Relationship Between National Cultural Distance And The Performance Of Multinationals In The Nigerian Petroleum Sector

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine if and how national cultural difference affects the performance of multinationals in the Nigerian petroleum sector. A sample of 33 multinationals present in the Nigerian petroleum sector were used in this research. Information such as their home country, number of years in operation in Nigeria, number of employees, performance, cultural distance, and their annual sales made up the variables used in this study. The data collected were put into SPSS Statistical analysis programme and mean, standard deviation, spearman rho and multiple regressions were used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that as cultural distance between home Countries and Nigeria increases, there was a negative impact on the performance of multinationals in the Nigerian petroleum sector. Although the results imply that cultural distances exit and can have a negative impact on the performance of multinationals, if properly managed, such negative impacts can be minimized and multinationals can be successful regardless of been present in a culturally distant home country.