Artificial Intelligence in Human Resource Management: Algorithmic Bias, Fairness, and Employment Discrimination in Nigerian Organisations

This doctoral study develops an original theoretical and empirical examination of algorithmic bias, employment fairness, and discrimination risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) applications in HRM processes in Nigerian organisations, including AI-powered recruitment screening, performance scoring, and promotion recommendation systems. As Nigerian organisations across banking, telecommunications, and technology sectors increasingly deploy AI tools in HR decision chains, the potential for embedded algorithmic bias to systematically disadvantage women, ethnic minorities, and workers from specific geopolitical zones represents an urgent yet theoretically underdeveloped research problem. Grounded in Critical Algorithm Studies, the Disparate Impact Doctrine, and a novel Nigerian Algorithmic Fairness in HRM Framework developed inductively by this study, a mixed-methods sequential design was employed. Technical audits of three HR AI systems used in Nigeria were conducted, complemented by 95 qualitative interviews with HR technology vendors, HR directors, and affected employees, and a quantitative survey of 310 employees who experienced AI-mediated HR decisions. The study provides the first empirical documentation of algorithmic bias incidents specifically within Nigerian HR technology deployments, identifying ethnic-correlated bias in candidate ranking systems and gender-correlated bias in performance scoring algorithms trained on historical promotion data that encoded past discrimination. The theoretical contribution is a Contextualised Nigerian AI Employment Fairness Model that operationalizes algorithmic justice for African workforce demographics. Recommendations include a national AI in Employment Ethics Code developed by the Federal Ministry of Labour, mandatory algorithmic audits for HR tech vendors, and university training programs in HR technology ethics. Keywords: artificial intelligence, HRM, algorithmic bias, employment discrimination, Nigeria