Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences Volume 22, Issue 4, 2019 332 1532-5806-22-4-154 Citation Information: Nkiru, N. P., Adeleke, B. S., Akintimehin, O. O., Nwamaka, O. J., & Olamide, O. F. (2019). Imperative of education diversity on the innovativeness of manufacturing entities in nigeria. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 22(4), 332-341. IMPERATIVE OF EDUCATION DIVERSITY ON THE INNOVATIVENESS OF MANUFACTURING ENTITIES IN NIGERIA Nwakoby P. Nkiru, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Bamidele S. Adeleke, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Olamide O. Akintimehin, Landmark University Okoye J. Nwamaka, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Ohunyeye F. Olamide, Headquarters, Nigeria Army ABSTRACT This study evaluates the effect of education diversity on the employees’ innovativeness of manufacturing entities in Nigeria. By adopting a descriptive survey design method and utilizing a self-administered closed-end questionnaire, data was collected from 5483 respondents’ population who were staff of twelve randomly selected manufacturing entities in south west, Nigeria. Sample size of 522 respondents was drawn from the study population. The finding revealed that education diversity had a positive effect on innovativeness of selected manufacturing entities in Nigeria. In lieu of the finding, the study recommended that the management of the Nigerian manufacturing firms should be resolute in observing the culture of establishing sound training and development among their employees. This will enable the organization to achieve continuous enhancement in employees’ productivity and hence leads to innovative capacity of such entities. Keywords: Education; Diversity; Innovativeness; Manufacturing Entities INTRODUCTION Today’s business workplace is changing at an increased speed and the change in the employees’ demographics, increase of jobs in the economy, continuing growth due to globalization and requirement for effective collaboration have surfaced as significant forces driving the importance of diversity in organizations (Akpakip, 2017). Workforce diversity refers to those significant differences and similarities that are present among employees within an organization (Griffin et al., 2014). It represents some individual uniqueness which include individual’s personality, age, gender, ethnicity or race, religion, marital status, income and work experience etc. To be successful, it is imperative that organizational leaders understand just how the social environment has an effect on the individual employee beliefs about work and they must have effective communication skills to be able to develop the self esteem and confidence in individual (Griffin et al., 2014). The Nigeria manufacturing industry has over the past decade undergone swift changes due to globalization and trade liberalization, with entrance of foreign firms thereby spurring up competitions (Obi-Anike et al., 2017). These circumstances have become a major concern for