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Social and environmental disclosures : a comparative analysis of listed Nigerian and UK oil and gas companies

Exploration, production and marketing of oil and gas by listed Nigerian oil and gas companies are fraught with lots of negative social and environmental impacts. Corporate social disclosure is a medium employed by corporations to communicate their impacts and commitments to the society and environment. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to describe and explain social and environmental disclosure practices by listed Nigerian oil and gas companies as gauged with disclosure by listed UK oil and gas companies for the period 2004-2013. The objectives are to determine the nature of disclosures by sampled companies, measure and analyse quantity and quality of the disclosures, analyse trends of the disclosures, find out differences in the disclosures and to explore the effects of corporate characteristics on the disclosures. Content analysis of annual reports and accounts and sustainability reports, scoring quality of disclosures based on Global Reporting Initiative disclosure guidelines, two samples t-tests and Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) regression analysis were employed to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. Legitimacy debate and vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework were espoused to develop a theoretical framework to underpin the study. Results indicate Nigerian companies making disclosure on fewer social and environmental aspects than UK companies. Quantity and quality of disclosure by Nigerian companies are low compared to UK companies. While quantity of disclosure by both showed increasing trends, quality of disclosure depicted decreasing trends. Sampled companies are found complying with mandatory social disclosure. Corporate size, leverage, efficiency and liquidity are found significant in explaining disclosures by sampled companies. Low quantity and quality of disclosure by listed Nigerian oil and gas companies is indicating low social accountability. This result may be useful to policy makers in the industry to dialogue with managers of the companies on the importance of their social accountability to overall national sustainable development efforts. Likewise, policy makers may put in place regulatory and enforcement mechanisms on social disclosures as mandating disclosure is found effective. Disclosure practices by listed Nigerian oil and gas companies portrayed the significance of colonial relationship between Nigeria and the UK. The use of modified words counts content analysis, and the theoretical framework that underpins the study might be of significance in this study in particular and social disclosure studies in general.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:704553
Date January 2016
CreatorsMohammed, Sani D.
ContributorsKouhy, Reza
PublisherAbertay University
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttps://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/5e9bd304-82f0-4be7-b151-01fcc20019e2

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