Green Human Resource Management in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: Its Implementation, Context, Challenges and Impact on Employees’ Green Attitudes and Behaviours

The qualitative data collected for my doctoral thesis provides the first comprehensive and contextualised understanding of the GHRM concept within the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data. Semi-structured interviews provide a flexible and systematic means of gaining in-depth insights into participants’ experiences and organisational practices, making them particularly suitable for exploring complex and context-specific phenomena. The sensitivity of corporate environmental practices in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry means that candid disclosure requires a confidential and flexible approach to data collection. An interview guide was designed drawing on Rubin and Rubin’s (2005) responsive interview model. While integrating the principles of institutional theory, cognitive consistency theory, and the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) framework, the interview questions were structured to explore the objectives of the study, allocated across three studies which form the core sections of the integrated thesis inquiry. The questions were open-ended, allowing for a degree of openness in responses (Wengraf, 2001). A pilot phase was undertaken prior to the main interviews, serving four functions: validating the sampling strategy; necessitating adjustment of inclusion criteria; refining the interview guide; and assessing the feasibility of virtual interviews. The pilot revealed that most participants were unfamiliar with the term “Green HRM”, necessitating the rewording of the interview guide to clarify that “green” when incorporated into HRM refers to the integration of environmental policies into HR functions. Security concerns in Nigeria and the offshore location of most engineers meant that interviews were conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams, with two participants switching to Zoom. Each interview lasted 30 to 40 minutes and was transcribed verbatim for thematic analysis.