Philemon, John R.; Kessy, Severine S. A.
Description:
This study examined the influence of top management teams of financial
institutions, tourism enterprises and manufacturing firms on these firms’
performance. Informed by Hambrick’s Upper Echelons Theory, various studies
have examined the relationship between top managers and organisational
performance and the findings have been only been contentious but also offered
contradictory conclusions. A total of 363 managers from the three sectors of
the economy were surveyed in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, and
Kilimanjaro using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics
(Frequencies, Percentages, Means, and Standard Deviations) and inferential
statistics (Structural Equation Modelling) were employed to establish the
existing relationships between demographics and entrepreneurial orientations
of managers and the firms’ performance. The findings show that management
demographic characteristics and entrepreneurship orientations bear a
significant influence on the firms’ performance. It is, therefore, recommended
from these findings that a mix of the top management should take into account
age limit, experience and a desirable socio-economic background.