This study explores the lived experiences of skilled workers in Nigeria’s banking sector, focussing on how international human resource management (IHRM) and strategic HRM (SHRM) models shape workplace realities. It specifically examines the influence of convergence, divergence, crossvergence and transvergence paradigms on employees’ perceptions and practices within their organisations.
The research adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to capture an in-depth understanding of organisational and socio-cultural contexts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 53 highly skilled workers in the Nigerian banking industry, providing a rich qualitative foundation for analysis.
The study reveals that Western HRM practices in Nigerian banking are not merely adopted but actively adapted through the agency of skilled workers, who embed local socio-cultural meanings into organisational policies. This process demonstrates how global HRM models interact with indigenous practices, resulting in hybrid approaches that can extend beyond their original context. Workers navigate and reconcile the “two worlds” of organisational and community life, with their agency playing a central role in shaping HRM practices.
The findings are based on purposive sampling within a single industry and cultural context, specifically 53 skilled workers in Nigerian banking. As such, while the insights are valuable for understanding HRM in Nigeria, generalisations to other settings should be made with caution.
Practically, the study underscores the necessity for organisations operating in Nigeria – and similar contexts – to design and allow for HRM policies that are responsive to local socio-cultural factors. The findings suggest that the rigid application of Western models can lead to resistance, diminished agency and reduced effectiveness. Conversely, blending global HRM best practices with indigenous norms fosters greater acceptance, engagement and alignment with local values. For practitioners, this means investing in culturally sensitive training, policy adaptation and stakeholder engagement to ensure sustainable HRM outcomes.
This study offers significant theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions to the field of international and strategic HRM. It extends current debates by introducing a context-specific transvergence framework that accounts for the interplay between global and local HRM practices in Nigeria. By focussing on the lived experience of employees, the study enriches existing literature and suggests directions for future research in similar socio-cultural environments.
