Training Quality and Management Support as Predictors of Employee Adaptability to Digital Transformation: A Multivariate Analysis of Commercial Banks in South-East Nigeria

Abstract

Nigerian commercial banks have invested heavily in digital infrastructure over the last decade, yet workforce preparedness for the systems that infrastructure supports remains uneven, and the sociological literature on reskilling in developing-economy banking contexts is thin. This study examined whether two features of reskilling provision, training quality and management support, predict two dimensions of employee adaptability to digital transformation, namely willingness to adopt new digital technologies and job performance in digital banking tasks. Data were drawn from 542 employees across eight commercial banks operating in Abia, Anambra, and Imo States. A cross-sectional survey design was used, and four directional hypotheses were tested through multivariate multiple regression, with age, years of service, and job role entered as covariates. All four hypotheses were supported at p <.001. Training quality explained approximately 16.2 per cent of the multivariate variance in adoption willingness and 17.6 per cent in digital job performance, the largest effect in the study. Management support explained 14.7 per cent of the variance in adoption willingness and 15.8 per cent in digital job performance. Digital transformation maturity and technological intensity of the bank produced smaller but statistically detectable moderating effects. Interpreted through Human Capital Theory, Dynamic Capabilities Theory, and Castells’ Network Society Theory, the findings suggest that adaptability outcomes in South-East Nigerian banking depend more on the actual quality of reskilling and on the character of managerial support than on training volume or on the digital sophistication of the institution. Implications for bank human resource practice, sector regulation, and future research are set out.