Influence of Environmental and Social Sustainability Disclosures on Financial Performance of Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria

Background Environmental and social sustainability disclosures ESD are conceded as an action by a firm, which the firm chooses to take, that substantially affects identifiable social stakeholder welfare. A socially responsible corporation should take a step forward and adopt policies and business practices that go beyond the minimum legal requirements and contribution to the welfare of its key stakeholders.Aim This study empirically investigated the influence of environmental and social sustainability disclosures on financial performance of Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria. The study is vital as it portrays the extent to which environmental and social sustainability influence firms' performance. In order to determine the relationship between environmental, social sustainability disclosures and financial performance, environmental and social sustainability disclosure was measured using the GRI G4 on content index while firms' performance on the other hand was represented by return on equity ROE and net assets per share NAPS . Materials and Methods Four hypotheses were formulated to guide the investigation and the statistical test of parameter estimates was conducted using OLS regression model operated with STATA V.15. Ex Post Facto design was adopted and data for the study were obtained from the published annual financial reports of the entire oil and gas firms quoted on Nigerian Exchange Group NGX with data spanning from 2016 2020.Results The findings of the study generally indicate that environmental and social sustainability disclosures have significant and positive influence on firms' performance measured by return on equity ROE and net assets per share NAPS at 1 5 significant level respectively. Conclusion Thus, the study concludes that environmental and social sustainability disclosures positively improved firms' performance over the years. Recommendation The study however suggests the need for firms to have a positive disposition towards environmental friendly practices and also disclose more of this information in their annual reports on her commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development as the level of this information disclosure has influenced firms' performance over the years. Onuora, J. K. J. | Obiora Fabian. | Ikubor Augustine "Influence of Environmental and Social Sustainability Disclosures on Financial Performance of Oil and Gas Firms in Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-2 , February 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd49380.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/management/strategic-management/49380/influence-of-environmental-and-social-sustainability-disclosures-on-financial-performance-of-oil-and-gas-firms-in-nigeria/onuora-j-k-j