Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

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The effects of individual and organizational factors on ethical behavior in the South African construction industry
(2019) Makonye, Chido
Employees often face many difficult situations that demand ethical decision making from the viewpoint of society and organizations. Various factors influence the outcome of ethical or unethical decision-making and behaviour of employees. This paper briefly examined some of the major factors that may affect ethical behaviour in construction companies. The strength of these factors may vary from individuals to individuals, organizations to organizations, and situation to situation. The factors that were investigated are personal values, corporate ethical values and the organisational climate. Age and gender were used as moderators in this study. South Africa is a developing country in which many private and public organizations are being faced with a lot of fraud and corruption. It is not only in private organization but also the government. This call for an investigation on ethical behaviour but to solve a problem one must find the source of the problem. The study was designed to answer the major question: Are there any significance relationships between personal values, corporate values and organisational climate and ethical behaviour in the South African construction industry? The researcher employed a quantitative research method. Data collection was done by use of questionnaires distributed to various construction companies. A computer programmer called SPSS version 25 and Microsoft excel were used to analyse data. Descriptive statistics was used to interpret data collected from the first section of the questionnaire that is the biographic information. Linear regression and correlations were used to test the proposed hypothesis. Multiple regression was used to test the moderation effect of age and gender. The findings largely confirm previous studies that personal values and corporate values influence ethical behaviour. However contrary to some previous studies, there was no significant relationship between ethical behaviour and organisational climate. Conclusions, findings and recommendations were drawn from the results.
Sovereign credit ratings, foreign participation and bond yields in selected African countries
(2020) Rusike, Tatonga Gardner
The thesis investigates two main themes-the influence of changes in foreign participation and sovereign ratings on local currency and Eurobond yields. As background analysis, we first explored the development of local currency government bond markets in Africa through a literature survey. The theoretical discussion builds on the concept of original sin developed by Eichengreen and Hausmann (1999) and proposes a modified way of measuring original sin. We then examine whether changes in foreign participation impact bond yields and volatility in six African countries employing a battery of econometric techniques in both panel and time series settings. We establish that increase in foreign participation reduces bond yields confirming the benefits of investor base diversification. Other than the level of foreign participation, we also observe that the lag of bond yields, policy interest rate, inflation, exchange rate and global policy rate are significant variables explaining the behaviour of bond yields in the group. However, the impact on bond yields volatility is mixed. While increasing foreign participation has no impact on volatility in the group setting, isolating South Africa shows that changes in foreign participation do impact on the volatility of bond yields. Thus, increasing foreign participation in South Africa does come with a cost of higher bond yields volatility. The second theme addresses the political economy of sovereign credit ratings in Africa and empirically examines the impact of changes in sovereign credit ratings on bond yields using event study and panel vector auto-regressions techniques. The political economy analysis reflects that while credit rating agencies have faced global criticisms, there are Africa specific challenges. Using tests on ratings accuracy and ratings failures, we showed that African countries have higher default rates than global averages. Our data on African sovereign ratings show that credit rating agencies failed during the 2011 Arab spring and the 2014 oil price fall. Our event study analysis reflects that only close to a third of rating actions directly impact bond yields. The empirical analysis largely suggests that changes in sovereign ratings are no longer unanticipated, and not carrying much new information
The sustainability reporting practice of the South African mining industry: community perspectives
(2020) Memela, Nomathemba Melody
Several studies have been conducted to understand the contribution of the private sector to the global mission of Sustainable Development through the examination of the Sustainability Reporting practice of these actors. However, the accuracy and effectiveness of this now prevalent business practice as a reflection of true company sustainability activities and performance on the ground is still in question globally. Previous work has investigated this contribution and reporting practice through examining the secondary data of company sustainability reports as a basis, and has failed to look at it from the point of view of the external stakeholders on the ground, at whom the sustainability contribution as well as the reporting practice is normally targeted. Studies and literature in this area has also focused on the developed world, and less so on the developing world, mostly polarised, and most in need of sustainable development. To close this gap, this study focused on the lived experiences of key community stakeholders in order to bring to light and investigate the primary evidence of sustainability on the ground. Anchoring the research enquiry in the socio-political Stakeholder and Legitimacy theories as the dominant theoretical underpinnings of the sustainability reporting (SR) practice, a qualitative inductive case study of two South African mining communities where two different mining company operations are located was carried out. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews as the basis of the analysis process, where the analytical strategy of grounded theory was employed. After which, relevant secondary data was collected from respective company sustainability reports to enable a counter analysis. The findings of the study confirmed a lack of accuracy and consistency between the sustainability reporting of these mining companies and the sustainability reality experience of community stakeholders on the ground. The most basic impacts of mining still remained in the two study settings, disparities were found in how these were reported by the mining companies, and misalignment in the understanding of what constitutes mining impacts and therefore what informs the sustainability priorities of the settings. The engagement of community stakeholders by the mine was found to be poor, with engagement dynamics described as lacking and ineffective. Stark power asymmetries were found in the relationships amongst various stakeholders with the mining companies. Furthermore, the construction and management of mining legitimacy in the two settings was not inclusive of community stakeholders. As a result, only some legal legitimacy existed, social legitimacy of mining was found to be glaringly absent. The overall conclusion of the study was that the SR practice of these companies was found to be lacking. The applicability of the two dominant theories that generally underpin the practice of SR was found to be insufficient in describing the practice of these cases in a developing country setting. Unique structural conditions resulting from South Africa’s apartheid and colonial past, its neo-liberal political economy contributes to this and undermines genuine commitment to sustainability. Evidence suggests an important applicability of institutional theory in this setting. There is also a need to look into indigenous theories for a more culturally-relevant and human-centred approach required in such a developing country setting.
An integrative cognitive-behavioural framework for predicting collective intelligence in small teams
(2020) Yu-Jen Chen, Jefferson
Leaders’ capability to empower their employees to form small intelligent teams will profoundly impact the competitiveness of their organisations, considering that unrelenting disruption and fierce competition are the norms in today’s business landscape. In part, owing to this reason, the study of collective intelligence (CI) has emerged as a notable interdisciplinary body of knowledge in recent years. Scholars have regarded CI as the socio-psychological concept that accounts for how team members can derive superior ideas leading to higher performance when working together as collectives instead of as individuals. The study of CI in adults is relatively new ground for management science and various research gaps persist. Not only does a well-validated CI predicting framework not exist, many CI studies were not carried out in settings that closely resemble the real-life organisational context. Some researchers even contest the legitimacy and the existence of CI. To study CI in small teams can be challenging. One of the pertinent challenges is that factors attributing towards the development of individual adults’ intelligence are not well-understood. Newly emerged studies have further highlighted the poor correlation between scores generated from widely-adopted intelligent quotients (IQ) tests and adults’ intelligence. Other studies have asserted that one cannot simply assign adults’ IQ as the results of their biological attributes and further advocate that it is more accurate to study what the cognitive-behaviours are that influence the intelligence of adults in the day-to-day context. In a similar trend of logic, CI researchers have greatly accentuated that an integrative cognitive-behavioural framework that can predict the CI of the small teams is well-needed but has not yet been established. Taking these scholarly recommendations as the basis for the research design, this study regards CI as an emergent asset that arises from the cognitive-behaviours between team members during the problem-solving and decision-making processes. This study assessed the causal relations between twenty hypotheses of three cognitive-behavioural clusters, viz. resource acquisition and utilisation (RAU), strategic thinking (ST) and team members exchange (TMX), and the CI of the Action Learning Project (ALP) teams based on the outcomes of ALP competitions. The lack of academic consensus on how these twenty cognitive-behaviours impact the CI of small teams provides added novelty to this research. Considering that ALP teams are subjected to an environment that shares a fair amount of similarities with the real-life corporate scenarios but with less interference by other complex issues, the empirical findings allow researchers to further their scholarly knowledge, practitioners to design better ALP content and leaders to empower their teams. A questionnaire was developed and tested before inviting research participants to rate their own cognitive-behaviours as individuals and concurrently to assess the same cognitive-behaviours of their teams as collectives. Seeing that CI studies commonly rely on participants’ self-reporting data about the perceptions on their own cognitive-behaviours only but hardly having been probed and compared against the outcome of the participants’ perceptions of their teams as collective, contrasting two surveying approaches allow this study to conclude which approach is more appropriate for CI related studies. The responses of 406 delegates from 12 programmes were deemed fit for use, and the datasets were subjected to various statistical calculations. The findings revealed that the two datasets obtained from the two surveying approaches produced two slightly different structural path models after they were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistic techniques. The hypotheses were reassigned into different factor dimensionalities, and subsequently, the partial least squares structural equation modelling calculations were applied to these two models. The statistical results indicated that the H-null for one of the 20 hypotheses must be rejected. An explanation was offered. Subsequently, the factors accepted were ranked according to the degree of potential impact on the overall CI of the ALP teams. The plausible rationales and the implications of this ranking are discussed. In addition, it was found that the datasets obtained from the “Rate Team” surveying approach produced a slightly better CI predictability than the ones obtained from the “Rate Self” surveying approach. The suitability of the surveying approach for CI related study is then discussed. Despite the differences between these two structural path models being marginal, this study observed a profound contrast of the key insights of each model. For the model generated from “Rate Self” surveying approach, it underscores the importance of the RAU cognitive-behaviours. Whereas the model generated from “Rate Self” surveying approach advocates that small teams must pay equal emphasis to all three types of cognitive-behaviours (RAU, ST and TMX) in order to boost overall CI of the ALP teams. The findings challenge the popular management philosophy of “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Instead, the outcome of the study draws attention to the equal importance of gathering and utilising resources, thinking strategically and harnessing helpful styles of interaction among team members. The limitations and contributions were discussed. Recommendations for future studies are also proposed based on the findings uncovered.
Essays on cryptocurrencies and traditional assets in emerging market economies: dynamic modelling, connectedness, and spillovers
(2020) Omane-Adjepong, Maurice
The last decade has experienced notable changes and unique innovations in the global financial system. In particular, the introduction of cryptocurrencies, pioneered by Bitcoin and later other alternative coins (best known as altcoins) by libertarian cryptographers after several efforts in the 1990s to usher in electronic currencies foundered, has been lauded and likewise received enormous attention worldwide, raising many concerns for governments, monetary authorities and other regulatory bodies. Originally designed as electronic cash for decentralised peer-to-peer online financial transactions, secured by cryptographic algorithms, cryptocurrency, a specialised kind of digital currency, in barely a decade of existence, is challenged with an identity crisis. The debate as to what cryptocurrency is, or has become looms in the minds of the general public, and it has been the subject of media commentary. At the same time, the limited amount of research on the topic has only raised more questions than answers. For instance, not only are the existing studies not attacking the root of the deepest questions posed by the rise of cryptocurrencies to date, but also they are not robustly studied methodologically. The depth of analysis is shallow, and the scope of the studies published on the subject matter so far is very limited, both in space and time. Additionally, the extent of the relatedness of the new digital currency market to traditional assets, especially in frontier and emerging economies remains a virgin field. This naturally raises additional concerns: does the emergence of cryptocurrencies offer any relevant economic benefits to these emerging market economies? What implications does this evolution hold for established financial systems? Answers to these questions, and many more are crucial for monetary policy effectiveness, legislation and regulation, financial system stability, the future of cryptocurrencies, and overarchingly, to illuminate the blind spots of the enthusiastic libertarian public, as well as the general investor community. iii In light of the above, this thesis makes a bold attempt at addressing some of the weaknesses of extant research, extend the frontiers of knowledge in this new financial instrument, and shed insights on cryptocurrencies in emerging market economies, proxied by those in the G20. The study produced interesting juxtapositions in three essays. The first essay examined the evolving characteristics of cryptocurrencies under five sub-themes, and presents a map for analysing the cryptocurrency market. We find that Bitcoin and the largest long-lived altcoins are collectively unique instruments that share features of paper money, security assets (mostly equities), and commodity money (such as gold and oil), making the digital currencies a “trinity-hybrid” financial instrument which could best operate under the private sector to complement emerging currencies and assets. For emerging market economies, cryptocurrencies, in our view, is a three-in-one financial instrument, if and only if its role is limited to exchange of goods and services, and helping facilitate transactions of various kinds. This, in turn, raises a number of possibilities for recalibrating the current financial architecture while addressing the regulatory changes that ought to be in place for a well-functioning diversified economy. The second empirical essay found evidence in favour of an extremely weakly correlated market, and later, multifaceted economic benefits of cryptocurrency in times where emerging market economies’ assets wander in distress. This positions the new currency market to the advantage of heterogeneous groups of emerging market investors. However, we caution that expectations of such derived economic benefits need to be examined further on a case by case basis, and in a measured manner, especially given that the cryptocurrency market is still at its embryonic stages of evolution. iv The third and final essay allays the fears of investors and market participants, and reveals for the first time that the cryptocurrency market is less influenced by existing highly integrated instruments, and has little effect on emerging markets, and consequently pose, for now, a negligible danger. At their current level of development, some economies are not yet exposed to the variety of developments in the world of electronic commerce and payment systems that make the algorithms that power the peer-to-peer decentralised ledger platforms seamless. This may change in the future. For now, we are sure that the coming into being of cryptocurrencies is an inevitable consequence of the financial sector paradigms of the last few decades, however, the distributional consequences across regions, countries and among different market participants are largely asymmetric. The insights gleaned from this study, therefore, open doors for policymakers to properly fine-tune their economies to maximise the upside potential presented by this asset class and minimise the downside risks, in the light of what has been learned about the role of cryptocurrencies so far.
An analysis of the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility in the mining sector: a comparative study of South Africa and Zimbabwe mining companies
(2020) Mandevere, Melody
Over the past years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increased attention from the corporate world and international organisations. There has been a call for an Africanised CSR agenda based on the African context since CSR activities being undertaken in developing countries do not address the root cause of poverty and fail to improve relations with local communities. There is concern over the sustainability of the CSR projects undertaken by mining companies in Zimbabwe and the motives behind CSR activities aimed at benefitting the mining companies’ shareholders and less on the community where they operate. CSR projects in Zimbabwe differ to that of South Africa although the companies are subsidiaries. This comparative study between Zimbabwe and South Africa’s mining sectors has been carried out to analyse the effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The study followed the interpretivism philosophy and the qualitative research design with multiple case studies in the two countries. The target population for the research were two companies with branches in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Hence four mines were chosen, two in Zimbabwe and two in South Africa. A total of 22 respondents were purposively selected consisting of community representatives, mining company representatives, non-governmental stakeholders and governmental stakeholders. Data was triangulated by integrating semi-structured interviews and secondary documents. The findings indicated that in South Africa there is more stakeholder inclusion and ownership of the CSR projects as compared to Zimbabwe. This is more attributed to the nature of the South African legislation on CSR that encourages stakeholder inclusion. The stakeholder inclusion and ownership contributes to project sustainability which then leads to effectiveness of CSR. The research also concluded that an Africanised CSR agenda should prioritize legal iii issues over others. This means African countries need to attend to their legislation so that CSR is mandatory with ‘social impact’ as the driving force. The study contributes to the CSR literature specifically as a comparative study between African countries. This is one of the few empirical studies that compare CSR in neighbouring developing countries. Moreover, the study also addresses whether there is a need for a more Africanised CSR to address the social challenges and understand the effectiveness of the Africanised CSR agenda leading to sustainable development
A framework for the turnaround of state-owned companies in South Africa
(2020) Mutamba, Jeremiah
Organizational decline is increasing globally, particularly following the 2008 global economic downturn. This is affecting both the private and public sectors. The solution to these challenges lies in responsive and sustainable turnaround programs. The turnaround concept came to the fore in the 1970s with the seminal work of Schendel and colleagues. Although growing, turnaround research has mainly focused on developed economies and the private sector. Limited research has been done in Africa, South Africa, and on state-owned companies (SOCs). Research gaps have been identified, highlighting lack of understanding, experience, and grounded knowledge on public sector turnaround. The gaps are attributed to conceptual misunderstanding; lack of empirical research and theorizing; and research fragmentation, inadequacy, contradiction, and inconclusiveness. This study contributes towards addressing the research gaps by identifying key drivers for the successful turnaround of declining South African SOCs, establishing how the drivers compare with drivers for private sector and the turnaround drivers for developed economy firms. Using the findings, the study develops a pragmatic turnaround framework to guide practitioners in crafting and implementing responsive turnaround programs and strategies for distressed SA SOCs. The study followed a qualitative approach, using a critical realist paradigm. The study used two data sets, documentary data and interview data collected through semi-structured interviews. Thirty-five participants selected from former board members and executives of SA SOCs and private firms participated in the study. The study identified 25 turnaround drivers as key to the successful turnaround of declining SA SOCs, all verified as significantly influential in the turnaround of SA SOCs. Thirteen drivers were found to impact at policy level, with 20 drivers influencing at operational level. Also, 17 drivers were found in existing literature, and corroborated by study findings. The study identified 8 new drivers; these drivers were influenced by the South African business context. These drivers include a capable leadership, a stable turnaround leadership, ability to manage political power, ability to influence politically-linked unions, sound governance, and implementation of designed strategies. Using the study outcomes, the study developed a drivers-driven turnaround framework useful in guiding South African SOCs turnarounds. A key element of the framework is securing of strategic alignment between turnaround leadership and the Executive Authority to create a positive power-governance microcosm in the SOC. The framework underscores the significance of a conducive power-governance microcosm within the SOC; allowing for the turnaround leadership to focus their energies on the turnaround of the distressed SOC. Critical to achieve this is the leadership’s ability to manage political power - one of the key drivers identified. The framework was successfully tested using two successful turnaround SOCs as well as inputs from unsuccessful SA SOC turnarounds
Self-knowledge and leadership effectiveness in corporate South Africa
(2020) Ngouessy-Guibinga, Gabriel Landry
This study explored leadership effectiveness and self-knowledge through a constructivist grounded theory paradigm. The research also looked at the journey of some attributes of leadership effectiveness from the leaders’ selves to their bodies according to the dualistic effect, and the impact this has on shaping the effective actions taken by those leaders towards others. It finally presented the impact of those effective actions on others, as well as the manner in which they respond to the effective actions taken by their leaders towards them. The study was guided by the following research objectives: (a) to assess the leaders’ understanding of the concepts of self-knowledge, self-body dualism and leadership effectiveness; (b) to assess the informants’ view on the relationship that could exist between self-knowledge and leadership effectiveness; and (c) to build a theory of leadership effectiveness based on the concept of self-knowledge. Twelve leaders took part in the research, and all the models that emerged from this study are grounded in their presentation of their experiences. The results of this study suggest that the leaders experienced the acquisition of self-knowledge as the journey of a lifetime through continuous spiritual, emotional, verbal and physical exchanges of the self and the body with the external universes these leaders had described through self-doubt, self-reflection, unlearning, challenges, experience and feedback from others. A broader understanding of the way in which the interviewed leaders perceived their individual processes of acquiring self-knowledge and the impact this could have on the shaping of their leadership styles, which would determine whether or not they would be effective leaders, is permitted through the study of the leaders’ quotidian life experiences, which were subsequently mapped in the context of their professional, personal and informal social worlds. The entire self-knowledge acquisition experience was reflected by the inclusion of their individual experiences and knowledge, their social world and the descriptions they gave of these. Lastly, if the journey of self-knowledge for leadership effectiveness is assessed only from the viewpoint of having failed in one’s leadership role, then the whole purpose of undertaking the journey is missed. Immersing oneself in the individual experiences of the interviewed leaders has practical inferences for academics and consultants in the field of self-knowledge-based leadership
The impact of independent power producers entering the South African electricity supply industry
(2020) Mokhethi, Keketso Elijah
For over a decade, South Africa has been experiencing electricity supply challenges which were mainly due to generation or distribution failures, as well as operational inefficiencies at Eskom; and this raised concerns about the power utility’s ability to guarantee security and quality of supply. In order to address these challenges, several attempts were made in the past to introduce competition in the electricity supply industry, without any material success. The latest attempt has been to accelerate the introduction of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) through the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme. This study investigated the impact of IPPs gaining access to the South African electricity supply industry which has been dominated by Eskom for a long time; and if the current market conditions are conducive for a competitive electricity market in the country. The study also identified some of the market barriers experienced by different IPPs. A qualitative methodology, premised on an interpretive paradigm, was employed for the collection of data. The study specifically focused on the South African context as a developing country. The sample included experienced individuals who are either currently working or have previously worked in the industry, thereby enhancing the richness of interviews conducted. The study found that the cost of electricity using renewable technologies such as wind and solar PV (generated by IPPs) has reduced significantly and is therefore cheaper than current prices paid by customers which is mainly based on power generated by Eskom using coal, which contributes significantly to the levels of pollution in the country. However, customers are not benefiting from the reduced costs since IPPs sell their power directly to Eskom which on-sells to customers using tariffs that continue to escalate at above-inflation rates. Furthermore, the introduction of IPPs did not result in improved operational efficiencies. The study also found that market entry barriers were low with a few minor challenges. Another finding of the study is that the current electricity market structure is not conducive for competition to prevail and therefore a restructure of the South African electricity market should be considered. The study was original and makes contributions to the theory of public choice and the theory of economic regulation
Stock Price Prediction in Sub-Saharan Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Murekachiro, Dennis; Mokoaleli, Thabang
Investors, researchers and practitioners are continuously exploring various ways to understanding stock market price movements and the development of techniques that can assist them in accurately predicting the stock markets and improve on in- vestment decision making and policy making. This study sought out to develop a prediction model for stock markets, determine which factors move stock prices and investigate the inefficiency of 11 selected stock markets. In order to predict the stock markets, this study made use of deep learning prediction models (LSTM, RNN, GRU, BLSTM, BRNN, BGRU) and statistical GAM in ten sub-Saharan African coun- tries (Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and the S&P500 (USA). Stock markets are predictable with inef- ficiencies found for the African stock markets as evidenced through calendar anoma-lies and high prediction accuracies whilst the lower prediction results for the S&P500 indicate market efficiency. The prediction model greatly improved prediction accuracy. However, there is no remarkable difference between unidirectional and bidirectional prediction models accuracy results for the eleven countries concerned. GAM statistical approach outperformed compared to all deep neural networks architectures in this study. The varying results for each country point to the uniqueness of each market confirming the varying market ecologies. In addition, this study also investigated the effect of macroeconomic variables (inflation, money supply, interest rates, exchange rates) on stock prices. Time series analyses were implemented through Johansen cointegration and Granger causality tests for short and long run relationships between macroeconomic variables and each stock market. Overall, empirical results for the African stock markets reveal a negative association between closing price and exchange rates, a positive relationship between money supply and closing stock prices for all countries. Mixed results for the other variables for each country attest to the fact that stock markets are unique and are influenced differently by these macroeconomic variables. Notably, African stock markets relate differently to macroeconomic variables as compared to developed stock markets. Stock market predictions were run on a python 3.5 environment using deep learning libraries Theano, Tensorflow, and Keras and Scikit learn and the time series analysis was analyzed using stata13 and R 3.6 software
An analysis of the effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility in the mining sector: a comparative study of South Africa and Zimbabwe mining companies
(2021) Mandevere, Melody
Over the past years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increased attention from the corporate world and international organisations. There has been a call for an Africanised CSR agenda based on the African context since CSR activities being undertaken in developing countries do not address the root cause of poverty and fail to improve relations with local communities. There is concern over the sustainability of the CSR projects undertaken by mining companies in Zimbabwe and the motives behind CSR activities aimed at benefitting the mining companies’ shareholders and less on the community where they operate. CSR projects in Zimbabwe differ to that of South Africa although the companies are subsidiaries. This comparative study between Zimbabwe and South Africa’s mining sectors has been carried out to analyse the effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The study followed the interpretivism philosophy and the qualitative research design with multiple case studies in the two countries. The target population for the research were two companies with branches in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Hence four mines were chosen, two in Zimbabwe and two in South Africa. A total of 22 respondents were purposively selected consisting of community representatives, mining company representatives, non-governmental stakeholders and governmental stakeholders. Data was triangulated by integrating semi-structured interviews and secondary documents. The findings indicated that in South Africa there is more stakeholder inclusion and ownership of the CSR projects as compared to Zimbabwe. This is more attributed to the nature of the South African legislation on CSR that encourages stakeholder inclusion. The stakeholder inclusion and ownership contributes to project sustainability which then leads to effectiveness of CSR. The research also concluded that an Africanised CSR agenda should prioritize legal issues over others. This means African countries need to attend to their legislation so that CSR is mandatory with ‘social impact’ as the driving force. The study contributes to the CSR literature specifically as a comparative study between African countries. This is one of the few empirical studies that compare CSR in neighbouring developing countries. Moreover, the study also addresses whether there is a need for a more Africanised CSR to address the social challenges and understand the effectiveness of the Africanised CSR agenda leading to sustainable development
An integrative cognitive-behavioural framework for predicting collective intelligence in small teams
(2021) Chen, Jefferson Yu-Jen
Leaders’ capability to empower their employees to form small intelligent teams will profoundly impact the competitiveness of their organisations, considering that unrelenting disruption and fierce competition are the norms in today’s business landscape. In part, owing to this reason, the study of collective intelligence (CI) has emerged as a notable interdisciplinary body of knowledge in recent years. Scholars have regarded CI as the socio-psychological concept that accounts for how team members can derive superior ideas leading to higher performance when working together as collectives instead of as individuals. The study of CI in adults is relatively new ground for management science and various research gaps persist. Not only does a well-validated CI predicting framework not exist, many CI studies were not carried out in settings that closely resemble the real-life organisational context. Some researchers even contest the legitimacy and the existence of CI. To study CI in small teams can be challenging. One of the pertinent challenges is that factors attributing towards the development of individual adults’ intelligence are not well-understood. Newly emerged studies have further highlighted the poor correlation between scores generated from widely-adopted intelligent quotients (IQ) tests and adults’ intelligence. Other studies have asserted that one cannot simply assign adults’ IQ as the results of their biological attributes and further advocate that it is more accurate to study what the cognitive-behaviours are that influence the intelligence of adults in the day-to-day context. In a similar trend of logic, CI researchers have greatly accentuated that an integrative cognitive-behavioural framework that can predict the CI of the small teams is well-needed but has not yet been established. Taking these scholarly recommendations as the basis for the research design, this study regards CI as an emergent asset that arises from the cognitive-behaviours between team members during the problem-solving and decision-making processes. This study assessed the causal relations between twenty hypotheses of three cognitive-behavioural clusters, viz. resource acquisition and utilisation (RAU), strategic thinking (ST) and team members exchange (TMX), and the CI of the Action Learning Project (ALP) teams based on the outcomes of ALP competitions. The lack of academic consensus on how these twenty cognitive-behaviours impact the CI of small teams provides added novelty to this research. Considering that ALP teams are subjected to an environment that shares a fair amount of similarities with the real-life corporate scenarios but with less interference by other complex issues, the empirical findings allow researchers to further their scholarly knowledge, practitioners to design better ALP content and leaders to empower their teams. A questionnaire was developed and tested before inviting research participants to rate their own cognitive-behaviours as individuals and concurrently to assess the same cognitive-behaviours of their teams as collectives. Seeing that CI studies commonly rely on participants’ self-reporting data about the perceptions on their own cognitive-behaviours only but hardly having been probed and compared against the outcome of the participants’ perceptions of their teams as collective, contrasting two surveying approaches allow this study to conclude which approach is more appropriate for CI related studies. The responses of 406 delegates from 12 programmes were deemed fit for use, and the datasets were subjected to various statistical calculations. The findings revealed that the two datasets obtained from the two surveying approaches produced two slightly different structural path models after they were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistic techniques. The hypotheses were reassigned into different factor dimensionalities, and subsequently, the partial least squares structural equation modelling calculations were applied to these two models. The statistical results indicated that the H-null for one of the 20 hypotheses must be rejected. An explanation was offered. Subsequently, the factors accepted were ranked according to the degree of potential impact on the overall CI of the ALP teams. The plausible rationales and the implications of this ranking are discussed. In addition, it was found that the datasets obtained from the “Rate Team” surveying approach produced a slightly better CI predictability than the ones obtained from the “Rate Self” surveying approach. The suitability of the surveying approach for CI related study is then discussed. Despite the differences between these two structural path models being marginal, this study observed a profound contrast of the key insights of each model. For the model generated from “Rate Self” surveying approach, it underscores the importance of the RAU cognitive-behaviours. Whereas the model generated from “Rate Self” surveying approach advocates that small teams must pay equal emphasis to all three types of cognitive-behaviours (RAU, ST and TMX) in order to boost overall CI of the ALP teams. The findings challenge the popular management philosophy of “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Instead, the outcome of the study draws attention to the equal importance of gathering and utilising resources, thinking strategically and harnessing helpful styles of interaction among team members. The limitations and contributions were discussed. Recommendations for future studies are also proposed based on the findings uncovered
Culture, contraceptive attitudes and advertising perceptions: the case of rural Zimbabwe
(2021) Jaravaza, Divaries Cosmas
This study examined information processing and behavioural responses to reproductive health advertising in subsistence marketplaces, providing an opportunity to advance marketing science through deepening our understanding of rural consumers‘ patterns of advertising responses (cognitive and affective) and how they relate to values, social axioms, contraceptive attitudes and socio-demographic factors. Birth control and safe sexual practices are important concerns, but, are least understood in the institutional context of subsistence marketplaces (Burgess & Steenkamp, 2006). Study 1 was on relations between culture and contraceptive attitudes and study 2 was on latent classes of advertisements responses to advertisement stimuli designed for subsistence markets. Study 1 and 2 had 395 and 225 respondents respectively. Measurement scales for study 1 were: the Portrait Values Questionnaire, the Social Axioms Scale, and the Contraceptive Attitude Scale. Study 2 used the same scales which were used in study 1 plus Mitchell and Olson‘s (2000) Attitudes Towards the Ad Scale items to evaluate four poster advertisements designed through qualitative research in rural Zimbabwe. Structural equation modeling was done using the rigorous two step approach of Anderson and Gerbing (1988), of which study 1 established that resultant self-conservation and religiosity had positive relations to contraceptive attitudes, whilst, fate control had negative relations to contraceptive attitudes. In study 2, the best fitting model, using latent class analysis, identified three segments of subsistence women‘s cognitive and affective perceptions of poster ads. Rural women‘s public health poster ads responses have not been previously studied. The four poster ads and the cues designed specifically for the unique context of subsistence markets rural consumers are a contribution to advertising research and practice. Also this study is the first to combine contraceptive attitudes, culture and advertising perceptions. Important lessons on ads design, measurement properties of scales and constructs relations are outlined
Policy uncertainty, economic distance, and macroeconomic variables in developing economies
(2021) Adjei, Abigail Naa Korkor
Although economic policy uncertainty (EPU) is a less explored source of uncertainty that is related to economic policy, economic policy uncertainty in describing the state of an economy has assumed dominance in decision-making in countries and has remained relevant to investors, governments, and policy makers across the globe. This has become the standard because studies have proved that policy uncertainty has a significant effect on the overall economy and heightened EPU (especially during recessions) has the potential to harm economic activities. The literature review revealed evidence that EPU comoves with business cycles, that uncertainty influences the distance between economies, and that EPU spillover shocks from one economy to another have a significant impact on the recipient economy's economic activities. As yet, there has been scant systematic investigation of these possible interactions. The study of EPU is of major importance to emerging market economies (EMEs) because, although literature has proved the harmful effects of EPU on EMEs, the studies done is meager since majority of study on EPU have focused on developed countries. These implications of uncertainty on EMEs have made it very relevant to focus on the role uncertainty plays in EMEs. In order to make significant contribution to the role EPU plays in EMEs, this thesis focuses on addressing three main problems. To begin, the study examines whether EPU correlates with business cycles and, if so, whether EPU is the cause or effect of recessions across business cycles. The study makes an important contribution by finding answers to why business cycles fluctuate. This study deviates from traditional sources of fluctuations and focus on uncertainty as a potential cause or effect of business cycle fluctuations. We also propose new variables as measures of ii business cycles (GDP, CPI, SPX, import, export and broad money). The wavelet multiple correlation and wavelet multiple cross-correlation proposed by Fernandez-Macho (2012) is used to investigate the comovement between EPU ad business cycles. The analysis shows that business cycles commove with strong records of interdependence. The scale by scale analysis, on the other hand, has shown that the level of integration is strongest in the long-term. We further investigated the role EPU plays in the comovement of variables (gross domestic product (GDP), consumer price index (CPI), SPX (SPX), import, export and broad money) within each EME and discovered that positive correlation was generally recorded between EPU and CPI within each EME. Likewise, evidence of negative correlation for EPU was recorded between EPU and SPX across all EMEs. We also note that, although there is strong evidence of comovement between EPU and the macroeconomic variables, EPU has no lead/lag potential across all the time scales within the selected EMEs. To also clear all the inconsistencies of whether uncertainty is the cause or effect of fluctuations in the business cycle, the study adopts Diks and Panchenko (2005, 2006) nonparametric test. It was discovered that causality with respect to the economic indicators of business cycles is specific to each EMEs. We conclude that EPU is both a cause and effect of business cycles fluctuations in the selected EMEs except for India where business cycles cause EPU fluctuations. The second objective is to ascertain the relationship between EPU and distance in EMEs. The study focuses on the investigation of economic distance and geographical distance. This section makes two contributions to the study. First, we conduct a novel investigation on the relationship between economic distance and EPU. Second, we adopt a non-parametric geospatial analysis to investigate the spatial dependence between EMEs (with respect to their EPU measures). We first iii find an answer to the question, “can EPU influence economic distance in EMEs?”. The extent of similarities (or dissimilarities) of economic characteristics between units (or countries) is termed as economic. Despite evidence that uncertainty increases when the economic characteristics between countries are different, no study has investigated the relationship between economic distance and EPU although EPU has a greater significant impact on an economy than uncertainty in general. The dynamic linear regression method is adopted to investigate the relationship between EPU and economic distance. We discover that macroeconomic variables were largely statistically significant and have explanatory power to explain the economic distance between the EMEs as compared to the role EPU plays in explaining the economic distance between EMEs. We therefore find limited evidence of EPU’s effects on the economic distance between EMEs. We also discover that changes in the values of import, CPI and broad money in most EMEs are statistically relevant and significantly drive the changes in the values of economic distance between the selected EMEs. The second aspect of distance investigates the spatial autocorrelation between EMEs with respect to EPU. Tobler’s first law of geography that highlights that the nearer things are to each other, the more related they are than to distant things forms the foundation of this theoretical framework (Tobler, 1970). The Moran’s I (Moran, 1984) is used to investigate the presence of spatial autocorrelation. The results showed evidence of spatial autocorrelation across all the EMEs which support Tobler’s first law of geography. This implies that, the similarities and dissimilarities between the selected EMEs are significantly influenced by the distance between them. It was also observed that, country and geographical specific features (or characteristics) of each EME affect the outcome of the results. Thirdly, heterogeneity was recorded when the six EMEs were divided iv into sub regions. Finally, the study discovered that international policies (for example trade policies), terms of trade, spillover effects, monetary and fiscal policies are some of the factors that influence EPU spatial autocorrelation in EMEs. The study further investigates the spillover effects of EPU and macroeconomic variables in EMEs and measures the amount and direction of spillover from a country to other countries. This information is essential beacause previous studies have focused on developed (advanced) economies leaving little evidence of the effects of EPU spillover in EMEs. The study investigates the amount and direction of EPU spillovers between EMEs as well as the effect of EPU shocks on macroeconomic indicators (and vice versa). To investigate the network spillover effect and directional connectedness between EPU and related macroeconomic variables in EMEs and explore their time-frequency dynamics, this investigation will use Baruník and Křehlík’s (2018) methodology. The findings from this study shows evidence of spillover and causal spillover between EPU and macroeconomic variables within each EME. We discover that EPU does not dominate in the transition or receiving of spillover shocks in all the selected EMEs but rather, GDP and SPX were identified as the main transmitters of spillover shocks across all the selected EMEs. The time-varying total spillover index confirms arguments of volatilities of uncertainty in EMEs during the Great Recession that occurred during 2007-2009. Inter-country spillover analysis shows that Korea- EPU is the main transmitter of spillover shocks to the selected EMEs across all frequency bands. The study therefore makes significant contributions to the study. First, we find answers to why business cycles fluctuate. Second, we also propose new variables as measures of business cycles v (GDP, CPI, SPX, import, export and broad money). Third, we conduct a novel investigation on the relationship between economic distance and EPU. Forth, we adopt a non-parametric geospatial analysis to investigate the spatial dependence between EMEs (with respect to their EPU measures). Fifth, we investigate the severity of the amount and direction of EPU spillover received and contributed by one economy to another economy. The study offers a number of significant investment and policy recommendations arising from the findings in this thesis. The study offers a number of significant investment and policy recommendations arising from the findings in this thesis. Policymakers should establish a robust and precise implementation framework that ensures transparency and credibility to help minimise the wait-and-see (delay) approach of investors and agents as a result of the uncertainty of future happenings. Decisions made by policymakers should be communicated openly and promptly. Due to extensive understanding of the key transmitters and recipients of shocks at various frequencies, investors can intelligently plan their portfolio diversification methods. In the event of weak interactions, investors should diversify their portfolio to maximise their return on investment. With the detailed information about the short-, medium-, and long-term net spillover received from and contributed by the EMEs, policy makers are well equipped to efficiently forecast global and country specific uncertainty fluctuations, make well informed predictions and implement policies that can significantly reduce uncertainty in the economy. Based on the results on the causal relationship between EPU and business cycles, policy makers can now implement and amend predictable fiscal and monetary policies that will prevent or reduce the occurrence of uncertainty and business cycle fluctuations. This will make investors feel more secure to invest in the economy. Policy makers vi and regulators are advised not to generalise policy formulations, amendments and regulations but should rather be focused on each EME.
Political regimes and economic development in Ghana’s Fourth Republic
(2021) Ayisi-Boateng, George
This study contributes to the state of knowledge on the role of political regimes in the development of Ghana from 1993-2020. It positions the discourse in terms of how political regimes facilitate, and/or inhibit the economic development process since the dawn of the Fourth Republic. Drawing on the critical realist research framework, the study examines the impact of the two dominant political parties that have held power since 1992: the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). It specifically examines the nature of economic policies, their implementation and out turns. The findings indicate that the two political parties tend to devote much of their attention to addressing the negative propaganda narratives from opposing camps. This type of “communication war” finds expression in the manifestos and development plans, and has been the bane of Ghana’s development trajectory over the past three decades. The study argues that, although significant amount of sound policies have been written on paper, implementation challenges have been the Achilles’ heels of both regimes. Within the global context, Ghana’s multi-party democracy has been applauded and, whilst some of the development agenda have been home-grown, the political regimes have borrowed policies from other developed economies. In the economic sphere, we identify a plethora of policy slippages in relation to job creation and entrepreneurial development, ranging from lack of political will, to putting square pegs in round holes, and widespread mismanagement. Among other things, the study highlights how the political parties could begin to find ways of working together in the area of development plan formulation and implementation. The idea is that the consultative / participatory approach to addressing the development problems of the country has the potential to put an end to the current fragmented, short term and unpredictable nature of the “national” development plans. It is hoped this study will provide utility for further academic and policy research and help answer important questions surrounding the current and future state of business development in Ghana and countries of similar circumstances
Studies on philanthropy and impact investment in Ghana
(2021) Osei, Dennis Boahene
Anecdotal evidence of practices and institutions has accumulated over the years through oral traditions and all over the psyche of the African. While giving to good causes is not new in the Ghanaian traditional system and culture, there is a general paucity of literature regarding recent developments on the topic. Studies regarding investments that simultaneously generate financial, as well as social and /or environmental returns, are equally lacking. Using Ghana as a case study, this thesis contributes to the literature on three thematic areas in accordance with identified gaps in the philanthropy and impact investment literature. Specifically, the thesis relies on quantitative (instrumental variable probit model) and qualitative (content analysis, multiple-case study) research techniques to examine the relationships, and determinants of formal and informal charitable giving; uncover the motives, priorities, strategies, opportunities, and challenges of corporate foundation giving; and explore the approach to impact investing. These are critical issues whose understanding is theoretical and western-oriented, lacking empirical attention in the emerging literature of African philanthropy and impact investment. Given this, the thesis produced three independent essays to address these salient gaps in the philanthropy and impact investment literature. Empirical findings evolving from these essays are instructive and generally present crucial insights on African philanthropy and impact investment which is relevant for policy and practice. The first essay examines the extrinsic (socio-demographic) and intrinsic (personality) determinants of both formal and informal charitable giving. In addition, it explores whether the relationship between different types of charitable giving –cash and in-kind donations as well as time donations (volunteering) – is substitutable or complementary. Our findings, based on survey data from 1,533 households and instrumental variable probit model revealed that while marital status, education, v household size, religiosity, ethnicity, and empathic concern are important predictors of formal cash and in-kind giving, informal giving of cash and in-kind is driven by income, religiosity and empathic concern. On the other hand, it was evident that formal volunteering is mainly determined by income, household size, religiosity, and empathic concern, whereas gender and religiosity influence informal volunteering. We established that, in both spheres of formal and informal giving, the relationship between cash and in-kind giving and volunteering is complementary. Premised on these findings, we recommend non-profits and policymakers to recognise the complementary role and distinctive determinants of the spheres of giving in designing tools and policies to raise the levels and effectiveness of fundraising and volunteering campaigns. In the second essay, the practice of corporate philanthropy was explored through the lens of corporate foundations. Specifically, we investigate the motives, priority areas, strategies, opportunities, and challenges of corporate foundation giving. Based on qualitative content analysis, our findings revealed that corporate foundations are influenced by both altruistic and instrumental motives of giving, and that, their approach to giving prioritises multiple areas of national interest such as education, health, economic empowerment, environment/social amenities, and sports. We also found that corporate foundations rely on a combination of strategies (request, media-lead, adoption, and contest) to identify potential beneficiaries and implement their giving programmes. Further evidence indicates that giving of corporate foundations presents opportunities to both foundations (serve society, get partnership offers from other companies, and obtain goodwill from the public) and their parent companies (indirect business and advertising opportunities). However, corporate foundation giving is constrained by insufficient funding, lack of support from stakeholders, managing expectations of individuals, poor maintenance culture, and cultural rites. The findings have implications for practitioners as it presents insights which could vi serve as a model to guide new entrants into the corporate foundation landscape of developing economies. In addition, the findings could assist the development of government interventions necessary to foster greater corporate giving. The third essay applies a change in perspective to explore the approach to impact investing from a supply-side standpoint. This contrasts existing studies which are mostly theoretical and provide an understanding that is western-oriented and from a demand-side viewpoint. Using multiple-case study design and qualitative data from two Ghanaian organisations, we provide evidence of an impact investment approach characterised by concurrent motive of financial and social/environmental returns, longer time horizon, and engagement or provision of non-financial support. We conclude that this approach leverages the tools of venture capital to realise social or ecological purposes. The findings can potentially assist investors and entrepreneurs to make informed decisions and navigate the complexity surrounding the emerging impact investment environment in Ghana and economies of similar nature. Additionally, it can help in developing explicit policies to regulate the sector, increase its awareness, widens its appeal, and use to serve the intended purpose of a
Developing and testing a framework for digital channel adoption in emerging markets
(2021) Patel, Muhommed Riyaaz
The adoption rate of mobile applications in South Africa and India, both emerging markets, is lower than in developed markets. Emerging economies are unable to use developed market solutions and realise operational efficiencies in business, which can impact customer experience and satisfaction. The effect of digitalisation through mobile commerce in South Africa and India is gaining momentum; from banking to e-commerce, the acceleration of digitalisation is evident across emerging markets. New technologies and platforms are reshaping traditional business models and mobile application adoption is key to digital transformation and commercialisation. However, the context-specific aspects that drive digital adoption in emerging economies may still benefit from further research. This study aims to enhance the literature in this field by examining mobile application adoption in South Africa and India. It develops a model that incorporates the Technology Acceptance Model, Domestication Theory, and Bottom-of-the-Pyramid emerging market characteristics through qualitative analysis. In doing so, the study investigates how digitalisation trends interface with traditional technology adoption models, emerging market characteristics, and domestication characteristics (such as lifestyle integration and community influence). Therefore, by applying a sequential mixed-methods approach, the study seeks to determine the factors that influence mobile application adoption in emerging markets, and to investigate the influence of ecosystems and bottom-of-the-pyramid characteristics on the adoption and usage of technology. The qualitative study provides insight into factors that influence mobile application adoption in India and South Africa from a theoretical framework that was developed from a qualitative analysis and tested empirically. The analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews, 15 from South Africa and 16 from India, is conducted using Computer Assisted Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) NVivo 12. Subsequently, the data is coded and the themes validated. The quantitative study comprises 2 061 survey questionnaire responses: 1 009 from South Africa and 1 052 from India. These are analysed using SmartPLS path modelling, whereby two structural equation models are developed. The findings suggest that perceived ease of use, perceived risk, perceived value, privacy, user environment, lifestyle integration, customer feedback, awareness and access are all associated with digital adoption. Mediation analysis is also investigated. It shows that awareness and xxi customer feedback mediate the relationship between perceived risk and perceived ease of use. Tests for moderation indicate that access and affordability moderate the relationship between constructs (awareness, customer feedback, and lifestyle integration) as it pertains to intention to use. The developed theoretical framework provides a description of the drivers of digital adoption in emerging markets, specifically in South Africa and India. The findings suggest that participants in India are more knowledgeable than those in South Africa regarding the benefits and use of mobile apps. The study contributes to existing literature and discusses implications for researchers and practitioners.
Studies on domestic resource mobilization in Ghana
(2021) Adu, Frank
After many years of Aid to Africa, development practitioners have realised that they need to look beyond aid to finance poverty reduction and development. Domestic resource mobilisation and private resource financing strategies have been integral in discussing policy options available to finance development in Africa because of its resilience. Developing the two strategies has become critical, particularly in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) and the Agenda 2063 of the African Union. Moreover, even though some developing countries such as Ghana's revenue and spending has increased over the years, it has not met all its developmental needs. In most cases, there has been a wide gap between revenues and expenditure, resulting in budget deficits financed with external resources. The revenue challenges stem from the drying up of development aid, which hitherto bridged the gap between spending requirements and actual spending and the high cost of borrowing in international financial markets. Given this, it stands to reason that one of the viable and prudent sources of raising revenue for development that policymakers must explore is domestic resource mobilisation (DRM). This study seeks to contribute to public and development finance discourse in four empirical essays that touch on vital issues regarding DRM in Ghana. The first objective of the study explored whether tax systems in Ghana are buoyant and or elastic. Relying on time series data from 1984 to 2018, and the Divisia index approach, and the GMM estimator. We established that taxes in Ghana are not buoyant but elastic. Thus, growth in tax revenue is primarily driven by automatism and not discretionary measures. We advocate for policy to strengthen the economy's tax base because of the strong connection between tax bases and their respective tax revenues. We also advise the minimal use of discretionary measures as their impact on revenue generation is low. Lessons for tax reforms are discussed in the chapter. In the second empirical chapter, we examined the symmetric and asymmetric response of poverty and inequality to tax systems in Ghana by employing the linear and the Non-linear ARDL models. Concerning the mediation effect of tax systems and poverty, in the long run, we found that, generally, the relationship is asymmetric when all measures of tax systems and poverty are employed. The relationship is only symmetric when indirect taxes and total taxes are employed as measures of tax systems in the poverty line model. We observed that while positive and negative shocks in direct taxes raise and reduce poverty, the negative and positive shocks in all the other tax systems produce negative results. We also establish that negative shocks generally produce more significant impacts on poverty than positive shocks. Therefore, a poverty reduction strategy that looks at tax reduction at all levels should produce the desired results in the long run. Similar findings were also discovered in the short-run dynamics. On the mediation effect of tax systems on inequality, the study revealed a symmetric relationship with a significant positive relationship between indirect taxes and inequality in the long run. Therefore, a policy that leverages tax systems to bridge income inequality with a stern focus on indirect tax systems should yield better results, especially if the focus is on reducing indirect taxes in Ghana. We deepen the DRM conversation in the third empirical chapter by employing quarterly time series data spanning 2002-2018 to examine whether the domestic financial sector in Ghana can support domestic debt mobilisation uniformly across quantiles and or models. Further, we explore the level of domestic debt that the domestic market can mobilise for fiscal authorities. Relying on the quantile-on-quantile regression technique, we established heterogeneous impact across quantiles and between models. Although the role of financial sector development in domestic debt mobilisation is established from tau= 0.5 upwards, a positive relationship ensues only at the end (tau=1.00) of the overall financial sector model and the financial markets model's distributions. A negative relationship found at tau = 0.5 and tau = 0.75 quantiles in all models, and tau=1.00 of the financial institutions model. The finding suggests that the Ghanaian financial sector is not developed enough to support an expansive domestic public debt drive. On the second objective, relying on the Hansen Sample Splitting threshold technique, we observe that significant discontinuities in the domestic debt financial development nexus exist. Indeed, in all three measures of financial development adopted, there is a threshold of domestic debt that optimises financial development. In the overall index, the threshold is 2.5% of GDP, 6.25% in the financial institutions' development index, and lastly, 9.8% of GDP in the financial market model. In all the models, we find that, below the threshold, there is enough support for the safe asset theory. Lastly, we reckon that countries are searching for revenues to improve development, and hence any policy that will support this objective ought to be projected. In the face of this, we examine whether improvements in governance holds the key to DRM (tax revenue) mobilisation. This exercise is theoretically grounded in the revenue negotiation argument by Levi (1989) called revenue bargaining. We do this by employing the standard Granger causality test, the Diks and Panchenko (2005, 2006) non-linear Granger Causality test, in both levels and scales (using the maximal Overlap Discrete wavelet transform MODWT), and the wavelet coherency and phase difference maps. We find the mixed result on the lead-lag relationship in levels, scales, and time. In some cases, various revenue levels are for good governance to emerge; in many cases, good governance is a panacea for poor revenue mobilisation. Nevertheless, the revenue implications of good governance should not be downplayed; a policy attempt to increase revenues should begin from governing well. We discuss the detailed results in the chapter
Political regimes and economic development in Ghana’s Fourth Republic
(2021) Ayisi-Boateng, George
This study contributes to the state of knowledge on the role of political regimes in the development of Ghana from 1993-2020. It positions the discourse in terms of how political regimes facilitate, and/or inhibit the economic development process since the dawn of the Fourth Republic. Drawing on the critical realist research framework, the study examines the impact of the two dominant political parties that have held power since 1992: the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). It specifically examines the nature of economic policies, their implementation and out turns. The findings indicate that the two political parties tend to devote much of their attention to addressing the negative propaganda narratives from opposing camps. This type of “communication war” finds expression in the manifestos and development plans, and has been the bane of Ghana’s development trajectory over the past three decades. The study argues that, although significant amount of sound policies have been written on paper, implementation challenges have been the Achilles’ heels of both regimes. Within the global context, Ghana’s multi-party democracy has been applauded and, whilst some of the development agenda have been home-grown, the political regimes have borrowed policies from other developed economies. In the economic sphere, we identify a plethora of policy slippages in relation to job creation and entrepreneurial development, ranging from lack of political will, to putting square pegs in round holes, and widespread mismanagement. Among other things, the study highlight show the political parties could begin to find ways of working together in the area of development plan formulation and implementation. The idea is that the consultative / participatory approach to addressing the development problems of the country has the potential to put an end to the current fragmented, short term and unpredictable nature of the “national” development plans. It is hoped this study will provide utility for further academic and policy research and help answer important questions surrounding the current and future state of business development in Ghana and countries of similar circumstances
The glass cliff: exploring the dynamics around the appointment of women to precarious leadership positions in corporate South Africa
(2021) Mashele, Winsome
The current research explores the "glass cliff" form of discrimination. The research argues that while women are now appointed in high-profile positions, there is a greater likelihood that they end up on a 'glass cliff' as compared to their male counterparts. Glass cliff positions put women executives' in potentially risky roles that could harm their reputations and career prospects because, when a company performs poorly, people tend to blame its leadership without considering situational variables. The research problem statement centres around the overrepresentation of women who are in senior leadership positions in organizations that are experiencing difficulties, which is an increasing concern in corporate South Africa. The main objectives of the study, among others includes to: (i) gain a better understanding of why women choose risky leadership positions. (ii) identify the leadership experiences of women in leading organisations in relation to gender. (iii) understand the suitable leadership styles that women facing the glass cliff have at their disposal to build relationships with internal shareholders as well as influence the structure of the organisation. (iv) understand the tools and resources that are needed to support women in senior leadership roles during times of crises in corporate South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research methodology was employed, and data collected through semi-structured interviews from a total of 15 participants. Findings: The findings suggest that women are now allowed to occupy senior leadership positions where these positions record a decline in status, competence and prestige, and as a result are time consuming and difficult to combine with a successful academic career. An important set of findings is: (i) the participants perceived the risky activity as a form of promotional opportunity and were willing to accept an offer. (ii) if women are placed in the right positions with the right skills, success is potentially guaranteed. (iii) leaders should practice the situational leadership style which evolves according to the situation, the time at hand and its nature. Contribution / value: Despite some limitations that were experienced over the course of the study, some answers emerged in response to the key question on which the study was premised. Furthermore, iv the aim of this study was achieved in terms of its contribution not only in providing guidance to organizational decision makers, policy makers and business leaders to address inequalities in corporate South Africa, but also in highlighting the role played by women in making career decisions within the rubric of the glass cliff phenomenon.

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