INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN FINTECH FIRMS IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The rapid growth of Nigeria's fintech sector, particularly in Southwest Nigeria, underscores the urgent need to understand how employee-level innovation translates into performance outcomes. Despite substantial global research on innovative work behaviour (IWB), sub- Saharan Africa - and Nigeria's fintech industry specifically - remains critically underrepresented in the empirical literature, with existing studies being geographically decontextualised, sector-agnostic, and methodologically narrow. This study addresses this gap through a systematic literature review (SLR) guided by the PRISMA 2020 framework. A structured search of five major databases - Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, Emerald Insight, and Google Scholar - yielded 1,582 initial records, which were reduced through rigorous screening to 76 studies for final synthesis. Quality appraisal was conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT), applied consistently across all quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies included in the final sample. Findings reveal a consistently strong positive relationship between IWB - encompassing idea generation, championing, and implementation - and employee performance across task, contextual, adaptive, and creative dimensions, with standardised effect sizes ranging from β = 0.20 to 0.65. Social Exchange Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and the Componential Theory of Creativity emerged as dominant theoretical frameworks, though none was developed specifically for fintech contexts. Psychological empowerment, work engagement, and knowledge sharing were identified as key mediating mechanisms. The review establishes five critical gaps: geographic deficit, absence of fintech-specific theory, unidimensional performance operationalisation, insufficient attention to digital and AI-mediated moderators, and dominance of cross-sectional designs. A contextually grounded multi-level conceptual framework integrating five theories is proposed alongside a future research agenda for Southwest Nigeria's fintech sector.