The Journal of Accounting and Management, Vol 9, No 2 (2019)

Abstract

The insurance industry globally plays a pivotal role in social and economic growth of any economy. The industry in Nigeria, however, has been plagued with the challenges of poor strategic leadership and governance towards achieving strategy implementation and thus caused competitive disadvantage of insurance companies in Nigeria. Henceforth, this study investigated the effect of strategic leadership components on competitive advantage of selected quoted insurance companies in Nigeria. The study employed survey research design and twenty listed insurance companies were selected which controls 72% of the total market share of the total insurance companies. The study employed total enumeration as the population was 420. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients ranged between 0.710 and 0.881. Data were analyzed using inferential statistics. Findings revealed that there was significant effect of strategic leadership (strategic direction, strategic vision, ethical practices, strategic control and strategic intent) on competitive advantage (F_(5,415) =91.619, Adj R² = 0.760, p<0.05). The study concluded that strategic leadership components have positive and significant effect on competitive advantage. The study recommended that insurance companies’ management should sponsor their staff to a continuing training and development programs in order to expose their staff to skills and knowledge regarding strategic leadership and achieve competitive advantage.