Does Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative Dissuade the Increasing Electoral Violence in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Nigeria’s Oil Producing Region

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on reducing incidents of electoral violence in the oil-producing communities. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a survey technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 1200 households were sampled across the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Findings – The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that GMoU model made significant impact in deterring occurrences of electoral violence, when interventions on cluster development boards (CDBs) are designed to mitigate the intricate of political clashes in the region. Practical implication – This implies that CSR interventions of MOCs play a vital role in reducing incidents of electoral violence in Nigeria’s oil producing region. Social implication – Reducing the increasing electoral violence in the oil host communities, will in turn create an enabling environment for more extensive and responsible business of Multinational Corporation in sub-Saharan Africa. Originality/value –This paper extends and contributes to the literature on CSR initiatives of multinational enterprises in developing countries and rationale for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.