STRATEGIC AGILITY AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF OIL AND GAS MARKETING COMPANIES: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITY AND STRATEGIC FORESIGHT

Considering the vital role of strategic agility, information technology capability and strategic foresight in todays global market, organizations in any economy cannot gain industry competitive advantage without agile workforce, information technology capability and strategic foresight. Most oil and gas companies in Nigeria faced competitive disadvantage due to poor strategic agility, information technology incapability and lack of strategic foresight. This study examined the combined moderating effect of information technology capability and strategic foresight on the relationship between strategic agility and competitive advantage in the oil and gas marketing companies in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study employed survey research design. The study population was 515 managers of major oil and gas marketing companies. Total enumeration was used and a structured questionnaire was adapted and validated. The instrument was reliable and valid: Cronbachs alpha coefficients ranged from 0.734 to 0.814, and KMO values were greater than 0.5. 515 copies of questionnaire were distributed and 480 returned useable, giving a response rate of 93.2%. Hierarchical regression method was used for data analysis. Findings revealed that both information technology capability and strategic foresight have significant combined moderating effect on the relationship between strategic agility and competitive advantage in the oil and gas marketing companies (F-change = 34.969, p<0.05). The study concluded that information technology capability and strategic foresight moderately affects the relationship between strategic agility and competitive advantage in the oil and gas marketing companies. Therefore, it is recommended that oil and gas marketing companies in Nigeria should utilize their information technology capabilities to derive value from their business operations, sharpen their capability for analysing the drivers, motivations and causalities associated with future opportunities and the alternative strategic decisions necessary to optimally exploit these opportunities, and deepen their engagement of strategic agility initiatives. Limitations of the study and other areas for future research were highlighted.