Diversity Management, Innovation-work Behaviour and Employee Engagement in Agricultural SMEs in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Grounded on dynamic capability and job demands resources perspectives, this study
investigates whether diversity management amplifies the effect of innovation-work behaviour
on employee engagement among 347 agricultural SMEs in Ibadan, Nigeria. A convergent
mixed-methods design combined survey data (PLS-SEM, 5,000 bias-corrected bootstraps,
instrumental-variable distance-to-node controls) with 25 semi-structured interviews.
Descriptive diagnostics indicate high reliability (α ≥ 0.88, AVE ≥ 0.66, VIF < 3.3). Quantitative
results show that innovation-work behaviour positively predicts employee engagement (β =
0.44, p < 0.001); diversity management significantly moderates this relationship (β = 0.23, p <
0.001), with the slope 46 % steeper under high diversity management. Moderated-mediation
analyses reveal that psychological safety and inclusive leadership sequentially transmit the
interactive effect (conditional indirect effect = 0.19 [0.12, 0.27] at high diversity management;
non-significant at low). Qualitative themes corroborate the quantitative findings, highlighting
language-inclusive ideation and anonymous suggestion portals as micro-processes.
Implications for inclusive agro-policy and SME cluster development are discussed.