Search results

The purpose of the paper was to analyze the financial risk perception of owners/managers and to link such perception to the performance of their ventures.

The paper employed PLS-SEM to analyze financial risks and its impact on SMEs in the food processing sector. Financial risks data on the operational, market, technological, credit and liquidity risks and financial performance including compliance, social and resource efficiency performance were collected from 214 food processors in selected cities in Ghana. Higher-order constructs were employed in assessing the relationship between financial risks and SME performance.

Financial risk spurs a firm's financial performance. Increased financial risks cause firms to be resource-efficient and compliant. Furthermore, an assessment of how the various performance indicators interplay showed increased compliant improved social performance and vice versa.

The paper looked at food processing firms in three major cities, analyzing the financial risks of the businesses and their effect on their performance. Although, these cities have the largest number of these firms, generalizing the findings from the study should be done taking into consideration the scope of the study.

The study exposes owners/managers to the critical issues of financial risk, its components and how this could impact on their operations. It expected that owner/managers in the food processing sector would craft the necessary risk mitigating strategies to deal with the different financial risks they face. For theoretical implication, the paper suggests the need to highlight the risk exposure of firms due to the business–stakeholder interactions as contained in the stakeholder theory.

The paper employed the higher-order construct of PLS-SEM to analyze the financial risks of food processors. The originality of the paper lies with the methods used.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role external debt and foreign direct investment play in influencing financial development in Africa.

Annual data on external debt, foreign direct investment and financial development were extracted from the World Bank World Development Indicators from 2002 to 2015. The data employed were analysed within causal research design and the dynamic panel using generalized method of moment estimation approach.

The findings revealed that external debt and foreign direct investment have a significant positive relationship with financial development in African economies. Governments of the sampled economies should enact policies that would help attract high level of foreign direct investment as it contributes positively to financial development. Finally, governments of the sampled African economies should ensure foreign direct investment and external funds borrowed are channelled to productive sectors.

The paper analysed the relationship between external debt, FDI inflows and financial sector development. The paper is the first in terms of such analysis within the framework of the dual-gap framework, which is the first time in these kinds of studies. Previous studies have concentrated on the effect of financial sector on FDI and not the other way around.

The purpose of this study is to examine tax stamp evasion at Twifu Atti-Morkwa and Hemang Lower Denkyira districts in the central region of Ghana.

A cross-sectional survey design was adopted to sample 305 micro-taxpayers through the use of multi-stage sampling technique. Primary data were collected from the micro-taxpayers using structured interview. Binary and multinomial logit regression models were used to regress the tax stamp evasion on economic and non-economic factors.

The study found that the likelihood of micro taxpayers to evade tax stamp is predicted by age, application of sanctions, guilt feeling, transportation cost to tax office and rate of tax audit. Thus, the study found partial support for expected utility, planned behaviour and attributory theories in explaining tax evasion behaviour of micro-taxpayers.

There are several measures of addressing tax evasion behaviour of micro taxpayers. Evasion behaviour can be deterred by enforcement strategies such as application of sanctions and regular tax audit, establishment of more tax offices in the districts and writing normative messages on the faces of tax stamp stickers.

This study helps explains the tax evasion behaviour of micro-taxpayers of a developing economy like Ghana using a special type of tax design meant to capture such taxpayers in the tax bracket. To the best of our knowledge, the study is unique in terms of the means of measuring tax evasion and the methodologies used.

This study examines the factors influencing intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in a developing country context using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and health belief model (HBM).

Through a cross-sectional survey design, the study adopted a quantitative approach to data collection and analysis. The study used an online survey to collect data from 478 respondents eligible to take the COVID-19 vaccine in Ghana.

Attitude, social norm, perceived behavioural control, perceived susceptibility and cues to action were found to be predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intention. The results also showed that perceived severity, perceived benefits and perceived barriers did not predict COVID-19 vaccination intention.

To enhance the effectiveness of COVID-19 social marketing campaigns, social marketing theories such as the TPB and HBM can aid in assessing the intention of the target population to take the vaccines. An assessment of vaccination intention will help understand disease threat perception and behavioural evaluation. The consideration of the effect of demography on vaccination intention will aid in developing effective campaigns to satisfy the needs of segments.

This study adds to the limited research on understanding citizens’ intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 by combining the TPB and HBM to predict vaccination intention. The study contributes towards the use of social marketing practices to enhance the efficacy of vaccination campaigns.

Electronic government procurement is an important platform that promotes efficient, transparent, competitive and agile delivery of procurement activities in public sector organisations. Implementing units who play a major role exhibits different attitude towards new technology. The purpose of this paper is to assess if there is any significant difference between optimistic and discomfort implementing units in relation to the implementation and intention to use the Ghana Electronic Procurement System (GHANEPS).

Technology Readiness, Technology Acceptance and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and Diffusion Innovation Theory constituted the theoretical foundation. Guided by a cross sectional survey design, quantitative data from a sample of 181 procurement officers was collected using structured questionnaires. The hypothesised relationships were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Although there were some observable differences, the bootstrap results show that the difference was not significant, implying that these two groups do not differ much about the GHANEPS introduction and implementation. This is justifiable in the case of Ghana because public policies are made by top officials, and those in the grassroot or implementation domain have no choice but to act accordingly.

This study focused on metropolitan, municipal, district assemblies, public hospitals, tertiary institutions and senior high schools.

The study contributes to the critical antecedents for electronic procurement implementation and public sector management literature. It provides public institutions and practitioners with empirical evidence on how beliefs and perceptions of implementing units about electronic public procurement has some influence on attitude towards usage and intention to use. Positive attitudes and perceptions of the public procurement officers can be reinforced through adequate training and awareness creation.

This study outcomes can serve as philosophical underpinnings for societal development.

This study used a multi-group analysis to examine if there is any significant difference between these two categories of implementing units (optimistic group and discomfort group) in relation to facilitating conditions, personal innovativeness, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and ultimately to attitude and intention to use GHANEPS.

The purpose of this research is to explicate the role of dynamic capabilities in the ability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to create value and also investigate the relationship among different dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and SMEs’ value sources.

Empirical evidence based on a survey conducted on a sample of 441 UK-based SMEs was used to test the research hypotheses.

The findings illustrate that sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities play a significant role in SMEs’ value creation, and competitive strategy mediates the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation.

This study demonstrates the benefits of understanding the relationship among the four types of dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation. Moreover, this study contributes to the notion of the contingency nature of dynamic capabilities.

It offers managers insight into the aspects on which to focus their efforts to enhance their firm’s capacity of value creation.

While much of the prior studies have conceptually/qualitatively investigated the financial return of uni-dimensional dynamic capabilities of large firms in the manufacturing sector, this study made a significant effort to quantitatively examine the non-financial value potential of SMEs in service sector through four processes of dynamic capabilities.

This paper aims to explore the relevant literature available regarding the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a mode of treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); to evaluate the evidence to support the use of rTMS as a treatment option for OCD.

The authors electronically conducted data search in five research databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Psych INFO, SCOPUS and EMBASE) using all identified keywords and index terms across all the databases to identify empirical studies and randomized controlled trials. The authors included articles published with randomized control designs, which aimed at the treatment of OCD with rTMS. Only full-text published articles written in English were reviewed. Review articles on treatment for conditions other than OCD were excluded. The Covidence software was used to manage and streamline the review.

Despite the inconsistencies in the published literature, the application of rTMS over the supplementary motor area and the orbitofrontal cortex has proven to be promising in efficacy and tolerability compared with other target regions such as the prefrontal cortex for the treatment of OCD. Despite the diversity in terms of the outcomes and clinical variability of the studies under review, rTMS appears to be a promising treatment intervention for OCD.

The authors of this scoping review acknowledge several limitations. First, the search strategy considered only studies published in English and the results are up to date as the last day of the electronic data search of December 10, 2020. Though every effort was made to identify all relevant studies for the purposes of this review per the eligibility criteria, the authors still may have missed some relevant studies, especially those published in other languages.

This review brought to bare the varying literature on the application of rTMS and what is considered gaps in the knowledge in this area in an attempt to evaluate and provide information on the potential therapeutic effects of rTMS for OCD.