The Effect of Employee Mobility on Skills Retention in Upstream Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper investigated effect of employee mobility on skills retention in upstream oil and gas companies in Nigeria. A review of pertinent conceptual, theoretical, and empirical literature was done and a hypothesis was formulated. Three upstream oil and gas companies were surveyed using proportionate and stratified random sampling techniques. A total population of 9,437 regular and contract employees were investigated with a sample size of 807. The validity of the instrument was determined using content and construct validity while Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument. Multiple linear regression Analysis was used to analyse the hypothesis with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (V26.0). The study found that employee mobility components have positive and significant effect on skills retention of selected upstream oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Findings further revealed that employee buy-in has the highest contribution to skills retention in the selected upstream oil and gas companies in Nigeria. It concluded that employee mobility affects skills retention in selected upstream oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study recommends that management of upstream oil and gas companies in Nigeria should keep update on the employee retention policies and strategies to retain talented and skilled employees. Keywords: Employee Mobility, Knowledge Sharing, Hedge Relationships, Knowledge Transfer, Reward System, Skill Retention