EFFECT OF HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS AND LEADERSHIP FACTORS ON HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS PERFORMANCE IN BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Humanitarian organizations operating in crisis-affected environments face persistent challenges in coordinating actors, procuring and delivering relief supplies, managing logistics operations, and maintaining transparency. These challenges can undermine leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. Despite the strategic importance of these capabilities, limited empirical evidence explains how humanitarian logistics factors influence leadership and, consequently, logistics performance in the Nigerian context. This study examines the effects of Coordination, Procurement, Operations, and Transparency on humanitarian leadership and determines the effect of humanitarian leadership on competitive and resilience performance among humanitarian organizations operating in Nigeria. The study is anchored in the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capability Theory (DCT) and adopts a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from 287 purposively selected staff and operational managers of humanitarian logistics organizations in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) through SmartPLS 4.0. The findings indicate that Coordination, Procurement, Operations, and Transparency have significant positive effects on humanitarian leadership. Operations demonstrates the strongest direct effect (β = 0.259, p < 0.001), while Coordination records the largest substantive effect size (f² = 0.500). Humanitarian leadership significantly and positively predicts resilience performance (β = 0.583, p < 0.001) and competitive performance (β = 0.360, p < 0.001), with a stronger effect on resilience performance. The study recommends strengthening coordination, operational capabilities, leadership development, procurement, and transparency systems. It contributes to humanitarian logistics literature by demonstrating that logistics capabilities serve as important organizational resources for effective leadership, sustained performance, and resilience in complex crisis environments.