Building Social Capital through Rural Women’s Groups: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Oil Host Communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives implemented by multinational oil companies (MOCs) in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on closing the social capital, through enterprising rural women’s groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopted a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population. Itwas essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 800women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region. Findings – The results from the logistic regression model indicate that CSR of the MOCs using the GMoU model has recorded little but significant success in improving women’s participation in the socio-economic activities of the region. The results also demonstratethat women’s groups and other forms of collective actions can be effective in building social capital and addressing gender gaps in other areas as well, through reducing transactions cost, pooling risks, developing skills, and building confidence. Practical implications – The result suggests that building women’s social capital can be an effective way to improve information exchange and resource allocation, pool risks, and ensure that women’s voices are heard in decision-making at all levels. Additionally, it proposes that community-based organizations including cluster development boards (CDBs) and women’s groupscan be useful for generating social capital. Social implications – The result implies that women’s groups that serve as production cooperatives, savings associations, and marketing groupscan boost production and help women in maintaining control over the additional income they earn. It also indicates that achieving scale through pooling resources can help women in overcoming some of the constraints experiencedby individual farmers. Originality/value – This research contributes to the gender discourse in social capitalfrom a CSR perspective in developing countries and the rationale for host communities’ desires for social projects. It concludes that businessesmust assist in solving public-interest challenges.