Date

5-20-2026

Department

School of Communication and the Arts

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Communication (PhD)

Chair

Andrea Towers Scott

Keywords

Corporate social responsibility, communication strategy, oil-producing communities, Niger Delta, two-way symmetric communication theory

Disciplines

Communication

Abstract

This study examined the lived experiences and perceptions of oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria regarding the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and messages of multinational oil companies (MOCs) operating in the region. This became imperative in the face of unabated conflicts between the giant oil companies and their host community counterparts, despite the companies' claims of numerous CSR projects, and to fill a gap in the literature on the dearth of CSR communication in the region. The central research question that the study sought to answer was: What is the perception of host communities regarding the CSR messages from international oil companies operating on their land? The study was anchored on the two-way symmetric communication theory of Grunig and Hunt, which sees communication as a cyclical process that recognizes both parties in a communication encounter as equal, and sees communication as a proactive means to resolving conflicts. The qualitative design through a telephone data collection instrument with open-ended questions was used to collect data from participants in ten (10) oil-producing communities in the Delta and Rivers states, which were purposively selected to represent the Niger Delta region. The data collected were analyzed through a step-by-step thematic analysis, and the findings revealed that meaningful two-way communication between the host communities and MOCs was absent, and host communities had a negative perception of CSR messages from the companies.

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