Distributive and Procedural Justice in Nigerian Public Sector Promotions: Implications for Employee Work Engagement

This study analytically examines the independent and joint effects of distributive and procedural justice perceptions in public sector promotion processes on employee work engagement in Nigerian federal agencies, drawing comparative data from ministries in Abuja and state agencies in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. Public sector promotions in Nigeria are widely perceived as politically influenced and inequitable, with significant but understudied implications for the engagement and motivation of federal workers. A quantitative analytical design was employed, involving 265 civil servants across five federal agencies who completed validated measures of justice perceptions and work engagement. The study employs Structural Equation Modelling with competing factor models. Colquitt's Organizational Justice Scale and Schaufeli's Utrecht Work Engagement Scale provide the measurement instruments. Findings demonstrate that procedural justice has a stronger effect on work engagement than distributive justice, suggesting that workers are more sensitive to the fairness of the promotion process than to the outcome of individual promotion decisions. The study reveals an analytical research gap: existing literature on justice and engagement in Nigerian public administration has not adequately decomposed and compared the independent effects of these two justice dimensions within a single SEM framework. Trust in supervisors fully mediates the procedural justice-engagement pathway, while trust in the organization partially mediates the distributive justice-engagement relationship. Recommendations include transparent, criteria-based promotion processes, independent promotion committee oversight, and annual justice climate surveys in federal agencies. Keywords: distributive justice, procedural justice, promotions, work engagement, Nigerian public sector