Human Resource Procurement Challenges in Africa and the Promise of Neoliberal Reforms: A Systematic Literature Review

Human resource procurement remains a critical determinant of public sector performance and governance quality across Africa. Although formal civil service systems emphasize merit, transparency, and accountability, recruitment processes in many African countries continue to be shaped by politicization, patronage networks, clientelism, and weak institutional capacity. This study systematically examined the structural challenges affecting human resource procurement in African public administration and evaluated the effectiveness of neoliberal reform instruments introduced through Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and New Public Management (NPM) reforms. A PRISMA-guided systematic literature review was adopted, drawing on Institutional Theory to examine the interaction between formal administrative rules and entrenched informal institutions, including elite bargaining and patronage politics. Peer-reviewed literature published between 1990 and 2025 was synthesized using thematic analysis to identify recurrent governance patterns and reform outcomes. The review identified three dominant trajectories: relative reform success in contexts characterized by stronger institutional enforcement; hybrid adaptation, in which formal merit-based recruitment coexisted with informal patronage practices; and reform stagnation or failure in fragile governance environments where institutional weaknesses persisted. The findings indicate that although neoliberal reform instruments improved procedural standardization, introduced managerial innovations, and strengthened administrative frameworks in selected countries, their overall effectiveness remained dependent on political commitment, enforcement capacity, and institutional coherence. In many instances, reforms were implemented symbolically without fundamentally transforming underlying incentive structures or reducing political interference in recruitment processes. The study concludes that sustainable human resource procurement requires stronger institutions, credible oversight mechanisms, and greater alignment between reform design, administrative capacity, and domestic political realities. It recommends strengthening merit-based recruitment systems, enhancing institutional accountability, promoting transparent recruitment procedures, and reinforcing independent oversight bodies to improve public sector governance across African states.