Systems Thinking and Performance of Pension Fund Administrators in Nigeria: An Empirical Examination of Moderating Effect of Employee Involvement Culture

Abstract

This study examined the moderating effect ofemployee involvement culture on the relationship between system thinking (continuous learning, dynamic thinking, understanding mental models, pattern recognition, process orientation and systems logic) and organizational performance of Pension
Fund Administrators in Nigeria. The study employed cross sectional survey design where simple random sampling method was adopted to collect data from two hundred and eighty two (282) staff of the PFAs through questionnaire administered to employees of Pension Fund Administrators in Nigeria. The study used Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) Smart PLS 4.0 software to analyse the data. The findings reveal that continuous learning and dynamic thinking have strong and significant positive effects on organizational performance. In contrast, mental model, process orientation, pattern recognition, and systems logic show no significant direct relationships with organizational performance, indicating limited independent influence. The moderation analysis shows that employee involvement culture significantly strengthens the relationship between systems logic and organizational performance but weakens the relationship between process orientation and organizational performance, while exhibiting no significant moderating effect on continuous learning, mental model, and pattern recognition. Overall, the results suggest that organizational performance is primarily driven by learning and adaptive thinking capabilities, while employee involvement culture plays a selective and context-dependent moderating role. The study recommended, among others, that organizations should prioritize the development of continuous learning systems, and strengthen employee involvement culture to foster a learning
culture as a strategic priority for organizations to improve performance.