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21 – 30 of over 19000Dare Akerele, Siaka Momoh, Samuel A. Adewuyi, Biola B. Phillip and Olumuyiwa F. Ashaolu
The role of household socio‐economic factors towards achieving enduring poverty interventions especially among urban households of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Household…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of household socio‐economic factors towards achieving enduring poverty interventions especially among urban households of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Household socio‐economic factors, among others, have been identified by development practitioners in developing countries as variables which can easily be manipulated through policy levers to improve welfare of the poor. The purpose of this paper is to examine poverty situations among urban households in Ekiti State, Nigeria with emphasis on household socioeconomic characteristics and their associated influence on poverty.
Design/methodology/approach
A multistage sampling approach was used to select 80 households who were interviewed using a well structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed through Poverty index and Tobit regression model.
Findings
The study found that 41.0 percent of the households covered by the study were poor and would have to mobilize financial resources up to 45.0 percent of 1 US Dollar (N130) per day (for each household member) to be able to escape poverty. The incidence and depth of were higher among female headed households with values 0.26 and 0.43, respectively. The same pattern was also found among households with larger number of dependants with values ranging from 0.74 to 1.00 for incidence of poverty and from 0.70 to 0.77 for depth of poverty. Dependency ratio, household assets and educational status of household head, among others, are socio‐economic factors influencing the poverty.
Originality/value
The study recommends, among others, implementation of the new minimum wage scheme, encouragement of the universal basic education and adult education programmes, employment generations, family planning measures, and a well focused gender specific interventions for poverty reduction.
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JOHN PARKINSON and SIMON TAGGAR
This study looked at the impact on return‐on‐assets (ROA) of aligning budgeting and human resource management (HRM) practices with strategy. A Lisrel model was tested on 79 large…
Abstract
This study looked at the impact on return‐on‐assets (ROA) of aligning budgeting and human resource management (HRM) practices with strategy. A Lisrel model was tested on 79 large Canadian and U.S. firms. Although HR policy alignment was positively associated with ROA, budgetary alignment was only positively associated with ROA in conjunction with process participation. That is, organisations performed best when the budgets were aligned with the mission of the organisation and numerous levels of the organisation had the opportunity to participate in strategy formation. Furthermore, aligned budgets did not ameliorate the negative affects of implementing a non‐participatory process of strategy formation.
Jason Whalley, Volker Stocker and William Lehr
This chapter is contextual in nature. It provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19, highlighting both the significant number of deaths caused by the pandemic as well as the…
Abstract
This chapter is contextual in nature. It provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19, highlighting both the significant number of deaths caused by the pandemic as well as the economic disruption that occurred. Particular attention is paid to the role of digital technologies during the pandemic, which enabled a wide range of activities (e.g. work, education and shopping) to go online. The disruptive impact of COVID-19 is widespread and far-reaching, with the pandemic acting as a ‘change agent’ expanding and encouraging the greater use of digital technologies. The second half of the chapter presents summaries of the other chapters in the book. In doing so, it illustrates the scope and scale of the impact of COVID-19, the multitude of different challenges it has caused, and how these varied across different regions and contexts, as well as the diversity of reactions to the pandemic. Some of these reactions are technical in nature, while others are commercial and political. The summaries also draw attention to ongoing policy debates, the significance of which has been heightened by the pandemic.
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Tae-Hwan Kim and Halbert White
To date, the literature on quantile regression and least absolute deviation regression has assumed either explicitly or implicitly that the conditional quantile regression model…
Abstract
To date, the literature on quantile regression and least absolute deviation regression has assumed either explicitly or implicitly that the conditional quantile regression model is correctly specified. When the model is misspecified, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests based on the conventional covariance matrix are invalid. Although misspecification is a generic phenomenon and correct specification is rare in reality, there has to date been no theory proposed for inference when a conditional quantile model may be misspecified. In this paper, we allow for possible misspecification of a linear conditional quantile regression model. We obtain consistency of the quantile estimator for certain “pseudo-true” parameter values and asymptotic normality of the quantile estimator when the model is misspecified. In this case, the asymptotic covariance matrix has a novel form, not seen in earlier work, and we provide a consistent estimator of the asymptotic covariance matrix. We also propose a quick and simple test for conditional quantile misspecification based on the quantile residuals.
Income inequality stalls economic growth with undesirable socio-economic consequences. Despite various measures targeted towards reducing the inequality gap, disparities in income…
Abstract
Purpose
Income inequality stalls economic growth with undesirable socio-economic consequences. Despite various measures targeted towards reducing the inequality gap, disparities in income distribution persist in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to explore a new line of argument to the finance mechanism in reducing income inequality.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses time-series data on Nigeria from 1980 to 2015 with analysis conducted using the autoregressive distributed lag-error correction model approach of Pesaran et al. (2001).
Findings
The results show amongst others that the channel of real interest rate on income inequality is through bank credit, real interest rate has an indirect relationship to income inequality and bank credit has an equalising impact on income inequality when the model is augmented for a structural break. The results show amongst others, that, on average, ceteris paribus, a 1% point increase in the real lending interest rate is associated with a 0.45% decline in the volume of bank credit.
Originality/value
This paper engages a new line of argument by unbundling how financial intermediation impacts on income inequality. The extant literature submits that finance directly impacts income inequality, whereas this study investigates further to show that interest rate impacts income inequality through bank credit. That is, the transmission mechanism by which finance affects income inequality is modelled and analysed.
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The first section of this article is a brief statistical overview of operational computer applications in UK libraries, and of other UK computer‐based information services. In…
Abstract
The first section of this article is a brief statistical overview of operational computer applications in UK libraries, and of other UK computer‐based information services. In March 1973, 135 UK libraries had a total of 425 operational computer applications run on a total of 146 computers. In 1972, 12 British organizations supplied a total of 23 magnetic tape and other computer‐aided information services. The second section of the article reviews UK computer‐related research and development activity in the library/information field. It estimates that in 1972 there were about 60 formal British projects having an annual total expenditure rate in the region of £540 000. £327 000 of this expenditure on computer‐related projects in the library/information field was accounted for directly by OSTI grants and contracts. OSTI expenditure is analysed over the five year period 1969/70 to 1973/74. British Library research and development priority areas associated with the Library's operational services are identified. The final section of the article argues the need for a publicly formulated UK policy relating to the development of libraries and information services generally, and to the development of a national machine‐readable bibliographic information network in particular.
Estelle Van Tonder and Daniel J. Petzer
This study aims to broaden understanding of why customers engage in helping and feedback citizenship behaviours. Beyond traditional attitude–behaviour relationships, limited…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to broaden understanding of why customers engage in helping and feedback citizenship behaviours. Beyond traditional attitude–behaviour relationships, limited insight is available on the additional role of symbolic factors, such as self-congruence perceptions, in motivating citizenship behaviours. Literature further suggests self-monitoring affects social behaviours, yet extant research has not accounted for this personality trait’s moderating influence on customer helping and feedback citizenship behaviours. Accordingly, a research model is developed, providing novel insight into factors promoting helping and feedback citizenship behaviours and the moderating role of self-monitoring in a ride-hailing service context.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is guided by self-monitoring literature and the social exchange and similarity-attraction theories. Survey data from 609 ride-hailing customers in an emerging market country is analysed using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, and the chi-square difference test.
Findings
This study shows that perceived justice (a cognitive attitudinal factor) influences helping citizenship intention in the low self-monitoring group, while self-congruity (a symbolic factor) affects helping and feedback citizenship intention in the high self-monitoring group. Affective commitment towards the ride-hailing brand (an affective attitudinal factor) does not impact customer citizenship intentions.
Research limitations/implications
Although customers may be interested in brands’ functional and symbolic benefits, positive attitudes about the service experienced motivate low self-monitors, while a symbolic-driven factor like self-congruence is more successful in motivating high self-monitors to engage in customer citizenship behaviours.
Originality/value
Novel insight is obtained into the additional influence of self-congruity on customer citizenship behaviours, a neglected factor in extant research involving customer citizenship behaviours that is explained by the similarity-attraction theory. Furthermore, this study provides a pioneering view of the relevance of the self-monitoring theory in moderating customer citizenship behaviours, specifically in ride-hailing services.
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Philipp Schäpers, Leon Windscheid, Jens Mazei, Meinald T. Thielsch and Guido Hertel
How diversity in management boards affects employer attractiveness has yet to be fully clarified. This paper aims to contrast the two main theoretical rationales – similarity…
Abstract
Purpose
How diversity in management boards affects employer attractiveness has yet to be fully clarified. This paper aims to contrast the two main theoretical rationales – similarity attraction and diversity attraction – and examines whether potential employees are more attracted to an organization with a homogenous board (in terms of gender and ethnicity) or to an organization with a diverse board.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants (N = 629) were simultaneously presented with two pictures of management boards, whereby the gender and ethnic composition of the boards were manipulated. Moreover, to examine whether social desirability influences the ratings of an organization’s attractiveness, survey anonymity was varied using an indirect questioning technique.
Findings
The findings supported the diversity attraction rationale: organizations with gender-balanced, multicultural boards were seen as more attractive than organizations with monolithic boards. However, this effect seemed to be influenced – at least partially – by social desirability.
Research limitations/implications
Additional research is needed to examine the extents to which people care about the degree of similarity between themselves and a management board.
Practical implications
The findings illustrate board composition as an employer branding strategy. Specifically, the results indicate that an organization can benefit from a diverse management board when this information is communicated to applicants.
Social implications
People’s attitudes toward organizations with diverse boards seem – in part – to be rooted in their motivation to comply with social norms.
Originality/value
Theoretical accounts (similarity attraction theory vs diversity attraction) lead to somewhat contradicting predictions, and the available empirical evidence was rather indirect and correlational. This study provides a controlled empirical investigation contrasting the two contradicting predictions.
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