Do Human Resources Management (HRM) Practices Impact on Seaport Competitiveness?

Efforts at modernising seaports and improve their operational service efficiencies for competitive advantage have remained unabated given the changing demands of shipping customers. To address seaport inefficiencies, most advance nations have generally adopted infrastructural and technological upgrades/implementations. However, this approach has failed to solve the lingering poor seaport performance in emerging economies, suggesting efforts must be directed at other areas to identify and explain the persistent inefficiencies at emerging economies' seaports. This paper therefore examine whether there is a relationship between seaport inefficiency and HRM practices of the seaports. The study is based on a case study of the Nigerian seaport, Nigeria being the largest economy in Africa. Findings reveal that HRM practices have to be fully aligned with seaport business objectives for achieving optimal port competitiveness. Specifically, the Nigerian seaports' HRM Practices exhibits nonalignment with the business objectives due to unfair staff recruitment and promotion practices leading to poor staff morale, loyalty, commitment and productivity, thereby making the seaports uncompetitive, resulting in significant business diversion to neighbouring seaports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]