Corruption, HR Governance, and Organisational Decay in Nigerian State-Owned Enterprises: A Longitudinal Institutional Analysis

This doctoral study provides a longitudinal institutional analysis of the relationship between corruption practices, HR governance failures, and progressive organisational decay in Nigerian state-owned enterprises (SOEs), covering a 20-year analytical period from 2003 to 2023. Nigerian SOEs have experienced systematic decline across multiple performance dimensions despite periodic reform attempts, and this study posits that the HR governance nexus, encompassing corrupt recruitment, performance assessment manipulation, and embezzlement of employee welfare funds, is the central transmission mechanism of organisational decay rather than a peripheral symptom. Drawing on Corruption as Organised Crime Theory, the Institutional Theory of Organizational Decline, and a novel HR Corruption-Decay Model developed inductively through this study, a longitudinal institutional design was employed combining archival analysis of Bureau of Public Enterprises and ICPC audit reports, 100 qualitative interviews with current and former SOE managers, HR officials, and anti-corruption investigators, and comparative case studies of six SOEs spanning different sectors and geopolitical zones. The study makes three original theoretical contributions. First, it develops an original HR Corruption-Decay Cascade Model that specifies the sequential mechanisms through which HR governance corruption produces organisational decline. Second, it introduces the concept of corruption-normalised HR culture as a stable institutional equilibrium that resists external reform pressures. Third, it provides the first longitudinal comparative analysis of HR corruption dynamics across Nigerian SOEs, controlling for sector and ownership type. Recommendations include mandatory HR governance audits by ICPC in all federal SOEs, anonymous HR complaint channels with whistleblower protection, and merit-based SOE board appointment criteria. Keywords: corruption, HR governance, state-owned enterprises, organisational decay, institutional analysis Nigeria