Employment Security, Trust in Management, and Employee Innovative Work Behaviour: Evidence from the Nigerian Energy Sector

This study empirically examines the sequential relationships among employment security, trust in management, and innovative work behaviour among employees in Nigeria's energy sector, including both oil and gas and emerging renewable energy firms, with data sourced from Lagos, Rivers, and Sokoto States. The energy transition agenda in Nigeria requires a workforce willing and empowered to experiment with new solutions, making the identification of HR antecedents of employee innovation behaviour critically important. A quantitative longitudinal survey was conducted in two waves among 220 energy sector professionals, allowing causal inference beyond cross-sectional limitations common in this literature. Structural Equation Modelling with latent growth components was applied. Affective Events Theory and Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman's Trust Model underpin the theoretical framework. Findings confirm that perceived employment security positively and significantly predicts trust in management, which in turn mediates the relationship between security and innovative work behaviour. The study fills an important research gap identified in the literature: while trust and innovation have been linked in Western corporate samples, their connection in the context of Nigeria's high-vulnerability, politically uncertain energy employment environment has not been empirically modelled. Renewable energy firm employees show higher innovative work behaviour than their oil sector counterparts, partly attributable to more participative organizational cultures in younger energy companies. Recommendations include communication transparency on employment continuity, structured innovation labs within energy HR portfolios, and sector-wide talent development standards under the NMDPZ framework. Keywords: employment security, trust in management, innovative work behaviour, energy sector, Nigeria