MORKA, Tessy O. Ph.D1 ODOR, Hillary O. Ph.D2 & IZIMS, Tochi, Ph.D3
1,,2Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Delta, Agbor, Nigeria
Corresponding Author: odor928@gmail.com, hillary.odor@unidel.edu.ng Email: tessy.morka@unidel.edu.ng
3Department of Business Administration, School of Business Studies, Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi Uku, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the nexus between human resource capacity building and service delivery efficiency in Local Government Councils in Delta State, Nigeria. Driven by the need to address persistent inefficiencies in grassroots governance, the study specifically assessed the effects of training and development programmes, institutional mentoring and coaching, and periodic workshops and seminars on service delivery outcomes. Adopting a cross-sectional survey research design, data were collected from a sampled population across the 25 Local Government Areas. The study was anchored on Human Capital Theory, and data were analysed using multiple regression analysis. The model summary (R2 = .297, F(3,338) = 47.33, p < .001) revealed that the identified capacity-building variables collectively account for 29.7% of the variance in service delivery efficiency. Specifically, training and development emerged as a significant predictor (β = .391, p < .001), confirming that formal skill acquisition is the primary driver of institutional performance. Conversely, mentoring and coaching (β = .083, p = .196) and workshops and seminars (β = .115, p = .043$) failed to show strong statistical significance, leading to the rejection of their respective hypotheses. The study concludes that while training is effective, mentoring and workshop initiatives in Delta State are currently hampered by informal implementation and a lack of practical follow-up. Recommendations include the institutionalization of structured mentoring systems and the alignment of workshop content with specific operational challenges to ensure that capacity-building efforts translate into tangible improvements in public service.
Keywords: capacity building, service delivery, local government, human capital, Delta State.