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The purpose of this paper is to offer a state of the art description of open air markets (OAM), a little-known phenomenon that is indispensable in Africa’s consumer packaged goods industry.

A qualitative methodology comprising in-depth semi-structured interviews and direct observation was employed.

Analysis of data from Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, reveals that channel members have roles that are different from that of their Western counterparts. For example, distributors often do not distribute and principals are expected to actively sell on behalf of their distributors to empty the latter’s warehouse. Also, while many end-users in developing countries expect credit sales and opportunity to bargain, extant literature does not include these demands in the formal list of service output demands. Another major finding is the surprising order underlying OAM. It is the bedrock of commercial activities: for most consumer packaged goods manufacturers, sales through OAM account for over 90 percent of revenue.

The focus on one industry and country limits the generalizability of the above findings.

Africa is the next growth frontier. Tapping into this growth requires a deep understanding and appreciation of the important role played by its unique marketing channels.

Given the dearth of documented knowledge about marketing channels in emerging markets, this study addresses an important gap. Its findings could inform theory development and encourage more research on marketing channels in developing countries.

Evaluation and measurement (E&M) remains a critical and debated topic among communication scholars and practice. Substantial research and professional efforts have been devoted to discussing what should be measured and which methods should be applied. Most of the E&M models seem to carry a positivist imprint. But, in real-life, organizations could not have clear aims, enough resources, or adequate informative systems to support E&M. Moreover, several contextual factors could affect the implementation of E&M management processes. The communication literature rarely highlights these factors. To fulfill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to theorize the contextual factors relevant to the management of the evaluation process.

A scoping literature review was carried out exploring the role of contextual factors and impact of contextual factors on E&M management processes. More specifically, the review examines the contribution provided by program evaluation and performance measurement (PM) fields of research.

The paper provides a scoping review of program evaluation and PM approaches. Additionally, it explains how both streams of thought argued the importance of contextual factors, such as organizational, relational, cultural and communicative factors, for the success of any evaluation processes. The study underlined that the main evaluation models used in the field of communication have overlooked these studies and put on evidence the role of contextual factors in effectively executing communication E&M.

The paper enriches the dominant rationale concerning the E&M management processes by incorporating literature on: program evaluation; and PM. The analysis could provide useful insights also from a professional perspective, by helping practitioners for a contextual assessment of strategic communication programs and activities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations among knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL), knowledge worker satisfaction (KWS), knowledge worker productivity (KWP) and organizational performance (OP). The study hypothesizes that the explicit mixtures, i.e. KOL, KWS and KWP can improve OP.

The study sample was composed of 248 academicians and management staff of higher educational institutes (HEIs). The relations were tested through Smart PLS 3.2.9. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was also used for examining configurational paths.

The study found a substantial direct influence of KOL on OP. The findings revealed that KOL significantly affects KWS, and KWS enhances KWP, which ultimately improves the OP of HEIs. Grounded on the fsQCA, the outcomes exposed configurational trails to the enhanced OP.

There is scarce of studies that determine the connection of KOL, KWS, KWP and OP. This is one of the preliminary studies that examine the association of KOL, KWS, KWP and OP in HEIs. From a procedural viewpoint, the research subsidizes by merging symmetric and asymmetric tools to further understand structural issues. The use of fsQCA discloses numerous paths to improve OP and renders asymmetric relations. fsQCA also aids to comprehend the relations that might not be directly understandable via symmetric means.