LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT OUTCOMES IN MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This empirical study examines the relationship between Leadership Behaviour, specifically Transformational Leadership and Ethical Leadership, and Conflict Management Outcomes in manufacturing firms in Rivers State, Nigeria. Using a cross-sectional survey of 350 employees across major manufacturing clusters, Conflict Management Outcomes were measured through Organizational Cohesion and Organizational Adaptability. Multiple Regression Analysis revealed that Transformational and Ethical Leadership jointly and significantly predict conflict management outcomes, explaining 54.3 percent of the variance in CMO (R² = 0.543, p < 0.001). Transformational Leadership emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.381), indicating the importance of inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation in promoting constructive conflict resolution. Ethical Leadership also showed a significant positive influence (β = 0.320), demonstrating that fairness, integrity, and ethical role modeling enhance cohesion and adaptive capacity. The findings confirm that leadership behaviour is a critical antecedent of effective conflict management and organizational resilience in manufacturing firms. The results further support local scholarship advocating administrative and digital restructuring anchored on strong leadership. Accordingly, manufacturing executives are encouraged to prioritize leader development initiatives that strengthen transformational competencies and ethical conduct to sustain cohesion, adaptability, and performance.