ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING AND BUSINESS LONGEVITY OF FAMILY OWNED TRANSPORT COMPANIES IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA

The study investigated the nexus between organisational learning (dimensioned by continuous learning and issue orientation) and business longevity (measured by financial strength and strategic perspectives) of family owned transport companies in South-East, Nigeria. The study was underpinned by the Social Learning Theory and the underlying philosophical paradigm is positivism. The research design adopted a cross-sectional survey approach, with a structured questionnaire based on a Likert's five-point scale.The target population comprised 11 family owned transport companies in South-East Nigeria, with national coverage. However, the elements of the accessible population were 480 Supervisors/Managers of the identified family owned transport companies. The Krejcie and Morgan’s table was utilised to determine a sample size of 214 respondents, and the purposive sampling technique was adopted. The Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was deployed to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The study found that continuous learning has a moderate positive and significant relationship with financial strength. Also, there is a moderate positive and statistically significant relationship between continuous learning and strategic perspectives. Besides, issue orientation has a weak positive and significant relationship with financial strength. However, issue orientation has a weak positive but not significant relationship with strategic perspectives. Therefore, the study recommends that Managers of family-owned transport companies in South-East Nigeria should prioritize continuous learning by investing in training and development programs for employees at all levels, and staying updated on industry trends, technological advancements, and regulatory changes. More so, managers of family-owned transport companies should strengthen issue orientation and foster strategic perspectives as a means of achieving business longevity of the firms.