Socially responsible investment and factors influencing its implementation practices among listed oil and gas firms in Ghana

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) practices and factors influencing its implementation in some selected listed oil and gas firms in Ghana. This purpose is made achievable through three research objectives which are to examine and describe how SRI practices are implemented by the selected oil and gas firms, identify factors influencing decision in implementing SRI practices at the oil and gas companies and investigate whether ownership structure of these firms affects SRI practices. This study was based on a multiple interpretive case study approach where data had been gathered from three oil and gas firms (both upstream and downstream) listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange with interviews, observation and documentary evidence as the sources of data and the findings situated within the institutional theory. The findings of the study show that although literature suggests that we are in the era of SRI which encompasses both voluntary and mandatory practices, the downstream oil and gas firms are still operating in the CSR phase (mainly voluntary). The downstream firms are operating in the CSR phase because there are no promulgated laws mandating them to progress to the SRI phase. Secondly, this study finds that beyond the external factors seen variously in literature to influence the SRI practices of firms, there are context specific factors that inhibit the efforts of the firms in their SRI practices. These context specific factors faced by these firms include financial challenges, government interferences and bureaucratic procedures. Thirdly, this study also finds that the upstream foreign Multinational Company (MNC) surprisingly uses the integrated approach for their SRI practices. They use this approach because they view the community as an integral part of their successful operation in Ghana and thus choose to effectively engage and integrate their concerns into their practices. They are also weary of how the adoption of the global approach by some MNCs leads to conflicts between those firms and the communities. This is contrary to the evidence seen in extant literature where foreign MNCs use the global approach. Finally, this study finds out that the ownership structure of the selected firms influences differently the SRI practices these firms engage in. The influence is greater either when the SRI practices of firms are seen to fit into the promises made by government or when parts of the funds for SRI practices are provided by the owners. The findings of this study contribute to research, theory and policy. In the case of research, it contributes to the emerging literature on SRI especially from a developing economy (Ghana) perspective. With regard to theory, it serves as a guide to the extension of the institutional theory where internal pressure from the parent firm is a source of isomorphism on their SRI. This suggests that the three pressures or isomorphism are not enough in explaining the institutional theory. To policy, it serves to motivate the government to put in effective rules and a suitable executable way of implementing SRI practices so that before the oil and gas find depletes, its people would have had the utmost benefit from their natural resource.

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