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Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on female agricultural entrepreneur’s access to information technology and training in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 700 female agricutural entrepreneur respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region.

Findings – The results from the use of a recursive bivariate probit model indicates that participation of female agricultural entrepreneurs in the cluster development boards (CDBs) of global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) has positive correlation with access to information technology and training, and can increase the probability of the access by 5.84% in the region.

Research limitations/ implications – This suggests that improving entreprenurial women’s access to agricultural technologies can be facilitated through participatory gender-inclusive GMoUs’ technology development programmes and the provision of gender-sensitive training services in the MOCs’ host communities.

Managerial or policy implications – This implies that closing the gap in entreprenuerial women’s access to a broad range of technologies would help free their time for more productive activities, enhance their agricultural enterprises, improve the market returns they receive and empower them to make choices that are better for themselves and their families.

Originality/value – This research contributes to the literature on gender discourse in information technology for agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and rationale for demands for social project by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.

Keywords Gender, agricultural enterprises, infomation technology, corporate social responsibility, multinational oil companies, sub-Saharan Africa

Paper type Research paper