Plus ça change : the impacts of climate-driven strategic changes on organisational culture, employee engagement and wellbeing in Nigerian Oil and Gas industry

Abstract

The Nigerian Oil and Gas (O&G) industry faces unprecedented climate-driven strategic change to transform the global energy sector from fossil fuel production to zero-carbon, clean and green energy due to pressures emanating from investors, stakeholders, climate change activists, agitators, and enthusiasts, driven by growing employee dissatisfaction, frustration, and grievances. This study investigates the impacts of the climate-driven strategic change on organisational culture, employee engagement and wellbeing in Nigerian O&G industry. Employing an interpretivist philosophy, qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 O&G industry employees. Narrative analysis guided by Kotter's Change, Strategic leadership model, the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs and the United Nation Sustainable Development goals 3 and 8, was used to analyze the data. The findings reveal that climate-driven strategic change has significantly impacted organizational culture leading to increase in employee stress, decrease engagement and compromised wellbeing and contributes to ineffective leadership styles. Remarkably however, the findings also reveal that, the more the climate-driven strategic change, the more it remains the same. This research contributes to understanding of climate-driven strategic change in the O&G industry and provide insights for policymakers, practitioners, and industry leaders to mitigate negative impacts and leverage positive outcomes to strengthen and promote sustainable and resilient workplace. The study highlights the importance of prioritising organisational culture, employee engagement and wellbeing and ensuring resilient and sustainable industry in the face of climate-driven strategic change uncertainty in the Nigerian O&G industry.