Strategic Leadership, Organizational Culture, and Employee Performance in Nigerian Public Universities

This study empirically examines the joint effects of strategic leadership and organizational culture on employee performance in Nigerian public universities, drawing samples from universities in the North Central and South West zones. The persistent challenges of staff productivity and institutional effectiveness in Nigeria's public university system make this an important area of strategic management inquiry. A quantitative survey design was employed, targeting academic and non-academic staff of five federal and state universities. A total of 220 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling. Structural equation modelling with AMOS was used to test the mediation of organizational culture in the strategic leadership-employee performance relationship. Strategic leadership was measured through six dimensions adapted from Ireland and Hitt's strategic leadership model. Findings indicate that strategic leadership has a significant positive direct effect on employee performance and an even stronger indirect effect mediated through organizational culture. The study establishes that the quality of institutional culture, particularly norms around accountability, collaboration, and innovation, absorbs and amplifies strategic leadership signals to produce performance outcomes. The research fills a gap in strategic management literature on the sequential leadership-culture-performance chain in the Nigerian public university context. The study concludes that university administrators must invest in culture management as an intermediate mechanism for translating leadership quality into employee performance. Keywords: strategic leadership, organizational culture, employee performance, public universities, structural equation modelling.