Analysis of Top Management Team Characteristics on Sustainable Competitive Advantage with Gender Diversity Perspective ()
1. Introduction
Managerial discretion which served as critical assessment plays a very critical function in the achievement of organizational results Wangrow, Schepker, & Barker (2014). Study in relation to competitive advantage (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2014) revealed that senior executives play a vital role in the smooth execution of the organisation as they ensure that the strategic plans are effectively implemented. Senior executives who fail to be provided with discretion are restricted with the ability in strategy implementation thus limiting them from execution the stipulated strategies. The studies on managerial discretion and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) still remain limited and their governing discretion on management (Wangrow, Schepker, & Barker, 2014). The link of managerial discretion on SCA contained a cost effect and returns simultaneously and its effect of SCA and is determined by the category of the competition and nature of owners (Wangrow, Schepker, & Barker, 2014). Managers and executives play an essential role in determining any organizations strategic change outcome where top managers provide a shared purpose within the organization which decide which strategic plan the organization will adopt and implement. independently (Mackey, 2008). Organizations put efforts and compete based on speediness, value, cost, flexibility, superiority in invention and consumer responsiveness in order to maintain competitive advantage for the success of the firm (Klarner & Raisch, 2013). In any organisation strategic change is critical as it helps to maintain a suitable togetherness with the frequently-shifting demands of customers, social adaptations and technological upgrades. The study on TMT characteristics Irja (2016) and sustainable competitive advantage has produced mixed and inconclusive results to cover roles played by TMTs on project management of organizations in strategy implementation of firms.
Top Management Team (TMT) focused on those executives who are in the upper tier such as the director levels in an organization and are responsible for decision-making processes (Hambrick & Mason, 1984). The characteristics of the TMT covered the trait of the management executive which had the following variables: demographics, expertise, cognitive heterogeneity and team size which influence the strategic change and outcome of the respective organisation Smith, Smith and Verner (2006) (Amason, Shrader, & Tompson, 2006). The variables of top management team characteristics include demographics, expertise, cognitive heterogeneity and team size. These characteristics of TMT are being expected to exhibit Behavioral flexibility as an obligatory process in order to equip an executive with the capacity to adapt to a leadership style that is suitable in meeting present-day duties and daily demand schedules on satisfactory and strategic change outcomes Jurkus, Park, and Woodard (2011).
Wasike (2015) conducted a review study on Top Management Team Characteristics and Performance of Tea Factory Companies in Kenya. The aim of the study was assessment of the relationship between cognitive characteristics of top management and performance. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey design and concluded that top management team cognitive characteristics largely influence performance of the firm. Another study investigated by Wambua (2012) on top management innovation and organizational performance of major hotel with the aim of establishing the relationship between top management innovation and organizational performance. The results of the study found that top management innovation had a significant and positive relationship with organizational performance. Finally, Githaiga (2013) conducted a study on relationship between employee cognitive characteristics and performance, in relation to TMT characteristics established the correlation between employee cognitive characteristics and performance of the employee based on TMT characteristics.
The senior-level managers in an organisation in relation to TMT including Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officers, and other high-ranking managers (Guohui & Eppler, 2008). TMT is entrusted with the responsibility of navigating the firm to higher performance levels using the firm’s resources and capability profiles to exhibit opportunities in the business environment. Strategy formulation and implementation are functions performed by TMT to accomplish business performance in terms of mission, vision and goals. Strategies are designed by senior managers to align organizational goals and operations with the focus in the business environment. Strategy implementation of organisational goals transform plans into actions that ultimately influence performance outcomes.
TMT acts as the center for processing information which gave a significant influence on the outcome of organizations as the top executives are endowed to formulate decision which is strategic for the organizations sharing of their values and experiences contribute to organizational outcomes and firms’ sustainable competitive advantage (Mutuku, 2012). Hence, TMT is captivated in strategic process of making of decisions which influenced by the interpretations and perceptions of the managers therefore reflecting their cognitive base (Wasike, 2015). TMT become more relevant when they are stable with mission, visions, competitive environment and resources of the organization.
One of the fundamental and key important governance issues with regards to TMT is gender diversity for which the needed attention and demand for gender remains quite controversial, as it involves several advantages and some drawbacks Rose (2007). There are various advantages with regards to gender diversity in an organisation which include: increases creativity, improvement in decision-making, lower degree of cohesion, increasing its ability to penetrate markets enhances creativity and innovation, leading to more effective problem-solving and, consequently, a higher number of advantages to evaluate (Rose, 2007; Carter, Simkins, & Simpson, 2003).
2. Literature Review
The study employed three theories which include: Upper echelon, social justice and resource dependency theory respectively. Each of the applied theories has unique feature with regards to TMT. The use of upper echelons theory that guide executives to work with excess data in an environment that is dynamic highly that also trust their own predispositions in regard to the shifting environment all through strategic decision-making process. These applications are typically shaped by managers’ personalities, experiences and values mirrored by characteristics such as educational background, age, tenure, experience and functional diversity. Again, executive leaders play an important role in determining any organizations strategic change outcome.
Again, considering the use of social justice, every society may expect organisations to do more than what is legally required. It expects fair and just treatment of their gender members, reflecting in a gender-balanced leadership. Further, lack of accountability of societal responsibilities, many for-profit organisations might not do anything beyond the minimum legal requirements unless evidence shows that a gender-diverse leadership team can also bring economic benefits for the organisation., additional research is needed to investigate the context that might strengthen the positive impact of diversity. The resource dependency considered the human capital within TMT which should be employed without any bias and nepotism within TMT for better stock and profit growth.
2.1. Resource Dependence Theory
The focus of resource dependence theory on TMT was to consider board diversity as one of the instruments that management may use to facilitate access to resources that are critical to any organisation or a firm (Johnson, Daily, & Ellstrand, 1996). Now, with the current trend and heavy complexity and dynamism in the current business context, companies and organisations require an increasingly diverse human resource that will fit into the new business culture which relates to age, gender, and nationality, can have a positive impact on performance and performing work teams are highly likely to be linked to members that represent variation in terms of experience, background and gender Stiles (2001). The organised diverse team is characterized to and possess knowledge, skills and capabilities for superior problem-solving and decision making (Krishnan & Park, 2005).
2.2. Upper Echelon Theory
The upper echelon theory conceptualized that the demographic characteristics of the TMT with regards to decision-makers partially predicts their strategic orientations hypothesized by Hambrick and Mason (1984). These demographics characteristics covered the age, sex, career experiences, educational level, and functional background. The upper echelon theory stated the executives make numerous decisions that are consistent with managerial background characteristics (Hambrick & Mason, 1984) which consists of the elements of psychological characteristics and observable experiences. The executive experiences, values and personalities greatly influence their interpretation of the situations they encounter and in turn affect their choices (Hambrick & Mason, 1984). The upper echelon theory explained that executive cognitive base, demographic characteristics, resource utilization, quality of decisions and capabilities influence the strategy choice and corporate performance. Tacheva (2007) postulates that challenges of executives influence their evaluations of decisions on organizational problems and outcomes. These personalized actions are a function of the executives, experiences, functional background, age, gender, education, ethnic background.
2.3. Demographic Characteristics and Strategic Change Outcomes
Mutuku (2012) researched on the relationship between team diversity on financial performance where the. heads of human resources were the target respondents. The diversity characteristics of TMT in this study were gender, academic qualifications, age, tenure in the bank, professional and functional background diversity. The study concluded that most of the factors making up TMT diversity, namely gender, age and tenure have an undesirable effect on quality of decisions and performance of banks. Another research by Hassan (2012) conducted to assess the Managerial and organizational factors influencing strategic change outcomes, a case of oil firm with the aim of investigating the managerial educational characteristics influencing these outcomes. concluded that chief executive and top management education have greater influence on strategic change outcomes.
2.4. TMT and Employee Productivity
Based on the upper echelons theory the strategic decisions made by TMT members are influenced by the results from the members’ background characteristics, such as their gender (Roberson & Park, 2007). TMT members are responsible for making various important organisational and strategic decisions (Dezsö & Ross, 2012). This implies that the productivity outcomes improve when the quality of the TMT members’ decisions improved. Again, most of current issues and challenges facing many TMTs are non-routine by nature, having gender-diverse TMTs can provide resources, such as market insight, enhanced creativity, innovation, decision making and problem solving (Dezsö & Ross, 2012). This could be related to for instance, the needs of female customers, which can be different to those of male customers, might be better understood by having more female leaders on the TMTs who may possess higher sensitivity and more accurate insight in this regard (Mensi-Klarbach, 2014). The diverse categories made up of gender-diverse TMTs) may have experiences, knowledge and skills required to understand and provide better products and/or services to diverse consumer groups, giving the organisation legitimacy with these consumer groups (Ely & Thomas, 2001).
2.5. Relevance of Gender Diversity
Gender diversity can assist various forms of organisations to be more customer-oriented which, consequently, may positively influence an organization’s market share and bottom-line (Mensi-Klarbach, 2014). However, the outcome depends on the levels of creativity and innovation that can be enhanced through the increase in and combination of the diverse pool of knowledge and skills associated with gender diversity (Taylor & Greve, 2006). It is clear to note that creativity and diverse perspectives in a TMT can lead to higher-quality group decision-making processes and outputs by minimizing or eliminating the tendencies of having different mind-set, where some members in the group avoid challenging and/or disagreeing with the decisions or ideas of other team members (Egan, 2005).
2.6. TMT Gender Diversity and Employee Productivity
The concepts of social justice case for gender diversity regardless of its economic effects. thoughts and behaviours that help reduce discrimination, prejudice and oppression in a society (Cacioppo et al., 2000). Social justice theory suggests that providing equal opportunities and access to all groups in a society is essential for a sustainable society (Mackinnon, 2009). Again, gender diversity should focus on the leadership of women having varying skills and competencies within an organisation (Seierstad, 2016). This was carved from the systematic, structural and subtle discrimination against women have been in a disadvantaged position in organisations. The presence of women in a leadership team helps an organisation to improve on social performance (Byron & Post, 2016). Furthermore, with a gender-diverse on board can potentially help reduce some levels of conflict in a gender-diverse TMT which that an increase in group gender diversity can be associated with a decrease in conflict levels when the climate for inclusion is also high Nishii (2013).
In this current situation, gender diversity is one of the most important elements facing managers, directors, and stockholders and it is considered part of good corporate governance. In this sense, Rose (2007) argues that corporations, like other organisations, should reflect the disparity of society as a whole, and diversity on boards and in top management is therefore a logical consequence.
2.7. Gender Diversity on Board of Directors
Agency theory suggests that a more diverse board may yield better monitoring of managers, because board diversity increases board independence (Randöy, Thomsen, & Oxelheim, 2006). This could be situated with directors of a different gender, ethnicity or cultural background might ask questions that would not come from directors with more conventional backgrounds. Which can create the notion that minority members can be marginalized by majority members and their suggestions may not be considered in the decision-making process (Carter, Simkins, & Simpson, 2003). Again, board members of diverse gender or ethnic origin may better avoid practices of earnings smoothing and management, thus providing shareholders with more effective and reliable information for corporate performance. Moreover, diversity can lead to an increase in its effectiveness, which can eventually result into better performance, as a consequence of a wider variety of perspectives and a more exhaustive decision-making process.
2.8. Gender Diversity and Achieving Competitive Advantage
There is positive significant effect (Mitchell, Robson, & Prabhu, 2002), of gender diversity in firm leadership and financial performance which led to the findings that the presence of a woman as CEO is likely to have a positive effect on the financial performance of firms, especially in more gender perspective evident when the chairperson is female. In order for a firm to achieve competitive advantage, its need to constantly focus on the identification of differential product strategies, building or reshaping core competencies, acquiring unique technologies, and accumulation of intellectual property, all of which can all be harnessed to make the company successful in a highly competitive market place. In business, both financial and non-financial performance can be measured with a primarily focused on the short term to maximize profit for financial performance. The company’s non-financial performance is more long-term in nature, intending to create value and keep the organization alive, growing, and growing. Long-term orientation refers to a company’s life cycle that spans more than one year. Financial measures are used to describe a variety of acts that occur outside of the financial world. The four elements of a company’s performance are relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and financial viability. Relevance refers to the degree to which the company’s stakeholders regard it as they observe fit. The degree to which a corporation succeeds in accomplishing previously defined goals is referred to as effectiveness. Efficiency is measured by how well a corporation uses its resources to achieve its objectives. Finally, financial viability is a measure of a company’s financial worth, and it indicates the company’s profitability in the short- and long-term.
2.9. Strategic Management in TMT
2.9.1. Sustainable Competitive Advantage
In relation to strategic management Hall (1993) the essential features of sustained competitive advantage are the durability of the product in order to preserve its competitive advantage and be perceived as competitive by its stakeholders, a company must sustain and improve its performance using the link between intellectual capital and business performance. The Intellectual capital consists of valuable, imitable, and non-replaceable resources and competencies that provide a long-term competitive edge and superior performance Barney (1991). This intellectual capital in a way is similar to a company’s resource-based thesis, claiming that competitive advantage can only be achieved by utilizing scarce, intangible, and company-specific assets. In more realistic sense, intellectual capital is critical in determining a company’s current and future competitiveness and value growth. In medium and small businesses, the internal resource base of the organization, particularly its intellectual capital, is a driver of competitive performance (Tovstiga & Tulugurova, 2009),
The consistent growth of a company is manifested by the better understanding of sustainability competitive advantages. The life spans of most companies are not long, and most of them would disappear in five years because of the lack of core competence and sustainability. measures and effective strategic management. Furthermore, the development of sustainability not only brings high profitability for the company, but also helps the company to take responsibility of society and environment (Goodland, 1995). Furthermore, the corporate sustainability can be divided into three dimensions including economic dimension, ecological dimension, and social dimension.
2.9.2. Developing Innovation in an Organisation
Innovation is one of the strategies for building and developing organizations through manifestation of competitive advantage. An arena of innovation is formed by the combination of many facets of creation (Leonard-Barton, 1991). Problem-solving, integration and blending new technological methods and processes, performing experiments and producing prototypes, absorbing technology from outside the organization, and developing new goods are all examples of innovation Leonard-Barton (1991) Again, with the use of innovation an organisation can set itself apart from its competition. Companies can benefit from innovation by improving the attainment and sustainability of their competitive advantages. Innovative organizations often establish a sustained competitive advantage because they can exploit and expand their critical strengths in a unique and superior way. Companies mostly require specific capabilities to achieve a long-term competitive advantage Leonard-Barton (1991).
Companies are needed to prepare unique and rare resources that competitors do not own, according to resource-based Theory. These one-of-a-kind resources are supposed to result in a product or procedure that no one else can duplicate. Companies that can develop items or processes that are difficult to copy and distinct from their competitors will easier gain market share. Companies that can produce and use distinctive resources will have better market share due to their innovation. Companies that can utilize all of their resources will have an easier time locating existing innovations, including product, process, and administrative innovations Rajapathirana and Hui (2008). Moreover, the company’s ability to implement organizational learning will inspire it to fully use all available resources based on what it has learned for which businesses will find it easier way to build an effective innovation strategy as a result of their initiatives Jiménez-Jiménez, and Sanz-Valle (2011),
The objectives of this paper are:
1) explore the relevance of top management team with gender diversity and sustainable competitive advantage
2) investigate the relationship between TMT characteristics and gender diversity
3) investigate the relationship between TMT characteristics and sustainable competitive advantage
3. Methodology
The study targeted TMT of Pure water company within two regions namely Upper East and West which was purposely and stratified and adoption of simple random sampling of 125 TMT for the study. The identified TMT include: top managers Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Manager in charge of Human Resource (HR), Manager in charge of interna audit, and Manager in charge of procurement. Simple random sampling allows for every targeted person to have equal chances of being selected for the study, it is simple and reduces bias and improves generalizability of the study findings (Ken, 2010).
A well-structured questionnaire for the respondents was formulated and used to collect primary data for the study. The structured questionnaire was self-administered with a clear set of questions specifically addressing the research questions (Ngechu, 2004). Likert-type scale questions were included in the questionnaires. The collected data were analysed using SPSS software version 23. Continuous data was analyzed using mean and standard deviations while Multiple linear regression model was used to assess factors associated with the relationship between characteristics TMT, gender diversity and sustainable competitive advantage (Table 1).
Table 1. TMT model summary.
TMTC Model Summary |
Model |
R |
R Square |
Adjusted R Square |
Std. Error of
the Estimate |
Change Statistics |
R Square Change |
F Change |
df1 |
df2 |
Sig. F Change |
1 |
.875a |
.768 |
.712 |
1.000 |
.452 |
5.067 |
10 |
114 |
.000 |
a. Predictors: (Constant), Multi-Task, Handling-Problems, Confidence, Self-Esteem, Emotional Interference, Objectives-Optimism, Education, Sex, Experience, Age.
Table 2 shows the multiple regression coefficient for both standardized and unstandardized of TMT characteristics, gender diversity as the predictors and sustainable competitive advantage as the dependent variable.
Table 2. Gender coefficient.
General Coefficientsa |
Model |
Unstandardized
Coefficients |
Standardized Coefficients |
T |
Sig. |
B |
Std. Error |
Beta |
1 |
(Constant) |
3.820 |
.106 |
|
36.138 |
.000 |
TMT Characteristics |
.150 |
.021 |
.586 |
6.980 |
.000 |
Gender Diversity |
−.086 |
.023 |
−.316 |
−3.765 |
.000 |
a. Dependent Variable: Sustainable Competitive Advantage.
The model is shown as:
SCA = 3.820 0.15 TMT Characteristics 0.086 Gender Diversity
The model explained that a unit increase of TMT characteristics will increase SCA by 0.15 and a unit increase of gender diversity will decrease SCA by 0.086. The model also indicated that if TMT characteristics and gender diversity are zero, the SCA is equal to the constant 3.820.
The results indicate that the overall model was statistically significant. Further, the results imply that the independent variables are good predictors of the SCA. This is supported by an F (2, 122) statistic of 24.807 and p value (0.000) which is less than the conventional probability of 0.05significant level. The critical F (2, 122) statistic from Table 3 is also much less compared to the calculated F statistic
Table 3. General ANOVA.
General ANOVAa |
Model |
Sum of Squares |
Df |
Mean Square |
F |
Sig. |
1 |
Regression |
1.119 |
2 |
.560 |
24.807 |
.000b |
Residual |
2.753 |
122 |
.023 |
|
|
Total |
3.872 |
124 |
|
|
|
a. Dependent Variable: Sustainable Competitive Advantage; b. Predictors: (Constant), TMT Characteristics, Gender Diversity.
The results indicate that the overall model was statistically significant. Further, the results imply that the independent variables are good predictors of the response variable. This is supported by an F (10, 114) statistic of 5.067 and p value (0.000) which is less than the conventional probability of 0.05significant level. The critical F (10, 114) statistic from the Table 4 is also much less compared to the calculated F statistic.
Table 4. TMTC ANOVA.
TMTC ANOVAa |
Model |
Sum of Squares |
Df |
Mean Square |
F |
Sig. |
1 |
Regression |
50.712 |
10 |
5.071 |
5.067 |
.000b |
Residual |
114.088 |
114 |
1.001 |
|
|
Total |
164.800 |
124 |
|
|
|
a. Dependent Variable: Expertise; b. Predictors: (Constant), Multi-Task, Handling-Problems, Confidence, Self-Esteem, Emotional Interference, Objectives-Optimism, Education, Sex, Experience, Age.
Table 5 indicates the multiple regression coefficient for both standardized and unstandardized of TMT characteristics. The model is shown as:
Expertise = 3.314 + 0.727 Sex + 1.146 Age + 0.021 Education .556 Experience − 0.182 self-esteem − 0.190 confidence + 0.389 objective-optimism + 0.429 emotional interference + 0.070 handling- problems + 0.318 multi-task.
Table 5. TMT characteristic coefficient.
TMT Characteristics Coefficientsa |
Model |
Unstandardized
Coefficients |
Standardized Coefficients |
T |
Sig. |
B |
Std. Error |
Beta |
1 |
(Constant) |
3.314 |
3.354 |
|
.988 |
.325 |
Sex |
.727 |
.436 |
.313 |
1.669 |
.098 |
Age |
1.436 |
.541 |
.506 |
2.655 |
.009 |
Education |
021 |
.334 |
−.008 |
−.063 |
.950 |
Experience |
1.556 |
.352 |
−.819 |
−4.421 |
.000 |
Self-Esteem |
−.182 |
.358 |
−.043 |
−.509 |
.611 |
Confidence |
−190 |
.344 |
−.051 |
−.552 |
.582 |
Objectives-Optimism |
.389 |
.522 |
.085 |
.746 |
.457 |
Emotional Interference |
.429 |
.096 |
.412 |
4.471 |
.000 |
Handling-Problems |
.070 |
.143 |
−.048 |
−.488 |
.627 |
Multi-Task |
.318 |
.258 |
.109 |
1.231 |
.221 |
a. Dependent Variable: Expertise.
The model explained that a unit increase of sex, age, education, experience, objectives optimism emotional interference, handling problem and multi-task will increase the employee expertise by the amount of their coefficient and at the same time decrease expertise by the coefficient of the self-esteem and confidence level of the employee with the constant of 3.314
Table 6 shows the predictors Corporate Performance, Non-Discriminatory, Motivation, Monitoring Qualities, and Quality Information. This was supported by coefficient of determination also known as the R square of 34.1%. This meant that top management behavioral characteristics, demographic characteristics explained 34.1%. of the variations in the dependent variable. The results further meant that the model applied to link the relationship of the variables was satisfactory. In statistics significance testing the p-value (0.000) < 0.05,
Table 6. Gender diversity model summary.
Gender Diversity Model Summary |
Model |
R |
R Square |
Adjusted R Square |
Std. Error of the Estimate |
Change Statistics |
R Square Change |
F Change |
df1 |
df2 |
Sig. F Change |
1 |
.606a |
.368 |
.341 |
.525 |
.368 |
13.836 |
5 |
119 |
.000 |
a. Predictors: (Constant), Corporate Performance, Non-Discriminatory, Motivation, Monitoring Qualities, Quality Information.
The results indicate that the overall model was statistically significant. Further, the results imply that the independent variables are good predictors of the gender diversity. This is supported by an F (5, 119) statistic of 13.836 and p value (0.000) which is less than the conventional probability of 0.05 significant level. The critical F (5, 119) statistic from Table 7 is also much less compared to the calculated F statistic.
Table 7. Gender diversity ANOVA.
Gender Diversity ANOVAa |
Model |
Sum of Squares |
Df |
Mean Square |
F |
Sig. |
1 |
Regression |
19.046 |
5 |
3.809 |
13.836 |
.000b |
Residual |
32.762 |
119 |
.275 |
|
|
Total |
51.808 |
124 |
|
|
|
a. Dependent Variable: Quality Decision; b. Predictors: (Constant), Corporate Performance, Non-Discrimatory, Motivation, Monitoring Qualities, Quality Information.
Table 8. Gender diversity coefficient.
Gender Diversity Coefficients |
Model |
Unstandardized
Coefficients |
Standardized Coefficients |
T |
Sig. |
B |
Std. Error |
Beta |
1 |
(Constant) |
6.044 |
2.836 |
|
2.132 |
.035 |
Non-Discriminatory |
−.234 |
.061 |
.312 |
3.829 |
.000 |
Monitoring Qualities |
.690 |
.348 |
−.189 |
−1.983 |
.050 |
Motivation |
.483 |
.079 |
.516 |
6.077 |
.000 |
Quality Information |
−070 |
.380 |
.033 |
−.185 |
.854 |
Corporate Performance |
.276 |
.423 |
.121 |
−.652 |
.515 |
a. Dependent Variable: Quality Decision.
The above Table 8 shows the multiple regression coefficient for both standardized and unstandardized of gender diversity. The model is shown as:
Quality Decision= 6.044 − 234 non-Discrimatory + 0.690 monitoring qualities + 0.483 motivation- 0.070 quality information + 0.276 Corporate performance
The model explained that a unit increase of th independent variables will increase the dependent variable by the amount of the coefficients of the predictors except non-discrimatory which will decrease quality decision by .234 respectively.
Table 9 shows strong correlation 0f .941 between the predictors of sustainable competitive advantage: Strategic Plan, Customer Loyalty, Return Increase were found to be satisfactory variables in explaining dependent variable This was supported by coefficient of determination also known as the R square of 88.0%. The results further meant that the model applied to link the relationship of the variables was satisfactory. In statistics significance testing the p-value indicates the level of relation of the independent variable to the dependent variable. If the significance number found is less than the critical value also known as the probability value (p) which is statistically set at 0.05, then the conclusion would be that the model is significant in explaining the relationship; else the model would be regarded as non-significant.
Table 9. Sustainable competitive advantage model summary.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage Model Summary |
Model |
R |
R Square |
Adjusted R Square |
Std. Error of the Estimate |
Change Statistics |
R Square Change |
F Change |
df1 |
df2 |
Sig. F Change |
1 |
.941a |
.885 |
.880 |
.176 |
.885 |
182.836 |
5 |
119 |
.000 |
a. Predictors: (Constant), Strategic Plan, Customer Loyalty, Return Increase, Customer Survey, Unique Product.
The results indicate that the overall model was statistically significant. Further, the results imply that the independent variables are good predictors of the customer service. This is supported by an F (5, 119) of 182.836 and p value (0.000) which is less than the conventional probability of 0.05significant level. The critical F (4, 119) statistic from Table 10 is also much less compared to the calculated F statistic.
Table 10. SCA ANOVA.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage ANOVAa |
Model |
Sum of Squares |
Df |
Mean Square |
F |
Sig. |
1 |
Regression |
28.314 |
5 |
5.663 |
182.836 |
.000b |
Residual |
3.686 |
119 |
.031 |
|
|
Total |
32.000 |
124 |
|
|
|
a. Dependent Variable: Customer Service; b. Predictors: (Constant), Strategic Plan, Customer Loyalty, Return Increase, Customer Survey, Unique Product.
Regression coefficients of the results in Table 11 revealed that return increase and customer survey positively and significantly related (β = 0.958, p = 0.000) and (β = 0.080, p = 0.032) respectively.
Table 11. SCA coefficient.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage Coefficients |
Model |
Unstandardized Coefficients |
Standardized Coefficients |
T |
Sig. |
B |
Std. Error |
Beta |
1 |
(Constant) |
.681 |
.427 |
|
−1.594 |
.114 |
Return Increase |
.970 |
.034 |
.958 |
28.620 |
.000 |
Unique Product |
.025 |
.024 |
.047 |
1.066 |
.289 |
Customer Survey |
.118 |
.054 |
.080 |
2.174 |
.032 |
Customer Loyalty |
.009 |
.032 |
.011 |
.267 |
.790 |
Strategic Plan |
.060 |
.041 |
.055 |
1.477 |
.142 |
a. Dependent Variable: Customer Service.
Graphs (Histogram)
Histogram for TMT characteristics (Figures 1-5).
Figure 1. Handling problems.
Figure 2. Emotional interference.
Figure 3. Multi-Task.
Figure 4. Sex.
Figure 5. Age.
4. Conclusion
This research work contributes to the theoretical underpinnings for a TMT characteristics and gender diversity productivity relationship. The study suggests that TMT demographic characteristics, can influence TMT processes leading to higher productivity (Krishnan & Park, 2005). The study also shows that, board gender diversity and TMT gender diversity would still be suitable based on the social justice case for diversity that can be predicted by the identified model. The study also revealed comprehensive and conceptual understanding of TMT and gender diversity for better decision-making processes. The study concluded that creative top management team members enhance organizational effectiveness in achieving the strategic objectives. The study also concluded that the problem-solving ability of the top management team members influences the resolution of conflict arising from strategic decisions. Further, it was concluded that the ability of top management team to brainstorm influences the nature of strategic decisions. The findings shows that the TMT behavioral characteristics, demographic characteristics, explained 34%. of the variations of the expertise exhibited. The results further meant that the. The standardized coefficient indicated that the optimal variable of the TMT characteristics are the age and emotional interreferences given as (0.506) and (0.412) respectively.
Another finding indicates a positive effect of TMT characteristics on gender diversity on employee performance and a strong positive TMT characteristic on sustainable competitive advantage. TMT characteristics include multi-task, handling-problems, confidence, self-esteem, emotional interference, objectives-optimism, education, sex, experience and age.
5. Recommendation and Future Work
The study recommends that gender diversity should be constantly applied in relation to the various categories of employment in terms of TMT characteristics. Again, SCA should be effectively applied in terms productivity of company’s goals. Future work is to consider SCA in relation to technological advancement for a case study to some selected companies,