CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: MODERATING ROLES OF FIRM SIZE IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study examines corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, the moderating role of firm size among non-financial companied quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The study is motivated by the dearth of research work, specifically on the moderation of firm size on firm-level governance impacting corporate social responsibility. The study adopts a quantitative research design, with a population of one hundred and eight (108) non-financial companies during the period 2014 to 2020. A sample size of seventy (70) companies was determined which was randomly selected from the population. The data was sourced from the annual reported of the sampled companies and analyzed using the panel estimation technique. The result from the panel estimation revealed that: BS exhibits positive insignificant impact

0.007 (p= 0.875) at 1%, 5% and 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to increase by up to 0.7% when BS increase by one percent. BND exhibits positive significant impact 1.555 (p= 0.059) at 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to increase by up to 1.56 % when BND increase by one percent. BGD exhibits positive insignificant impact 1.129 (p= 0.204) at 1%, 5% and 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to increase by up to 1.129% when BGD increase by one percent. BFX exhibits inverse insignificant impact -0.133 (p= 0.918) at 1%, 5% and 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to decline by up to 13.3% when BFX increase by one percent. BS*FS exhibits inverse insignificant impact -0.042 (p= 0.121) at 1%, 5% and 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to decline marginal by up to 4.2% when BS increase by one percent when moderated with firm size. BND*FS exhibits inverse significant impact -1.131 (p= 0.059) 5%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to decline marginal by up to 1.13% when BND increase by one percent when moderated with firm size. BGD*FS exhibits positive insignificant impact 1.075 (p= 0.140) 5%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to increase marginal by up to 1.08% when BGD increase by one percent when moderated with firm size. BFX*FS exhibits positive insignificant impact 1.397 (p= 0.238) 1%, 5% and 10%. This implies that corporate social responsibility is predicted to increase marginal by up to 1.40% when BFX increase by one percent when moderated with firm size. Based on the outcome, it can be summarised that in the Nigerian context, corporate governance plays insignificant role in determining companies’ inclination on corporate social responsibility activities. Also, the size of companies does not enhance the relationship between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility activities. The study recommends that as companies grow in size, corporate social responsibility activities should be entrenched as this has the tendencies to boost their image.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, board financial expertise, board composition.