AN EVALUATION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCLOSURE PRACTICE LISTED COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT
This study evaluates the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure practice and financial performance of listed s companies in Nigeria, with the use of secondary data. The secondary data was sourced from sampled companies’ annual account and reports between 20072016.The data generated were analyzed using descriptive, multivariate regression, Correlation and disclosure index. The major finding from the analysis reveals that there was a positive relationship between CSRD and financial performance, in the light of the major findings it was concluded that, CSRD brings about improvement in the financial performance of the sampled s in Nigeria since they maintain a positive relationship.  

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to study
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a strategic agenda for businesses in many countries. In recent times, businesses in developed countries have started disclosing their social, environmental, community involvement, professional development of employees and other CSR-related information in annual financial reports. There is a considerable growth in the number of companies which have disclosed social responsibility activities (Guthrie and Parker, 1989; Gray et al,, 1995a). For example, KPMG (2011) reveals that 62% of 378 global companies surveyed in
October 2010 have a corporate social responsibility strategy and claim this is an increase of over 50% since 2008 (p. 13). In addition, KPMG (2011) also suggests that companies that have engaged in CSR will gain an opportunity to obtain competitive benefits, drive innovation, improve financial performance and create genuine bottom line outcomes.
There exist a large number of studies on the disclosures of CSR in financial reports using various dimensions, countries and markets (Guthrie and Parker, 1989; Deegan and Gordon, 1996; Mathews, 1997; O'Dwyer, 2001; Deegan et al,, 2002; Murphy and Abeysekera, 2008; Clarkson et al,, 2011). Some studies also have evaluated the empirical relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosures and financial performance (Griffin and Mahon, 1997; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000; Chen and Wang, 2011). However, the results of these studies have often been conflicting and mixed. Some studies have argued that there is a positive association between financial performance and corporate social responsibility practices (Waddock and Graves, 1997; Van de Velde et al,, 2005; Peters and Mullen, 2009; Choi et al,, 2010; Kwanbo, 2011; Michelon, 2011; Oeyono et al,, 2011). Onthe other hand, several studies also found a negative correlation (Mittal et al,, 2008; Crisóstomo et al,, 2011) as well as neutral relationships (Preston and O'Bannon, 1997; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000; Moneva and Ortas, 2008; Kimbro andMelendy, 2010) between CSR disclosures and financial performance.
The relationship between CSR disclosures and financial performance is examined in this study in a number of ways. First, this study explores the extent of current corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of listed companies in an emerging country, namely, Nigeria. Second, it evaluates the determinants of corporate social responsibility practices of Nigeria listed companies in a number of industries. Third, the study examines the relationship between the level of CSR disclosure and financial performance.

1.2 Research Problem
Businesses are often aware of, and concerned about, the impact of their activities on the environment, communities, employees and other relevant stakeholders. Numerous Nigeria companies have realised the potential benefits of being involved in CSR activities. Many companies in Nigeria have adopted disclosure guidelines for their businesses in order to report their CSR activities (Kuasirikun and Sherer, 2004; Ratanajongkol et al,, 2006). However, Nigeria businesses continue to face significant challenges in participating in CSR activities (in terms of social marketing activities, community development or public relations) and the level of understanding of CSR is still not very high (Prayukvong and Olsen,2009). Despite these challenges, some prior research has evaluated the disclosure practices of corporate social responsibility in Nigeria (Kuasirikun and Sherer, 2004; Ratanajongkol et al,, 2006; Sastararuji and Wottrich, 2008; Prayukvong and Olsen, 2009; Rajanakorn, 2012; Suttipun and Stanton, 2012).
This study intends to evaluate the extent of disclosure of CSR practices amongst Nigeria public companies. It will also examine the interactions between CSR disclosure levels and financial performance. This is undertaken using data collected from the annual reports of companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange .
This study is found to be justified on a number of reasons. Firstly, most of the prior studies on CSR disclosures have focused on corporations in developed countries, including, Australia (Deegan et al,, 2000; Tilt, 2001; Deegan et al,, 2002; Cowan and Gadenne, 2005; Cuganesan et al,, 2007; Guthrie and Farneti, 2008), Canada (Zeghal and Ahmed, 1990; Magness, 2006), USA (Meek et al,, 1995; Darus et al,, 2009; Saida, 2009) and Europe (Gray et al,, 1995a; Stittle et al,, 1997; Cormier and Magnan, 2003; Dragomir, 2010). There exists a limited number of studies on CSR being carried out using the context of developing countries (Simpson and Kohers, 2002; Hossain et al,, 2006; Chang, 2010; Khan et al,, 2010; Rashid et al,, 2010). In particular, studies on CSR disclosure and its relationship with financial performance research in Nigeria are still limited in number. The empirical results from this study may be different from those of other developing countries. This could be due to differences in CSR practices between Nigeria and other developing economies. Such differences may occur due to variations in the definitions of CSR, cultural issues, laws and regulations.
Secondly, using the context of Nigeria, a few extant studies were conducted in the early 2000s when CSR disclosure was not a common practice e.g. Connelly and Limpaphayom (2004), Kuasirikun and Sherer (2004) and Ratanajongkol et al, (2006). Although the promotion of CSR practices among Nigeria listed companies has evolved since the 1990s (Foran, 2001), the development of CSR was in fact intensified in 2006 and culminated in the establishment of the Corporate Social Responsibility Institute (CSRI) in 2007 by the Nigerian stock exchange. Even though Nigeria companies have adopted several CSR frameworks, such efforts have limitations due to the voluntary nature of disclosures (Kuasirikun and Sherer, 2004). Thirdly, a number of studies have also focused on specific industries but with an involvement of using small sample size. For example, Ratanajongkol et al, (2006) examined CSR disclosure of 50 Ghanian listed companies between 1997 and 2001. In another study, Suttipun and Stanton (2012) examined the determinant of environmental disclosure of 75 listed companies. In addition, Janamrung and Issarawornrawanich (2013) evaluated the relationship between CSR and financial performance of companies in industrial products and resources industries. Furthermore, Henderson (2007) and Wuncharoen (2013) evaluated CSR disclosure in the hotel industry in Nigeria. Sastararuji and Wottrich (2008) explore CSR disclosure in the construction industry.
Finally, it is also apparent that a number of Nigeria studies on CSR in the post global financial crisis period (i.e. year 2008 and onwards) is fairly limited as well (cf.,Eua-anant et al,, 2011; Suttipun and Stanton, 2012c; Janamrung and Issarawornrawanich, 2013; Wuncharoen, 2013). Nevertheless, the global financialcrisis is likely to have an influence on companies investment in CSR activities. For  example, Pongpattananon and Tansuwanarat (2011) has argued that the impact of the financial crisis was widespread in Nigeria. In addition, Chandoevwit (2010) has documented that the global crisis had a short-term impact on economic growth in the Nigeria manufacturing industry.
Based on the above research gaps in CSR studies in Nigeria, seeks to examine the effect of firm performance on CSR disclosure in Nigeria from the perspective of firm performance. We focus on Nigerian companies due to the circumstance that a country of origin may be an important determinant of the level of CSR disclosure . Whereas many studies have focused on the variation in CSR disclosure across developed nations  only a few have addressed this issue in developing countries [20,3] and.

1.3 Research Questions
The primary research questions for this study are as follows:
1.                  What is the current state of CSR disclosure by listed  companies in Nigeria?
2.                  Is there a relationship between CSR disclosure and company financial performance in Nigeria?
3.                  What is the relationship between each dimension of CSR disclosure and financial performance?

1.4 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are summarised below:
1.                  To examine the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure of Nigeria
2.                   companies over the years;
3.                  To examine the empirical relationship between the extent of CSR disclosure and financial performance of  companies listed on Nigerian stock exchange.
4.                  To determine the nature of the relationship between each dimension of CSR disclosure and financial performance

1.5 Research hypothesis

Drawing upon the revelations from prior studies, the hypotheses will be formulated as; 
H01:  companies in Nigeria do not significantly disclose CSRD activities
H02: There is no significant relationship between Social responsibility disclosure and ROA of s companies in Nigeria.
H03: There is no significant relationship between Social responsibility disclosure and ROCE of s companies in Nigeria.
H04: There is no significant relationship between Social responsibility disclosure and ROE of s companies in
Nigeria.
  
1.6  Significance of study
This study makes further contributions to the literature in several areas. Firstly, this study is expected to contribute a further understanding of the practices of CSR disclosures in developing countries and more specifically, in Nigeria. This would be considered an important contribution as most of the existing studies about CSR disclosure have been conducted in developed countries, with fewer studies focussed on in developing countries and even fewer focussed on
Nigeria. Further, the purpose of this study does simplify the general CSR disclosures of Nigeria. It has endeavoured to identify current practices of CSR disclosures of companies in difference industries, which supports the main objective as well.

1.7 Scope of the Study
This study is based on public companies listed on the Nigerian stock exchange. The purposes of this study are accomplished via two empirical examinations. Firstly, an examination of the practices of CSR disclosure is carried out, and secondly, an investigation of the relationship between CSR disclosure and financial performance is conducted

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Item Type: Project Material  |  Attribute: 103 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word  |  Price: N3,000  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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