Exploring equality,diversity, and inclusion in multiethnic settings: A context-sensitive approach

Organisations, worldwide, have introduced human resource management (HRM) and equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies to address the inherent disadvantages experienced by employees with diverse social identities in different national contexts. In this study, we draw on McCall's comparative intersectional framework and Chadwick's narrative methodologies on materiality and voice, to investigate employees' experiences of EDI policies in a multiethnic setting. Vignette and interview data were obtained from employees in two banks, in the ethnically extremely diverse country of Nigeria, and analysed. Our findings suggest that EDI policies require a universal, widely acknowledged, core alongside specificities reflecting the context in which the EDI is to be enacted. Furthermore, we integrate and build on intersectionality, materiality, and voice to nuance and challenge EDI approaches and mutually supportive HRM policies in the Global South that may, in turn, have implications for the Global North and, particularly, multinational companies.     

Effects of domestic multiculturalism on job attitudes in Nigeria: a research note

This study investigates possible cultural differences in job attitudes among the three main sub-cultural groups dominating the entire population of the Nigerian work-force: Hausa (n=80), Ibo (n=119) and Yoruba (n= 151). Several hypotheses were derived from previous knowledge of the three cultures and differences were explored in the relationships between perceptions and attitudes concerning specific aspects of the job. Consistent cross-cultural differences that can be related to characteristics of the cultures studied were revealed with regard to only three motivational factors, namely, interpersonal relations, nature of work and supervision. The overall results seem to indicate that employees' cultural background has little impact on their perceptions of job motivation. However, a number of different personal variables were found to affect responses. Practical and research implications of the findings are discussed as well as directions for future research.     

The Making of Oil-backed Indigenous Capitalism in Nigeria

There has been considerable growth in the past few years in the number and size of Nigerian companies providing services to the oil and gas industry. The capacity of these companies, enhanced by local content policy, will not only create economic development in the industry, but will also likely boost the development of Nigeria's manufacturing and service economies. While ‘Nigerian content’ faces many challenges in terms of implementation, it has made and will continue to make a significant impact on the economy of Nigeria and may also be making a significant impact on the political economy. Powerful interests have helped ensure that the Nigerian elite will be the primary beneficiaries of Nigerian content. Through interviews and case studies, this article argues that by embracing Nigerian content as a new strategy of accumulation, the elite are creating more capitalistic social relations of production in Nigeria.     

Understanding Ifá: inserting knowledge of an African cosmology in leisure studies and nature-based research

Originating among the Yorùbá of West Africa, Ifá is an ancient spiritual system that spread throughout the globe due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. But over the past 50 years because of a desire among various racial and ethnic groups, Ifá has grown and is seen as a ‘world religion’. Within Ifá resides the Orisha, representational forces serving the greater force of the Universe. Urban and rural natural environments are sacred spaces for practitioners as tourists to interact and communicate with these forces to intercede in their daily lives. This article will present the underlying environmental ethics of the system of Ifá and how it informs nature-based tourism and interactions with nature for both leisure and spiritual development. What is presented is a continued broadening of our understanding of differing cultural views, norms and behaviours with nature that has been initiated by Native-American–based scholarship.     

Image Difference Between Culture and Nature Destination Visitors in Tropical Africa: Case Study of Nigeria

The study evaluates images of tourism destinations in diverse cultures and nature destinations in Nigeria amongst 880 domestic and foreign tourists surveyed by systematic random sampling. Colour photographs and structure questionnaires were employed to evaluate the destination preferences and images considered very important to various tourist groups, and comparison was also undertaken through chi-square test. The results revealed nature destinations, especially ecotourism/wildlife and landform areas, as desired most by tourists. Natural attraction, landform features, facilities/ amenities and historic/archeological features represented most important images underlying destination perception and selection. Safety/security and prompt services/ personal quality were least appreciated destination features. Significant differences emerged between domestic and foreign tourists and tourist groups in various destinations, in types of destinations preferred and in environmental images held of tourism destinations. Implications of the study for destination planning, management and marketing are highlighted.     

Corporate Governance in Nigeria

In recent years, international economic pressures have induced Nigeria to adopt a program of economic liberalization and deregulation. Advocates of the reforms tout their potential not only for generating greater economic growth, but also for contributing to more responsible corporate governance. Sceptics abound. This paper provides an account of the nature of corporate governance in Nigeria and investigates the prospects for recent reforms contributing to more responsible governance and development.     

Are farmers ‘efficient but poor’? The impact of crop choices on technical efficiency and poverty in Nigeria

We test the ‘efficient-but-poor’ hypothesis by estimating the determinants of smallholders' choice over cash or food crops and whether their crop choice affects technical efficiency and poverty using the national household panel data in Nigeria. We employ the stochastic frontier analyses correcting for sample selection about farmers' crop choice. Our results indicate that smallholders are generally efficient in their resource allocations. A treatment effects model is employed to estimate farmers' crop choice in the first stage and the impact of their choices on technical efficiency and poverty outcomes in the second stage. The results show that farmers' access to free inputs, non-farm income and the use of seeds from the previous growing season are important determinants of crop choice. The adoption of cash crops by food-crop producing households will not generally reduce poverty, although it will improve technical efficiency marginally. However, if cash crops are commercialised, poverty tends to decline.     

Price Transmission in Nigerian Food Security Crop Markets

This paper comprehensively examines price transmission from world, neighbour country, and internal commercial hub markets to Nigerian urban markets, as well as from urban to rural markets within the country, for seven key food security crops (maize, millet, sorghum, rice, cassava, yams and cowpeas). There are three key findings: (i) tradability matters for price transmission, but tradability varies across crops and regions. The strongest international linkages are with neighbouring countries. Rice price transmission is high across all markets, while coarse grain price correspondence is low with world prices but high with neighbour country market prices; (ii) our results imply that local conditions matter for price transmission, and are relatively more important than trade for some crops (e.g. yams, cassava) than others (e.g. imported rice, maize); (iii) larger than expected long‐run price transmission parameters in world and neighbour countries for rice and coarse grains suggest that, in these select markets, there are either large transactions costs or quality premiums that vary systematically with border prices, and/or mark‐ups captured by traders with market power.     

Climate Risk and Technology Adoption in the Midstream of Crop Value Chains: Evidence from Nigerian Maize Traders

Climate induced events exacerbate food production and distribution risks, posing a threat to global food security. Though many studies focus on farmer adaptation to climate change, there are few studies of actors in the middle of agricultural value chains such as traders, logistics providers, and processors. The activities of these actors, referred to as the ‘hidden middle’, are key determinants of the prices received by farmers and the price and quality of food products for consumers. We explore how climate events and risk perceptions affect the adoption of value‐adding and damage control strategies among maize traders in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country. We find consistent evidence that climate events and climate risk perception discourage the adoption of value‐adding practices including storage. This potentially affects the availability and price of maize for consumers (household and industry) in the lean season. However, once traders store maize, climate risk does not affect the adoption of damage control, but training and social networks do. These findings suggest that actors in the midstream of food value chains are responding to climate change and more attention needs to be paid to these actors to maintain the availability of affordable and safe maize products throughout the year. There is also a need for strategies to reduce the risks of trading activities due to climate change.     

Variability in agricultural productivity and rural household consumption inequality: Evidence from Nigeria and Uganda

This paper uses multiple rounds of panel data to assess the distributional implications of the variability in agricultural productivity in Nigeria and Uganda. It uses both a conventional decomposition and a regression‐based inequality decomposition approach to estimate the impact of climate‐induced variability in agricultural productivity. To mitigate the endogeneity associated with unobserved time‐invariant and time‐variant household fixed effects, we use rainfall shocks as a proxy for estimating the exogenous variability in agricultural productivity that affects consumption. Results suggest that a 10% increase in the variability of agricultural productivity tends to decrease household consumption by 38 and 52% on average for Nigeria and Uganda, respectively. Controlling for other factors, variability in agricultural productivity contributed to between 25% and 43% of consumption inequality between 2010 and 2015 for Nigeria; and 16% and 31% of consumption inequality between 2009 and 2011 for Uganda. We also show that variability in agricultural productivity increases changes in consumption inequality over time.