State Ownership and Corporate Social Responsibility: An Investigation on Nigerian Data

Purpose: The paper examines the central issue underpinning the growing international literature and arguments that different ownership types have varying implications for a firm's CSR engagement. It compliments evolving studies by looking at the effect of state ownership and other types of ownership structures on CSR, specifically in the Nigerian industry. It is argued that the impact of ownership structure on corporate decisions to allocate resources to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has assumed renewed significance in the burgeoning literature of developing economies, given the exigency for corporate executives to allocate firm specific resources to other social objectives that may detract from profit maximization. Methodology: This paper differs markedly from the methodologies of previous studies which used composite CSR indices. It deconstructs CSR expenditure into five categories - public goods, socially desirable goods, corporate philanthropy, employee relations and environmental conservation - and estimates the effects of government, foreign and institutional ownership on CSR variables controlling for such factors as firm size, return on assets and capital intensity. Using new data on listed Nigerian firms, this paper carries out its empirical investigation with panel data estimation in order to deal with heterogeneity and endogeneity issues. Findings: The findings of this paper indicate that different ownership structures have varying implications for the five forms of CSR investigated in this study. It reveals that government ownership has no significant effect on CSR expenditure on public goods, corporate philanthropy and environmental conservation. However, it finds that government ownership also significantly influences CSR expenditure on socially desirable goods and employee relations. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy:Theoretically, this paper extends the trajectory of CSR discourse to include an elaborate investigation of the impact of ownership structures on CSR practices in all the major sectors of Nigerian economy.The paper argues that its empirical results have several policy implications for good corporate governance practices in Nigeria and other emerging economies. This paper suggests the need to institute incentives schemes and regulatory constraints that would compel government, foreign and institutional ownership to align their incentives with some forms of CSR practices.