Search results

Despite the increasing awareness on students’ volunteerism globally, and its potential benefit to national development, there is limited research information on the subject in developing countries including Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to assess the willingness of university undergraduate students in Ghana to volunteer for non-governmental organisation (NGO) work.

The research used a quantitative research approach using a descriptive survey design. The data were drawn from a survey of 678 students from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

The study shows high willingness of university undergraduate students to volunteer for NGO work. The motives relate more to students’ search for understanding of people and their context, values and career enhancement, than for their social, protection and recognition needs. The students are more likely to engage in NGO activities relating to peer education, counselling and environmental protection, than in administrative duties, relief and advocacy.

The study suggests that there is a great potential for students’ volunteerism in Ghana, and recommends that Ghanaian universities should integrate volunteerism into their curricula to prepare and link students to volunteer opportunities in NGO and the service sectors.

The case study provides new thought and suggestions on students’ volunteerism to developing countries and Ghana in particular. The evidence and context of likelihood to volunteer among tertiary students are lessons for developing countries with similar context to Ghana.

Family businesses are essential for economic growth and development through new business start-ups (entrepreneurship) and growth of existing ones. As competition is fierce, the ability of a company to buoy up its business practices and exceed its own – and its competition’s – expectations through innovation – is critical to survival. In managing family businesses (mostly small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs]) in the current globally competitive landscape, entrepreneurs must be creative and behave in ways that galvanize workers to be innovative. This study attempts to ascertain the strategies management adopt to heighten innovation in family businesses.

Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used for gathering and analysing data based upon which conclusions were drawn.

The study revealed that seven factors should be assessed by SMEs that are family firms to determine the innovative ideas that are promising to be pursued, which are the uniqueness of the idea, its market potential, cost, expert advice, the impact of both current and future environmental forces, availability of raw materials and supplies and the idea’s future appeal.

This is perhaps the first detailed study of strategies that could be adopted by entrepreneurs and/or managers to heighten innovation in small and medium family firms, which also points out the factors/criteria used to determine which initiatives have higher chances of success – hence deserving to be pursued.

The anxiety that usually comes with a speaking performance is said to be both personal and situational. Researchers have over the years sought to understand how the combined effects of personal traits of an individual and situational conditions such as the nature of the speaking environment, the size of the audience and negative perception over the outcome of a speech, affects a person’s ability to effectively communicate. While studies on speech-related anxiety in the academic environment is not new (Basic, 2011; Behnke et al., 2006), the attention of many of these studies has focused on students rather than lectures/instructors. While this study is not the first to focus on the role of lecturers in reducing the incidence of speech anxiety, the purpose of this paper is to stress the role of lecturers in reducing speech-related anxieties and its attendant effects on the academic and professional performances of students. It was found out that most speech-related anxiety is largely situational, rather than personal. The study found that out of fear of being negatively evaluated, students became highly apprehensive when asked to perform a speech-related task in the classroom. This, the study found, can potentially have adverse effects on the academic and professional performance of students. Most importantly, the study established the significant role of lecturers in managing a friendly and pleasant environment that facilitate speaking and positive learning outcomes. As Varron (2011) asserts: “the teacher is the one that facilitates the whole process of leaning and create favorable environment, where there is a smooth flow of communication.”

In total, 40 respondents from the School of Communications of the African University College of Communications were sampled for the study. The selection of only communication students was premised on the study’s quest to unravel the irony inherent in the fact that those communication students that are by their training required to be voluble, tend to be apprehensive, especially under the classroom situation. Doing this was to inevitably help to find out whether or not there is a relationship between an individual’s career choice and the behavioral tendencies such a person is likely to exhibit. Again, the fact that communication students are more competent to speak on issues regarding any subject on communication makes them an ideal choice for this study. A stratified probability sampling method was used to group the sample into various layers (levels). The study using stratified sampling grouped the various respondents into their various levels (strata) and sampled ten respondents from each level. This was to help the study ascertain whether or not any relationship existed between a student’s level and the level of their speaking apprehension. A questionnaire, close and open ended, was employed as the study’s principal instrument for data. Each respondent was given a questionnaire each to respond to. A “descriptive statistical measure was used to describe the characteristics of the sample, whereupon conclusions were generalized for the entire study population.” In addition, graphs, charts, and frequency tabulation made from the coded data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, after which the corresponding interpretation was assigned. To ensure accuracy, data were coded, entered, and cleaned. Tables and figures from the SPSS helped in making the results of the study easier to interpret and understandable.

The outcome of the administered questionnaire indicated that negative evaluation was caused by lack of adequate preparation, inferiority complex, fear of derision and needless comparisons among students. In respect of how fear of derision causes anxiety, it was found that fear of derision stifles students’ desire to be heard, makes students timid and prevents class participation. On the issue of why some student were deficient in the use of English language, it was found that poor reading habits, overuse of vernacular, obsession with the use of pidgin and apprehension following from the fear of making mistakes were the major causes.

The authors consider the proposed study original both in conceptualisation and design. The main question being interrogated stems from identified gaps in the literature and the study intends to fill these knowledge gaps. The study’s originality stems from the fact that there is paucity of information on the subject of study in the context of Ghana.

In most countries procurement is undervalued compared to the attention paid to other key areas of Public Sector Reforms. Ghana represents a case in point. Under the health reforms in Ghana, the Ministry of Health and its partners (donors, financing institutions and the private sector) recognized the importance of procurement in its Medium-Term Health Sector Strategy for Ghana 1997 to 2001. With the aid of an external consultant, using a highly participatory approach in the development, training, and the implementation of new structures and procedures, good results have been achieved. Although work is ongoing and important challenges still need to be addressed, the authors argue that the new procurement structures now in place can serve as an example of a standardized support system for health reforms.

The study aims to examine the micro-level implications of implementing a circular economy (CE) business model on firms’ financial performance and the effect of organizational culture in this context.

Using a survey method to obtain 617 usable questionnaires from diverse business sectors in Ghana, a largely unexplored region and relying on institutional and legitimacy theories.

The study shows that the implementation of CE policies, such as the reducing, reusing, recycling, recovery and restoration of resources used in manufacturing, distribution and consumption processes, contributes to improved financial efficiency. Furthermore, organizational culture moderates by way of strengthening the positive relationship between CE and business financial performance.

This study contributes to the literature on circularity and the broader discourse on ecological issues by arguing that institutional and legitimacy theories, which are both from the political economy theory, suggest that firms’ economic activities will be influenced by the political, social and institutional context. Therefore, the firm’s decision to embrace a different business model such as CE should be seen from the political environment involving rules and regulations, social dynamics both within and outside the organization and the institutional structures within which the firm operates. These mechanisms establish a business case for the implementation of CE initiatives and is guided by intent and specific goals. This motivates and encourages employees to be more involved in their duties and interactions leading to high levels of employee satisfaction, which improves productivity and profitability.

In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of quality digital banking services delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic on customers' satisfaction and retention intentions.

This study combined constructs drawn from the E-S-QUAL and BSQ models to measure the impact of digital banking services on subscribers of digital banking services in Ghana. The study utilized structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) to analyze 395 responses.

Results revealed a significant direct effect between digital banking services satisfaction and customer retention decision. The results also revealed that digital banking services quality dimensions such as ease of use, efficiency, privacy/security and reliability impact customers' satisfaction and retention intentions.

Digital banking service portfolios and their quality dimensions vary among banks. This offers an opportunity for banking institutions and other non-bank financial service providers to be wary of the impact of quality service delivery on customers' decisions. This paper makes significant theoretical contributions and practical implications on the relevance of quality digital banking services in customers' retention strategies for competitive advantage.

This study has underlined the significance of quality digital banking services in developing countries. The study underscored the need for banking and non-bank financial institutions to embrace the much-anticipated quality service demanded by customers and the need for continuous service improvement relative to the growing deployment of financial technologies.

This paper aims to explore the socio-cultural factors that emerge in the implementation of integrated financial management information systems (IFMIS) in Ghana, a developing country.

A qualitative research approach was used with a case study design. The data were collected from archival documents and semi-structured face-to-face interviews with participants who played a significant role in the implementation of IFMIS in the Ghanaian public sector.

The findings show that although IFMIS was considered by the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID), European Union and Danish International Development Agency to be rational, technical, universal and unproblematic, the use of the system in the Ghanaian public institutions was constrained by socio-cultural factors. These factors included power struggles between various technocrats; and negative attitudes such as opportunism and rent-seeking interest towards the IFMIS.

The research is grounded in a single case study, but the findings can be theoretically generalised to information technology (IT)-based financial management system exhibiting the same characteristics.

This study offers a practical implication for governments, consultants and donor agencies.

This study provides additional insight through the application of the sociology and duality of information technology theory to study a particular IT-based public financial management initiative.

The study examines the instigating factors behind the development of the local content (LC) policy in Ghana and it further investigates the accountability mechanisms that drive the LC policy implementation to promote sustainable development.

The study reports on a series of interviews with key actors using Institutional Theory and the application of Bovens’ (2010) Global Accountability Framework as a lens for discussion and interpretation of results.

The results reveal that two forces instigated LC policy enactment. One is external funding pressure from the Norwegian government and the World Bank. The other is the government’s engagement of Civil Society Organisations and other internal stakeholders to justify its activities and missions to signal adherence to impartiality, neutrality, and, to a lesser extent, solidarity. The analysis also reveals tensions in how accountability legitimacy relates to implementation of the LC policy. The study further discovers that while participation, transparency, monitoring, and evaluation are frequently invoked as de jure institutional legitimacy in oil and gas contracts, actual practices follow normative (de facto) institutionalism rather than what the LC policy law provides.

The interview had a relatively small number of participants, which can be argued to affect the study’s validity. Nevertheless, given the data saturation effect and the breadth of the data obtained from the respondents, this study represents a significant advancement in LC policy enactment knowledge, implementation mechanisms and enforcement in an emerging O&G industry.

The findings of this study suggest that future policy development in emerging economies should involve detailed consultations to increase decision-maker knowledge, process transparency and expectations. This will improve implementation and reduce stakeholder tension, conflict and mistrust.

The findings of this study build on earlier investigations into legitimacy, accountability and impression management in and outside the O&G sector. Also, the findings reveal the legitimising tactics used by O&G actors to promote local content sustainable development targets.

Accountability within the framework of circular economy (CE) is unknown even though the concept of CE is increasingly gaining momentum among governments, policymakers and academics. The purpose of this study is to investigate how accountability expresses itself in the CE.

This study draws on the institutional logics theory and adopted an exploratory qualitative study aimed at eliciting stakeholders’ perspectives on how accountability manifests in the context of CE. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews of cross section of Ghanaians. Respondents were recruited using the purposeful sampling method, and data saturation was reached with 35 respondents. Concurrent data collection and analysis were carried out, and emerging themes were investigated as the research progressed.

The results indicate that accountability manifestations take on a variety of forms and shapes through both formal and informal processes within the circularity space. The specific areas of accountability manifestations are through the social system embedded in the society, through the organization’s responsibility and transparency, through regular reporting to stakeholders using appropriate metrics, through agency and answerability to relevant stakeholders and through governance systems embedded within social interaction. Additionally, this study discovered that accountability manifestations would contribute to the firm’s sustainability by enhancing competitive advantage through stakeholder engagement, improving risk management and promoting creativity and innovation.

Given an apparent gap in the literature on circularity and accountability, as well as a call for further studies on the reflections of accountability within the CE, this study provides empirical evidence to fill these gaps.

The rapid development in the circular economy phenomenon raises the prospects of potential tension between the existing accounting practices and the principles of circular economy. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the barriers to adapting the current accounting practices to circular economy implementation.

The study uses exploratory qualitative study design, and semi-structured interviews were conducted among professional accountants in Ghana. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit respondents, and data saturation was achieved with 45 respondents. Data collection and analysis were undertaken concurrently and emerging themes were investigated as the study progressed.

The results indicate that there are several barriers to adapting the current accounting practices to circular economy implementation. The specific barriers as revealed in the data analysis are: accounting reporting barriers, financial/economic barriers, technological barriers, managerial/behavioral barriers, organizational barriers and institutional barriers.

The study responded to a global call by coalition circular accounting to identify and potentially over accounting related challenges that impedes the transition to circular economy. The study’s originality stems from the fact that it explores the issue from a developing country perspective, which has received limited attention in the extant literature.