Corporate Social Responsibility: Case Study of Community Expectations and the Administrative Systems, Niger Delta

Abstract

Poor community-company relations in the Niger Delta have drawn attention to the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the region. Since the 1960s, transnational oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta have adopted various CSR strategies, yet community-company relations remain adversarial. This article examines community expectations of CSR and the influence of the traditional, political, and administrative systems on community expectations of CSR in the Niger Delta region. An overview of CSR, oil industry CSR practices in the Niger Delta, and the methodology used is presented. The findings show that community expectations were framed through the lens of underdevelopment and its implications for the social and economic wellbeing of the indigenes. The implications of the traditional, political, and administrative systems and the network of organizations for CSR in the Niger Delta are discussed.