Firm size as a boundary condition for CSR value creation: evidence from multi-African capital markets

This study examines whether firm size functions as a boundary condition shaping the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and firm value in African capital markets, drawing on flexibility theory and the resource-based view (RBV) to develop competing predictions about the direction of size moderation. A balanced panel of listed firms across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana over a decade is analysed using two-way fixed-effects regression, with firm size operationalised through continuous, market-based, and categorical specifications, and firm value captured through both market-based (Tobin’s Q) and accounting-based (Economic Value Added) measures. Subgroup regressions, lagged specifications, and alternative dependent variable tests provide complementary robustness evidence. The findings indicate that the CSR-value association is concentrated among smaller listed firms in several, though not all, specifications, offering qualified rather than conclusive support for flexibility theory over the resource-based view. The accounting-based evidence is more consistent with a negative size moderation pattern than the market-based interaction evidence. The study contributes multi-country African panel evidence to the CSR boundary conditions literature and offers cautious theoretical and practical implications for managers, investors, and regulators operating across Africa’s heterogeneous capital markets.