Benue State University, Makurdi

An Appraisal of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Mere Marketing Tool in the Oil and Gas Industry

Hafsat Mohammed Ali Ndume,* Atiku Said Haliru,** and A H Diram***

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained considerable prominence across the business world. The corporations discharge their CSR through various forms of social development. However, the practice of CSR has also attracted controversy and criticism. There are two opposing arguments namely (i) the corporation's profit in manifold ways by spending on CSR projects, and (ii) CSR is criticized and opposed in that it makes the corporations deviate from their primary economic roles in doing business. This debate and criticism revolve around the basic objective of the firm. Modern scholars have proposed many different objectives for firms which again also abound with raging controversy and criticism. This paper attempts to explore the origin and evolution of the term “Corporate social responsibility” (CSR), the meaning of CSR from various perspectives and the concept of CSR from the oil and gas sector. It also explores the importance of CSR in preventing reputational risk, the benefit of reputation to business in promoting social legitimacy and the importance of CSR as a viable tool for business marketing. The paper answers the question of whether CSR is just a “mere marketing tool” or has contributed to the oil and gas sector. Also, exploring the notion that CSR in the oil and gas sector is more mandatory rather than a voluntary act of service by these companies. It also explores the effect of pressure in form of stakeholder engagement on the sector.

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