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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which organizational level of functionality is affected by its leadership, its staff, the way task is performed in the organization (culture), and the structural and governance makeup of organizations. This study also determined the direct and indirect impacts of these variables on organizational functionality in general and drawing lessons to educational organizations in specific.

This is a quantitative study. Data from 185 participants were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. The data analysis procedure for this study followed various steps. First, multiple factor analysis was conducted to narrow the long list of items and to create a manageable list of construct variables for analyses. Then path analysis, using a series of multiple regression, was conducted to identify the degree of relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Finally, a path model coefficient diagram was created.

Using path analysis, a new model that depicts the level of interactions among the proposed variables and the extent and direction of influence of each variable on organizational level of functionality has been created. In addition, a path diagram that illustrates the model is provided and explained. This study also determined the direct and indirect impacts of these variables on organizational functionality. Finally, conclusions and implications of the study for educational organizations were presented.

It should be noted that path analysis studies, by nature, are based on assumptions provided by the researchers. Hence, future studies using different variables and different assumption may not necessarily generate the same result. In addition, this study looked at a broader view of organizations rather than a specific type.

This study expanded the use of organizational diagnosis frameworks, beyond studying organizational performance, to study organizational level of functionality which can be used to diagnose the level of function (or dysfunction) of organizations in a holistic manner.

The present study contributes to the body of literature in organizational diagnosis in various ways; chief of which is the creation of a new path model which shows the direct and indirect effects of specific variables in numeric terms.

Unlike previous studies on the topic, this study suggests that organizational level of functionality should be studied using variables internal to the organization, because any two organizations of similar purpose and capacity, located in similar environment, could function differently due to factors internal to the organizations. Investigating organizational level of functionality using variables internal to the organization is assumed to provide a deeper diagnosis and self-assessment as it minimizes the noises created by variables external to the organization. All the variables in this study are therefore carefully selected to be internal to organizations.

This research project explored how refugee community organisations (RCOs) could become more involved in the government's health agenda to improve the level of consultation and responsiveness in the design and provision of mental health services for ethnic minorities. The method involved a review of relevant literature, interviews with refugee community organisation leaders and community workers, and a survey of refugee service users' involvement with RCOs. The research found that the causes and effects of mental ill health in refugees as understood by interviewees were consistent with much of the literature in this area. The mental health needs of refugees are very similar across nationalities and ethnicities, and distinct from those of the general population and of other migrant groups. Appropriate responses, as understood by community leaders and professional community workers, are currently only partly and insufficiently provided by statutory health services, and there is extensive unmet need.

Achieving optimal nutrition among mothers and children is still a challenge in many developing country settings, including Ethiopia. Study on dietary diversity concordance of mother-to-child dyads is limited. Hence, this study aims to assess dietary diversity concordance among mother-to-child pairs and its associated factors in Gedeo zone, Southern Ethiopia.

A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Gedeo zone, South Ethiopia, from January 1 to February 15, 2019. A multistage sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data was collected by using a pretested and structured questionnaire. Data entry and analysis were done by Epi data version 3.1 and SPSS version 23.0 software, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used. Variables with p < 0.25 at bivariate analysis were chosen for multivariate analysis. Variables with a p-value of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

A total of 665 mother and child dyads participated, with a response rate of 98.6%. High concordance of dietary diversity among mother-to-child pairs was 9%. Age of the mother (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.21; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.05–0.84), age of the child between 6 and 11 months (AOR = 5.2; 95% CI: 2.3–11.6), being female (AOR = 1.8; 95% CI: 1.0–3.4), previous history of infection (AOR = 4.4; 95% CI: 1.8–11.5), source of food from the market (AOR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.12–0.81) and rich wealth index (AOR = 5.7; 95% CI: 2.5–12.9) were the significant factors of high concordance of dietary diversity.

The prevalence of high-concordant dietary diversity among mother and children dyads was very low. Therefore, ensuring multisectoral nutrition interventions that focus on both mothers and children should be considered to improve the good dietary diversity practice.

This study is aimed at examining the effect of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices on the operational performance of ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturing companies in Ethiopia.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to meet the purpose. Primary data was collected from the managers and senior experts working under the production and quality management units of the surveyed firms. Data was obtained from a survey of 302 participants found in 73 ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturing organizations. Both EFA and CFA were applied to validate and confirm the instrument, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.

The results revealed that among the practices of TQM used in the model only supplier quality management, continuous improvement and process management were found to have significant and positive effect on the operational performance of the ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturing organizations in Ethiopia.

Future studies are suggested to consider some contextual variables such as firm age, scope of operation, firm size and firm strategy while addressing the objective.

The study will encourage managers of manufacturing companies in Ethiopia to utilize a reliable and valid framework of TQM practices for better operational performance results.

The fact that Ethiopian manufacturing organizations are required to improve their product's quality in order to improve their productivity and enhance their competitiveness in a global market is the rationale of this study. Even though several studies have evolved to scrutinize the link between TQM and operational performance across the world, nearly nothing, is known about this linkage in Ethiopia. Thus, the study represents one of the first attempts to empirically investigate this linkage in Ethiopian context.

Like many countries in the developing world, Ethiopia has leased out a huge amount of land to foreign investors. However, empirical evidence on the contribution of international investments to employment generation and food security is limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of large-scale farms to local-level food security in Bako Tibe District, Oromia Region.

Primary data were collected from 200 randomly selected households from two purposefully selected villages in the district. Secondary data were collected from government offices and the literature. Propensity score matching was used to match households based on observable characteristics. Using the World Food Programme (WFP) approach, the food consumption score (FCS) of households was calculated. Finally, the Average Treatment effect for the Treated was determined.

Findings indicate that foreign land deals increase the odds of households falling into food insecurity and that the employment opportunities are both temporal and marginal. Furthermore, these land deals result in a decline of households’ FCS and thus have a negative effect on households’ food security.

The result is based on a case study which is not generalizable to the whole of Ethiopia.

The result implies that future endeavours should resort to substantial changes in the principles of investment as well as the design and enforcement of contracts on land transfers so that international investors can commit to objectives beyond private profit.

It examines the effect of large-scale land transfers commonly termed as land grabbing on local food security. The paper makes an important contribution to the current policy debates regarding land grabbing in Ethiopia as research about the contribution of land deals to the food security is limited.

One of the oldest civilizations of Africa, Ethiopia is today at the advent of industrialization in various business sectors. Agriculture being a primary source of income (50 per cent of the GDP) is now transforming into more dynamic and new sectors. Textile and apparel is one of the sectors that has received a lot of attention from the government and the objective is to become sourcing destinations of the world. The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the current advances to the stakeholders, academia and industry from concept to the consumer. The aim of the paper is to present a transition of advances made in textile and apparel business that the country has made in the past decade and also to examine the potential of the consumer for this country. The consumer in the country is young and brings a lot of novel opportunities for textile and apparel industry.

This analysis is an empirical journey of the author’s research in academia and textile and apparel industry in Ethiopia.

This paper establishes a connection between the stakeholders, academia, industry and beneficiaries of this business so that it could become a guideline for future business investors. It also highlights the problems within this sector and provides a clear idea for domestic companies to compete with global competitors in terms of upcoming future business trends.

Presently, in the atmosphere of fashion and textiles, there is air about Ethiopia being the next manufacturing hub of the world in Africa. However, no academic literature is available which summarizes the opportunities and tasks in this industry, and this paper caters to the need of the hour.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the landscape of financial services in Africa through the prism of a selection of research papers.

This is a review of literature that focusses on access to financial services (i.e. financial inclusion) and empirical findings from research papers in this issue of the journal.

The landscape of financial services in Africa is as heterogeneous as the countries comprising the continent. Common features include low levels of financial inclusion, low financial literacy, constrained access to credit, costly credit when available, gender discrimination in account ownership, and use and inefficient foreign exchange markets. Nevertheless, there are promising innovations, especially the mobile money innovation, which have the potential to foster more inclusive financial systems.

All the papers in this volume are based on original research shedding new insights on various aspects of financial services in Africa.

This paper advocates for banks to understand customers' online privacy concerns, use those insights to segment consumers and design tailored sales strategies to build a mutual relationship through a social exchange that produces a competitive advantage.

A qualitative study involving 30 in-depth interviews with Australian and Asian millennials residing in Australia was conducted using a grounded theory approach to explore privacy concerns of online banking and determine the efficacy of their banks' existing sales strategy and practice.

The study revealed differences in customer perceptions of trust, confidence, responsibility and exchange. Adopting a power-dependency paradigm within a social exchange theoretical framework and power distance belief of national culture theory, the authors identified four consumer segments: exemplar, empiric, elevator and exponent. The authors propose a tailored consumer-centered sales strategy of communication, control, consolidation and collaboration.

The paper contributes to the research in services marketing, sales strategy and banking in three ways: first, the authors demonstrate the importance of the social exchange theory and national culture as a premise to develop a competitive advantage; second, the authors propose an innovative set of consumer segments in regards to online privacy concerns; and, third, the authors introduce four sales strategies tailored to each of the four segments.

Tropical wetland ecosystems are threatened by climate change but also play a key role in its mitigation and adaptation through management of land use and other drivers. Local-level assessments are needed to support evidence-based wetland management in the face of climate change. This study aims to examine the local communities’ knowledge and perception of climate change in Yala wetland, Kenya, and compare them with observed data on climate trends. Such comparisons are useful to inform context-specific climate change adaptation actions.

The study used a mixed methods approach that combined analysis of climate data with perceptions from the local community. Gridded data on temperature and rainfall for the period from 1981 to 2018 were compared with data on climate change perceptions from semi-structured questionnaires with 286 key informants and community members.

Majority of the respondents had observed changes in climate parameters – severe drought (88.5%), increased frequency of floods (86.0%) and irregular onset and termination of rains (90.9%) in the past 20 years. The perceptions corresponded with climate trends that showed a significant increasing trend in the short rains and the average maximum temperature, high incidence of very wet years and variability in onset and termination of rainfall between 1981 and 2018. Gender, age and education had little influence on knowledge and awareness of climate change, except for frequency of floods and self-reported understanding of climate change. The community perceived the wetland to be important for climate change adaptation, particularly the provision of resources such as grazing grounds during drought.

The study faced challenges of low sample size, use of gridded climate data and reproducibility in other contexts. The results of this study apply to local communities in a tropical wetland in Western Kenya, which has a bi-modal pattern of rainfall. The sample of the study was regional and may therefore not be representative of the whole of Kenya, which has diverse socioeconomic and ecological contexts. Potential problems have been identified with the use of gridded data (for example, regional biases in models), although their usefulness in data scarce contexts is well established. Moreover, the sample size has been found to be a less important factor in research of highly complex socio-ecological systems where there is an attempt to bridge natural and social sciences.

This study addresses the paucity of studies on climate change trends in papyrus wetlands of sub-Saharan Africa and the role of local knowledge and perceptions in influencing the management of such wetlands. Perceptions largely influence local stakeholders’ decisions, and a study that compares perceptions vs “reality” provides evidence for engagement with the stakeholders in managing these highly vulnerable ecosystems. The study showed that the local community’s perceptions corresponded with the climate record and that adaptation measures are already ongoing in the area.

This study presents a case for the understanding of community perceptions and knowledge of climate change in a tropical wetland under threat from climate change and land use change, to inform management under a changing climate.

The purpose of this paper was to examine smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate change risks, adaptation responses and the links between adaptation strategies and perceived/experienced climate change risks in South Gondar, Ethiopia.

This paper used a convergent mixed methods design, which enables us to concurrently collect quantitative and qualitative data. Survey data was collected from 352 households, stratified into Lay Gayint 138 (39%), Tach Gayint 117 (33%) and Simada district 97 (28%). A four-point Likert scale was used to produce a standardised risk perception index for 14 climate events. Moreover, using a one-way analysis of variance, statistical differences in selecting adaptation strategies between the three districts were measured. A post hoc analysis was also carried out to identify the source of the variation. The findings of this paper are supplemented by qualitative data gathered through focus group discussions and key informant interviews of households who were chosen at random.

The standardised climate change risk perception index suggests that persistent drought, delayed onset of rainfall, early termination of rainfall and food insecurity were the major potentially dangerous climate change risks perceived by households in the study area. In response to climate change risks, households used several adaptation strategies such as adjusting crop planting dates, crop diversification, terracing, tree planting, cultivating drought-tolerant crop varieties and off-farm activities. A Tukey’s post hoc test revealed a significant difference in off-farm activities, crop diversification and planting drought-tolerant crop types among the adaptation strategies in the study area between Lay Gayint and Simada districts (p < 0.05). This difference reconfirms that adaptation strategies are location-specific.

Although many studies are available on coping and adaptation strategies to climate change, this paper is one of the few studies focusing on the linkages between climate change risk perceptions and adaptation responses of households in the study area. The findings of this paper could be helpful for policymakers and development practitioners in designing locally specific, actual adaptation options that shape adaptation to recent and future climate change risks.