Correlates and Clusters of Factors Influencing Perceived Organizational Performance of Pharmaceutical Managers in Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

There is limited evidence to show how pharmaceutical managers are profiled based on managerial roles: operational, product, and strategic management level, using clustering and multivariate analyses. The constructs evaluated were:self-efficacy (SE), reward-structure (RS), policy-involvement (PE), task-environment (TE), communication-engagement (CE), and perceived organizational performance (OP). Study objectives were to investigate the profile of pharmaceutical managers based on functional roles and task constructs influencing their performance. Secondly, to assess the influence of SE, TE, PE, CE, and RS on OP of pharmaceutical managers. A literature-guided questionnaire cross-sectional study was administered by stratified random sampling to 241 managers involved in pharmaceutical marketing in Nigeria. Multivariate analyses were used to examine relationships between variables. Two-step Cluster analysis was used to explore the distinct structure of constructs. Kruskal Wallis test compared cluster groups at p≤.05. Associations existed between demographic attributes and managerial roles except for gender (p=0.085), and qualification as pharmacist or non-pharmacist (p=0.124). The regression model showed that SE, TE, and PE were significant predictors of OP. CS and RS had no significant influence on OP. Significant positive relationships were found between six constructs. Three clusters were computed with an overall median cluster score of 24.13. Strategic managers formed the dominant cluster 1 (mean=24.39) with comparatively higher value of PE than Clusters 2 (product managers) and 3 (operational managers). Higher performance scores were related to higher levels of perceived self-efficacy among managers. The study recommends need-specific interventions to address role-specific challenges affecting managers. Adopting improved communication and reward systems to improve overall performance is recommended.