INVESTIGATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF QUOTED UPSTREAM OIL COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The core objective and survival strategy of any business oriented firm in this contemporarily volatile and highly competitive economic world is deeply seated on the sound and sustainable financial performance for the purpose of maximizing the stakeholders’ wealth. One of the impediments to healthy financial performance particularly oil and gas firms in Nigeria is inadequate concern for corporate social responsibility. The research investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance of quoted oil and gas firms in Niger Delta Nigeria from 2018 to 2022, Economic corporate responsibility (corporate business fund), ethical corporate responsibilities (employees remuneration cost) were the proxies of corporate social responsibility while return on assets and earnings per share were the proxies of financial performance. The researchers adopted ex post- facto research design for the study. The study used secondary data obtained from the audited annual reports and accounts of the nine quoted oil and gas firms’ website and the Nigeria  exchange group fact book as at December 30, 2023. The research data was analyzed using basic descriptive, Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression in a cross sectional data with the aid of SPSS version 25. The findings revealed that all the CSR proxies and control variable significantly related with return on assets and earnings per share of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria in the period of this study. We thus concluded that corporate social responsibility has significant relationship with financial performance of quoted oil and gas firms in Nigeria in the period of this study. We recommended that Management of oil companies should develop a well-articulated corporate social responsibility in order to guarantee a conflict free atmosphere needed by managers and workers for maximum productivity and robust financial performance.