SALEM JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Nigeria over the years has been challenged with human capital development and this has encumbered it’s ability to tap into the gains of globalization. Regrettably, government over the years have paid little or no attention to this deficit. The crisis of population surge, youth unemployment among others have exacerbated the problem of poverty and deprivation. Whereas, other countries within the West Africa sub region have elevated to the middle category of human development index, the reverse is the case with Nigeria that is stuck in the low category. The paper argues that, the inability to galvanise and harness the nation’s  human capital resources has cost Nigeria a great deal, as it is unable to produce the required human resources that can grow the nations’ resources and create opportunities for it’s citizens as well as increase it’s life expectancy. The emphasis should lie on education and training as these will help to accelerate and sustain the nation’s development effort.

This study investigates the influence of value-based leadership on employee performance in the context of luxury hotels in the South-South Region, Nigeria. It also explores the moderating role of leadership intelligence, which encompasses emotional, cognitive, and social dimensions of leadership capability. Employee performance is disaggregated into three constructs: task performance, contextual performance, and adaptive performance to provide a more nuanced understanding of workplace behaviour. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was adopted, and data were collected using structured copies of questionnaire were administered to employees of selected luxury hotels. Out of 298 sets of questionnaires distributed, 268 valid responses were retrieved and analyzed, representing an 89.3% response rate. The study employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS and SPSS 26.0 to assess both the measurement and structural models. The findings revealed that all dimensions of value-based leadership comprising ethical leadership, and authentic leadership had statistically significant effects on employee performance. The study recommended among others that hotel management should institutionalize ethical leadership development programs that promote fairness, transparency, and accountability.