THE IMPLICATIONS OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION ON ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH OF SELECTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NORTHWEST, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The mission and vision statements of most of the Nigerian manufacturing companies are not explicit about setting an enabling environment for creativity and innovation to strive. The study investigated implications of creativity and innovation on organizational growth of selected manufacturing firms in NorthWest Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: assess the nature of the relationship between creativity and product diversification, ascertain how innovation affects organizational competitiveness, determine the extent of the relationship among innovation, market share and profitability, investigate how creativity affects product development and ascertain the nature of the relationship between innovation and market penetration. The study adopted survey research design. Primary and secondary sources of data were used. The population of the study was 2840 comprising of senior and junior staff of the selected manufacturing firms in NorthWest Nigeria. Cochran formula was used to determine the sample size of 553. Content validity was measured by experts from the industry and academia. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient was used to test reliability which gave a coefficient of 0.87. The statistical tools used in data analyses were pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, simple linear regression and multiple regression. five hundred and twenty five 525 (94.94%) copies of the questioner were returned while 28(5.06%) were not returned. The findings indicated that, there was a positive relationship between creativity and product diversification (r = 0.955, p ˂ 0.05), innovation positively affected organizational competitiveness (r = 0.682, f = 332.632, t = 14.223; p ˂ 0.05), there was significant positive relationship among innovation, market share and profitability (r = 0.427; tt = 19.750; p˂0.05), (r = 0.489; tt = 22.359; p˂0.05), creativity positively affected product development(r = 0.682, f = 332.632, t = 14.223; p ˂ 0.05) and there was a positive relationship between innovation and market penetration (r = 0.658; P ˂ 0.05). The study concluded that Creativity and innovation are agents for rapid organizational growth. Culture, reward, relationships, motivation, strategic fit, organizational design, knowledge and information management are some of the variables identified as creative and innovative catalyst to organizational growth. The success of creativity and innovation in firms depends on the enabling environment which the firm sets to allow and encourage creative and innovative employees come up with new and better product/process. Also creativity and innovation cut across all levels in organizations, it is visible among junior and senior staff of the organization, ignoring it by firms is a costly mistake that can not be afforded. The study recommended that, since there was a positive relationship between creativity and product diversification, policies on product/process diversification should be clearly stated in the company’s mission and vision statement; since innovation positively affected organizational competitiveness, more innovative freedom should be allowed in order to strengthen organizational competitiveness in the organization; organizational design that accepts and stimulates creativity, innovation and product development should be developed and maintained in order to sustain organizational growth.