Human Capital Development and Firm Productivity in Nigerian Brewery Industry

Abstract

The study examined the effect of human capital development on productivity of selected brewery firms in the south-south and south-east geo-political zones of Nigeria. Cross sectional survey design was adopted, with a population of 7802 employees. A sample size of 380 was determined based on Taro Yamani’s sample size determination formula. The research instrument was a structured questionnaire and analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 software. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. It was found that level of training had a positive and significant effect on firm productivity (ß = 0.618, p < 0.05), level of education had a positive and significant effect on firm productivity (ß = 0.922, p < 0.05), while level of job experience had a positive and significant effect on firm productivity (ß = 0.688, p < 0.05). The study concluded that human capital development is critical to the enhancement of productivity in the brewery industry and as such recommended that management of brewery industry should strive to facilitate a high level of training since it had a positive and significant effect on the level of productivity in the industry. Also, human resource management department in the brewery industry should endeavor to adopt a system of on-the-job training and development of staff with higher level of education and job experience, in order to build knowledge and skills relevant for adequate increase in productivity.