Artificial Intelligence and Recruitment Practices in Nigeria: Ethical Implications and the Future of Talent Management

Abstract

At a time where the use of Artificial Intelligence packages has virtually taken over human activities today, the human resources segment responsible for the recruitment of prospective employees is not left behind. As a result, the study explored artificial intelligence and recruitment practices in Nigeria: Ethical implications and the future of talent management. The survey research design type using the descriptive approach was employed in this study. This design allows for the study of a large population with a view to generating varied characteristics of the identified phenomenon. The population for the study comprised all recruiting organisations in Lagos, Edo, Kwara, Imo, and Borno states, respectively. Through the multi-stage technique, the ballot and hat procedure was used to select 5 states from 36 states. A stratified sampling procedure was then employed to select 6 public-private recruitment firms from each of the states; a Proportionate sampling procedure of 20% with replacement was used to select 2 recruitment organisations each from the respective states to make a total of 10 public-private recruiting firms. A simple random sampling procedure was later introduced to select a sample of 540 respondents for the study. Artificial Intelligence and Recruitment Practices in Nigeria Questionnaire (AIRPiNQ) was used for data collection. This Questionnaire is a 24 closed tools with 4 Likert Scale response format of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). Ethical consideration for the instrument was determined. Validity of the instrument was determined, and using the Cronbach alpha index of .893; Simple correlation and multiple correlation analysis were used to analyse data and hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the use of Artificial Intelligence tools has helped to facilitate the selection of competent and resourceful employees. The study concluded that AI offers a clear pathway to faster, more consistent, and potentially more meritocratic hiring when properly governed by industry frameworks. It is recommended among others that there needs to exist strengthened governance, human oversight and regulatory compliance under Nigeria’s emerging AI and data-protection policy of the nation as contained in the Nigeria Communication Commission and Nigeria Data Protection Act policy documents.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Recruitment Practices, Talent Management, Employees, Human Resources Management