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The purpose of this paper is to preview contributions on leadership and organizational development in the African context, covered in this special issue of the African Journal of Business and Economic Studies.

Summaries of the underlying theoretical/conceptual and/or empirical frameworks, as well as key findings for each paper, were outlined in order to provide insights of each paper’s thematic contribution.

Paper 1 identified four basic modes of understanding organizational culture which provides a unique and expanded view on pursuing research in the field. Paper 2 found that managers use authentic and transactional leadership skills to cultivate and nurture the creativities of employees toward increased performances. Paper 3 found the interaction between authentic leaders and followers as inducing high levels of moral and ethical behaviors in followers. Paper 4 found that employee engagement and affective commitment minimize employees’ attrition, irrespective of leadership styles. Paper 5 found that, managers can enhance organizational development by creating an atmosphere for innovation development, and being involved in its implementation. Paper 6 found that leaders who are emotionally intelligent positively evoke subordinates’ citizenship behaviors. Paper 7 identified three distinct and interrelated archetypes of managerial role preferences (i.e. change agents, affective leaders, and result-oriented realists) needed by leaders in their administrative practices.

The papers provide new insights, in terms of thematic learning and knowledge, which add to the understanding of the contemporary Afrocentric perspective on leadership and organizational development, especially, the dialogue of management activities that promote the relational, critical and constructionist perspectives on leadership and organizational development.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how authentic leadership and transactional leadership styles in Ghanaian telecom firms influence employees’ creativity, and the effect that climate for innovation and work-related flow have on such influencing relationship.

Guided by the implicit theory of leadership, and using questionnaires, data were collected from 335 employees in five mining firms and analyzed descriptively and inferentially.

It was found that managers in the telecom firms use transactional leadership styles and authentic leadership styles to enhance employees’ creativity. The work climate fostered employees’ creativity and encouraged their innovation. The prevalence of work-related flow enhanced employees’ job performances. The innovative climate mediated the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ creativity, but moderated the effect of transactional leadership on the employees’ creativity. Work-related flow also moderated the effects of both authentic and transactional leadership styles on employee creativity. It is concluded that managers in telecom firms influence their followers’ creativity by altering their leadership styles in accordance with the given situation to achieve organizational goals.

The study sample was drawn from a single sub-sector of the Ghanaian economy. This represents a limitation, for which the findings cannot be generalized. Replications and extensions of the study in different industrial sectors will help test the robustness and generalizability of the findings.

This study has shown that managers of telecom firms in Ghana can cultivate and nurture the creativities of their employees toward increased performances by creating conducive psychosocial work climate that supports innovativeness, and use the requisite authentic and transactional leadership skills in the conduct of their managerial functions.

This paper aims to investigate the influencing dynamics of culture (national and organizational), employee characteristics, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in determining the organizational performances of firms in the retail banking sector in a developing country such as Ghana.

A conceptual framework linking national and organizational cultures to employees’ job satisfaction, job characteristics, organizational commitment and organizational performance was developed, and their measurement scales were adapted to guide the empirical investigation. Data were collected using a questionnaire filled in by 300 employees in nine retail banks in Ghana. The results were first analyzed by carrying out data reduction of the measured scales by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences-based factor analysis approach. The reduced data obtained from the factor analysis were then analyzed for model goodness fit by using the Analysis of Moment Structures-based structural equation modeling approach.

Effective organizational performance of retail banks in Ghana is directly influenced by the relationships among organizational culture, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

The study sample was drawn from a single sub-sector of the Ghanaian economy. Replications and extensions of the study in different sectors that are experiencing high growth will help test the robustness and generalizability of the findings.

The study provides empirical knowledge that could be used to understand the influencing interrelationships among organizational culture, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment on the organizational performances of retail banking firms in a developing country context.

The study adds to the literature as one of the most comprehensive studies of the links between culture, job satisfaction, employee characteristics and organizational commitment toward organizational performance within the banking sector in Ghana to date.

There is growing scholarly discourse towards COVID-19 pandemic and creative entrepreneurship in the perspectives of Global South. Extant literature lacks sufficient empirical evidence on the subject matter. This paper therefore provides insights into business models and business model shifts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic among creative entrepreneurs in Ghana.

In working towards achieving the purpose of the study, a qualitative design was deployed. Four artistic communities in three regions were understudied. The study conducted working interviews, Focus Group Discussions and field observations on the creative entrepreneurs.

The results showed a unique business model that captured ministries, agencies and departments; traditional authorities, foreigners and the diaspora community as key creative partners. The creative entrepreneurs equally proposed value via quality deliveries, attractive pattern mix, pure handy crafts, mart finishing, imbibing culture into productions and symbolic meanings. Their key activities include cutting and gluing, sewing and coloring, sketching and prototyping, annual Kente festivals, film shooting and editing. The creatives stream revenue through sales, advances, profit margins, contracts, gate proceeds, loans, friends and family support. The results also point at a regime of business model shifts among the creatives, deploying digitalization and diversification in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research by design is limited to the qualitative tradition; despite knowing well about the quantitative approach that could have provided a wider scope and coverage for effective generalizability. Certainly, it would be of future research interest to design a comparative mix-method study to achieve a wider coverage feat. Indeed, the paper does achieve the goal of providing an original empirical account, hence making a valid contribution to knowledge in the area of study.

The knowledge on demystified business models relative to the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs has practical implications for practice: first, it generates a ground-up knowledge as to what creative entrepreneurial business models are, why they exist and exactly how to create one in a Global South perspective.

These creative business models and the COVID-19 induced model shifts among the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs imply continuous creative livelihoods, sustainable business models and assurance for innovation in creative entrepreneurship space.

The study is of high scientific value, creative entrepreneurial essence and public interest to better demystify creative entrepreneurial business models and theoretically framed them. It offers strong empirical evidence on COVID-19 induced business model shifts. These creative business models and the COVID-19 induced model shifts among the Ghanaian creative entrepreneurs imply continuous creative livelihoods, sustainable business models and assurance for innovation in creative entrepreneurship space.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how employee engagement and affective commitment mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and voluntary turnover intention. The study also investigates the moderating role of psychological climate in the relationship between affective organisational commitment and voluntary turnover intention.

This study employed a cross-sectional design as its framework. In addition, hierarchical linear modelling with bootstrapping analysis was conducted using data from a sample of 336 employees in a large public sector organisation in Ghana.

The results showed that transformational leadership positively influenced engagement, which was then negatively related to employee turnover intention. Furthermore, employee engagement was found to mediate the link between transformational leadership and affective organisational commitment, whereas both employee engagement and affective organisational commitment were found to mediate the link between transformational leadership and voluntary turnover intention. Finally, psychological climate was found to moderate the link between affective commitment and voluntary turnover intention.

Despite the practical significance of this study in lessening the turnover decision of employees, the study has some limitations. Most significantly, the sample size of this cross-sectional study was small and limited to employees from only one large public sector organisation in Ghana. Findings of this study could be generalised by using large samples from other sectors and geographical areas. Furthermore, future studies should consider positive outcomes such as OCB and innovative work behaviour to help extend our conceptual framework.

Overall, findings of this study provide tentative support to the proposition that employee engagement and affective commitment help to minimise the decision of employees to leave the organisation regardless of how they perceive the leadership style of their immediate supervisors. Most importantly, psychological climate which is referred to as individual employee perceptions of their work environment had a strong contingent effect on the negative relationship between affective commitment and turnover intention such that employees’ positive perception of the work environment weakens the link between commitment and turnover, whereas a negative perception of the working environment strengthens the relationship between commitment and turnover. As a result, employees’ positive perception of their work environment decreased their turnover intention decisions.

There is growing attention towards inclusive mining to make an economic case for gender equality and diversity in the industry. Available literature lacks sufficient empirical evidence on the subject matter in Ghana. Therefore, this paper aims to understudy women miners in Ghana and document their role in recent change regimes in mine works gender profiles. An observed change that is stimulating a shift in background dispositions leads to increasing number of women taking up mine jobs.

In working towards achieving the aim of the study, both qualitative design and a multiple case study approaches are deployed. Four multinational Ghanaian mines and a mining and technology university were used to understudy the women miners and their role towards a change in mine work gender perspectives.

The results showed a regime of “ore-solidarity movement” (women in mining – Ghana). A kind of solidarity identified conventionally as a social movement in active resource and self-mobilization, engaged in a symbolic contestation for change of the status quo (dominant masculinity cultures) in furtherance of gender equity and inclusion in milieu of mine works reforms in Ghana.

The study is of high scientific, political and public interest to better understand women’s movements in the mining industries in Ghana and to frame them theoretically. It offers solid empirical evidence on roles women miners play to ensure gender shape-shifting and liberalizing the mining space for women’s participation. This move towards inclusive mining implies poverty eradication among women, work towards achieving sustainable mining, competitiveness and assurance for gender-driven social innovative mining.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on employee turnover intention through the mediating role of affective commitment.

The study examines conceptual relationships in the Ghanaian context, based on structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation, using sample employees from the private sector organizations. In addition, the mediation analysis is conducted with Sobel’s test and 95 per cent CI bootstrap analysis.

The study shows that affective commitment would decline workers’ quitting intention and serves to promote a degree of trust and willingness to follow their leaders’ philosophy, ideology, vision and guidance in the organization. Hence, affective commitment fully mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee turnover intention.

To help lessen employees quitting intentions, both middle and top-level managers should endeavour to create an atmosphere of trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for their employees.

Overall it is shown that affective commitment was the mechanism through which transformational leadership influences employees’ turnover intentions in the SLCs in Ghana.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether in Ghana, corporate governance, outreach to clients, reduced dependence on subsidies and use of modern technology (together called corporate governance plus) are associated with the performance of rural and community banks (RCBs), which are microfinance institutions (MFI), in the context of newly adopted codes of conduct and regulations, ownership rules and quality of management.

A total of 30 randomly sampled RCBs were categorized into four groups based on analysis of several dimensions of financial performance. Next, RCBs were again categorized into four groups based on their corporate governance plus. A chi‐squared test of independence between the two groupings was performed.

The authors found no association between RCBs' categories based on corporate governance plus and their categories based on financial performance.

To enhance performance, corporate governance plus must impact financial performance as documented by OECD. Laws and codes of conduct recently designed to guide the conduct of business should be allowed to work. The restriction on individual ownership of RCBs to 30 percent should be relaxed. And RCBs should pay attention to developing the competencies of their boards and senior management.

This is the first formal test of the association between state of corporate governance plus and financial performance of microfinance institutions in Ghana.