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Alexander Preko, Frederick Doe and Samuel Ato Dadzie
The study presents the push–pull motives and behavioural intentions of youth tourists and how these provide the foundation for the planning and development of Ghana’s tourism…
Abstract
Purpose
The study presents the push–pull motives and behavioural intentions of youth tourists and how these provide the foundation for the planning and development of Ghana’s tourism future. Since youth tourism (YT) is regarded as a niche market globally, the purpose of this paper is to identify the prospects of this form of tourism in a developing nation.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has utilised a convenience sampling approach in gathering data from 557 youth tourists, adapting existing instruments for measuring push–pull motives, satisfaction and behavioural intentions. The reliability and validity of the instruments were established through confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s α analyses. Structural equation modelling is used to establish relationships.
Findings
The results revealed the positive effects of push and pull factors on tourists’ satisfaction as well as the significant influence of tourists’ satisfaction on youth behavioural intentions. However, push factors positively influenced pull factors of youth tourists.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusion and recommendations of this study might not be congruent with the factors that motivate adults or student tourism, satisfaction and behavioural intentions.
Practical implications
The findings of the research validate the viability of YT activities and the behavioural intentions for future tourism market in Ghana. Ghana’s tourism sector should design interesting and competitive offers that attract youth tourists and address tourism growth.
Originality/value
To date, investigation into motives, satisfaction and behavioural intentions of youth tourists as the basis for future tourism development remains a virgin field in Ghana. This study has timely attempted to address this gap.
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Carlos Bazan, Hannah Gaultois, Arifusalam Shaikh, Katie Gillespie, Sean Frederick, Ali Amjad, Simon Yap, Chantel Finn, James Rayner and Nafisa Belal
The study aims to test the applicability of a variant of the model proposed by Hockerts (2017) for assessing the social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of male and female…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to test the applicability of a variant of the model proposed by Hockerts (2017) for assessing the social entrepreneurial intention (SEI) of male and female students. It extends the model by incorporating the university's environment and support system (ESS) as an additional more distal construct. The university's ESS, coupled with the experience with social, cultural and environmental issues can affect SEI by influencing the more proximal precursors of empathy towards others, perceived self-efficacy, perceived community support and social, cultural and environmental responsibility.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured non-disguised questionnaire was administered to students at a Canadian university. A sample of 485 usable responses was analysed by means of second-order structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results provide confirmation that the proposed model is a multi-group invariant and appropriate for analysing the SEI of male and female students. They also show that the university's ESS helps predict SEI indirectly through the complete mediation of the more proximal antecedents.
Research limitations/implications
The questionnaire is limited to universities with social innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives.
Practical implications
Outcomes of the study can help universities assess the efficacy of their social innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives for instilling a social entrepreneurial mind-set in students. Consequently, universities will be better equipped to raise the perceptions of venture feasibility and desirability, thus increasing students' perceptions of opportunity.
Originality/value
The study advances the social entrepreneurial knowledge of the university's effect on the precursors of SEI.
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Asabea Shirley Ahwireng-Obeng and Frederick Ahwireng-Obeng
Despite being a viable source of funds, African sovereign bond markets are relatively underexplored. The empirical literature fails to consider the impact of exclusively…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite being a viable source of funds, African sovereign bond markets are relatively underexplored. The empirical literature fails to consider the impact of exclusively macroeconomic factors and the volatile contexts in which African markets operate. The purpose of this paper is to fill the vacuum by proposing a context-sensitive theoretical framework. The study targets, specifically, macroeconomic factors and assesses the extent to which they affect bond market development.
Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data on sovereign bond markets from 26 African economies, the study extends previous methodologies used in similar studies by accounting for downside risk in a generalized method of moments (GMM) framework and employing tighter robustness measures.
Findings
This study finds that inflation, domestic debt, external debt, GDP at PPP, fiscal balance and exports are important macroeconomic drivers of sovereign bond market development in African emerging economies.
Research limitations/implications
While GMM estimation is beneficial in the presence of endogeneity between the dependent variables that are instrumented with lagged independent variables, it guarantees consistency but, not unbiased estimations.
Practical implications
Market-oriented government funding with well-defined debt management strategies must be implemented to support the development of sovereign bond markets. External debt must be set at a sustainable level, and government should be dedicated to the confirmation of this. Furthermore, inflation rates must be kept low and stable.
Social implications
If policymakers are to take this study seriously, bond markets may begin to be viable sources of funds for African emerging economies.
Originality/value
This study introduces a methodology for measuring bond market development that considers the systemic volatility in emerging markets and proposes a theoretical framework for African emerging economies. In addition, the authors identify a new macroeconomic determinant of bond market development in the region.
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Frederick Doe and Mary Naana Essiaw
The hospitality industry is one of Ghana's key economic contributors. It is an industry that has significant indigenous investment. The sector also brings in foreign exchange for…
Abstract
Purpose
The hospitality industry is one of Ghana's key economic contributors. It is an industry that has significant indigenous investment. The sector also brings in foreign exchange for Ghana. In 2019, it generated $325 m through tourist visits. This makes the hospitality industry critical for the attraction of foreign direct investments. The research was therefore aimed at examining the business environment of the hospitality industry for evidence of negative factors that can hamper its greater contribution to the attainment of Goal 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN such as guest-bullying and the incivility in hospitality occupations.
Design/methodology/approach
A convenience sampling method was used to select 346 samples out of the accessible 3,500 targeted population from 38 hotels in the capital city of Ghana, Accra, comprising of junior to senior employees of various departments. The questionnaires were scripted from a paper-based to digital format supported by the Opine software installed on tablets and smartphones, to enable complete adherence to all coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety protocols. The study used a regression to ascertain the relationships between the dependent variables and the independent variables.
Findings
The study found the “Level of Permissiveness for Guests” positively and significantly “encouraged” guests to bully staff, while “Management and Staff Laxity” negatively but significantly explained guest bullying behaviour.
Originality/value
The study makes the first attempt in context to shed light on workplace bullying which represents one of the main factors that can inhibit or erode any gains or attempts to foster the achievement of Goal 8 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN which is to create “Decent Work and Economic Growth”.
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Sue Ann Corell Sarpy and Alicia Stachowski
Social Network Analysis has been posited as a useful technique to determine if leadership development programs are an effective intervention in developing social ties and…
Abstract
Social Network Analysis has been posited as a useful technique to determine if leadership development programs are an effective intervention in developing social ties and enhancing connectivity among leaders in an organization. Evaluations can examine the extent to which the leadership development programs create and catalyze peer networks. This study used Social Network Analysis to evaluate the development of a peer leadership network and resulting relationships among leaders participating in a leadership development program. Several predictions were made about the development of participants’ task, career, and social networks, generally predicting enhanced “esprit de corps” with their peer leaders over time. Thirty top executives in local public health were selected to participate in a 12-month national leadership development training program. Peer network development was documented at three time points across the programmatic year at 6-month intervals. The results demonstrated that while leaders’ social networks increased over time, friendship networks increased more slowly than did acquaintance networks. The task-related networks involving interactions to solve problems, and career networks for seeking advice and support increased over time, with task-related and advice-related networks stabilizing by the end of the second workshop. Implications for developing peer leadership networks are discussed.
The authors would like to acknowledge the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Association for County and City Health Officials and for their support of this research.
Frederick C. Buskey and Meagan Karvonen
Educational leadership preparation programs are expected to train graduates who change their practice and produce outcomes for teachers and students. However, programs are…
Abstract
Educational leadership preparation programs are expected to train graduates who change their practice and produce outcomes for teachers and students. However, programs are challenged to produce evidence of their impact while also evaluating for formative purposes. This paper describes collaboration between an educational leadership program director and a program evaluator to construct an evaluation system that incorporated program theory, processes, and outcomes. The leadership preparation program, grounded in ethical leadership practices, had a unique design with core tenets that informed choices about the evaluation design. Decisions about data sources were informed by evaluation foci, the availability of existing data sources, and resource constraints. The complexity of the evaluation design paralleled the complexity of the program itself. Leadership content expertise, evaluation design expertise, and genuine collaboration were all essential to the successful design of this evaluation plan. Several recommendations are offered for others collaborating to design evaluations of their programs.