Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges for Nigerian Professionals Working in Multinational Organisations in Lagos

This study examines the cross-cultural communication challenges experienced by Nigerian professionals employed in multinational corporations with regional offices in Lagos, South West Nigeria, with a focus on the linguistic and cultural dimensions of professional interaction in internationally mixed workplace environments. Lagos hosts the African headquarters of numerous multinational companies in oil and gas, banking, fast-moving consumer goods, and professional services, creating workplace contexts in which Nigerian professionals routinely interact with colleagues and clients from European, American, East Asian, and other African national backgrounds. The study employs a qualitative research design, conducting semi-structured interviews with 35 Nigerian professionals in six multinationals, drawn from communications, legal, marketing, and operations departments. Thematic analysis identifies the categories of cross-cultural communication challenge most frequently reported. Findings reveal that the most commonly experienced challenges include misinterpretation of Nigerian directness or indirectness in formal meetings, discomfort with the implied egalitarianism of first-name address conventions from European colleagues, difficulties navigating the face-saving requirements of performance feedback conversations with international line managers, and the social exclusion associated with not sharing the informal cultural references of dominant expatriate colleagues. Nigerian professionals in the sample demonstrate sophisticated code-switching between Nigerian professional communication norms and international corporate register, but report the cognitive and emotional cost of sustained style-shifting. Recommendations include cross-cultural communication training for both Nigerian and expatriate professionals in multinational settings. Keywords: cross-cultural communication, multinational organisations, Nigerian professionals, professional identity, Lagos.