Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Nigeria: western mimicry ...

Page18of44different tribes and peoples, which could have implication for the CSRdiscourse, is the communal philosophy of life and concern for the lessprivilege. This trend is rooted in the concept of ‘extended kinship’,which is common to all the groups (Limbs and Fort 2000). The familynetwork is very important in Nigeria and almost if not all ethnic groupin Nigeria believes that individual responsibility extend beyond theboundaries of immediate family. This practice has been described asNigeria’s form of social security (Limbs and Fort 2000). In establishinga firm, the founder represents not only the company but also thefamily (Limbs and Fort 2000). Therefore in his business judgement thefounder balances the demand of business with his responsibility to theextended family, which could be a whole community sometimes.According to Limbs & Forth (2000) ‘the family-owned nature of mostprivate businesses and the cultural notions of extended kinshipsuggest a propensity toward communitarian identity. Further, thereappear to be strong notions of group identification according toethnicity, language and religion.’In this regard, we argue the case that the socio-cultural characteristicsof Nigeria are unique and as such, the meaning and practice of CSRamongst indigenous Nigerian firms would mainly be shaped by the