SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AND MARKET PERFORMANCE OF QUOTED MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Market performance of listed firms in Nigeria remains constrained by inadequate transparency, weak disclosure practices, and limited investor confidence, resulting in suboptimal firm valuation and reduced market efficiency. Therefore, the study examined the effect of social and governance sustainability reporting on market performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria from 2015 to 2024, using an ex-post facto design and secondary data from the annual reports and accounts of 37 out of 76 manufacturing firms in Nigeria. A panel regression was used to analyse the data. The findings showed that social and governance sustainability reporting have a positive and significant effect on market performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria for the period under study. The study concludes that social and governance sustainability reporting influence market performance. It therefore recommends that the regulatory agencies such as Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange Group and Security and Exchange Commission, should enforce standardized social and governance disclosure frameworks with strict compliance monitoring, periodic audits, and annual reviews, while supporting firms through incentives, digital reporting systems, and capacity-building to enhance transparency and market valuation.