Search results

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of disaggregate official development aid (ODA) on economic growth, and ascertain whether bilateral and multilateral aid played complementary role with private sector, government sector and external sector in driving growth of sub-Saharan African economies.

The role of bilateral and multilateral aid in economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is investigated in this study. The vector error correction model (VECM) and generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques are employed in estimating the short-run and long-run impacts, over the period 1980–2020.

The estimation results reveal that the effect of bilateral aid is positive, and more significant than multilateral aid. Their effect on economic growth is, however, less significant than the effects of domestic private investment and government spending. Nonetheless, aid complemented private and government sectors in facilitating growth. External trade is the only exogenous variable in estimation that is insignificant. The results further reveal that economic growth is unable to significantly respond to its own lag. Generally, the estimation results conform to theoretical expectations.

One major implication of the findings is that SSA countries have benefited substantially from development aid. It is, therefore, important for these countries to develop stronger institutions that would attract more inflows of development aid.

The study was motivated by the fact that less attention has been given to the role of disaggregate ODA in economic growth of African countries. Previous research works have tended to focus more on aggregate ODA. Furthermore, adequate research has yet to be done on how ODA complements the private sector, government sector and external sector in facilitating growth of African countries. These issues are investigated in the study.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how macroeconomic performance work with institutional quality influences divestment of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the short and long run.

This paper investigates divestment of FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa, within the period 1980–2020. The investigation is undertaken by first comparing the trend with what is obtained in other economic regions of the world. The factors behind the divestment are subsequently investigated, using the vector error-correction model.

In the comparative analysis, Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions are observed to have witnessed sustained divestment in recent years. The estimation results of the model reveal that macroeconomic performance and institutional quality are the predominant drivers behind the divestment.

The findings, however, do not conform to the neoclassical theory that lays emphasis on investment return as the fundamental factor influencing investment. Long-run structural stability is also established; hence, the results may be considered suitable for predicting future divestment in the region.

In view of the empirical findings, macroeconomic performance and institutional quality need to be improved to ameliorate FDI divestment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There is paucity of research works on divestment of FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa. Again, there is paucity of works on how macroeconomic and institutional conditions work together to influence divestment. This study provides some evidence to bridge the perceived gaps.

Sex work migration involves a huge number of females from Nigeria, and has attracted concerns within and across the country. To add to ongoing conversations about responsible migration, our review underscores the prevalence of sex work migration in Edo State, Nigeria, the drivers and interventions.

The review adopted exhaustive search terms coined with the aid of “Boolean Operators”. Search terms were entered into several search engines and databases to elicit peer-reviewed and grey literature within sex work migration and human trafficking for commercial sex. An output of 578 studies was recorded with 76 (43 academic papers and 33 grey literature) meeting the inclusion criteria.

The study acknowledged wide-spread prevalence of sex work migration involving Nigerian females who are largely from Edo State. It achieved a prioritization of the factors that drive sex work migration based on how frequent they were mentioned in reviewed literature: economic (64.4%), cultural (46%), educational (20%), globalization (14.5%) and political factors (13.2%). Several interventions were highlighted together with their several limitations which include funding, absence of grass-roots engagement, dearth of appropriate professionals, corruption, weak political will, among others. A combination of domestic and international interventions was encouraged, and social workers were found to be needful.

Our systematic review is the first on this subject, as none was found throughout our search. It seeks to inform policy measures and programmes, as well as horizontal efforts poised to tackle the rising figures of sex work migrants and attendant consequences in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cause–effect relationship between vocational support and the levels of acquisition of practical skills via learning self-efficacy during a training intervention in computer maintenance technology among vocational electronic technology students.

Quasi-experimental research was employed. The participants were 84 undergraduates of vocational electronic technology education in Nigeria. The study applied the modified stages of the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition as the training model. The study proposed a four-simple mediation models based on the first four stages of the modified Dreyfus model of skills acquisition (namely, novice, advanced beginner, competent and proficient stages) via practical skills learning self-efficacy.

The result showed significant effects of perceived vocational support in practical skills training on the levels of acquisition of practical skills in computer maintenance technology. Learning self-efficacy mediated the relationship between perceived vocational support and three levels of practical skills acquisition (advanced beginner, competent and proficient).

All possible mediation pathways were not covered in this study. However, the study x-rayed the tendency of pathways in training intervention in vocational education and allied fields of study.

This study has empirically provided evidence to support the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition, as a plausible practical skills training model. Hence, the study can serve as a model for other researchers for replication in other fields of study.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that revealed potential pathways in work-related practical skills training interventions. The study has also validated the Dreyfus model as a potential skill acquisition model for practical skills training.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into traders' perceptions of and responses to environmental quality in markets of Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Primary data were collected from 445 traders in five different markets (Odo-Ogbe, Olorunsogo Oja-Ife, Bonfo and Urban day) in Ile-Ife through questionnaire administration. Physical observations were also carried out for holistic and detailed assessment of the environment.

Results showed that most of the traders were married (64.6%), females (74.5%), who were young adults within the age bracket of 31–45 years (39.8%) while over half of them had secondary school education (55.2%) and spent between 8 and 9 h in the market on a daily basis. Using what is termed “Facility Condition Index” (FCI), it was shown that public toilet (FCI = 2.11), health centre (FCI = 1.76) and electricity supply (FCI = 1.43) were the three most deplorable facilities in the markets. Findings further showed that flooding, pollution and blocked drain, each with 22.1%, were the most common environmental problems.

The study extends the existing literature by examining traders' perceptions of environmental quality of open spaces (markets), which could be used as tools in proffering solution to the varying environmental problems of the markets by policymakers.

Rural farmers’ access to farm credit in Nigeria has been very low, which affects farm performance, and credit providers have blamed for the problem in the sector. While this general perception persists the fact may be the case of credit demand, rather than just the risk-averse attitudes of credit providers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate significant factors influencing farmers’ credit demand to ensure efficient credit provision.

The research adopted mixed methods for an in-depth investigation into the problem. There were 216 research participants split into equal halves of men and women from six local government areas of Nasarawa State. Data collection methods employed structured interviews, focus group discussions, close/open-ended and key informant interviews. Analytical tools involved descriptive statistics, the logit and multinomial logit models to determine participants’ socio-economic characteristics, sources of credit, access, factors influencing credit demand generally and from the various sources of credit identified.

Findings reveal only 47.6 per cent of the participants accessed credit, with fewer women accessing than men. The most accessed forms of credit are from the semi-formal sources, with more men accessing from formal sources and more women from non-formal sources. Factors having significant influence on credit demand generally are education, group membership and household size. And from formal, semi-formal and non-formal credit sources are education, information on sources of credit, deposits, household size and marital status; education, deposits, group membership, household size, flock size; and education, group membership, and gender from the non-formal credit providers, respectively.

Due to time constraint, this study data were collected concurrently with both quantitative and qualitative methods and did not allow for the interrogation of findings from one method with the other. In addition, the research categorised the agency of women based on marital status only as single or married and did not interrogate the agency of women further, this may be a limitation as some of the female participants are from polygamous homes.

Unlike the current concentration of Nigerian research of this kind with quantitative methods alone, this research contributes particularly to Nigerian research output and experience by triangulating both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore farmers sources of credit, access and factors determining access to credit in the study area.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the socioeconomic determinants of profitability of fresh fish marketing in Ogun State, Nigeria.

The study was a cross-sectional survey of 120 fresh fish marketers selected randomly from four major fish markets in Ado-Odo Local Government area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were collected using structured questionnaire which was designed to solicit information on the marketers’ socioeconomic and marketing characteristics, operating costs and returns, and problems associated with fish marketing in the study area. A combination of descriptive statistics, marketing margin, budgetary and ordinary least square regression analyses were employed to analyze the study data.

The study showed that female (85.8 percent) dominated fresh fish marketing. The percent marketing margin of fresh fish was 34.55 percent. The percent marketing investment of 20,906.03, 20,453 per month and 1.43 were realized, respectively. The result of the regression analysis revealed that profit from fresh fish was significantly determined by education, proportion of household members involved in fresh fish marketing, marketers experience, capital, number of sales outlet and purchase price.

The findings was based on information supplied by the fresh fish marketers in the study area based on the authors memory recall since most of the respondents do not have diary where records of activities were kept before the survey.

This study contributes to the existing literature in fish marketing and will provide empirical information to policy makers in the formulation of appropriate policies. It will also serve as a guide to practicing and prospective fresh fish marketers and to researchers who may investigate further into the subject matter.

The social implications from the findings on the return on investment of 1.43 implies that for every one naira invested by fresh fish marketers, a return of 1.43 and a profit of 0.43 were obtained. The study concludes that fresh fish marketing is an economically rewarding and profitable venture in the study area. It also recommends the need to provide credit facilities to finance storage facilities of this group of marketers.

The study is original in nature and revealed the economic status of fresh fish marketing in Ogun State, Nigeria.

Using a dialogic approach to narrative analysis through the lens of fairytale, this paper explores the shared construction of corporate environmental stories. The analysis provided aims to reveal the narrative messaging which is implicit in corporate reporting, to contrast corporate and stakeholder narratives and to bring attention to the ubiquity of storytelling in corporate communications.

This paper examines a series of events in which a single case company plays the central role. The environmental section of the case company's sustainability report is examined through the lens of fairytale analysis. Next, two counter accounts are constructed which foreground multiple stakeholder accounts and retold as fairytales.

The dialogic nature of accounts plays a critical role in how stakeholders understand the environmental impacts of a company. Storytelling mechanisms have been used to shape the perspective and sympathies of the report reader in favour of the company. We use these same mechanisms to create two collective counter accounts which display different sympathies.

This research reveals how the narrative nature of corporate reports may be used to fabricate a particular perspective through storytelling. By doing so, it challenges the authority of the version of events provided by the company and gives voice to collective counter accounts which are shared by and can be disseminated to other stakeholders.

This paper provides a unique perspective to understanding corporate environmental reporting and the stories shared by and with external stakeholders by drawing from a novel link between fairytale, storytelling and counter accounting.

The sound viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) positively influences nations’ economic growth. Studies investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and how the owners will source for working capital and short-term loans to kick start in the post-Covid-19 recovery are scarce. Hence, this study aims to investigate the perceived negative impact of Covid-19 on SMEs and suggests policy solutions to improve access to finance and investment sustainability for the SMEs owners in the post-Covid-19 recovery via the stakeholders’ perception in KSA.

The paper sourced data from Medina, Riyadh and Alqassim via virtual interviews. The study engaged SMEs owners, government agencies and banks within the covered regions in KSA. The sourced data were analysed via a thematic, and the results were presented in themes.

The findings show that the SMEs sector plays a pertinent role in KSA gross domestic product growth. But, the recent ravaging of the SME sector by the Covid-19 pandemic was adversely unprecedented, and stakeholders were caught unaware. The paper categorised the perceived impacts into most severe, severe and fairly severe. The findings show that SMEs sector post-Covid-19 recovery will require access to finance-friendly policies to revive the unique sector. This should be supported with an enabling business environment via policies that encourage investment and sustainability to achieve KSA Vision 2030.

The study is restricted to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs and data collected via virtual interviews across three cities in KSA. Other developing Islamic nations can modify the policy suggestions from this paper to improve their SMEs sectors.

The significance of a robust SMEs sector to grow the economy has been established. The emerged recommendations from this paper may provide insights to the policymakers and other stakeholders. This will enhance the rebuilding of the SMEs sector across KSA in the post-Covid-19 era.

This study is unique because it investigated the impacts of the ravaging pandemic on SMEs owners and proffered possible solutions for quick post-Covid-19 recovery from the KSA stakeholders’ perspective.

To enhance the loan repayment performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Pakistan, this study aims to analyze the direct impact of social capital and loan credit terms on loan repayment performance and microenterprises’ business performance while considering the mediating role of microenterprises’ business performance on the relationship between social capital, loan credit terms and loan repayment performance.

The analysis was conducted based on the data gathered via a questionnaire distributed to 316 microenterprises owners. The respondents were selected using the stratified sampling technique by dividing the target population into three influential groups of manufacturing, trading and services microenterprises. The reliability and validity of the constructs were established using (1) factor loading, (2) Cronbach’s alpha, (3) composite reliability, (4) average variance extracted, (5) the variance inflation factor, (6) the Fornell–Larcker criterion and (7) the heterotrait–monotrait ratio. The structural equation modeling technique was then applied, and the hypotheses were tested based on the structure model generated through bootstrapping by using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results confirm the direct impact of social capital and loan credit terms on microenterprises’ business performance and loan repayment performance. It also supports the mediating role of microenterprises’ business performance toward the relationship between social capital, loan credit terms and loan repayment performance while considering the direct impact of microenterprises’ business performance on loan repayment performance.

To date, the direct impact of social capital and loan credit terms on microenterprises’ business performance and loan repayment performance has been hardly investigated in the context of Pakistan. This study also examines the mediating role of microenterprises’ business performance toward social capital, loan credit terms and loan repayment performance. The findings will enable both MFIs and microenterprises to improve their business performance and loan repayment performance through enhanced social ties and the development of more flexible credit products that protect the borrowers’ interests and the interest of lenders.