Social Capital Building and Quality Management in Nigeria Universities: Perception of Human Resource Practitioners

This paper aims to explore social capital building concept in Nigeria universities. The assertion that social capital increases performance, productivity and innovation can lead to quality improvement as studied in past literatures. However, awareness of how human resource personnel relates social capital building to quality improvement is yet to be established. This herald the need to fill the gap in knowledge as it relates to social capital building in Nigeria universities. This paper uses a qualitative approach to investigate HR practitioners’ knowledge of social capital building in their university in other to expand our knowledge of how social capital building is carried out. 12 head of human resource unit were selected from 6 Nigeria universities, 2 from each of the universities (federal, state and private). The selection was based on a common share value in terms of age, commonality and disciplinary balance. Qualitative approach was adopted within which semi-structured interview was used as the sole instrument for the research. The finding revealed that HR practitioners in Nigeria Universities do not fully reckon with the need for social capital building in Nigeria universities, as they only identified with four indicators (that is friendship relationship, commitment, identification and knowledge sharing) out of the seven social capital building indicators. The finding also revealed difference in organisational culture between public and private universities with respect to social capital building. The researcher also reveals that the majority of human resource personnel in Nigeria Universities were unsure if it is their responsibility to ensure dyadic/personal trust exists amongst employees.