Search results

This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services.

The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles.

The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing coupled with the costs of vote-buying, which has become informally institutionalized, intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality “force” citizens into a vote-buying culture which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians; thus, perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife.

The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation.

While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example) which reduce public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This study aims to empirically assess entrepreneurial leadership skills’ role in Corporate Sustainable Development (CSD) and firm performance (FP). This study considers five specific entrepreneurial traits: innovativeness, creativity, analytical thinking, emotional intelligence and passion and motivation. The motivation for this investigation stems from concerns over micro-firms vulnerabilities and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lacking proper leadership skills. This study is guided by the resource-based view theory and conducted during the pandemic, offering insights into firms operating under constrained conditions.

Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), were used on survey responses from 321 Bahraini firms. This study’s data collection occurred under environmental uncertainties due to the pandemic and provides a unique context for understanding CSD and entrepreneurial leadership skills under high business/environmental uncertainty.

The findings reveal that entrepreneurial leadership skills positively impact CSD and firm performance through creativity, passion and motivation. However, innovativeness negatively affects CSD and FP. Furthermore, CSD positively influences firm performance.

Theoretical and practical implications, plus limitations, are also discussed in this study.

Understanding entrepreneurial leadership skills effect on CSD and firm performance in SMEs is important as SEMs are prone to fail in the early years. This study’s findings and its implications help guide SME leaders in furthering their entrepreneurial leadership skills to foster CSD and firm performance.

This study contributes to comprehending the crucial role of entrepreneurial skills, during uncertain times of the pandemic, for SMEs’ survival. It provides valuable insights for firms operating in competitive environments, offering a unique perspective on the required entrepreneurial skills and their effect on CSD and firm performance.

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate the role of School Leaders (SLs) in building Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in schools, as well as to expand a literature-driven PLC model within the Pakistani context.

The study involved the purposive selection of two schools affiliated with a university. The sample comprised one school leader, one academic coordinator and five teachers from each school, altogether 14 participants. The participants shared similar demographic characteristics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which were analysed thematically.

The findings of the study revealed that both schools have created PLCs to some extent and that school goals and culture were contributing factors in building these communities. Additionally, the SLs played a key role in promoting PLCs by encouraging teacher collaboration. The study concludes that SLs have the potential to strategize their actions to foster positive professional relations among teachers and ensure their well-being.

The study contributes to the literature on professional communities in Pakistan by validating a literature-driven PLC model. The model emphasizes collaboration among teachers, which can be facilitated by SLs. As such, the study implicates SLs in prioritizing the professional development of teachers to enhance student learning and achieve school success.

This study is unique in expanding a literature-driven PLC model within the Pakistani context, with a focus on teacher collaboration as facilitated by SLs. The model has the potential for replication in other contexts and can serve as a useful tool for future research.

The purpose of this study is to explore gender gaps, values and practices in a Sub-Saharan African (SSA) country, specifically to identify gender inequality in Kenyan leadership and propose suggestions for advancing gender equity.

This Kenya study replicated the research design of the Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness Project for gathering country data. It sampled middle and upper management in the commercial sector (finance and agriculture) and added the civic sectors of health care and education, using quantitative research (267 managers in over 100 organizations) and qualitative research design (30 interviewees from 23 organizations).

Gender had no apparent effect on leadership attributes nor on preferred modes of leadership. Statistical and thematic analysis revealed conflicting values and behaviours regarding gender equality and leadership. A high cultural dimension score on practices reflects a traditional leadership approach for male dominance, referred to as the Bwana Kubwa model. However, a high value score for gender equality reflects a more contemporary perspective, identified as the Inspirational Idealist. The gender gap presents a cultural paradox and a leadership constraint.

The Inspirational Idealist model advances African leadership theory as it identifies a preferred value-based paradigm of effective performance-based leadership. This is contrary to the prevalent patriarchal practices of the Bwana Kubwa (Big Boss) model, which reflects biased gendered preference.

Male and female leaders need to challenge the status quo and align leadership practices with the articulated cultural values expressed as an Inspirational Idealist model. It has considerable relevance to advancing African leadership theory and informing culturally relevant policies and contextualized practices focused on gender equity in leadership.

This research on practices and values pertaining to gender equality of Kenyan managers is the first in-depth managerial leadership study of any SSA country. It is unique in that it broadened the scope of study to include professional sectors, gender, age and ethnicity variables.

Many African countries struggle to sustain steady economic growth. Specific macro-economic factors can influence a country’s economic growth. We investigated the trend and influence of diaspora remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI) and imports on Kenya’s economic growth.

We used panel data from the World Bank Indicators database from 1973 to 2021. By utilising the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model for econometric analysis and performing computations using R software, we provide valuable insights into both short-term and long-term dynamics.

In the short term, we establish a non-significant negative impact of FDI and imports on economic growth, contrasting with the positive influence of diaspora remittances. However, in the long term, all three variables – FDI, imports and remittances – emerge as significant determinants of economic growth.

The availability and quality of data on diaspora remittances, FDI inflows, imports and economic indicators may vary, leading to potential data limitations, biases or gaps in the analysis. External factors such as global economic trends, political stability, COVID-19, regulatory changes and natural disasters may influence the study’s findings and should be considered when interpreting the results.

In the short term, the non-significant negative impact of FDI and imports on economic growth suggests that policies promoting FDI and imports may not yield immediate economic growth benefits. Policymakers might need to reassess the effectiveness of current strategies aimed at attracting FDI and managing imports in the short term. The positive influence of diaspora remittances on economic growth underscores the significance of these inflows in supporting economic development. Governments may need to focus on policies that encourage remittance inflows, such as facilitating remittance channels and providing incentives for diaspora investment in the home country. The shift in significance from non-significant in the short term to significant in the long term for FDI, imports and remittances highlights the importance of considering long-term effects in economic planning. Policymakers should adopt strategies that consider the cumulative impact of these factors over time.

Diaspora remittances often play a crucial role in alleviating poverty and reducing inequality by providing direct financial support to families. Recognising the importance of remittances in improving living standards, policymakers should ensure that policies support the effective utilisation of remittance inflows to address poverty and inequality challenges.

We therefore contribute original insights by examining the interplay between diaspora remittances, FDI, imports and economic growth over the study period. The emphasis on both short-term and long-term effects adds nicety to understanding their roles in shaping Kenya’s economic growth trail.

This paper aims to explore the extreme effect of crude oil price fluctuations and its volatility on the economic growth of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. It also investigates the asymmetric and dynamic relationship between oil price and economic growth. Further, a separate analysis for each MENA oil-export and oil-import countries is conducted. Furthermore, it studies to what extent the quality of institutions will change the effect of oil price fluctuations on economic growth.

As the effect of oil price fluctuations is not the same over different business cycles or oil price levels, the paper uses a panel quantile regression approach with other linear models such as fixed effects, random effects and panel generalized method of moments. The panel quantile methodology is an extension of traditional linear models and it has the advantage of exploring the relationship over the different quantiles of the whole distribution.

The paper can summarize results as following: changes in oil price and its volatility have an opposite effect for each oil-export and oil-import countries; for the former, changes in oil prices have a positive impact but the volatility a negative effect. While for the latter, changes in oil prices have a negative effect but volatility a positive effect. Further, the impact of oil price changes and their uncertainty are different across different quantiles. Furthermore, there is evidence about the asymmetric effect of the oil price changes on economic growth. Finally, accounting for institutional quality led to a reduction in the impact of oil price changes on economic growth.

The study concludes more detailed results on the impact of oil prices on gross domestic product growth. Thus, it can be used as a decision-support tool for policymakers.