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This study examines some pertinent individual-level factors and consequences of consumers' continuous social media brand engagement (SMBE) practices. Further, this study examines the moderating effect of other-efficacy to deepen the understanding.

Online survey data collected from 785 respondents, through a convenience sampling technique on Facebook, was analyzed through structural equation (SEM) modeling with AMOS 23.0.

The findings suggest that compatibility with lifestyle, perceived information quality and escapism, which significantly drive consumers' continuous engagement with brands on social media. However, perceived enjoyment does not. Other-efficacy duly moderates consumers' continuous SMBE practices. While continuous SMBE significantly drives consumer-based brand equity (CBBE), continuous SMBE does not have any significant relationship with consumers' subjective well-being (SWB).

This study reports robust findings on the effects of individual-level factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. However, the study only focused on Facebook brand pages. This is a limitation for generalizability of results because the research did not take a holistic view of all types of social media.

The research suggests a need for managers to project their brands and share relevant and stimulating information throughout their continuous SMBE with consumers to build strong consumer–brand relationships. Managers should also engage consumers with interesting social media messages as well as both informative and transformative creative strategies to excite them. This will further give consumers a reason to continuously interact with the brand on social media platforms.

This study is one of the very few works to tease out pertinent factors that drive consumers' continuous SMBE practices. The paper integrates the consumer-level factors and moderating effects of other-efficacy through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) to make a significant contribution to the SMBE literature.

By adopting a social presence theory perspective, this study aims investigate the influence of perceived usefulness of live chat services and of their unique human attributes on customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the context of online travel shopping.

Based on a cross-sectional survey research involving 8 travel provider websites and 631 travel consumers, this work applies structural equation modelling to analyse the data.

The results illustrate that the perceived usefulness from the communication with a human live chat assistant positively influences customer attitudes and trust towards the website as well as increasing purchase intention. The findings further illustrate the role of the human social cues conveyed by live chat facilities, namely, human warmth, human assurance, human attentiveness and human customised content in positively moderating this effect.

The study is limited to specific human attributes. Future research could investigate the role of other human characteristics as well as assess the ability of artificial intelligent powered chatbots in replicating the human elements outlined in this research.

The study provides a unique contribution to the travel literature by offering empirical insights and conceptual clarity into the usefulness of human operated live chat communication on travellers’ attitudes, trust towards the website and purchase intentions.

Considering the increasing conceptualization of value creation, this paper aims to empirically examine the influence of pre-encounter value needs of patients on the clinical encounter process and how this impacts on their perceived experiential value, and contributes to the patient’s role in value creation in healthcare service delivery.

A model is proposed to suggest the antecedent and consequences of key elements of the patient–doctor encounter process. Following survey design approach, data collected from 332 outpatients from two clinics in Accra, Ghana, are examined through structural equation modeling using AMOS 23.0.

The findings reveal that patient pre-encounter value needs significantly influence key elements of the patient–doctor encounter process (care delivery approach, level of trust and shared-decision making approach). This in turn affects patient’s perceived experiential value and satisfaction evaluation. The results also suggest that patient characteristics (e.g. educational background and frequency of visit) had no significant effect on the encounter process leading to perceived experiential value; however, patient’s age had significant influence on the encounter process.

This study empirically establishes a need to understand patient’s pre-encounter value needs, which fundamentally influence the patient-doctor encounter process and their perceived experiential value. However, the research only focused on the patient, which could limit the findings considering the multi-actors involved in the service delivery.

Creating value with patients suggests a need for providers to understand patient value needs or goals and adopt an approach to engage in a holistic manner that would result in positive experiences. This would empower and increase confidence of patients in consultations.

Using a quantitative research approach, this research engages in a highly focused investigation of the influence of patient’s pre-encounter value needs on key elements of the patient–doctor encounter process, which has received limited attention in the extant literature. The study also furthers our understanding of the effects of fundamental patient characteristics on encounter process and how this influence actor perceived experiential value.

Through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of autonomous and controlled motivational regulations in driving consumer participation in social brand engagement (SBE) practices. In addition, the moderating effects of cognitive effort and consumer demographic variables (age and gender) are examined.

The proposed model is tested by employing a quantitative survey design consisting of 832 consumers with prior experience in engaging with brands on social media. The respondents were conveniently interviewed using online questionnaire. The model estimation was done through structural equation modelling with AMOS 23.0.

The findings indicate that intrinsic, integrated, introjected and external motivational regulations significantly influence consumer participation in SBE activities, whereas identified regulation does not. Furthermore, while age and gender presented mixed interaction effects on the paths examined, cognitive effort does not moderate the influence of autonomous and controlled motivational regulations on SBE participation.

This study employed a cross-sectional survey to explore consumer motivation and cognitive effort in SBE practices. As an exploratory study, the findings may be limited and not conclusive, which could limit the generalisation of the results reported.

This study demonstrates a need for retailing managers to understand customers’ varying intentions or needs in participating in online SBE activities As a result, retail managers need to adopt social media strategies that could elicit interest and curiosity on the part of the customer to excite them to participate in the brand social interactions.

This research contributes to the conceptual understanding of SBE through the application of SDT, and contends that cognitive effort does not moderate consumer participation in SBE practices. Also, the mixed findings resulting from the moderation test of age and gender sheds light on specific types of regulated motivations that are either moderated or not in relation to these demographic variables.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding on patient participatory behaviours in co-creation of value drawing from the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT) focussing on motivation in particular.

A model is proposed to suggest the influence of the various motivation types on a patient’s participatory behaviours drawing from SDT. Following survey design approach, data collected from 345 outpatients from a quasi-government health facility in Accra, Ghana are examined through structural equation modelling using SmartPLS (v. 3.2.3).

The findings reveal that patient participatory behaviours are influenced by both controlled and autonomous regulations leading to value attainment. External regulation (a more controlled form of extrinsic motivation) and patient participation in clinical encounters have no significant relationship with a patient’s commitment to compliance with medical instructions. The results reveal patient compliance is largely driven by autonomous regulation as proposed by SDT. However, active patient participation in clinical encounters and commitment to compliance with medical instructions positively and significantly influences perceived value outcomes.

This research provides empirical evidence in support of understanding patient participatory behaviours in healthcare service delivery by testing theoretically grounded hypotheses developed from SDT perspective. The study focussed on outpatients from one quasi-government health facility, which could limit the generalisation of the findings reported.

This study illustrates the need for service providers to understand participant’s needs and motivation during the service encounter. This is essential as the various types of motivation influence the nature of the participation throughout the process, which could help improve on the value outcomes from the service.

This study makes a significant contribution to service literature through the application of SDT to explain patient participatory behaviours in healthcare service delivery, production and value outcomes. From a theoretical perspective, the developed model integrates multiple research disciplines (e.g. SDT, participatory behaviours, and value co-creation) and extends research on patient integration, participation, and compliance.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding on social media brand engagement (SMBE) practices by exploring the impact of consumer brand knowledge, perceived social pressure, perceived social relatedness (PSR) and the role of brand trust.

A model is proposed to suggest the influence of consumer-level antecedents and moderators of SMBE. Following a survey design approach, data collected from 687 respondents on Facebook are examined through structural equation modelling using AMOS 23.0.

The findings reveal significant relationship between the examined antecedents (brand knowledge, perceived social pressure and brand trust) and SMBE. Examination of the moderation role of PSR revealed significant interaction effects on the relationship between brand knowledge and SMBE, as well as perceived social pressure and SMBE. The findings also suggest a lack of interaction effect of PSR on the relationship between brand trust and SMBE.

This research provides empirical evidence in support of understanding SMBE practices by testing theoretically grounded hypotheses. The study focussed on technologically savvy respondents and only Facebook users in Ghana, which could limit the generalisation of the findings reported.

This study illustrates a need for managers to integrate multi-communication channels to enhance brand interactions and engagements. Firms must also adopt strategies that would enhance the sharing of interesting information about their brands on their social media platforms to attract others through customer networks.

The conceptualization of SMBE in this study zooms out our understanding of online SMBE by examining pertinent variables that drive or moderate consumer participation in SMBE activities. The integration of these variables brings out new empirical understanding and extends our knowledge on SMBE.

This paper aims to investigate the correlates of tax registration among self-employed in Upper Denkyira East municipal and Upper Denkyira West district in Ghana.

In all, 783 self-employed were interviewed and discriminant analysis was used to examine the factors that influence a self-employed person’s decision to register with Ghana Revenue Authority.

The study found that, age of the self-employed, number of times tax officers visit and inspect self-employed, experience in business, number of years of schooling, distance to tax office and estimated annual profit are important discriminants of tax registration compliance.

Tax registration is the fundamental element of tax compliance since any effort to exact compliance from taxpayers begins with registration with the tax authority. However, previous studies in the Ghanaian informal sector such as Baba (2010), Baba and Asante (2012) and Razak and Adafula (2013) have focused mainly on aggregate tax compliance (registration, filing, reporting and payment combined) without given specific attention to this fundamental component of tax compliance risk. Therefore, this study seeks to address the gap in the literature.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between registration of business and tax payment among micro-business owners in Nkoranza South Municipal and Nkoranza North District in Ghana.

Interview schedule was used to collect information from 720 micro business owners who qualify for tax stamps. The study used correspondence analysis as the analytical tool.

The study found a significant association between registration of business and tax payment. The biplot also indicated that unregistered businesses and businesses registered with District Assembly only are more likely to evade tax than those registered with Ghana Revenue Authority.

In Ghana, for instance, owner of business is required by law to provide information on his/her business, himself/herself and partners (as the case may be) to the Registrar-General Department, and thereafter, the business should also be registered at the nearest Ghana Revenue Authority District Office. This regulation was enacted in 2005, and it is expected that this registration will help tax authority in tax collection, as they will have adequate knowledge about businesses in the area including the location of the businesses. However, after 10 years in existence of this regulation, the effect of this registration requirement on tax payment in Ghana is not known. It is this gap that the present study seeks to fill by looking at the relationship between registration of business and tax evasion in the Ghanaian informal sector.

The purpose of the study is to analyse social and demographic factors that affect tax stamp compliance in Upper Denkyira East Municipal and Upper Denkyira West District in Ghana.

The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design to sample 783 micro-taxpayers through the use of multi-stage sampling technique. Primary data were collected from micro-taxpayers by using a structured interview. Ordered logit regression model was used to regress the extent of tax stamp compliance on socio-demographic factors in relation to tax stamp cases in the study area.

The study found that occupational association status, location, gender, type of business operated, age, level of education and household size are significant predictors of tax stamp compliance in the study area.

The originality of the study is in twofold. First, the study dwells on extant literature on social and demographic factors of tax compliance in general and specifically applies them to a special kind of presumptive tax, tax stamp, in Ghana. The study is also considered as the first of its kind to perform rigorous statistical analysis of social and demographic factors in relation to tax compliance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic link between financial inclusion and financial sector development (FSD) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper employs a panel vector autoregressive framework to examine the dynamic link between financial inclusion and FSD in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The findings indicate that there is a reverse causality between FSD and financial inclusion in both the Sub-Saharan Africa countries sample and the full sample. It is evident that financial inclusion is a driver of FSD and vice versa.

The practical implication of this study is that financial inclusion should not only be pursued as a policy objective but it could also be an outcome variable of FSD and vice versa. This implies that African economies and governments in their effort to enhance financial inclusion, FSD can serve as a policy tool. This means that policies aimed at promoting financial inclusion will not impede FSD because the two are complementary. This suggests that we can achieve financial inclusion without sacrificing FSD and vice versa.

This paper provides first empirical evidence of the link between financial inclusion and FSD from the Sub-Saharan Africa perspective using data sourced from World Development Indicators spanning from 1990 to 2014 for 48 Sub-Saharan African economies and 217 economies in the world for the full sample.