Methods of Community Engagement between Oil Multinational Companies and Communities in the Nigerian Niger Delta Region: A Critical Analysis of the Activities of Eni SpA, Total SA and RD Shell
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis made new contributions to the company-community relations field by incorporating institutional theory, stakeholder theory and community engagement theory, to investigate the community engagement strategies, community relations approaches and social responsibility practices used by companies in a developing country. It makes new contributions to the debate on why multinational companies - Eni SpA, Total SA and RD Shell in the Nigerian Niger Delta region (NDR) struggle to establish and manage relations with host communities. The research idea is founded on the concern that there is a failure in addressing why oil MNCs operating in Nigeria, fall short of meeting the expectations of communities, hence face diverse challenges from communities, including threats of losing their social licence to operate. Institutional theory, stakeholder theory and community engagement theory were purposefully and consistently applied to establish a theoretical foundation to explore and explain methods of community engagement, community relations approaches and social responsibility practices used by the three MNCs. As a study that investigated ‘business in society’, a qualitative research paradigm was adopted, using a cross-sectional design to synthesise the experiences of the companies against those of their host communities, to articulate the slight variations in their approaches. In the data collection and analyses, the study employed a mixed method of secondary and primary research. The secondary research, involved an assessment of company archives and news media materials. Guided in-depth interviews with purposefully sampled senior managers in the three oil MNCs and community representatives, were introduced to advance the research into a full primary research. Data analyses were conducted using a qualitative content analysis, whereby identified themes were coded and then analysed and discussed extensively. This thesis made new contribution to the theoretical application…
abstract: This thesis made new contributions to the company-community relations field by incorporating institutional theory, stakeholder theory and community engagement theory, to investigate the community engagement strategies, community relations approaches and social responsibility practices used by companies in a developing country. It makes new contributions to the debate on why multinational companies - Eni SpA, Total SA and RD Shell in the Nigerian Niger Delta region (NDR) struggle to establish and manage relations with host communities. The research idea is founded on the concern that there is a failure in addressing why oil MNCs operating in Nigeria, fall short of meeting the expectations of communities, hence face diverse challenges from communities, including threats of losing their social licence to operate. Institutional theory, stakeholder theory and community engagement theory were purposefully and consistently applied to establish a theoretical foundation to explore and explain methods of community engagement, community relations approaches and social responsibility practices used by the three MNCs. As a study that investigated ‘business in society’, a qualitative research paradigm was adopted, using a cross-sectional design to synthesise the experiences of the companies against those of their host communities, to articulate the slight variations in their approaches. In the data collection and analyses, the study employed a mixed method of secondary and primary research. The secondary research, involved an assessment of company archives and news media materials. Guided in-depth interviews with purposefully sampled senior managers in the three oil MNCs and community representatives, were introduced to advance the research into a full primary research. Data analyses were conducted using a qualitative content analysis, whereby identified themes were coded and then analysed and discussed extensively. This thesis made new contribution to the theoretical application…
author: Izidor, Nnadozie
language: en
keywords: Community work
date published: 2016-07
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:35:53Z
provider: University of Central Lancashire
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Central Lancashire