Effect of Corporate Governance Practices on Corporate Social Performance: A Case Study of Manufacturing Firms in Thika

Emmanuel Chege Mburu, Dr. Dennis Juma, George Mawili

Abstract: Corporate governance is defined broadly as the rules, processes or laws by which businesses are operated, regulated and controlled to accomplish various objectives such as social practices or performance. The objective identified for this study was to identify the significant influence of corporate reporting and disclosure of manufacturing firms on their corporate social performance. This study used descriptive design where the population of interest was the entire composition of manufacturing firms within Thika town. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents there was a total of 87 respondents. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire and collected data was edited for completeness and consistency. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. The study revealed that the manufacturing firms in Kenyan are increasingly adopting corporate governance practices and mechanisms in their strategic thought process. Though a number of these firms have their plans as casual, most recognize the practice as one of their core values. Given that they all concede that long-term business planning is very important and essential to their success, it's reasonable to see greater adaptation of corporate governance practices in their formal plans in future and see the relevance of a positive corporate social performance.

Keywords: corporate governance, environmental disclosure,, financial disclosure, governance disclosure.