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1 – 10 of 27Solomon Tawiah Yeboah, Yasmeen Haider and George Amoako
The study explored the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion enterprises in the emerging markets. The moderating…
Abstract
Purpose
The study explored the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion enterprises in the emerging markets. The moderating role of COVID-19 protocols implementations on buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction was further examined.
Design/methodology/approach
Buyer–seller interactions affecting customer satisfaction were divided into three constructs, namely, interactions relating to the overall customers shopping experience, smooth payment process and in-store interactions, and the COVID-19 protocols implementations were used as a moderator. A convenient sampling strategy was adopted to survey 450 customers of apparel fashion enterprises within the four regions in Ghana, of which 397 were validly used for the analysis. Existing questionnaires were adapted to collect data from the respondents. The data collected was therefore analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS programme to ascertain the nature of the relationships among the variables.
Findings
The study found that, in-store interactions, shopping experience and smooth payment processes directly influence customer satisfaction. However, the implementation of COVID-19 protocols failed to moderate the relationship between buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the study involve its context-specific, focusing on the small apparel and fashion market. Also, future researchers can re-examine the model in other geographical jurisdictions, focusing on small apparel owners’ competencies and other variables that position buyer–seller interactions as precursors of customer satisfaction in the small apparel fashion industry. The theoretical and managerial relevance of the findings are also discussed.
Originality/value
The paper extends the domain of buyer–seller interactions and customer satisfaction phenomena within the apparel fashion industry. Its examination of the impact of COVID-19 protocols’ implementation on customer satisfaction provides an insight into managers regarding how the applications can affect customers in a typical shopping environment.
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Jessie Yao Foli, Fred Awaah and Yeboah Solomon
Corporate governance and its training in universities have become an essential addition to the educational curriculum. Despite its expansion, students still need help to grasp…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate governance and its training in universities have become an essential addition to the educational curriculum. Despite its expansion, students still need help to grasp some concepts, affecting their academic performance. This paper examines the expected influence of gender and school libraries on comprehending corporate governance concepts in Ghanaian universities.
Design/methodology/approach
With the culturo-techno-contextual approach (CTCA) as the underlying theory, the study sampled 1050 undergraduate students from the selected Ghanaian public universities. The study adopted a quantitative approach, and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA.
Findings
The results show a statistically significant difference between male and female Ghanaian students in their understanding of corporate governance concepts, with the mean figures suggesting that males slightly understand corporate governance concepts more than females. The results also show a statistically significant difference among Ghanaian students studying using school libraries of varying quality in their understanding of corporate governance.
Originality/value
This study's novelty stems from examining the corporate governance curriculum in a developing country from the perspectives of gender and school library. Adopting the CTCA components in analysing school libraries and gender further evidences the study's novelty.
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The study examines the relationship between the interaction of indigenous–foreign cultures and public employee performance (PEP) in the Ghanaian public sector due to the perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
The study examines the relationship between the interaction of indigenous–foreign cultures and public employee performance (PEP) in the Ghanaian public sector due to the perceived unproductive cultures in the public sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a quantitative approach, where cross-sectional survey design is used to collect the data from Ghanaian public employees. The analysis is done using correlation and hierarchical regression techniques.
Findings
The results reveal that both indigenous and foreign cultures are pervasive in the Ghanaian public sector, with high power distance and individualism being dominant cultures. Furthermore, while the indigenous cultures have negative significant relationship with PEP, the foreign cultures have positive significant relationship with PEP. The foreign cultures effectively control the relationship between the indigenous cultures and PEP but insignificantly moderate such relationship.
Practical implications
The findings imply that deliberate attempts should be made to encourage the foreign cultures with attractive reward packages to induce workers. This will indirectly control the practice of the inimical cultures and ultimately reduce their negative effect on PEP.
Originality/value
The study contributes significantly to the extant literature by providing empirical evidence of the indigenous–foreign culture fit and PEP from a developing country, Ghana.
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This study aims to present a step-by-step implementation of the culturo–techno-contextual approach (CTCA) in a university classroom to teach industry and competitive analysis in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a step-by-step implementation of the culturo–techno-contextual approach (CTCA) in a university classroom to teach industry and competitive analysis in the Ghanaian undergraduate entrepreneurship development curriculum. It further investigates the efficacy of the CTCA in breaking difficulties related to the study of industry and competitive analysis as a difficult concept in the Ghanaian entrepreneurship development curriculum. In doing this, the CTCA is compared with the lecture method.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a quantitative approach. A quasi-experimental design is employed to gather data from 215 level 400 (4th-year undergraduate students) entrepreneurship development students at a Ghanaian public university. The experimental group was taught with CTCA, while the control group used the lecture method. The data was collected using the industry and competitive analysis achievement test (ICAAT). As random assignment to experimental and control groups were not possible, the data were subjected to an analysis of covariance approach with pre-test scores added as a covariate.
Findings
The results show that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group. The results further indicate the efficacy of CTCA in improving undergraduate students’ performance in complex concepts of entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
Researchers usually test alternative teaching methods to break down barriers to study difficulties. The study’s uniqueness stems from the CTCA’s ground-breaking application to the study of entrepreneurship development in a Ghanaian public university.
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Fred Awaah, Peter Okebukola, Juma Shabani, Helen Arkorful and Dorcas Adomaa Addo
Students' career choices and programmes of study are perceived to influence student understanding of many courses. Yet, research attention is limited on entrepreneurship education…
Abstract
Purpose
Students' career choices and programmes of study are perceived to influence student understanding of many courses. Yet, research attention is limited on entrepreneurship education that is a panacea for unemployment. Thus, this paper aims to assess the influence of students' career interests on students' comprehension of the entrepreneurship curriculum from a developing economy perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a mixed-method approach and explanatory sequential design is used to collect the data from 575 student studying entrepreneurship course in Ghana.
Findings
The results show that there is no statistically significant relationship between students' career interests and students' comprehension levels in concepts taught in the entrepreneurship curriculum but a statistically significant relationship between students' programme of study and students' comprehension levels in concepts taught in the entrepreneurship curriculum in Ghanaian universities.
Practical implications
The findings imply that the entrepreneurship course should be taught practically. This can be accomplished by creating a virtual enterprise modelled after a successful enterprise. This will help students understand the concepts being taught. Second, students who study different programmes should be taught using different methods. Lastly, students who study non-business-related programmes should be taught using methods that emphasise the basic ideas to aid students' understanding.
Originality/value
This study has made significant contribution by successful adopting the Piaget's cognitive constructivism to the learning of entrepreneurship from a developing country perspective and establish that no statistical relationship exist between students' career interests and students' comprehension levels in entrepreneurship education.
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Andrew Tetteh, Fred Awaah and Dorcas Addo
This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions regarding the causes and effects of cyberbullying among university students. The study also establishes whether or not there…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate students’ perceptions regarding the causes and effects of cyberbullying among university students. The study also establishes whether or not there would be statistically significant differences among cyberbullying victims, perpetrators, victim-perpetrators and bystanders in their thoughts on the causes and effects of cyberbullying on students’ social lives from a developing country perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses quantitative approach and cross-sectional survey design to collect primary data from 1,374 undergraduate students sampled from selected public universities in Ghana. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance analyses were carried out using statistical package for the social sciences.
Findings
The study reports popularity among friends, extortion, retaliation, stress, trauma and low self-esteem as causes of cyberbullying. Also, cyberbullying resulted in difficulty trusting people, low self-esteem and increased stress. The study also found statistically significant differences among cyberbullying victims, perpetrators, victim-perpetrators and bystanders in their thoughts on the causes and effects of cyberbullying on students’ social lives.
Practical implications
The study’s findings imply that cyberbullying has some fairly significant negative effects on students’ lives in Ghana and must be taken more seriously. Conditions must be created to ensure that perpetrators and victims are given the support needed to curb this menace. Detailed remediating measures are provided in the study.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the existing literature by studying cyberbullying perceptions among students from a relatively bully-tolerant culture.
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Mariyam Abdulhadi, Fred Awaah, Deborah Agbanimu, Emmanuel Okyere Ekwam and Emmanuella Sefiamor Heloo
The lecture method has been compared with teaching methods such as flip learning, cooperative learning and simulations to establish which holds the key to students' understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The lecture method has been compared with teaching methods such as flip learning, cooperative learning and simulations to establish which holds the key to students' understanding of concepts. What is bereft in the education literature is its comparative efficiency with the culturo-techno contextual approach (CTCA) in the teaching of computer science education.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted the quasi-experimental design to determine the efficacy of the CTCA in breaking difficulties related to the study of spreadsheets as a difficult concept in the Nigerian computer science education curriculum. Junior high school students studying computer science education participated in the study. The control group had 30 students, with 35 students in the experimental group. The experimental group was taught using CTCA, while the control group used the lecture method. The spread sheet achievement test, which had 40 items on spreadsheet, was used to collect data.
Findings
The results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group [F (1,60) = 41.89; p < 0.05]. The findings showed the potential of CTCA in improving students' performance in spreadsheets in the computer science education curriculum.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is hinged on its ground-breaking test of the CTCA to the study of the spreadsheet. The findings of this study indicate its efficacy in improving students' understanding of spreadsheet and computer science education.
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Obiora Kingsley Udem, Doris U. Aghoghovwia and Ebikabowei Emmanuel Baro
The purpose of this study is to determine the type of information Library and Information Science professionals share in the WhatsApp groups in Nigeria.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the type of information Library and Information Science professionals share in the WhatsApp groups in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a quantitative content analysis research design. With a total of 739 participants, 1,385 posts of six different WhatsApp groups of Library and Information Science professionals for three months were analyzed.
Findings
The study found that the most shared information among the Library and Information Science professionals in Nigeria is post on professional information. This demonstrates that librarians are determined to share professional information among them to promote the profession. This was followed by political information basically on the Nigerian Library Association national executives’ election, and job advertisements related to the library. Although a few members violate the rules by posting the kind of information not required in the WhatsApp group, the erring members are quickly called to order and warned by the WhatsApp group administrator.
Social implications
Professional ties can grow among information specialists and library practitioners through participation in virtual communities such as WhatsApp group. The implication of this work is in showing that social media especially WhatsApp groups can be used as a knowledge sharing mechanism to share timely, current and relevant information among professionals in different occupations.
Originality/value
Findings on the use of WhatsApp group in sharing professional information will inform several other Library and Information Science professionals in other countries of the need to adopt this channel to disseminate timely information related to up-coming conferences, training opportunities, workshops, call for papers and so on among the professionals. The results of this paper are valuable for anyone interested in an avenue to share or receive much quicker and pertinent information that saves the time of professionals in any occupation.
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Robert Stalone Buwule and Stephen M. Mutula
University libraries are not only crossroads of scholarly communities but are also now connecting business proprietors to places, institutions, and resources that support business…
Abstract
University libraries are not only crossroads of scholarly communities but are also now connecting business proprietors to places, institutions, and resources that support business growth. Therefore, through creating new formal and informal partnerships, university libraries can create friendly environments where external users like small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can work together to access and use research and innovation (R&I) information for the sustenance and growth of their business ventures. Vibrant and reengineered university library partnership programs can go a long way in engaging national, regional, and international business growth activities.
This chapter reports on a study carried out on Ugandan university libraries and how they can serve SMEs with their university’s research output. The purpose of the study was to investigate the need for restructuring university library partnerships in order to serve SMEs better through their R&I information services. The study used an exploratory research design and used questionnaires and interviews to collect data. This chapter reports on available formal and informal innovative university libraries’ partnerships with different organizational levels of SMEs; the communication and organizational structures between university libraries and SMEs; shared visions, missions, standards, and policies of Ugandan university libraries and SMEs; and the roles and collaborations with professional library bodies such as the Consortium of Ugandan University Libraries (CUUL), Uganda Library and Information Association (ULIA), and the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL), among others.
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