International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 15 Performance Aptitude of Successful Marketing Executives in Deposit Money Banks in Southeast Nigeria Nebo Gerald Nwora (PhD) Department of Marketing, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu State, Nigeria. (geraldnebo@yahoo.com) Abstract: This study examined performance aptitude of successful marketing executives' in Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. The specific objectives include: (i) to determine the influence of aptitude on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks and (ii) to determine how these 17 aptitude variables: quantitative/math ability, cognitive ability, intelligent quotient, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, sociability, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, persistence, empathy, age, gender, marital status, height and body size/weight influence performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks. Quantitative survey research design methodology was adopted for the study. By gathering primary data from 334 bank marketing executives and 219 business managers using structured questionnaire and MANCOVA statistical tool for testing the hypotheses and analyzing the data, findings revealed that: aptitude has strong and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks and (ii) all the aptitude variables mentioned above have strong and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks except gender, marital status and height. It was recommended that bank managers should pay adequate attention to those aptitude variables that have strong positive influence on performance of marketing executives and de-emphasize expenditures on those that do not. Keywords: Aptitude, Marketing Executives, Performance, Deposit Money Banks, Nigeria. 1. INTRODUCTION Over the years, from its inception in 1892, the Nigerian banking industry has suffered from high turbulent environment including bank failures, distresses, aggregate fall in deposit, insolvency and illiquidity and low capital base (Adeyemi, 2011, Babajide, Olokoyo and Adegboye, 2013). These led to the Central Bank of Nigeria policy on bank recapitalization and consolidation policy in 2005.The recapitalization policy appear to have strongly fortified all the 19 successful banks currently operating in Nigeria and ever since then competition became rife in the industry. To remain in business all deposit money banks adopt different marketing strategies in addition to the use of marketing executives who are trained and deployed to different bank branches and sales territories across the country to pursue sales targets and lure big customers to the bank. Previous studies show that marketing executives are not only critically important in revenue generation activities of their firms but their performance also has a major influence on the competitiveness and sustainability of the firm (Marchetti and Brewer 2010; Brown et al , 2005). Surprisingly, however, in Nigeria the contribution of marketing executives in deposit money banks to organizational performance appear questionable judging from the rate at which they are fired after few months or years of their recruitment on account of poor performance (Okafor, 2013; Oke, 2012). For instance, exploratory study shows that over seventy-two (72%) percent of budgeted sales target for marketing executives was not realized in the first quarter of 2014 and this may be connected to the high rate of turnover witnessed among marketing executives in banking industry. The challenge now is how to reverse this ugly incident and improve the performance of bank marketers. Past studies show that aptitude and employee performance are highly correlated. However, it does appear that bank managers and recruitment agencies such as Workforce Group Ltd and Combatant Guards Ltd in Nigeria do not pay adequate attention to marketing aptitude issues. It also seems that managers rely heavily on guess or rule of thumb in determining the right aptitude factors to look for during recruitment and selection of bank marketing executives. In addition, marketing jobs in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks appear to be an all comers affair. For instance, a study conducted by Nebo (2018) show that majority of bank marketing executives are young graduates of different disciplines other than business or management-related. This may have contributed to their poor sales performance in the industry. This is in line with Churchill et al‟s (1997) assertions who posit that people who lack the personality traits to be truly successful in a given sales job are more likely to become frustrated and to quit or be fired in their few weeks or years of work. The key questions then are: to what extent does aptitude influence marketing executives‟ performance in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks? What specific aptitude factors (general mental abilities, personality traits, and physical/demographic profiles) significantly influence marketing executives‟ performance in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks? Previous studies show that bank managers have little or no empirical research information on the right aptitude of a successful bank marketing executives in the International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 16 Nigerian context. In addition, few studies exist to pinpoint the right aptitude factors to look for during recruitment and selection of candidates for marketing jobs in the deposit money banks in Nigeria. This study therefore fills this gap in knowledge by investigating aptitude of successful marketing executives in Nigeria‟s Deposit Money Banks. 2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Conceptualization and Contextualization In this section, we describe the nature of bank marketing executives, their performance dimensions (dependent variable) and aptitude dimensions (predictor variable). Who are Bank Marketing Executives? Bank Marketing Executive is a job title commonly used in the banking industry in Nigeria to refer to those individuals who are employed by the bank to sell or promote its products such as demand deposits, savings deposits and others to actual and potential customers. They are simply the "sales force" members in the banking industry. In some other organizations, they are variously called the salespeople, sales reps, sales executives, sales engineers, sales force but in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks, they are commonly addressed as "Marketing Executives" or simply "Marketers" (Akenbor and Imade, 2011; Uduji, 2014). Marketers in Nigerian banks build customer relationships and make sales for the firm (i.e. the bank). Marketing Executives' Performance The term "Performance‟ refers to the extent to which a person or machine etc does a piece of work or an activity. It is an accomplishments of a given task measured against preset standards of accuracy, completeness, cost and speed. It is a comparison of the actual results obtained against the established standards. In this study, marketing executives‟ performance (dependent variable) is regarded as the yardsticks or standards against which marketing executives‟ performance are measured. These yardsticks are categorized into two distinct parts namely: objective and subjective performance dimensions. Objective performance refers to the quantitative yardsticks such as sales targets used for measuring the performance of marketing executives. They are usually established in terms of sales volume in Naira, profits, gross margin, expenses, activities or some combination of these. They often include a time period within which they should be realized or attained. Failure to attain this often leads job dismissal. In the context of the present study, objective performance of marketing executives include: volume of sales in Naira on demand, savings, time (fixed) and domiciliary accounts deposits, loans, volume of new accounts opened, accounts reactivated, point – of – sales (POS), credit and debit cards and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards in a given period. This parameter is adapted from key performance indicators of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks supplied by branch business managers. Subjective performance, on the other hand, refers to those variables not subject to exact quantitative measurements but is used for measuring the performance of marketing executives. Specific subjective performance measures for bank marketing executives as used in this study are: task specific behavior of marketing executives‟, interpersonal communication/customer relationship, efforts demonstrated /job knowledge, personal discipline and team leadership quality. These measures were adapted from Campbell‟s (1990) subjective employee performance dimensions. Various scholars argue that complete reliance on objective performance alone does not often give a total picture of what a salesperson achieved (Nebo, 2016; Churchill et al 1997). In the Nigerian banking industry too management often use a balance of both objective and subjective criteria to evaluate the performance of marketing executives. This necessitated the need to adopt both objective and subjective performance dimensions in this study. Aptitude Aptitude refers to the enduring personal characteristics determining an individual‟s ability to perform a job very well than the other. It is simply referred to as a person‟s ability, gift, capacity, fitness, propensity or talents to do a job. Aptitude is a natural ability an individual is born with relative to skill which is acquired mainly by training and experience. Aptitude is task-specific. The appropriate measure of the construct and the definition of aptitude may vary greatly across industries or firms. The right aptitude depends on what specific tasks that must be performed and what performance dimensions are considered important by management. However, aptitude of sales persons can be measured from three broad angles These are: General mental ability (GMA), personality traits and physical/demographic profiles (Churchill et al, 1997). 2.2. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses Development Figure 1: A Synthesized Model of Marketing Executives‟ Sales Performance Aptitude in Nigeria's Deposit Money Banks International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 17 Source: Researcher‟s Intuition, 2018. 2.2.1 Aptitude and Bank Marketers' Performance Aptitude is made up of General mental ability (GMA), personality traits and physical/demographic profiles and it is inextricably linked with employee performance. An employee with the right aptitude for a job may most likely demonstrate higher degree of performance than his/her counterpart devoid of this quality. Previous studies show strong relationship between aptitude and performance of employees (Sjoberg, 2014; Mc Adams‟, 1995; Churchill, et al, 1985). Based on this literature evidence, we hypothesize that: Ho1: Aptitude has no positive significant influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. 2.2.2 General Mental Abilities (GMA) and Bank Marketers' Performance General mental abilities (GMA) as used in some extant academic studies include intelligence, cognitive ability, verbal intelligence and math ability (Churchill et al, 1997). Table 1 below shows the measures of mental abilities as used in some extant studies. Table 1: Category of General Mental Abilities (GMA) Determining Marketing Executives‟ Performance Aptitude Components Description of the Components Measures/Tests Extant Studies Intelligent Quotient Summary Measures of mental abilities; total scores on multifactor intelligence tests.  Wonderlic Personnel Test;  Otis Mental Ability Exam Churchill et al. (1985) Tracey et al. (2010) Cognitive abilities Measures specific mental processes and abilities, including mental flexibility, ideational fluency, spatial visualization, inductive and logical reasoning, and associative and visual memory.  Educational Testing Service‟s Gestalt Completion, Controlled Associations, Object N\umber, Nonsense Syllogisms, and Map Memory Tests;  Kent-Rosanoff Associations test;  Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking test. Schmidt and Hunter (2004); Murphy (1989) Verbal Intelligence Mental abilities related to the comprehension and manipulation of word; verbal fluency  Educational Testing Service‟s Tests of Vocabulary, Word Fluency and Verbal Closure;  Adult Placement Test-Verbal;  Test Of Learning Ability Form S – vocabulary Schmidt and Chan. (1998); Vinchur et al (1998) Math ability Mental abilities related to comprehension and manipulation of numbers and quantitative relationships  Educational Testing Service‟s tests of number facility;  Wechsier Adult intelligence Testarithmetic subtest;  Adult Placement Test-numerical. Durbinsky and Hartley (2006) Sales aptitude Enduring personal characteristics and abilities thought to be related to performance of specific sales tasks  Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association‟s Aptitude Index Battery;  Aptitudes Associates‟ Test of Sales Aptitude;  Sales Research Associate‟ Sales Aptitude Checklist Magandini and Ngwenya (2015); Barrick and Mount (1991) Source: Adapted from Churchill et al (1997) Although five elements of GMA are presented on table 1 above, this study investigated only three GMA variables often presented in literature as determinants of employees‟ performance. These are: Quantitative/ math ability (QMA), Cognitive ability (CoA) and Intelligent quotient (IQ). Some previous studies show a strong positive relationship between mental general abilities and salespeople‟s performance (Tracey et al 2010; Sjoberg, 2014; Magandini and Ngwenya, 2015; Salleh and Kumaraddin, 2011). Based on the foregoing empirical and theoretical justifications, we hypothesize that: Ho2: Quantitative/Math Ability (QMA) has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H03: Cognitive Ability (CA) does not significantly and positively influence both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 18 H04: Intelligent Quotient (IQ) has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. 2.2.3. Personality Traits and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance Personality traits as an aptitude factor may be regarded as a marketing executives‟ „genetic make-up which results in such manners as empathy, ego strength or self-esteem, selfconfidence, habit of industry or perseverance, ambition, enthusiasm, maturity, dominance, sociability and creativity. (Futrell, 2005; Kotler, 2010). The big five personality traits often mentioned in literature relating to salespersons‟ performance are: neuroticism (emotional stability), extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Table 2 below lists and describes the personality traits which are commonly known in the literature as predictors of salespersons‟ performance. Table 2: Category of Personality Traits Determining the Performance of Marketing Executives Personality variables Description of the Components Conscientiousness Careful, meticulous, efficient and organized, being thorough, doing something correctly Neuroticism/ emotional stability Emotional stability, tendency to be in a negative emotional state, depressed moods, feeling of anger and anxiety Openness/accessibility Transparency, accommodating attitude or opinion. Agreeableness Being kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, considerate and friendly. Sociability Tendency or disposition to be sociable or associate with one‟s fellows. Persuasiveness The capability of a person to convince others, a power to induce someone to take a course of action. Aggressiveness Making an all-out effort to win or succeed, competitive, assertive, bold and energetic. Persistence The quality that allow someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult, persisting, especially in spite of opposition, obstacles and discouragements. Empathy The capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing, experience of understanding another person‟s condition from their perspective Source: Adapted from Neil, Ford, Orvile, Walker, Gilbert and Churchill (1998) Regarding the relationship between personality and performance of marketing executives, findings and theories are highly inconsistent. There seems to be no consensus in the literature regarding the personality of a succesful salesperson across all types of sales job. Scholars such as Churchill et al (1997) and Kotler (2010) believe that successful salespersons are born not made; Ahmad et al (2010) believe that salespersons are made not born while Futrell (2005) and Nebo (2016) believe that they are both made and born. Scholars who believe that salespersons are born argue that no level of training can turn "ego" into "self" for ego is the same thing as self. A silk purse cannot be made out of sow‟s ear. They strongly believe that salespersons that possess natural traits or characteristics (personality) from birth such as high level of energy, selfconfidence, habit of industry, perseverance, ambition, enthusiasm, aggressiveness, empathy, ego drive, persuasiveness, maturity, sociability, dominance, responsibility and creativity required of selling jobs are likely to exhibit higher level of performance irrespective of the industry. Scholars who believe that salesperson are made and not born argue that a sound training and supervision can turn individuals with ill-qualified personality traits into effective performers. Scholars who believe that salespersons are both born and made argue that personality and skills acquired through training are both required for a successful salespersons‟ performance. On the basis of the above schools of thought, we hypothesize that: H05: Conscientiousness does not have any significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H06: Neuroticism has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H07: Openness does not have any positive significant influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H08: Agreeableness has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H09: Sociability does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H010: Persuasiveness has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H011: Aggressiveness does not significantly and positively influence objective and subjective performance of International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 19 marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H012: Persistence has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H013: Empathy has no positive significant influence both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. 2.2.4. Physical/Demographic Profiles and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance In terms of physical/demographic factors, aptitude may be described as factors that relate to a marketing executive‟s physical appearance and demographic data such as height, weight, neatness, general appearance, age, gender and marital status,. It may also refer to a marketing executive‟s background and experience such as family background, educational level, educational content and sales experience. These physical and demographic factors can determine sales performance particularly when comparing performance by gender. In the same vein, such attributes as height and attractiveness/appearance may be used by a marketing executive as gift or capacity to gain fitness or propensity to doing a sales job well. Physical/Demographic variables which are known to correlate with sales performance are listed and described in table3 below Table 3: Category of Physical/Demographic Profiles Determining Marketing Executives‟ Performance Physical/ personal Characteristics Description of the Components Age A marketing executive‟s number of years from the date of birth to the last birthday Gender Whether a marketing executive is male or female Marital status The condition of being married or unmarried/single Educational qualification Individual‟s years of schooling, certificate and degrees earned Discipline Individual‟s college major, number of sales courses and area of specialization Height A measurement of how tall a person is Body size A person‟s body proportion in terms of fat or slim Length of service Individual‟s years of sales experience, number and type of sales job done, promotions and career history Income status Individual‟s past and current income levels, history of salary increases Source: Adapted from Neil et al (1998) Physical/demographic profiles have been found in previous studies to influence employees‟ performance. Tracy et al (2010), Venkatesan and Reinatz (2008), Ford et al (1987) and Churchill et al (1997) report that gender, age, marital status, income, physical appearance can influence the performance of sales executives. Based on the above discussions, we hypothesize that: H14: Age has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H15: Gender does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H16: Marital status has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria H17: Height does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. H18: Body Size has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria 2.3 Empirical Studies Aptitude is a complex phenomenon. The research that provoke huge scholarly work on aptitude was done thirty-four (34) years ago by Churchill et al. (1985) who published a meta–analysis research study on antecedents of sales performance which since then, has shaped academic and managerial thinking on sales management; and has also become one of the most cited articles in sales management research. These authors (Churchill et al. (1985) did a metaanalysis of 116 articles on Determinants of Salesperson Performance which yielded 1,653 reported associations between salesperson's performance and the determinants factors. By applying a classification scheme of antecedents of sales performance developed previously by Walker, Chruchill and Ford (1977), Churchill et al. (1985) found six (6) performance predictive categories to explain marginal variance in sales performance (all in order of predictive validity): role perceptions, skill levels, aptitude, motivation, personal characteristics, and organizational/environmental variables. Ever since then other scholars joined in the study of aptitude and sales performance. Sjoberg (2014) for instance, did a study titled Utilizing Research in the Practice of Personnel Selection using survey research design methodology. The overall results of the study supported the International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 20 predictive validity of GMA and personality traits, and indicated that they are significant determinants of job performance. Tracey, Sturman, Shao and Tews (2010) are a replica of this study. Their study was titled The Role of Personality and General Mental Ability in Predicting Performance for New and Experienced Employees. By using survey research design methodology, Tracey, Sturman, Shao and Tews (2010) findings showed that GMA and some personality traits [conscientiousness, emotional stability and extroversion] were significant predictors of performance when GMA and the personality traits were considered simultaneously. Also, their findings revealed that, for newcomers or new employees, GMA was a significant predictor of performance but not personality traits; and that, the opposite was true for the experienced employees. Still in line with the foregoing studies, Schmidt and Hunter (2004) did a longitudinal study titled General Mental Ability in the World of Work: Occupational Attainment and Job Performance. The study presents research evidences that GMA predicts both occupational level attained and performance within one‟s chosen occupation and emphasizes that it does so better than any other ability, trait, or disposition and job experience. Schmidt and Hunter‟s (2004) findings showed that the sizes of the relationships between each aptitude component with GMA are larger than most found in psychological research thus, indicating that the weighted combinations of each specific aptitude tailored to individual jobs do not predict job performance better than GMA alone. Refutably, Grange and Roodt‟s (2001) study titled Personality and Cognitive Ability as Predictors of the Job Performance of Insurance Salespeople appeared to be different from the findings of some of these foregoing studies. By using survey research design methodology, Grange and Roodt‟s (2001) findings showed otherwise, indicating that the measures of cognitive ability do not predict sales job performance. Only personality factors predict sales job performance. Negating this foregoing findings, Yakasai and Jan‟s (2015) conducted a study titled, The Impact of Big Five Personality Traits on Salespeople's Performance using survey research design methodology. Findings show that, no specific sets of factors could lead to effective salespeople‟s performance in all situations because performance is a context-based outcome. They also discovered that, the big five personality factors (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness) alone cannot effectively explain salespeople‟s performance. Salespeople‟s customer orientation may play a significant mediating role in the big five-factor framework in predicting salespeople‟s performance but the moderating effect of salespeople‟s culture also assists enormously in determining differences, if any, in the salespeople‟s performance. While the studies reviewed in the foregoing section were focused on general mental ability [GMA] and personality traits components of aptitude, Magandini and Ngwenya (2015) and some other important extant studies prefer to look into personality factors/traits only. Magandini and Ngwenya (2015) did a study titled The Effects of Salesman Personality on Sales Performance of Internet Service Provider in the Telecommunication Industry: Zimbabwean Perspective using interpretive approach. Given the same sales tools, level of education, and propensity to work, some salespeople succeed while others fail. Magandini and Ngwenya‟s (2015) findings indicated that self-efficacy, locus of control and proactive personality have strong influence on sales performance Similarly, Salleh and Kamaruddin‟s (2011) did a study titled The Effects of Personality Factors on Sales Performance of Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Agents in Malaysia using survey methodology. Findings showed that only two of the three personality dimensions were found to be positively related to sales performance, i.e. self-efficacy and self-monitoring, while locus of control was found to be inversely related to sales performance. Yeboah, Alfred, Nimsaah and Samuel (2014) is yet another similar existing study carried out on personality traits and sales force performance. The authors titled their study The Relationship between Personality Traits and Sales Force Performance: A Case Study of Eden Micro Finance. By using descriptive survey research design method, results revealed that personality traits, organizational culture and motivation altogether affect the performance of the sales force. Still on personality traits, Krishnan et al. (2002) also did a study but titled it Self-Efficacy, Competitiveness, and Effort as Antecedents of Salesperson Performance. By using survey research design methodology, Krishnan et al., (2002) observed that, effort mediates the relationship between competitiveness and sales performance; and that, selfefficacy has both direct and indirect effects on sales performance. 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Sample Quantitative survey research design methodology was adopted for this study. This is consistent with hypothesis testing and generalization of results (Hair et al 2011). The units of analysis for this study were the bank marketing executives and business managers drawn from all the seventeen (17) deposit money banks operating in the Southeast, Nigeria. A sample size of 334 bank marketing executives and 219 business managers were statistically International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 21 determined from a population of 2,520 marketing executives and 504 business managers respectively. There are two reasons for focusing on the samples of marketing executives and business managers. First, marketing executives were largely responsible for sales targets realization in the bank; other categories of staff provide ancillary services. Second, business managers provided both objective (records of sales targets actually achieved) and subjective performance data of marketing executives to the researcher. Southeast Nigeria was also chosen for the study because a study of this nature has not been given sufficient attention in the area and most deposit money banks are found in this region. 3.2 Design of the Research Instrument and Administration Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected from self-developed structured questionnaire which were administered to marketing executives for collection of data on „Aptitude‟ variables and subjective performance evaluation forms (SPEF) issued to business managers for the collection of data on subjective performance of each marketing executives used for the study. Secondary data were collected from the records of actual sales target achieved by each marketing executives. This data was supplied by branch business managers. The questionnaire administered to marketing executives for data collection on "Aptitude" variables was divided into five (A-D) sections. Section A captured the demographic data of marketing executives, section B to D contain questions on the major "Aptitude" variables or constructs under investigation. Specifically, Section B captured three question items or measurement scales on „General Mental Ability" (Quantitative/ math ability, Cognitive ability and intelligent quotient) which were developed from extant literature (Tracey et al 2010; Schmidt and Hunter, 2004; Durbinsky and Hartley, 2006; Churchill et al 1985). Section C captured nine question items or measurement scales on "Personality Traits" (Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness, Agreeableness, Sociability, Persuasiveness, Aggressiveness, Persistence and Empathy) which was developed from extant literature (Futrell, 2005; Nebo 2016; Kotler,2010; Ahmad et al, 2010). Section D captured five question items or measurement scales on "Physical/Demographic profiles" (Age, Gender, Marital Status, Height and Body Size/Weight) which were developed from extant literature (Tracy et al, 2010; Venkatesan and Reinatz ,2008; Ford et al, 1987; Churchill et al,1997; Neil et al, 1998)). Subjective performance evaluation forms issued to branch business managers for the collection of data on subjective performance of marketers was divided into five (A-E) sections. Section A contains nine question items on „Task Specific Behavior‟ of bank .marketing executives. Section B contains six question items on „Interpersonal Communication and Customer Relationship‟ abilities of bank .marketing executives. Section C contains nine question items on „Efforts Demonstrated/Job Knowledge of marketing executives. Section D contains eight question items on "Personal Discipline" while Section E has questions on "Team Leadership" qualities of marketing executives. The constructs, variables and measurement items in sections A-E were developed from a synthesis of Campbell‟s (1990) and Churchill et al‟s (1997) criteria for qualitative or subjective employee evaluations. All question items in both Marketing Executives‟ Questionnaire (MEQ) and Subjective Performance Evaluation Forms (SPEF) , except the biographic data of the respondents, were measured in a 5 –point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). Prior to distributing the questionnaire to the respondents, face validity was checked using two experienced senior academic marketing researchers. The content validity was also checked first by ensuring that the questionnaire items were constructed in line with the research objectives and measurement scales developed from the literature and previous studies and also by pre-testing the research instrument using 30 potential bank marketers and business managers each. The pre-test was to detect potential errors relating to wordings, format and contents of the instrument as well as ensuring that the respondents understand the meanings of each construct‟s items before its actual distribution. The reliability of the instrument was also checked using Cronbatch alpha test. The results indicated alpha values of 0.76 and 0.85 for both Marketing Executives‟ Questionnaire (MEQ) and Subjective Performance Evaluation Forms (SPEF) respectively. Thus the instrument was deemed reliable based on DeVellis‟s (1991) minimum benchmark of 0.65 alpha coefficient. Copies of the questionnaire were self-administered in all the 17 deposit money banks branches selected for study in Southeast Nigeria. Convenience sampling techniques was adopted for selecting the bank branches and the respondents that completed Marketing Executives‟ Questionnaire (MEQ) and Subjective Performance Evaluation Forms (SPEF). The datasets gathered were analyzed using Multiple Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA). 4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS A total of 334 copies of questionnaire were distributed to marketing executives, 277 (82.9%) were returned and used for analysis while out of the 334 copies of subjective performance evaluation forms issued to business managers, 283 (84.7%) were returned and used for analysis. The percentage copies returned were considered sufficient enough to draw valid conclusion on influence of aptitude on performance of marketers in deposit money banks. International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 22 Table 1: Marketing Executives' Demographic Distribution Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Gender Height Male 154 55.6 ≥ 7ft 3 1.1 Female 123 44.4 6.1 6.9ft 52 18.8 Total 277 100.0 5.1 6.0ft 209 75.5 < 5ft 9 3.2 Age Missing Case 2 .7 ≥ 45yrs 4 1.4 Total 277 100.0 35 44yrs 37 13.4 25 34yrs 193 69.7 Body Size < 25yrs 43 15.5 Very Fat 3 1.1 Total 277 100.0 Not too Fat 116 41.9 Slim 112 40.4 Marital Status Not too Slim 44 15.9 Married 122 44.0 Missing Case 2 .7 Single 155 56.0 Total 277 100.0 Total 277 100.0 Length of Service Highest Educational Qualification ≥ 10yrs 26 9.4 Ph.D 2 .7 5 9yrs 88 31.8 Master 97 35.0 1 4yrs 100 36.1 BSc/HND 168 60.6 < 1yr 54 19.5 OND/NCE 9 3.2 Missing Case 9 3.2 Missing Case 1 0.4 Total 277 100.0 Total 277 100.0 Total Income Status ( '000 – '999) Discipline ≥ N150 99 35.7 Management 149 53.8 N100 – N149 33 11.9 Engineering 34 12.3 N75 – N99 17 6.1 Health 17 6.1 N50 – N74 46 16.6 Others 77 27.8 N25 – N49 82 29.6 Total 277 100.0 Total 277 100.0 Source: Field Survey, 2018 Table 1 above presents the data on the demography of 277 bank marketing executives that responded to our questionnaire. The result by gender revealed that 154 (55.6%) are males while 123 (44.4%) are females. The gender difference (11.19%) is insignificant. Thus, the views of both genders were well represented in the study. The table also shows that 4(1.4%) out of the 277 marketing executives are 45years and above, 37 (13.4%) are in the age group of 35 – 44 years, 193 (69.7%) are between 25 – 34years while 43 (15.5%) others said they are less than 25years old. It can be clearly deduced that majority of the bank marketing executives captured are between 25 – 34years of age. The implication of this is that the marketing executives are obviously in their active ages. On marital status, 122 (44.0 %,) are married while 155 (56.0%), are single. None indicated whether they are divorced or separated. From these, it can be deduced that majority of the bank marketing executives are single. This suggests that bank managers recruit more of active young people who are likely to have less family problems affecting sales jobs. On educational qualifications 2 (0.7%) are PhD holders, 97(35.0%) possess Master‟s Degree, 168 (60.6%) are holders of either Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Degree or Higher National Diploma (HND), while 9 (3.2%) possess either Ordinary National Diploma (OND) Certificate or National Certificate in Education (NCE). From this analysis, it can be deduced that majority of the bank marketing executives are either Bachelor of Science Degree or Higher National Diploma Certificate holders. Majority of the respondents are literate and well educated to answer the questions contained in the questionnaire. In terms of educational content (area of study/discipline), 149 (53.8%) studied Management Sciencerelated courses, 34(12.3%) studied Engineering -related courses, 17 (6.1%) studied Health Sciencerelated courses while 77(27.8%) others studied courses other than those mentioned. The implication is that majority of the marketing executives studied management related courses; hence they are likely to International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 23 demonstrate good selling skills unlike those whose backgrounds are in other fields. Scholars argue that "Area of study" is likely to influence sales performance. On the data representing the heights of the marketing executives, 3(1.1%) are equal to or above7ft tall, 52(18.8%) are between 6.1 -6.9ft tall, 209(75.5%) are in the range of 5.1-5.9ft tall while only 9(3.2%) are less than or equal to 5ft tall.. The implication of the above data is that majority are of average height. Height gives a clue about physical appearance of bank marketers. Regarding bank marketing executives‟ body size, 3(1.1%) are very fat, 116(41.9%) are not too fat, 112(40.4%) are slim while 44(15.9%) are not too slim. From the data, it can be deduced that majority of bank marketing executives are neither too fat nor too slim. Data on body size also has a lot to tell about physical appearance of bank marketing executives. The length of service which the marketing executives have spent in banking job shows that 26(9.4%) of the marketing executives have spent 10years and above in bank sales job, 88(31.8%) have spent between 5-9years, 100(36.1%) indicated 1-4years while 54(19.5%) said they have only spent less than 1years in bank sales job. From the data, it can be deduced that majority of the bank marketing executives have worked in the job between 1-4years. This implies that majority of marketing executives have relatively little experience. Quite a few have stayed long in the bank sales job. This may be connected to the high rate of marketing executives‟ turnover witnessed in the Nigerian Deposit Bank. A large number of marketing executives are either fired or frustrated out of the job few months or years after recruitment and selection on account of low performance. In terms of income statuses, 99(35.7%) earn N150,000 and above, 33(11.9%) earn between N100,000 –N149,999, 17(6.1%) are in the income range of N75,000-N99,999, 46(16.6%) earn between N50,000-N74,999 while 82(29.6%) others earn between N25,000-N49,999. From the data, it can be deduced that majority of the bank marketing executives earn N150,000 and above. The income status is dependent on what each bank pays its marketing executives.. Some banks pay higher than others. Test of hypotheses 1-18 Data Specification To test these hypotheses (1-18), two groups of data sets were required. These include the data on the dependent variables (i.e. marketing executives‟ performance) and the data on independent variables (i.e. Aptitude). The data on bank marketing executives‟ performance are categorized into two viz: Objective performance (OP) data and Subjective Performance (SP) data while the datasets on Aptitude were categorized into seventeen (17) elements as follows: General Mental Ability (quantitative/math ability, cognitive ability, intelligent quotient),Personality Traits (conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, sociability, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, persistence, empathy) and physical/demographic profile (age, gender, marital status, height, body size/weight) The relationship between the dependent variables and independent variables are specified in the MANCOVA model below. Model Specification Based on the nature of the hypotheses and the data specification, MANCOVA regression model is specified below for the test represents the yintercept constant value (signifying the performance level at the point where aptitude factors are nil) QMA represents Quantitative/Math Ability COA represents Cognitive Ability IQ represents Intelligent Quotient , and are slope coefficients of QMA, COA and I Q respectively. Consc. represents Conscientiousness Neur. represents Neuroticism Openn. represents Openness Agree represents Agreeableness Socia represents Sociability Persua represents Persuasiveness Aggre represents Aggressiveness Persis. represents Persistence Empa. represents Empathy are slope coefficients of the personality traits measures respectively. Age represents Age Gend. represents Gender Mar Stat represents Marital Status Hei represents Height Wei represents Body size/weight are slope coefficients of the Physical/Demographic profiles Measures respectively. represents the stochastic/error term The equation above represents the MANCOVA regression model used for testing hypotheses (1-18) on Aptitude and performance of bank marketing executives Specification of Test Statistic Unlike the common linear regression model that has one dependent variable and one or more independent variables, International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 24 the model specified in equation above has two dependent variables and multiple independent variables. The suitable statistical technique for handling this type of regression model is Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) used to cover cases where there are more than one dependent variable and where the control of multicollinearity of independent variables – i.e. covariates – is required. Multicollinearity refers to high correlations among the independent variables. Covariates represent a source of variation that has not been controlled in an experiment and are believed to affect the dependent variable. The aim of using MANCOVA techniques in a multivariate analysis such as this is to test the effects of multiple independent variables on two or more dependent variables and also to remove the effects of uncontrolled variation in the independent variables so as to increase statistical power and to ensure an accurate measurement of the true relationship between independent and dependent variables. The test was run using SPSS v.17. The results of the test are presented on table 5 below. Table 5: Multivariate Test on Bank Marketing executives‟ Aptitude Effect Value F Hyp. df Error df Sig. Partial η2 Intercept Pillai's Trace .611 182.635a 2.000 233.000 .000 .611 Wilks' Lambda .389 182.635a 2.000 233.000 .000 .611 Hotelling's Trace 1.568 182.635a 2.000 233.000 .000 .611 Roy's Largest Root 1.568 182.635a 2.000 233.000 .000 .611 Group Pillai's Trace .272 38.300 32.000 468.000 .000 .136 Wilks' Lambda .744 42.316a 32.000 466.000 .000 .137 Hotelling's Trace .322 40.331 32.000 464.000 .000 .139 Roy's Largest Root .225 33.288c 16.000 234.000 .000 .184 As the First Order Condition that must be met in conducting multivariate analysis test, table 5 above presents the result of the multivariate test statistics showing the statistical significance of the different effects of the entire 17 independent variables. Four different test statistics were provided through the SPSS output namely, Pillai's Trace (V), Wilks' Lambda (Λ), Hotelling's Trace (T) andRoy's Largest Root (θ) for measuring the different effects of the independent variables. Even though, the values of these multivariate test statistics differ, each of them is transformed into a test statistic with an approximate or exact F distribution and a statistical significance value (i.e., p-value) together with a Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value which indicates the size of the difference effect. Partial Eta squared (ŋ2) statistics measures the degree of the association between dependent and independent variables. Cohen (2007) recommended an effect size of .01 as small, .06 as medium and .14 as large. The most commonly recommended multivariate statistic to use for testing the capability of the independent variables to predict dependent variables is Wilks' Lambda (Λ) (Hair et al, 1995). This also was used but the F statistic was used to assess the significance of the Wilk‟s statistic and the partial eta squared was used to measure effect size. Ideally, the effect size assists in quantifying the size of any statistical measure, and may be said to be a true measure of the significance of the difference between or among any variable groups of interest. Based on the result of Wilks' Lambda (Λ) statistic presented in table 5, it can be deduced that there was a significant difference, Wilk‟s Λ = 0.744, partial, F = 42.316, p < 0.05; partial η2 = 0.137 in the capability of the aptitude variable to influence or explain the dependent variables (i.e both OP and SP performance of marketing executives). The implication of this result is that, the entire 17 aptitude factors have significant different effects on both the OP and the SP. They are not auto-correlated or collinear. The average size of the effect difference is 13.7%. From this statistically significant result therefore, a follow-up Second-Order Condition test could then be run otherwise, there would not have been any need to proceed. Table 6: Tests of Between-Subject Effects on Aptitude Variables Source Dep Var. Type III SS Df Mean Square F Sig. Partial η2 Corrected Model OP 3254.561a 33 98.623 1.736 .011 .197 SP 6451.770c 33 195.508 1.451 .061 .170 Intercept OP 361.926 1 361.926 6.369 .012 .261 SP 44437.348 1 44437.348 329.735 .000 .585 Group OP 2066.932 16 129.183 122.273 .004 .135 SP 4474.009 16 279.626 64.075 .010 .124 QMA OP 49.639 1 49.639 .874 .031 .217 SP 12.634 1 12.634 .094 .001 .158 CoA OP 72.287 1 72.287 1.272 .021 .141 SP 34.996 1 34.996 .260 .011 .135 IQ OP 1.925 1 1.925 .034 .001 .131 International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 25 SP 182.428 1 182.428 1.354 .000 .187 Consc OP 16.359 1 16.359 .288 .012 .122 SP .027 1 .027 .000 .010 .141 Neur OP 4.579 1 4.579 .081 .002 .246 SP 28.478 1 28.478 .211 .004 .196 Open OP 229.979 1 229.979 4.047 .045 .128 SP 229.379 1 229.379 1.702 .013 .129 Agree OP .923 1 .923 .016 .018 .150 SP .053 1 .053 .000 .000 .148 Socia OP 57.129 1 57.129 1.005 .011 .140 SP 106.483 1 106.483 .790 .000 .111 Persu OP 149.469 1 149.469 2.630 .006 .126 SP 30.301 1 30.301 .225 .013 .126 Aggre OP 1.042 1 1.042 .018 .001 .183 SP 107.087 1 107.087 .795 .002 .161 Pers OP 64.340 1 64.340 1.132 .022 .158 SP 208.732 1 208.732 1.549 .015 .125 Empa OP 80.620 1 80.620 1.419 .000 .160 SP 40.105 1 40.105 .298 .010 .209 Age OP 2.065 1 2.065 .036 .000 .116 SP 44.471 1 44.471 .330 .026 .129 Gender OP 17.706 1 17.706 .312 .310 .068 SP 202.646 1 202.646 1.504 .221 .129 Mar_Status OP 15.617 1 15.617 .275 .418 .052 SP 289.277 1 289.277 2.146 .144 .139 Height OP 70.972 1 70.972 1.249 .265 .113 SP 54.905 1 54.905 .407 .524 .101 Body_Size OP 8.970E-6 1 8.970E-6 .000 .000 .191 SP .026 1 .026 .000 .003 .229 Error OP 13296.857 234 56.824 SP 31535.465 234 134.767 Total OP 56158.000 268 SP 5498603.000 268 For OP, R2 = .81 (Adj. R2 = .78); For SP, R2 = .83 (Adj. R2 = .79) Computed using alpha = 0.05 Table 7: Parameter Estimate /Coefficients of Aptitude Factors DV Var. Parameter B Std. Error T p-value 95% C.I Partial Eta (ŋ)2 Rmrk. Upper Lower OP Intercept 18.071 5.782 3.126 .002 6.680 29.461 .261 S QMA 13.41 6.44 2.08 .031 1.281 .457 .217 S CoA 5.54 2.47 2.24 .021 1.469 .399 .141 S IQ 7.09 0.49 4.28 .001 1.052 .872 .131 S Consc 1.40 0.75 1.88 .012 1.069 1.868 .122 S Neur 3.22 0.77 4.18 .002 1.738 1.300 .246 S Open 1.91 0.95 2.01 .045 3.781 .040 .128 S Agree 4.08 0.62 6.54 .018 1.150 1.309 .150 S Socia 2.79 0.79 3.54 .011 .763 2.344 .140 S Persu 1.50 0.92 1.62 .006 3.316 .322 .126 S Aggre 6.12 0.85 3.66 .001 1.559 1.789 .183 S Pers 6.81 0.76 8.93 .022 .691 2.314 .158 S Empa 6.23 0.84 1.47 .000 .654 2.653 .160 S Age 1.21 0.09 13.27 .000 2.357 1.941 .116 S Gend 3.60 1.07 3.35 .310 1.517 2.716 .068 NS International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 26 MarStat 2.64 1.23 2.16 .418 1.773 3.058 .052 NS Heig 1.08 0.97 1.12 .265 .827 2.994 .113 NS Weight 6.54 0.74 0.73 .000 1.455 1.455 .191 S SP Intercept 152.16 8.904 17.090 .000 134.620 169.703 .585 S QMA 6.21 0.68 9.14 .001 1.130 1.546 .158 S CoA 2.37 0.73 3.25 .011 1.811 1.067 .135 S IQ 5.88 0.75 2.49 .000 .607 2.357 .187 S Consc 3.02 1.15 2.63 .010 2.278 2.245 .141 S Neur 8.55 1.19 1.30 .004 1.794 2.886 .196 S Open 1.98 1.46 1.35 .013 4.789 .973 .129 S Agree 4.02 0.96 4.18 .000 1.913 1.875 .148 S Socia 1.08 1.21 0.89 .000 1.313 3.471 .111 S Persu 1.67 1.42 1.18 .013 3.475 2.127 .126 S Aggre 8.17 1.31 0.89 .002 3.744 1.411 .161 S Pers 1.46 1.17 1.25 .015 3.775 .852 .125 S Empa 8.71 1.29 2.87 .010 1.841 3.251 .209 S Age 1.97 1.68 1.17 .026 4.274 2.345 .129 S Gend 2.03 1.65 1.23 .221 1.231 5.288 .129 NS MarStat 2.77 1.89 1.47 .144 .954 6.485 .139 NS Heig 0.95 1.49 0.64 .524 3.895 1.989 .101 NS Weight 4.02 1.14 1.77 .003 2.257 2.225 .229 S The results presented in, tables 6 and 7 above are results of the follow-up tests ran on the MANCOVA regression model specified earlier. The model is fit for OP at R2 = 81.0% and for SP at R2 = 83.0%. This shows that 81.0% of the variation in the banks‟ Objective Performance (OP) is explained by the „Aptitude‟ of the marketing executives. Also, 83.0% of the variation in the Subjective Performance (SP) score ratings for the Bank Marketing executives‟ behavioral input is explained by the marketing executives‟ aptitude level. Table 7 further shows the parameter estimates for the model. The Intercept for both OP and SP model is significant (p <0.05) but the size of its effect on both differs. This shows that, when bank marketing executives‟ aptitude is zero, OP has 26.1% chances of being improved unlike SP that has 58.5% chances of improvement (see table 6 and 7). Based on this foregoing results, the overall combined (Group) effect of the aptitude factors on the performance of the marketing executives as shown in table 6 above revealed that, marketing executives‟ aptitude (as a group) have a statistically significant effect on both OP (F = 122.273, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.135) and SP (F = 64.075, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.124). On this note, the null hypothesis (H01) was rejected but the alternate hypothesis (H1) which states that aptitude significantly influences both objective and subjective performance of bank marketing executives was accepted. The estimate of the slope coefficients for each parameter in table 7 shows that, out of the 17 aptitude factors studied, only fourteen (14) had significant effect on both OP and SP concurrently, and these include; i Quantitative/Math Ability ( = 13.41, η 2 = .217, p < 0.05) ( = 6.21, η 2 = .158, p < 0.05) ii Cognitive Ability (OP: = 5.54, η 2 = .141, p < 0.05) (SP: = 2.37, η 2 = .135, p < 0.05) iii. Intelligence Quotient (OP: =7.09, η 2 = .131, p < 0.05) (SP =5.88, η 2 = .187, p < 0.05) iv. Conscientiousness (OP: = 1.40, η 2 = .122; p < 0.05) (SP: = 3.02, η 2 = .141, p < 0.05) v. Neuroticism ( = 3.22, η 2 = .246, p < 0.05) ( = 8.55, η 2 = .196, p < 0.05) vi. Openness (OP: = 1.91, η 2 = .128; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.98, η2 = .129,p < 0.05) vii. Agreeableness (OP: = 4.08, η 2 = .150; p < 0.05) (SP: = 4.02, η 2 = .148,p < 0.05) viii. Sociability (OP: = 2.79, η 2 = .140; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.08, η 2 = .111,p < 0.05) ix. Persuasiveness (OP: = 1.50, η 2 = .126; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.67, η 2 = .126,p < 0.05) x. Aggressiveness (OP: =6.12, η 2 = .183; p < 0.05) (SP: = 8.17, η 2 = .161,p < 0.05) xi. Persistence (OP: = 6.81, η 2 = .158; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.46, η 2 = .125,p < 0.05) xii. Empathic (OP: = 6.23, η 2 = .160, p < 0.05) (SP: = 8.71, η2 = .209, p < 0.05) xiii. Age (OP: = 1.21, η 2 = .116; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.97, η2 = .129,p < 0.05) xiv. Weight or Body Size (OP: = 6.54, η 2 = .191, p < 0.05) (SP: = 4.02, η 2 = .229, p < 0.05) Aptitude factors not significant on both Objective Performance (OP) and Subjective Performance (SP) are: i. Gender (OP: = 3.60, η 2 = .068, p > 0.05); (SP: = 2.03, η2 = .129, p > 0.05). International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 27 ii. Marital Status (OP: = 2.64, η 2 = .052, p > 0.05) (SP: = 2.77, η 2 = .139, p > 0.05) iii. Height (OP: = 1.08, η 2 = .113, p > 0.05) (SP: = 0.95, η2 = .101, p > 0.05) 5. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS H01: Aptitude has no positive significant influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. OP (F = 122.273, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.135) and SP (F = 64.075, p < 0.05, η2 = 0.124). This null hypothesis is rejected, alternate accepted Ho2: Quantitative/Math Ability has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria . ( = 13.41, η 2 = .217, p < 0.05) ( = 6.21, η 2 = .158, p < 0.05) Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted. H03: Cognitive Ability (CA) does not significantly and positively influence both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 5.54, η 2 = .141, p < 0.05) (SP: = 2.37, η 2 = .135, p < 0.05) Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H04: Intelligent Quotient (IQ) has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: =7.09, η 2 = .131, p < 0.05) (SP =5.88, η 2 = .187, p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H05: Conscientiousness does not have any significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria (OP: = 1.40, η 2 = .122; p < 0.05) (SP: = 3.02, η 2 = .141, p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H06: Neuroticism has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. ( = 3.22, η 2 = .246, p < 0.05) ( = 8.55, η 2 = .196, p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H07: Openness does not have any positive significant influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 1.91, η 2 = .128; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.98, η 2 = .129,p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H08: Agreeableness has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 4.08, η 2 = .150; p < 0.05) (SP: = 4.02, η 2 = .148,p < 0.05) Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H09: Sociability does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 2.79, η2 = .140; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.08, η 2 = .111,p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H010: Persuasiveness has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 1.50, η 2 = .126; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.67, η 2 = .126,p < 0.05) Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H011: Aggressiveness does not significantly and positively influence objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: =6.12, η 2 = .183; p < 0.05) (SP: = 8.17, η 2 = .161,p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H012: Persistence has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 6.81, η 2 = .158; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.46, η 2 = .125,p < 0.05) .Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 28 H013: Empathy has no positive significant influence both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 6.23, η 2 = .160, p < 0.05) (SP: = 8.71, η 2 = .209, p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H14: Age has no significant and positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria(OP: = 1.21, η 2 = .116; p < 0.05) (SP: = 1.97, η 2 = .129,p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted H15: Gender does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 3.60, η 2 = .068, p > 0.05); (SP: = 2.03, η 2 = .129, p > 0.05).Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p >0.05) are insignificant and positive, this null hypothesis is accepted. H16: Marital status has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 2.64, η 2 = .052, p > 0.05) (SP: = 2.77, η 2 = .139, p > 0.05) Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p >0.05) are insignificant and positive, this null hypothesis is accepted and alternate rejected H17: Height does not have any significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 1.08, η 2 = .113, p > 0.05) (SP: = 0.95, η 2 = .101, p > 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p >0.05) are insignificant and positive, this null hypothesis is accepted and alternate rejected H18: Body Size has no significant positive influence on both objective and subjective performance of marketing executives in deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. (OP: = 6.54, η 2 = .191, p < 0.05) (SP: = 4.02, η2 = .229, p < 0.05). Since the Partial Eta Squared (ŋ2) value and p-value (p < 0.05) are significant and positive, this null hypothesis is rejected and alternate accepted 6. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS Aptitude and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance Aptitude as a predictor of performance of bank marketing executives is highly supported in this study. This is consistent with previous studies (Churchill et al 1985; Sjoberg, 2014; Mc Adams, 1995). Poor performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks may be linked to weaknesses in the selection of candidates with the right aptitude. It appears that the choice of a candidate by the interview panel does not often depend on the personality traits but on the candidate‟s verbal promise to turn in high sales target if selected. Based on the findings of this study, it is highly recommended that management should do a thorough analysis of what the marketing job entails before choosing the candidate with the right aptitude for the job. General Mental Ability (GMA) and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance The influence of GMA factors (Cognitive ability, Quantitative/Math ability and Intelligent quotient) as predictors of marketing executives performance is highly supported in this study. This is consistent with previous studies (Sjoberg, 2014; Tracey et al, 2010; Schmidt and Hunter, 2004). However, Grange and Roodt‟s (2001) study in the insurance industry show that cognitive ability does not predict sales performance. The inconsistencies in the findings of the previous studies may be as results of the nature of the industry were the studies were done. It is in this connection that Yakasai and Jan (2015) noted that no specific set of factors could lead to effective sales people‟s performance in all situations because performance is an industry – based outcome. Despite the inconsistencies in the findings of the previous work, it is highly recommended that bank managers should pay adequate attention to GMA factors (Cognitive ability, Quantitative/Math ability and intelligent quotient) that were strongly supported in this study. This is because marketing jobs in the banking industry require math, calculations and brain work. Individuals with poor GMA is most likely to show weak performance. Personality Traits and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance Personality traits found to have strong and positive influence on the performance of bank marketing executives in this study are conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, sociability, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, persistence and empathy. This is consistent with the findings of Tracey et al (2010) who discovered that General Mental Ability (GMA) and personality traits such as conscientiousness, emotional stability and extroversion were significant predictors of sales performance. Yakasai and Jan (2015) also discovered that the big five personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness) are predictors of sales people‟s performance. It is not a surprise that personality traits supported in this study are strong predictors of performance of marketing executives in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks owing to the nature of bank marketing jobs. Top flight bank marketing executives require the following to win customers: conscientiousness (carefulness with bank details), International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research (IJAMR) ISSN: 2000-006X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 15-30 www.ijeais.org/ijamr 29 neuroticism (emotional stability), openness (transparency), agreeableness (co-operation), sociability (association or relationship with customers), persuasiveness (convincing power), aggressiveness (strong effort to win), persistence (ability to try hard despite challenges) and empathy (ability to understand another person‟s feelings). It is therefore highly recommended that bank managers and bank recruitment agencies should look for candidates with these personality traits during recruitment and selection of candidates for marketing jobs. Errors made in selecting candidates with wrong personality traits may be difficult to change by training and supervision. This may be one of the reasons for continuous low performance of marketing executives in the Nigerian Deposit Money Banks. Physical/Demographic profiles and Bank Marketing Executives' Performance Among the physical/demographic profiles only age and body size /weight were found as strong predictors of marketing executives‟ performance while gender, marital status and height do not. This is highly consistent with the findings of the previous studies (Tracey et al, 2010; Churchill et al, 1997). These findings are not surprising because age and body size/weight suggest physical appearance which appears to be a strong determinant of marketing executive performance in the banking industry. Marketers should be handsome, beautiful and good looking to be able to attract customers. The implication is that bank managers should pay adequate attention to physical appearance and age during recruitment and selection of candidates for marketing jobs. 7. CONCLUSION This study shows that low performance of marketing executives in Nigerian Deposit Bank is contributed by poor and ill-qualified aptitude. Therefore in order to improve the performance of marketing executives in Nigerian banking industry, management should pay adequate attention to aptitude factors particularly: quantitative/math ability, cognitive ability, intelligent quotient, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, sociability, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, persistence, empathy, age and body size/weight and de-emphasize gender, marital status and height. REFERENCES Adeyemi, B. (2011). Bank failure in Nigeria: a consequence of capital inadequacy, lack of transparency and nonperforming loans? Banks and Bank Systems.6(1), 99 – 109 Ahmad, S. Z., Sah, B. M., and Kitchen, P. J. (2010). 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