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Population growth has remained a key issue facing developing economies in the world. While developed countries are experiencing diminished or negative population growth, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria are having population growth above the economic growth rate. With the deadline for the sustainable development goals approaching, attention is increasingly being focused on population growth and human capital development. Extant literature focused on population growth, human resource utilization and economic growth but this study aims to examine the effect of population growth on human resource utilization.

Using secondary data for the period 1990-2018, the study conducted unit root test and co-integration analyses to determine the stationarity and correlation in the long-run in the variables. The study used the error correction model to ascertain the speed at which shocks can be corrected in the long-run. Granger causality test was also carried out to ascertain the direction of causality among the variables.

The empirical results revealed that population growth has a negative and significant effect on human resource utilization. The study also revealed that unidirectional causality runs from employment rate to population growth rate and a unidirectional causality runs from employment growth rate to expected years of schooling. The Nigerian Government needs to not only control population growth but also focus on the quality of education.

The paper provides insights into the relationship between population growth and human capital utilization in Nigeria focusing on the 1986-2018 period.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the levels of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy proficiency and experiences amongst Universities of Fort Hare and Rhodes undergraduate students, on the utilization of electronic resources amongst South Africa.

This research comprised of undergraduate students from the Universities of Fort Hare and Rhodes, who registered for a three- or four-year study. The study implemented the stratified random sampling procedure. The study’s sample size was proportionally distributed amongst all the faculties common to both universities. The mixed method was applied in the study. Of the 377 administered copies of the questionnaire, 285 were returned, of which 266 were deemed useable, thereby generating a 70.6% response rate. The results were analysed using the SPSS version 26.

Findings revealed that there is underutilization of electronic resources by the undergraduate respondents due to their low level of ICT proficiency and experience.

This original research article investigated the influence of ICT literacy skills proficiency and experience on the use of electronic resources amongst undergraduate students in selected Eastern Cape Universities, South Africa.

This study intends to add to the existing body of literature on the impact of a newly implemented first year seminar in the College of Law and Business. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects the course have on students in regard to three aspects: student awareness and utilization of resources, interaction patterns, as well as, general interests and attitudes toward higher education.

The methodology of the assessment included analysis of a survey that has been conducted by the end of Spring 2014 semester. A quasi-experimental design was implemented to measure the impact of the intervention on students’ awareness and utilization of resources, interactions, general interests, and attitudes toward higher education. Through the SPSS application, the Mann Whitney U Test, and χ² tests were used to check for significant differences while comparing the means or frequencies for both groups. For the three questions, the authors have used the 90 percent confidence level and the standard significance level p-value of 0.05 or less for statistical analysis.

The results indicated that the course had a highly significant positive impact on student attitudes and awareness of campus resources but had less significant impact on student interactions and utilization of resources. The results in this study reveal a positive impact for the first-year seminar course on student satisfaction and attitudes toward higher education as well as their awareness of campus resources. However, in terms of the course impact on student interaction, results conveyed that students who have participated in the first-year seminar course show a slightly better interaction rate with instructors, academic advisors, and close friends than those in the control group.

The main limitation of this study was that the sample was small. Nonetheless, it has provided valuable insights into the understanding of the social and academic impact of first-year seminars on student engagement; through the use of comparison groups, this study increased the validity of prior research.

The first-year seminar course evaluated in this study demonstrated the potential to support and enhance student social and academic engagement during the first year of college. Based on the results in this study, the study team recommended some revisions to the current first-year seminar model (UNIV P100 Skills for University Success). The team proposed three models for subsequent first-year seminars at this university.

This study adds to the existing literature by examining the impact of a newly implemented first-year seminar course at the College of Law and Business at this university on both academic and non-academic aspects from the students’ perspective. These aspects were selected as retention and GPA effects have been widely explored; therefore, the focus is on the less studied emotional and social factors associated with student success and retention. The results from this study can act as a guide for universities intending to introduce a first-year seminar course as it gives clear guidelines on design, content, and course implementation, which can be useful in enhancing general student motivation and attitudes toward academic study and higher education in general.

After the 19th CPC national congress, Chinese Communist Party and the government put forward higher requirements for the development of coastal zones, and it is urgent to establish an integrated coastal zone management system, so as to better guarantee the construction of maritime powers and regional coordinated development. The purpose of this paper is to aim at re-examining and positioning China’s integrated coastal zone management.

This paper sorts out the current situation of coastal zone resources and environment, summarizes prominent problems and clarifies the path of comprehensive management of coastal zone based on the typicality and comprehensiveness of coastal ecosystem.

Coastal zone is a typical area of “life community shared among mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grass.” However, there are three prominent problems at present, namely, separation between land and sea, separation among industry sectors and separation among administrative jurisdictions. Coastal zone planning and legislation are important measures to realize the comprehensive management of coastal zone.

This paper puts forward some suggestions on the reform of coastal zone management from the perspective of planning and legislation.

This study empirically investigates the level of intellectual capital efficiency amongst the listed commercial banks in Nigeria and the factors influencing its efficient utilisation.

The paper employs the data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine intellectual capital efficiency for the listed banks in Nigeria using data obtained from their annual financial reports from 2013 to 2019. After obtaining the efficiency scores, the Tobit regression technique was used to analyse the impact of firm-specific factors on intellectual capital efficiency.

The study found that only 8.33% of the sampled Nigerian commercial banks are at optimum capacity in utilising their intellectual capital, while 91.67% are inefficient. It also finds that bank size and directors' shareholdings positively impact intellectual capital efficiency, while market and ownership concentration debar the attainment of optimum intellectual capital efficiency.

This study contributes to very scare literature on intellectual capital efficiency measurements by using the non-parametric analysis (DEA) to measure intellectual capital efficiency for listed banks in Nigeria.

This study showcases the importance of measuring intellectual capital efficiency amongst listed banks in Nigeria. It provides more information to the regulators and stakeholders on the need to enforce the disclosure of the value created from intellectual capital investment.

This study contributes to the scarce literature on measuring intellectual capital efficiency using a non-parametric analysis (DEA). It also provides new insights into the factors that influence intellectual capital efficiency amongst listed commercial banks in Nigeria.

With increasing marine resource development, the rapid development of the marine economy, and the continuous decline of the marine natural resource system, the contradiction between marine resources and economic development is becoming increasingly acute. The study of marine resources and economic development has become a hot and challenging issue in marine resource economics research in recent years. The purpose of this study is to analyze the current situation of marine resources and to realize the sustainable use of marine resources.

This study systematically reviews and analyzes the current status of research on marine resources and economic development issues in four main aspects: marine resource management, marine resources and economic growth, marine resources and economic security, and marine resource accounting in the field of marine resource economics.

It is found that compared to the current status of research on land-based resources and economic development, there is a significant lag in both theoretical construction and methodological innovation in marine resources and economic development.

The purpose of this study is to systematically grasp the current status of marine resources research, promote the coordinated development of marine resources and economic growth, and then realize the safe and sustainable development and utilization of marine resources.

In recent years, China's marine industry has maintained rapid growth in general, and marine-related economic activities have continued to improve. The purpose of this research is to analyze the basic situation of China's marine economy development, identify the problems therein, forecast development trends and propose policy recommendations accordingly.

This research conducts a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the development of China's marine economy with rich data in diversified aspects. The current situation of China's marine economy development is analyzed from the perspective of scale and structure, and the external and internal development environment of China's marine economy is discussed. With the application of measurement and prediction method such as trend extrapolation, exponential smoothing, grey forecasting and neural network method, the future situation of China's marine economy development is forecasted.

In a complex environment where uncertainties at home and abroad have increased significantly, China's marine economy development suffers tremendous downward pressure in recent years. As China has achieved major achievements in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the marine economy development will gradually return to normal. It is estimated that the gross marine production value in 2022 will exceed 10 trillion yuan. China's marine economy will continue to maintain a steady growth trend in the future, and its development prospects will remain promising.

This research explores the current situation and trends of China's marine economy development and puts forward policy recommendations to promote the steady and health development of China's marine economy accordingly.

Operational risks can cause considerable, atypical disturbances and impact food supply chain (SC) resilience. Indicatively, the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in the UK food services as nationwide stockouts led to unprecedented discrepancies between retail and home-delivery supply capacity and demand. To this effect, this study aims to examine the emergence of digital platforms as an innovative instrument for food SC resilience in severe market disruptions.

An interpretive multiple case-study approach was used to unravel how different generations of e-commerce food service providers, i.e. established and emergent, responded to the need for more resilient operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SC disruption management for high-impact low-frequency events requires analysing four research elements: platformisation, structural variety, process flexibility and system resource efficiency. Established e-commerce food operators use partner onboarding and local waste valorisation to enhance resilience. Instead, emergent e-commerce food providers leverage localised rapid upscaling and product personalisation.

Digital food platforms offer a highly customisable, multisided digital marketplace wherein platform members may aggregate product offerings and customers, thus sharing value throughout the network. Platform-induced disintermediation allows bidirectional flows of data and information among SC partners, ensuring compliance and safety in the food retail sector.

The study contributes to the SC configuration and resilience literature by investigating the interrelationship among platformisation, structural variety, process flexibility and system resource efficiency for safe and resilient food provision within exogenously disrupted environments.

In today’s business settings, most firms strive to closely integrate their resources and activities with those of their business partners. However, these linkages tend to create lock-in effects when changes are needed. In such situations, firms need to generate new space for action. The purpose of this paper is twofold: analysis of potential action spaces for restructuring; and examination of how action spaces can be exploited and the consequences accompanying this implementation.

Network dynamics originate from changes in the network interdependencies. This paper is focused on the role of the three dual connections – actors–activities, actors–resources and activities–resources, identified as network vectors. In the framing of the study, these network vectors are combined with managerial action expressed in terms of networking and network outcome. This framework is then used for the analysis of major restructuring of the car industries in the USA and Europe at the end of the 1900s.

This study shows that the restructuring of the car industry can be explained by modifications in the three network vectors. Managerial action through changes of the vector features generated new action space contributing to the transition of the automotive network. The key to successful exploitation of action space was interaction – with individual business partners, in triadic constellations, as well as on the network level.

This paper presents a new view of network dynamics by relying on the three network vectors. These concepts were developed in the early 1990s. This far, however, they have been used only to a limited extent.

This longitudinal research examines US symphony orchestra sector organizations to determine individual efficiencies in allocating resources (donations, governmental/private funding, etc.) for desirable outputs (concerts, educational programs, community outreach). It provides researchers and managers with a tool for identifying, assessing and mitigating organizational inefficiencies.

This study assesses relative efficiencies in performing arts organizations using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a widely-used nonparametric data-intensive benchmarking technique that determines an optimal “production frontier” of best-practice organizations among their peers and assesses their abilities to turn multivariate inputs into multivariate desired outputs.

This analysis highlights efficiency differences in a wide range of orchestras in converting available resources into performance-related outputs. It provides individual arts organizations with useful results for developing practical benchmarks to achieve organizational efficiency improvement.

This study provides constructive benchmarking guidance for improving efficiencies of relatively-inefficient organizations. Future analysis can expand the scope to utilize a two-stage DEA model to provide more specific guidance to arts organizations.

This pragmatic analysis enables arts/culture institutions to assess their organizational efficiencies and identify opportunities to optimize resources in producing social outputs for their target markets.

Efficiency improvements enable performing arts organizations to provide additional artistic/social services, with fewer resources, to larger audiences.

This research demonstrates the abilities of DEA analysis to assess both a sector and its individual organizations to determine efficiencies, identify sources of inefficiencies and assess longitudinal efficiency trends.