Corporate social responsibility and organizational effectiveness of insurance companies in Nigeria

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical and empirical relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and some dimensions of organizational effectiveness (OE) of insurance companies in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach - Data were obtained from a field survey in insurance companies in Lagos using structured questionnaires. Responses from the survey were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson product moment correlation. Findings - Results of the study indicated that insurance companies are involved in all four forms of CSR activities (business ethics, urban affairs, consumer affairs and environmental affairs) with consumer affairs receiving the most active involvement. The study indicated that OE of the participating insurance companies is to a large extent satisfactory. However, involvement in CSR was found to correlate positively with OE. Research limitations/implications - The study also indicated that insurance companies still suffer from the lack of awareness, unavailability of information to identify the needs of a developing society, lack of qualified workforce and adverse economic factors that prevent them from performing CSR activities. Originality/value - From a practical perspective, the study is needed to assess if investments in CSR is worthwhile or not.