Corporate social responsibility and traditional practices recognised as violence against women in Nigeria’s oil region

ABSTRACT

We examine the impact of multinational oil companies’ (MOCs’) corporate social responsibility (CSR) on traditional practices recognised as violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Nigeria’s oil region. Results from a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that MOCs’ CSR plays a significant role in empowering women and girls with information and education to protect their human rights. It is implied that CSR offers an opportunity for MOCs to help address the prevalence of child early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, sex trafficking, virginity testing, and taboos through a business case for stakeholders’ human rights protection.

KEYWORDS:

• Corporate social responsibility
• multinational oil companies
• traditional practices
• Nigeria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji

Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji, Associate Professor, holds a PhD (Marketing), PhD (Public Administration), MSc (Marketing), MSc (Public Relations), MBA (Business Administration), and MPA (Public Administration) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu Campuses, respectively. While he lectures business and development courses at the University of Nigeria, he is also a Visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda. His current research interests include the impact assessment of multinationals corporate social responsibility in host communities of developing countries.

Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi

Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi, Research Fellow, holds BSc (Agricultural Economics) and MSc (Development Studies) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu Campuses, respectively. He is a doctoral student and research fellow at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nigeria. He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Development Strategy Centre Nigeria. His current research interests include economic analysis of multinationals, corporate social responsibility impact in host communities of developing countries.

Simplice Anutechia Asongu

Simplice Anutechia Asongu, Professor, holds a PhD from Oxford Brookes University and is currently Lead Economist and Director of the African Governance and Development Institute (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Lead Economist and Director of the European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (Liège, Belgium) and Lead Economist and Co-director of “Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Economique” (Bangui, Central African Republic). He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Africa Growth Institute (Cape Town, South Africa); PhD Supervisor at Covenant University (Ota, Nigeria), the University of Ghana (Accra, Ghana); Antioch University (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Midwest, New England, Seattle, USA) and Midlands State University (Gweru, Zimbabwe); DBA Supervisor at Management College of Southern Africa (Durban, South Africa); and Research Associate at the Research Network Africa (Gaborone, Botswana), University of South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa), University of Buea (Buea, Cameroon) and Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, UK). He is also Associate Editor for various journals including the Journal of Economic Surveys, the Journal of African Business, the Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, and the African Journal of Economic and Management Studies.