STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP STYLE ADOPTION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFORMATION SYSTEM CHANGE IN OIL AND GAS COMPANIES IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA.

Abstract

The effect of IS change with employee change readiness as a moderating variable, on the relationship between strategic leadership style adoption and IS change effectiveness in oil and gas companies in Rivers State, Nigeria was studied. The study was done quantitatively with a correlative design, with the data collected from a set of 76 appropriate respondents from the oil and gas companies using a structured questionnaire. The results revealed that vision articulation variable has a positive significant correlation with the user acceptance variable in information system change, resource alignment variable with system performance variable, and scenario planning variable with system performance variable of process improvement. Moderating effect of the levels of change readiness associated with the employees was also found to affect the relationship between strategic leadership style adoption and effectiveness of the information system change. The conclusion is that, for an information system change to be successful, leadership style of the management in the process and level of readiness with which employees accept and support the change are important factors. The study findings suggested increased levels of transformational and resource aligning practices and fewer passive leadership behaviours, as well as deliberate action to increase employee readiness through communication, involvement, and training.