IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED OIL AND GAS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of CSR based on Carroll pyramid determinants on financial performance of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The selected independent variables include economic responsibility, legal responsibility and ethical responsibility. The study adopted ex-post facto research design and gathered secondary data from published annual reports of the selected oil and gas companies for the period of 10 years (2014-2023). The population of the study are the ten (10) listed oil and gas companies as at 2024, while census sampling was used to select all the 10 companies that are listed throughout the period of the study. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive, correlation and panel regression analysis with the help of STATA 14.0. The study found that financial performance is positively influenced by economic responsibility. On the other hand, legal responsibility has negative influence on financial performance while ethical responsibility was insignificant. The following section presents the discussion of findings based on the obtained result. It is therefore recommended that oil and gas companies should uphold high standards of transparency, integrity and corporate governance to build trust and integrity among stakeholders which will enhance their contributions toward sustainable development and stakeholder value creation. In addition, the companies are encouraged to invest in initiative for improving management legal expertise through training and development programs to enhance awareness and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Finally, government should review of the regulations governing the legal responsibility in oil and gas sector so as to reduce compliance burdens, promote investment attractiveness.