NIGERIA’S SOCIAL CHALLENGES AND IMPACTS ON WORKERS’ COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TENDENCIES

Abstract

This study examined “Nigeria’s Social Challenges and Impacts on Workers’ Counterproductive Tendencies.” The study was anchored on Agency Theory, which posits that adverse environmental and structural conditions can influence behavioural deviations in organizational settings. Multistage sampling technique was used to sample 161 workers from various occupational categories in Nigeria. The instruments were Nigeria Social Challenges Inventory by Nwankwo (2026) and the Counterproductive Work Behaviour Inventory by Nwankwo (2026) were used. The study adopted a cross sectional and correlational design. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Findings revealed that Nigeria’s social challenges had a significant negative relationship with workers’ counterproductive tendencies, indicating that higher exposure to social challenges correlated with increased levels of workplace deviance. More results showed that social challenges significantly influenced several dimensions of counterproductive behaviour, including aggression, indolence, intolerance, poor sportsmanship, blackmail/sabotage, and fraudulent practices (p < 0.05). Conversely, certain social challenges such as insecurity, frustration, corruption, unemployment, and quality of life did not significantly influence counterproductive tendencies in the workers studied (p > 0.05). One major implication of the findings is that deteriorating social conditions in Nigeria contribute immensely to behavioural maladjustments in workplaces. Another implication is that in Nigerian organizations, workers’ psychological spillover arising from societal dysfunction impacts on employee behaviour and productivity. Recommendations are made for workers to build on personality health, particularly self discipline, for coping with the impacts of Nigerian social challenges in the workplace. This study contributes to knowledge by demonstrating that Nigeria’s broader social challenges exert considerable impact on workers’ ethical deviance tendencies. Another contribution is that the national socio psychological pressure penetrates organizational systems and influences worker conduct for better or worse. This mirrors the interface between the country’s social, human, and organizational performance to the world, reflecting the investments and development consequences.