Strategies for improving customer loyalty are a sine qua non for attracting new customers and retaining old ones in order to improve firms' sustainable competitiveness. However, choice of marketing communication mix would differ between firms and across industries. This study examines the influence of integrated marketing communications (IMC) dimensions on customer loyalty to mobile telecommunication service among competing firms in telecommunication service industry. Using cross-sectional survey research design, multistage sampling procedure (stratified, quota and simple random) sampling techniques, data was collected from 150 respondents out of which n = 134 copies of the retrieved questionnaires. The data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (correlation and regression), while hypotheses were tested using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results show a significant relationship between customer loyalty and direct marketing (r = .375**); publicity (r = .514**); sales promotion (r = .470**) and advertising r = .562**) respectively. The multiple regression result indicates R 2 value of .483, meaning that integrated marketing communication dimensions accounted for 48.3% variance in customer loyalty. The study therefore recommends IMC as a strategic tool for targeting subscribers to patronize and retain them with a mobile telecom service provider for a long time. It further suggests that managers in the industry should prioritize their strategies on the basis of IMC dimension that makes the greatest contribution to the criterion of interest, with beta and high coefficient in their budgetary allocation for the optimal promotional mix to achieve the organisational goal both in short and long-run.

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PurposePersonality profiling in today’s business world has become an essential organisational development practice targeted at identifying a set of employees' traits, which differentiate an employee from one another. Given the assumption that personality traits form an essential indicator of developing the potential of an individual workforce, possible to establish how employees function in a certain job role and their suitability for the particular tasks in an organisation. This study aims to explore the relationship between personality traits, assessment centres (ACs) quality and management development in Nigeria telecommunication organisation among its managers.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed multi-stage sampling techniques and further stratified the hierarchy of the management and finally used a simple random sampling strategy on each stratum. A combination of 482 managers in Nigerian telecommunication organisations participated in this study. The study investigated 12 hypotheses and 1 mediating postulation. Multiple scales were adapted to measure dimensions of endogenous and exogenous variables along the path of mediating variables of the study. The study employed a cross-sectional survey approach to administering the research instrument across all the departments among the managers of the organisations. A structural equation model of assessment was used to analyse the data collected from managers of the telecoms organisations.FindingsThe outcome of the study was significant, 10 of the postulated hypotheses were found to be significant while 3 were not significant. The study revealed that a combination of openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and extraversion personality have no significant relationship with the AC. Also, employees who are high in neuroticism like being emotionally unstable did not find a significant relationship with the AC. In a similar situation, the combined effect of all the big-five personalities was not significant in management development among the managers of the telecommunication industry. The AC is discovered to mediate between personality traits and management development. Individually, the big-five model finds a significant relationship with AC and management development, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is restricted to managers of the Nigerian telecoms industry alone and not all the entire workforce. It adopted cross-sectional analysis to make an inference on all the managers of the organisations. The implication is that the period of the view of a particular point in a sequence of the event may not be representative. Another implication is that the results from the cross-sectional design are for the relationship, and they do not indicate causation.Originality/valueIn practice, this study has shown that personality profiling is important to managing organisational behaviour to highlight a set of traits of employees suitable for peculiar roles. This study implies that personality elements constitute a vital signal of the potential development of the workforce. It helps to illuminate an individual functioning style in a certain task situation, therefore determining both professional and managerial suitability in performing a given role.

Purpose Despite the enormous investment in employee training, training effectiveness is often hampered by insufficient transfer of learning (TOL) among trainees, making the return on training investment suboptimal. The challenge of effective TOL among employees is enormous, including personal and organizational factors, and research exploring this is inconclusive. This study aims to investigate organizational climate and TOL and the mediating role of emotional intelligence. Design/methodology/approach Applying identical elements and social cognitive theories, the study used multistage sampling techniques through purposive, convenience and simple random sampling collected using validated measures of the study constructs formed into a survey questionnaire. Multiple Regression and Process Macro were used to analyze the data. Findings Results revealed significant relationships between formalization, performance feedback, employee participation, innovation and flexibility with TOL. Organizational climate dimensions jointly and independently predicted TOL. However, only formalization was inversely related to TOL. Emotional intelligence partially mediates the relationship between organizational climate dimensions and TOL. The study recommends the need for managers to encourage autonomy, creativity and flexibility and provide honest and valid feedback to foster the TOL. Originality/value By addressing the limitations of other studies, this study advances knowledge by underlining the significance of including and further exploring the mediating role of trainees’ emotional intelligence on the relationship between organizational climate (formalization, performance feedback, employee participation, innovation and flexibility) and TOL.