Effect of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) on the growth of listed food and beverage firms in Nigeria

This study examined the effect of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) on the growth of listed food and beverage firms in Nigeria. Specifically, the study investigated the influence of robotic process automation usage, robotic process automation cost, and robotic process automation investment intensity on firms' revenue growth rate. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design using panel data obtained from the annual reports of twelve listed food and beverage firms covering the period 2015–2024. Panel Estimated Generalized Least Squares (EGLS) was employed to estimate the relationship between the study variables. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and diagnostic tests were also conducted. The findings revealed that robotic process automation usage had a statistically significant negative effect on revenue growth rate, while robotic process automation cost and robotic process automation investment intensity showed no statistically significant effect on revenue growth. The study concludes that although firms have begun investing in automation technologies, these investments have not yet translated into measurable growth in revenue, possibly due to implementation costs, learning curves, and low maturity of automation adoption. The study recommends that listed food and beverage firms should adopt RPA strategically by integrating automation into core business processes, investing in employee digital competencies, and focusing on long-term productivity gains rather than short-term financial returns. Keywords: Robotic Process Automation, Revenue Growth, Firm Growth.