Corporate social responsibility reporting of local oil companies in Nigeria

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze annual reports through content analysis. Corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) extent and type are measured by the number of sentences. CSRR are further classified into three subcategories according to whether they are negative, neutral or positive reports and then their proportions compared through descriptive analysis. Design/methodology/approach This paper seeks to examine and identify factors influencing CSRR practices of local oil companies (LOCs) in Nigeria. It aims at distinguishing CSRR levels by examining both the quantity and quality of reporting. Findings For the extent of CSRR, employee-related information was the most reported category with community reports being of greater quality in the LOCs. The majority of the total CSRR in the LOCs was positive with very little evidence of negative news. Research limitations/implications The measurement of CSRR focuses only on annual reports, without consideration of other reporting media, such as standalone reports. CSRR are assumed to be voluntary for the companies, and they may choose not to report any information in annual reports, as there are no regulations or reporting guidelines in Nigeria to be followed. Originality/value The main contribution of this study lies in identifying the factors that have led to diversity and uniqueness in CSRR in LOCs. As such, this study seeks to contribute to the development of understanding multiple factors that could give rise to changing patterns of CSRR.