Critical Realist Examination of Power Dynamics in HRM Policy Formation and Implementation in Nigerian Public Sector Organisations

This study applies Critical Realism as a philosophical and methodological framework to examine power dynamics in HRM policy formation and implementation in Nigerian public sector organisations, generating a theoretically sophisticated account of why HRM policies consistently fail to produce intended outcomes in this context. The study argues that surface-level HRM policy analysis, common in Nigerian public sector research, fails to reveal the generative mechanisms through which power relations produce and reproduce HRM implementation failures. The research employs a retroductive multi-case design across four federal agencies, combining documentary analysis of HRM policy archives, 36 semi-structured interviews with policy actors across hierarchical levels, and critical discourse analysis of key policy texts. Critical Realism's stratified ontology, distinguishing real, actual, and empirical domains, provides the framework for mechanism identification. Radical Pluralist Employment Relations Theory, Critical HRM, and Bourdieu's Field Theory of social practice jointly inform the analytical approach. Findings reveal four generative mechanisms operating beneath the surface of HRM policy implementation: bureaucratic field inertia, patronage network penetration of HR systems, labour market dependency power asymmetries, and institutionalised ethnopolitical capture of HR appointments. These mechanisms operate at the real domain and explain the systematic gap between HRM policy intentions and employee experiences. The study makes original theoretical contributions including a Critical Realist HRM Implementation Model for African public institutions, a typology of power mechanism configurations, and a methodology for mechanism-tracing in qualitative HRM research. Keywords: Critical Realism, Power Dynamics, HRM Policy, Public Sector, Nigeria.