A business case argument for corporate social responsibility disclosure in Nigeria

ABSTRACT From the theoretical perspectives of stakeholder, agency and slack resources, and using fixed effects and random effects models, this study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance. The study adopts fixed and random effects panel estimates which deal with unobserved heterogeneity not addressed by OLS. The result is positive between CSR and Tobin’s q. This strengthens the argument that CSR creates value for stakeholders. The implications of this study lie in the common knowledge that Nigerian companies should address CSR from a strategic context of meeting stakeholder needs, in addition to satisfying shareholder expectations. Given that Nigeria’s economy by GDP is the largest in Africa, findings in this study have far-reaching implications in the African context.