grounded in Kanter's Structural Empowerment Theory and adopting a positivist philosophical framework, the study employed a correlational cross-sectional survey design. A census sampling approach was utilised, purposively selecting five managerial staff from each of the twenty deposit money banks with operational branches in Port Harcourt metropolis, yielding a total sample size of 100 respondents. Primary data were gathered through a validated and reliable structured questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistic was deployed to test two null hypotheses. Results showed that work discretion had a significant, positive, and moderate relationship with product innovativeness (r = .446, p = .000 < .05) and an insignificant positive relationship with process innovativeness (r = .128, p = .203 > .05). The study concluded that work discretion is a veritable driver of product innovativeness in Nigerian deposit money banks but does not significantly predict process innovativeness within the same context. Recommendations were made for deposit money bank management to broaden the scope of employee autonomy in both product design and process reconfiguration.