Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Firm Financial Performance of Listed Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

This study examined the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure on the financial performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Environmental disclosure, social disclosure, and governance disclosure served as the independent variables, while Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Tobin's Q were employed as proxies for financial performance. Firm size and leverage were incorporated as control variables. Adopting an ex-post facto research design, the study analysed panel data drawn from the annual reports and financial statements of 30 selected listed manufacturing firms for the period 2015–2024, yielding 93 firm-year observations. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ordinary least squares panel regression. Descriptive results indicated that the sampled firms reported at relatively high levels across all CSR dimensions, with governance disclosure recording the highest mean value. The regression results revealed that CSR disclosure dimensions do not exert a statistically significant effect on ROA, ROE, or Tobin's Q. However, leverage and firm size significantly influenced financial performance: leverage exerted a significant negative effect on ROE (B = −0.199; p = 0.000), while firm size exerted a significant positive effect on ROE (B = 0.062; p = 0.013). The study concludes that, while CSR disclosure enhances corporate transparency and stakeholder communication, its direct impact on short-term financial performance remains limited for listed Nigerian manufacturing firms. Firms are encouraged to embed CSR strategies within long-term corporate objectives, and regulatory bodies should advance standardised reporting frameworks to improve disclosure comparability and investor utility

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure

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