CORPORATE ATTRIBUTES AND FIRMS’ DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: AN INSIGHT INTO NIGERIAN LISTED COMPANIES

Abstract

The financial reports that incorporate economic, social, environmental and governance information raised a global concern in the recent times due to its shortcomings weaknesses on the conventional financial reports. The disclosure of corporate social responsibility will not only enhance stakeholder’s decisions but might be crucial to the survival of the business organisation. The disclosure of performance of the organisation should be evaluated in terms of the economic (profit), social (people) and the environment (planet factors). Based on this, effort is required towards making the disclosure of corporate social responsibility not voluntary but mandatory worldwide. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between corporate attributes and firms’ disclosure of corporate social responsibility in Nigerian listed companies. Out of the one hundred and seventy-seven (177) total population of companies listed in Nigeria between 2016 and 2020, a sample of one hundred and twenty-two (122) companies were randomly selected and analysed with the use of ordinary least square regression techniques. The result of the fixed effect estimation showed that firm size and profitability had a positive and significant relationship with firms’ disclosures of corporate responsibility at 5 % level while leverage has negative and insignificant relationship with firms’ disclosure of corporate social responsibility in Nigerian listed companies. Hence, the study recommends to the stakeholders of the Nigerian listed companies that they should encourage the management of their companies to invest more on the size of the company and profitability because of their positive impact on enhancing disclosure of corporate social responsibility that would enhance their decision making. In addition, leverage should not be encouraged because it would reduce the disclosure of Nigerian listed companies’ corporate social responsibility.

Keywords

• Agency Theory
• Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure
• Corporate Attributes