Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Performance: A Critical Assessment of Oil Marketing Companies in Ghana

Abstract

The study focuses on unravelling the dynamics behind organizations investment into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its effect on financial performances. The study examined a 6year (2010 – 2016) CSR activities of five selected oil companies in Ghana. Through the use of fixed-effect panel regression model, the study shows that CSR have differential effects on different indicators of financial performance measured in terms of ROA, ROE and ROCE. CSR activities was found to have positive significant association with ROCE but failed to predict same association with ROA and ROE which remain one of the major performance indicators. Never the less, communication on the social and environmental impacts of CSR was found to be positively associated with improvement in ROA and ROE but not ROCE. The study recommends future studies to examine the impact of CSR on non-financial performance indicators of the sampled organization.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Performance, Oil Marketing Companies, Ghana