Global Journal of Management and Business Research, A: Administration and Management, Volume 22 Issue 5

In a similar study, Gomera, Chinyamurindi, and Mishi (2018) found a positive and significant relationship between strategy implementation and firm profitability among SMMEs in Buffalo City Municipality. While Gomera et al.'s (2018) finding differs from Waititu's (2016) because the former focused on the financial performance effect of strategy execution, the latter examined the relationship between strategy execution and financial performance. Despite this dissimilarity, and underlining relevance of strategic execution for firm performance can be deduced. In addition, the findings of Gomera et al. (2018) align with related studies (Monday et al., 2015; Siam & Hilman, 2014). Langat and Auka's (2015) and Serra and Kunc (2015) posited that strategy implementation and corporate performance are positive correlates. Also, Siam and Hilman (2014) found that strategic goals achievement and firm profitability are strong correlates; and this suggests why the strategic goals are considered one of the organisational performance measures. Furthermore, some streams of scholars discussed strategy execution with strategy unfolding. For example, Auka and Langat (2016) posited that “strategy unfolding is a management tool used to help the organization to focus its energy, to ensure that the members of the organization are working towards the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment." Auka and Langat (2016) corroborated earlier scholars like Siam and Hilman (2014) to position the positive interaction between strategy unfolding processes and financial performance. The findings provide an additional basis for Krisada and Kittisak's (2019) studies. To buttress the relevance of strategy execution to organization performance, Barrick, Thurgood, Smith, and Courtright (2015) and Gakenia, Katuse, and Kiriri (2017) aver that critical to the achievement of continuous firm performance is the consciousness to execute strategies. Another related study that corroborated the finding of Auka and Langat (2016) and Monday et al. (2015) is Krisada and Kittisak (2019). The pharmaceutical industry in Thailand showed that strategy unfolding and implementation is a critical element that explains significant variation in organisational performance (Krisada & Kittisak, 2019). The strategy execution factors considered in this study such as strategic unfolding (Auka & Langat, 2016), high- performance work system (Chahal, Jyoti, & Rani, 2016; Jeong & Choi, 2016; Zhu, Liu, & Chen, 2018), management communication (Nebo, Nwankwo, & Okonkwo, 2015).), monitoring and evaluation (Sihag & Rijsdijk, 2019), and organisational structure (Dischner, 2015; Onono, 2018) had all been documented to have a significant effect on organisational performance. Consequent to this discussion, this study hypothesizes that: H01: Strategy execution has a significant effect on the firm profitability of quoted DMBs in Lagos State, Nigeria. c) The moderating role of Agile Leadership Leadership permeates the entire organisation's architecture and possesses the capability to enshrine policies and formulate and drive organisational strategies to optimum performance (Onamusi, 2020). The significance of leadership to organisational performance has been investigated in existing literature in different research contexts; small and micro businesses (Dunne, Aaron, McDowell, Urban, & Geho, 2016; Lawal, Ajonbadi, & Otokiti, 2014), software development team (Garcia & Macri, 2020), health science library (Uzohue, Yaya, & Akintayo, 2016), public schools (Anyieni & Areri, 2016; Erniwati, Ramly, & Alam, 2020), and paint manufacturing companies (Onamusi, 2020). Managing a profitable organization, especially in tough situations, necessitates an agile leadership (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015), which has a favorable impact on the climate and structure of the organization (Al Bourini et al., 2015; Flanigan et al., 2017; Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015; Obeidat & Tarhini (2016).One leadership mindset considered appropriate for changing environments is agile leadership, which is curved from the agility literature. McPherson (2016) stressed that as individuals progress up the organisational ladder and become leaders, they must develop the capacity to manage changes and uncertainties; this capacity warrants being agile in orientation and acts. Moreover, extant literature buttressed the servant leader attribute of an agile leader by stressing that such leaders work in the interest of the employees, develop their capacity and provide the opportunity to share responsibility and authority. These attributes make agile leadership a suitable approach to handle complexities and the unknown. More so, delivering value, complexity and planning, self-organization, cross-functionality of teams, and fostering collaboration are all regarded essential for an agile leadership attitude. Hence on the strength of the relevance of agile leadership to organisation progress, this study argues that strategy execution is a challenging management activity that requires an agility leader to succeed. Given the time lag between strategy unfolding and execution and the uncertainties within the firm macro environment, the agile leader will navigate the external organisation challenges and achieve significant strategy execution performance. Besides, Kinyanjui (2015) established that strategic leadership (an attribute of agile leadership) influences strategy execution. To provide additional support for this narrative within the theoretical discussion, the contingency theory of fit-as moderator considers agile leadership a contingent factor to enhance firm profitability. More so, where the effect of the independent variable (strategy execution) on the dependent variable (firm profitability) is influenced by the introduction of a third variable (agile leadership), then a moderation-effect is theoretically established (Onamusi, The Affinity to Execute Strategy could Drive Firm Profitability. Is this True? What Role Does Anagile Leader Play? 51 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue V Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals