BOARD STRUCTURE AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DISCLOSURE QUALITY OF NIGERIAN LISTED COMPANIES

Abstract

Research on corporate social responsibility reporting, otherwise known as sustainability reporting, environmental reporting, or triple bottomline reporting, in most developing economies remains a grey area for investigation. Hence, there is a dearth of literature regarding corporate social responsibility disclosure practices in such countries, including Nigeria. This paper examines the effect of board structure, such as board independence, board size, and board meetings, on the Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Quality (CSRDQ) of the Top 100 Nigerian listed firms. The study utilizes a longitudinal sample of 498 firm-year observations of financial and non-financial companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) for the period 2018 to 2022. The results of the panel regression reveal that board independence and board size positively and significantly influence the CSRDQ of the sampled firms. While board meetings have a negative and significant influence. Though the positive association indicates a slight improvement in the quality of CSR disclosure of listed firms, Bbut still left much to be desired, thereby calling for improvement. The improvement could be achieved via effective board and necessary regulatory changes by regulatory bodies like the SEC and NGX. Therefore, the study has policy implications for regulators, the management of firms, academia, and other stakeholders. The study bridged literature gaps by offering new insights and empirical evidence on the role of board independence, board size, and board meetings in the CSRDQ of Nigerian large firms. The study recommends that listed firms should take board independence and board size seriously, as they are key determinants of CSRDQ. Also, the study recommends that the frequency of board meetings should be optimized to see if it could influence CSRDQ positively.