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

Source: Researcher’s Computation via Smart PLS V3.3.6 Figure 7: Simple Slope Analysis for the moderating effect of agile leadership From figure 7, the red line shows low agile leadership at one standard deviation below the mean; the blue line shows agile leadership at mean, which indicates common effect without the moderation effect, and the green shows high agile leadership at one standard deviation above the mean, and it reflects the moderation effect. Hence, the green line above the blue line suggests that DMBs involved in making a high level of agile leadership enhance the strategy execution- performance linkage. It is on the strength of the moderated analysis result ( β = 0.160; p< 0.050, Q 2 =0.198) and the Simple Slope Analysis obtained that this study concludes that agile leadership has a positive and significant moderating effect on the interaction between strategy execution and DMBs performance in Lagos State, Nigeria. Hence, the study rejects the null hypothesis two (H 0 2), which states that agile leadership has no significant moderating effect on the interaction between strategy execution and firm profitability of DMBs in Lagos State, Nigeria. V. D iscussion and C onclusion This study reveals that strategy execution holds potential for affecting DMBs profitability. This finding found support in prior studies. Waititu (2016), within Kenya's commercial banks' context, posited that investment in strategy execution success achieved a substantial increase in profitability on a year-on-year basis. In the small business community in Buffalo City Municipality in South Africa, Gomera et al. (2018) revealed that the relationship between strategy implementation and firm profitability is positive and significant. 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. To buttress the relevance of strategy execution to organization performance, Barrick et al. (2015) and Gakenia et al. (2017) aver that strategy execution is a critical influencer of performance in any organization. Another related study that corroborated the finding of Auka and Langat (2016) and Monday et al. (2015) is Krisada and Kittisak (2019). Supplementary analysis revealed that agile leadership acted as a significant moderating variable because its introduction enhances strategy execution's capacity to influence firm profitability. According to Onamusi (2021),leadership permeates the entire organisation's architecture and possesses the capability to enshrine policies and formulate and drive organisational strategies to optimum performance. The significance of leadership to organisational success has been positioned by prior scholars (Garcia & Macri, 2020; Erniwati, Ramly, & Alam, 2020; Anning-Dorson, 2018) and substantiated by this study. Hence on the strength of the relevance of agile leadership to organisation progress, this study concludes that strategy execution is a challenging management activity that requires an agile 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. 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, Asikhia, & Makinde, 2019). It is imperative for the DMBs investigated to ensure that they look into formulating strategies and identify critical factors that can aid its successful implementation. It is equally critical for the management of the DMBs examined to imbibe the agile leadership orientation because such a leadership attribute potentially aid firm profitability. The Affinity to Execute Strategy could Drive Firm Profitability. Is this True? What Role Does Anagile Leader Play? 58 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue V Version I Year 2022 ( ) A © 2022 Global Journals