AGABAENWERE Emeka Uchenna OKWANDU Gabriel A. NWULU Chinyere Stella
Department of Marketing, Faculty of Administration and Management
Rivers State University Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt
Corresponding email: emeka.agabaenwere@rsu.edu.ng
Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between transport management systems (TMS) and operational performance of oil and gas servicing firms in Rivers State. TMS was used as the predictor variable and was treated as unidimensional. Operational performance was used as the criterion variable and was proxied by operational flexibility, delivery reliability, and cost reduction. The study adopted cross-sectional survey research design. The population of the study comprised 33 registered oil and gas servicing firms. A census was taken. 3 copies of research instrument were sent to each of the 33 oil and gas servicing firms. The respondents include transportation manager, warehouse managers, and fleet supervisors. Thus, a total of 99 respondents took part in the study. Spearman Rank Order Correlation was used to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that TMS has a very strong positive and statistically significant relationship with operational performance. Based on these findings, we conclude that TMS predicts operational performance of oil and gas servicing firms in Rivers State, and recommends that oil and gas servicing companies in Rivers State should design and implement appropriate TMS if they seek to enhance their operational performance.
Keywords: Cost reduction, delivery reliability, operational flexibility, transport management systems.