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1 – 10 of 147Emmanuel Arthur, George Cudjoe Agbemabiese, George Kofi Amoako and Patrick Amfo Anim
This study aims to explore the role customer satisfaction play in mediating the nexus between commitment, trust, relative dependence and customer loyalty from an emerging market…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role customer satisfaction play in mediating the nexus between commitment, trust, relative dependence and customer loyalty from an emerging market context under a business-to-business (B2B) setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was a descriptive survey, and using convenience sampling technique, questionnaires were used to gather data from 356 businesses that were distributors of Guinness Ghana Company Limited. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses for this study, and macro-PROCESS was performed to test the mediating effect of customer satisfaction.
Findings
The findings show that relative dependence had the most considerable significant and positive impact on B2B partners satisfaction, followed by commitment and trust, respectively. A positive and significant relationship was also found between B2B firms’ satisfaction and loyalty. The result also indicates that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B loyalty.
Practical implications
Practitioners can manipulate specific relative dependence, commitment and trust features to increase customer satisfaction with their firm’s services, thus ensuring longer-term customer loyalty.
Originality/value
Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study provides a more profound perspective focusing on an emerging market context, by examining from a B2B setting the significance of commitment, trust, relative dependence and B2B partners satisfaction on loyalty.
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Patrick Amfo Anim, Emmanuel Arthur and George Kofi Amoako
This study examines the role of social media adoption (SMA), opportunity recognition (OR) and opportunity exploitation (OE) in mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the role of social media adoption (SMA), opportunity recognition (OR) and opportunity exploitation (OE) in mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and the performance of newly established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, with a particular emphasis on Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a post-positivist philosophical stance and uses a quantitative approach and a survey design. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 336 SME owners and managers from Ghana’s manufacturing, trading and service sectors. Questionnaires were administered to source the empirical data for this study. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results reveal that EO positively and significantly influences the performance of new-born SMEs. SMA, OR and OE partially mediated this relationship.
Practical implications
This study is a wakeup call to policymakers, practitioners, managers and owners of recently established businesses. Policymakers should provide support and resources for newly established SMEs to adopt effective social media marketing strategies, bolstering their online presence and customer engagement. Simultaneously, they should invest in entrepreneurship education and create an environment conducive to innovation to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among fresh SMEs. Business owners and managers should proactively monitor market trends and consumer preferences, adapting their strategies to identifying and seizing emerging opportunities.
Originality/value
This study introduces a significant novelty to previous literature and one of the first to employ the dynamic capability theory to examine the interplay between EO, SMA, OR and OE in influencing the performance of new SMEs in the context of emerging markets. Furthermore, it extends the scope of understanding of the mechanisms through which SMEs can prosper in these dynamic environments. This unique combination of theoretical framework, comprehensive variables and contextual focus sets this study apart from existing research, enriching the literature on SME performance in emerging markets.
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Clinton Aigbavboa, Andrew Ebekozien, Emmanuel Kofi Afetorgbor, Bernard Martins Arthur-Aidoo and Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
Several organisations dedicate a portion of their budget and business websites to corporate social responsibility (CSR) events. This illustrates the significance attached to CSR…
Abstract
Purpose
Several organisations dedicate a portion of their budget and business websites to corporate social responsibility (CSR) events. This illustrates the significance attached to CSR events. In Ghana, a social disconnection may exist between the community and the construction sector. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the benefits of CSR in the construction industry, the implementation challenges and measures to enhance CSR in the Ghanaian built environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative technique was adopted using an extensive review of literature supported by structured interviews and analysed by context analysis. The participants include ministry and municipal directors, contractor associations, unions and institutions of engineers. The study achieved saturation.
Findings
Findings reveal that the construction industry’s CSR impacts the community’s social behaviour and has economic and environmental significance. The absence of government implementation policy and finance constraints were identified as Ghana’s major CSR implementation challenges. Also, besides the government instituting a mandatory policy on CSR in the industry, findings suggest that stakeholders, especially players in the industry and policymakers, should form an integral part of the CSR decisions.
Practical implications
Findings will support and recommend holistic measures to mitigate CSR implementation hindrances and encourage CSR via a central government's mandatory policy in the Ghanaian built environment.
Originality/value
Besides most studies used questionnaires, the contribution deduced shows that construction companies' management could use the knowledge from this study and involve all the relevant stakeholders when undertaking CSR activities. Also, the study would fill the scarcity of relevant materials concerning CSR in Ghanaian construction sector.
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Emmanuel Tetteh Jumpah, Richard Ampadu-Ameyaw and Johnny Owusu-Arthur
Creating employment opportunities for the youth remains a dilemma for policymakers. In many cases, policies and programmes to tackle youth unemployment have produced little…
Abstract
Purpose
Creating employment opportunities for the youth remains a dilemma for policymakers. In many cases, policies and programmes to tackle youth unemployment have produced little results, because such initiatives have failed to consider some fundamental inputs. In Ghana, youth unemployment rate has doubled or more than doubled the national average unemployment rate in recent years. The current study, therefore, examines how policies in the past two decades have affected youth unemployment rate and other development outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reviewed national economic development policy documents from 1996 to 2017 and other relevant policies aimed at creating employment opportunities for the youth, applying the content analysis procedure. Four main policy documents were reviewed in this regard. Data from secondary sources including International Labour Organisation (ILO), World Bank (WB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) were analysed to examine the trends in youth unemployment rate, human development index and GDP growth rate in Ghana over the years. There were also formal and informal consultations with youth and development practitioners.
Findings
The results of the study show that policies that promote general growth in the economy reduce youth unemployment, while continuation of existing youth programmes, expansion, as well as addition of new ones by new governments reduces youth unemployment rate. In particular, GDP growth and youth unemployment rate trend in opposite direction; periods of increased growth have reduced youth unemployment rate and vice versa. The period of Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda I & II witnessed better reduction (5.7%) in youth unemployment rate than any of the policy periods. This was not sustained, and despite the current youth employment initiatives, unemployment among young people still remained higher than the national average.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides relevant information on how development policies and programmes affect youth unemployment rate over time. In as much as it is not the interest of the study, the study stops short of empirical estimation to determine the level of GDP growth rate that can reduce a particular level of youth unemployment, which is a case for further research. Nevertheless, the outcome of the study reflects the data and methodology used.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge of the authors, this is a first study in Ghana that has attempted to directly link development outcomes such as youth unemployment to national economic development policies, although there are studies that have analysed the policy gaps and implementation challenges. This paper, therefore, bridges the knowledge of how development policies affect youth employment opportunities, particularly for Ghana.
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Emmanuel Opoku Marfo, Kwame Oduro Amoako, Jones Lewis Arthur and Nicholas Yankey
The purpose of this paper is to compare how the various sectors among the largest companies in Ghana have incorporated sustainability into their mission, vision and value…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare how the various sectors among the largest companies in Ghana have incorporated sustainability into their mission, vision and value statements.
Design/methodology/approach
The mission, vision and value statements of the 100 largest corporations in Ghana, known as Ghana Club 100 (GC100), were extracted from the firms’ official websites. These firms were grouped into nine sectors, and the sustainability components in the mission, vision and value statements were subjected to cross tabulation and thematic contents analysis to establish the sectoral variations.
Findings
In formulating their mission, vision and value statements, GC100 firms were more than six times likely to include economic sustainability themes than environmental sustainability themes. Even though three out of every five GC100 firms are financial institutions, the manufacturing and the extractive sectors and firms ranked 1st−20th are three times likely to incorporate all the sustainability dimensions (i.e. economic, social and environmental) into their mission, vision and value statements. Firms in the financial sector and those ranked 80th−100th were more likely not to publish either a mission, vision or value statements online.
Practical implications
This study reveals the magnitude of the strategic pronouncements such as mission, vision and value statements of large firms in emerging economies and how they are aligned with sustainability. This could serve as a basis for formulating guidelines to reinforce efforts that contribute to corporate sustainability.
Originality/value
Research on how large firms align sustainability into their mission, vision and value statements is not a new agenda, but fragmented in the context of the emerging economies. The novelty is that this study addresses this gap and contributes to this topic from a sectoral comparative perspective of largest organization in Ghana, an emerging economy.
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Emmanuel Akwasi Marfo, Higinio Fernandez-Sanchez and Bridget Osei Henewaa Annor
Pandemics pose challenges to all groups of people and all aspects of human lives. Undocumented migrants are likely to face more challenges during global pandemics. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Pandemics pose challenges to all groups of people and all aspects of human lives. Undocumented migrants are likely to face more challenges during global pandemics. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible challenges of undocumented immigrants in Canada and the USA in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
From existing literature, the authors examined the challenges of undocumented migrants in Canada and the USA and suggested recommendations to address those challenges at both policy and national levels.
Findings
The undocumented status of some international immigrants makes them vulnerable in their host nations. They face myriad challenges in their host countries, spanning from economic, health, social isolation and employment challenges, and these are further exacerbated during pandemics such as the ongoing COVID-19. The provision of culturally sensitive and safe policies may support this particular population, especially in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This paper provides critical insights into the possible intersections that worsen the vulnerability of undocumented migrants in pandemic crises like COVID-19. Further, this review serves to initiate the discourse on policy and interventions for undocumented immigrants during pandemics or disease outbreaks.
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This article provides a detailed investigation of how Lewis revisited classical and Marxian concepts such as productive/unproductive labor, economic surplus, subsistence wages…
Abstract
This article provides a detailed investigation of how Lewis revisited classical and Marxian concepts such as productive/unproductive labor, economic surplus, subsistence wages, reserve army, and capital accumulation in his investigation of economic development. The Lewis 1954 development model is compared to other models advanced at the time by Harrod, Domar, Swan, Kaldor, Solow, von Neumann, Nurkse, Rosenstein-Rodan, Myint, and others. Lewis applied the notion of economic duality to open and closed economies.
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Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei, Anokye M. Adam, Peterson Owusu Junior, Clement Lamboi Arthur and Baba Adibura Seidu
This study investigates information flow of market constituents and global indices at multi-frequencies.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates information flow of market constituents and global indices at multi-frequencies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study’s findings were obtained using the Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (I-CEEMDAN)-based cluster analysis executed for Rényi effective transfer entropy (RETE).
Findings
The authors find that significant negative information flows among sustainability equities (SEs) and conventional equities (CEs) at most multi-frequencies, which exacerbates diversification benefits. The information flows are mostly bi-directional, highlighting the importance of stock markets' constituents and their global indices in portfolio construction.
Research limitations/implications
The authors advocate that both SE and CE markets are mostly heterogeneous, revealing some levels of markets inefficiencies.
Originality/value
The empirical literature on CEs is replete with several dynamics, revealing their returns behaviour for diversification purposes, leaving very little to know about the returns behaviour of SE. Wherein, an avalanche of several initiatives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) enjoin firms to operate socially responsible, but investors need to have a clear reason to remain sustainable into the foreseeable future period. Accordingly, the humble desire of investors is the formation of a well-diversified portfolio and would highly demand stocks to the extent that they form a reliable portfolio, especially, amid SEs and/or CEs.
研究目的
本研究擬審查多頻率的及為市場成份的信息流和全球指數。
研究設計/方法/理念
研究人員使用基於改良完全集合經驗模態分解自適應噪聲(Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise)的聚類分析法,取得Rényi有效轉移熵,藉此得到研究結果。
研究結果
我們發現、於大部份多頻率,在持續性股票和傳統股票間有顯著的負信息流動,這會增加多樣化的益處。這些信息流大部份是雙向的,這強調了股票市場成份及其全球指數在構建投資組合上的重要性。
研究的局限/啟示
我們認為持續性股票市場和傳統股票市場大多為異質市場,這顯示了市場的低效率,而且這低效率的程度頗大。
研究的原創性/價值
關於傳統股票的實證性文獻裡是充滿了變革動力的,這顯示了它們以多樣化為目的的回報行為。這使我們對關於持續性股票的回報行為、認識變得實在太少了。於此,大量的企業社會責任的新措施不斷提醒各公司、要本著企業社會責任的理念去營運;但投資者需清晰明白他們為何需在可見的將來保持可持續性。因此,他們卑微的願望是一個較好的多樣化投資組合得以形成,故此他們高度要求股票要有組成可靠投資組合的性質和能力,特別是在持續性股票和/或傳統股票當中。
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Emmanuel Senior Tenakwah, Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah and Chrystie Watson
Performance management (PM) remains one of the fundamental human resource practices in organisations today and is a dominant strategy adopted in managing employees. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Performance management (PM) remains one of the fundamental human resource practices in organisations today and is a dominant strategy adopted in managing employees. This paper aims to analyse extant research on PM conducted globally to inform research and practices in an African context.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of 43 articles published in 22 journals ranked by the Australian Business Deans Council and Chartered Association of Business Schools was undertaken. The papers selected were limited to the past two decades (2001–2021) to focus primarily on contemporary practices.
Findings
The findings of this review indicate that PM continues to gain attention from African scholars and practitioners, though not as prominently as indicated within the broader global context. The review also exposed significant gaps in current research, including PM issues, theoretical or conceptual development and methodological approaches, which, if addressed, could inform future practices and research foci.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitations of this study are a focus on the most recent two decades of research into PM and the intention to direct learnings from this review of scholarly insight towards a focus solely on an African context. Thus, as interpretations of insights are based upon the perspective of how these can inform PM practices in Africa, a direct extrapolation of the findings to other contexts may not be appropriate.
Practical implications
This review of research conducted into PM globally in the past two decades has identified limited contributions from within the African context. This lack of contextual understanding may well be affecting the adoption and creation of globally recognised PM practices in Africa. As such, there is an opportunity to understand better the complexities associated with PM by embracing theories and formulating, testing and refining existing models to consider performance issues at more profound levels of analysis within an African context.
Originality/value
This study presents insights into global trends in PM research and practices not previously explored, highlighting a need for more contextualised research to progress Africa beyond current theoretical, conceptual and methodological limitations.
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