Board Structure and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence From Developing Economy

Abstract

This article undertakes an empirical investigation on how firm board characteristics relate with corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) in the banking industry of developing economies with a particular interest in Nigeria. The study focuses on a sample of 11 out of the 13 Nigerian listed national commercial banks which provide similar services and are subject to the same regulations and disclosure requirements by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2007 to 2018. Multiple regression analysis was employed on panel data obtained from the banks’ audited financial statements. The findings show that board with large number of persons, low proportion of persons operating outside the bank operations, and higher percentage of feminine directors on the board support higher level of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The results of large number of persons on board and better proportion of feminine administrators support the resource dependency theory and agency theory which offer the broad theoretical underpinnings for this study. The low percentage of nonexecutive administrators negates stand of bank regulators. This implies that banks with an oversized board size, gender diversity, and less board independence are seemingly favorably disposed to improve on CSR.