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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to theoretically broaden the knowledge-based view (KBV) by examining the significant intermediary role that inter-functional coordination (IFC) plays in acquiring new knowledge and exploiting it throughout the entire higher education institution (HEI) community for innovation generation (INNG). Design/methodology/approach Data collected from a survey of 282 lecturers purposively selected from the business schools of 20 HEIs in the Greater Accra region of Ghana was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypotheses proposed for the study. Findings The results revealed that IFC significantly predicts teamwork and strong relationships across faculties, departments and units, and has a positive effect on the generation of innovations such as improved curricula, enhanced academic instruction and quality research output. Practically, the findings advise HEI managers to invest resources and efforts at building strong relationships that facilitate collaboration, trust and interactions among varying faculties, departments and units. This will enhance inter-functional knowledge sharing in academia to sustain a competitive advantage and continued relevance. Research limitations/implications There are limitations that must be considered when interpreting and generalizing the quantitative results of this study. Data were collected from faculty staff of 20 public and private HEIs in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Although the majority of HEIs are clustered in this region, the results may still not be representative of all HEIs in Ghana. Practical implications Managers of HEIs are advised to commit to ensuring the management of IFC to promote knowledge sharing across faculties and departments. Managers are also advised to ensure that staff are made to be responsible for their cooperative and integrative teamwork. They are also advised to ensure that faculty and departmental goals are aligned with the overall goals of the university. Staff may also be encouraged to act as partners and not just employees through rewards, incentives and recognition packages. Social implications Attention should be focused on creating lateral relations among faculty and department members to achieve internal social capital. They are advised to invest resources and efforts in building a culture of teamwork and connectedness through strong informal networking that facilitate collaboration between faculties and departments while cultivating a shared vision throughout the university. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper is that it theoretically extends the KBV by empirically broadening the scope of absorptive capacity (ACAP) beyond its dimensions to include the “collaborative mechanism” (IFC) through which knowledge can be holistically exploited. The paper also contributes to existing literature by examining the intermediary role played by IFC in the relationship between ACAP and INNG in the HEIs domain which has been least discussed in the ACAP literature.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the interactive effects of employee job autonomy and trust on the relationship between psychological contract fulfilment and work behaviour in international non-governmental organisations.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 279 employees of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) with over 10 years of working experience in the INGO industry in Ghana. A questionnaire comprising 27 items pertaining to the study constructs was administered. The reliability of the instrument was verified through item analyses. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to establish the instrument’s construct validity. The study hypotheses were tested and competing models were compared using multiple hierarchical regression.FindingsAll scales were found to have acceptable reliability estimates. A confirmatory factor analysis established that the manifest variables met the required model fit thresholds and that the latter were empirically distinct. This established the scales' construct validity. The results of the multiple hierarchical regression procedures indicated that a significant number of the study hypotheses could be accepted as statistically significant. A number of moderators were also significant. Specifically, psychological contract fulfilment (PCF) was found to have a positive relationship with organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). The results also showed a positive relationship between job autonomy and in-role employee performance (IRP) and OCB. There was a positive relationship between both the IRP and OCB. Interestingly, employee job autonomy moderated the positive relationship between PCF and OCB.Originality/valueThis research is among the first of its kind to examine the variables of PCF, work behaviour, employee job autonomy and trust towards the organisation among INGO employees in Ghana. Additionally, the study provides a novel lens to understand the underlying interaction mechanisms through which employee job autonomy moderates the positive relationship between PCF and in-role employee performance. To the best of our knowledge, this study will be the first to combine PCF, trust, employee job autonomy, in-role employee performance and organisational citizenship behaviour in one study. This study confirms and extends the work of Turnleyet al.(2003) by including trust and employee job autonomy as key constructs in a social exchange relationship, drawing from the social exchange theory.

The changing landscape of higher education orchestrated by the growing use of e-learning presents significant opportunities and threats to higher education institutions in developing countries like Nigeria. However, e-learning is not widely adopted by Nigerian institutions due to contextual and individual barriers. This study aims to advance our understanding of the determinants of e-learning adoption by reconceptualising e-learning adoption barriers from an entrepreneurial and strategic perspective. Using Partial Least Square approach to Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse data collected from 305 respondents, the findings of the study demonstrate that entrepreneurial orientation and strategic planning significantly influence e-learning adoption. The findings of the study advance our understanding of e-learning adoption barriers and also provide new insights to managers of higher education institutions with regards to e-learning adoption. Key words: E-learning, e-learning adoption, entrepreneurial orientation, strategic planning, higher education institutions.

PurposeDespite the perceived role of customer value in post-adoption behaviour in the context of ride-hailing apps such as Uber, there has been limited research on the subject. This paper seeks to enrich the understanding of the relationships between customer perceived value, particularly hedonic value and economic value, customer satisfaction and continued use intentions of ride-hailing apps.Design/methodology/approachThis analysis is based on field data collected from 567 users of ride-hailing apps in Ghana. Data collected from the survey were analysed using the partial least square (PLS) approach to structural equation modelling (SEM).FindingsThe paper provides evidence that hedonic value, as well as economic value, positively predicts customer satisfaction and continued use intentions of ride-hailing apps. Further analysis reveals customer satisfaction directly predicts continued use intentions in addition to partially mediating the influence of customer perceived value on continued use intentions of ride-hailing apps. Finally, the findings suggest that hedonic value has a stronger impact on continued use intentions than economic value, while economic value has a greater impact on satisfaction than hedonic value.Originality/valueThe study contributes to post-adoption behaviour research by providing evidence on the relationships among the study constructs in a developing country context. Overall, the findings will stimulate future empirical debates on the subject and guide practitioners in decision-making concerning customers' usage of ride-hailing apps.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive investigation into declining and emerging occupations and job titles and to develop a national career progression pathway for the tourism and hospitality (T&H) sector.Design/methodology/approachAnchored on the Social Cognitive Career Theory, this study used face to face in-depth interviews of 33 industry stakeholders: policymakers, trade association, training providers and beneficiaries (T&H).FindingsThe finding reveals that only the “watchman” occupation was identified as the declining job while majority of the emerging jobs were more related to information technology and environmental occupations (website designers, digital marketers, data analysts, hygienists, and safety and hazard experts).Practical implicationsThe findings provide a valuable signal for the growing number of jobs in security services, hygiene and information technology-oriented occupations, which the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture including practitioners including HR directors and general managers should respond timely to and to these growing needs in order to remain competitive in the sector.Originality/valueThis is the first study in context that responded to a call by industry players to fill in a practical knowledge gap in examining declining and emerging jobs and job titles in the T&H sector. The study provides vocational insights into mapping the entry level requirements for the jobs allied with occupations in the national technical and vocational educational training qualifications framework of Ghana at the national level.

PurposeThe study investigates the effect of autocratic, democratic and transformational leadership styles on employees' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The study further examines the moderating role of leaders' emotional intelligence between leadership styles and OCB.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were used to collect data from 618 small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) employees in Ghana. For this study, both simple random and convenient sampling were adopted in selecting respondents. Regression was used to test the hypotheses in the research model using IBM–Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).FindingsThe results show that democratic and transformational leadership styles both positively predicted the OCB of SME employees, although transformational leadership has a more significant influence. On the contrary, autocratic leadership style was found to have an insignificant relationship with OCB of SME employees when the interactive effect of the various leadership styles and emotional intelligence were introduced into the model. The results also show that whereas leaders' emotional intelligence positively moderate the relationship between autocratic leadership style and OCB, the relationships between democratic leadership style and OCB and between transformational leadership style and OCB are not significantly moderated by leaders' emotional intelligence.Research limitations/implicationsAn examination of other prominent leadership styles (for example, the transactional leadership style and the laissez faire leadership style) could be key areas for future research as it is a potential limitation of this study. Similarly, the use of a Western leadership instrument could also be a potential limitation in the Ghanaian context, although these instruments and scales may be applicable. Future studies could also consider a longitudinal approach to give a more holistic picture of the effect of the leadership styles on OCB.Practical implicationsIn general, the findings of the study support the idea that the autocratic leadership style affects SME employees' OCB both directly and indirectly through leaders' emotional intelligence. This study recommends that leaders of SMEs should focus on leadership styles that combine both result-oriented and people-centric behaviors to encourage SMEs' employees to engage in OCB.Originality/valueThis study provides firsthand information on the impact of autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and transformational leadership style on an employee's OCB from the Ghanaian SME perspective.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize corporate entrepreneurial strategy using collaborative dynamics of contingency and agency theories, and to demonstrate how some constructs of these two theories are integrated to support long-term strategies of entrepreneurial firms in sustaining their competitive advantages and enhancing their performance. Design/methodology/approach Review of literature on strategic entrepreneurship, firm growth, contingency and agency theories were explored to support the conceptualized framework of the entrepreneurial strategy developed in this paper. The authors adopt a vignette approach to problematize theoretical gaps identified. The vignette was also used to embody the entrepreneurial strategy matrix developed. Findings This paper suggests that the effectiveness of corporate entrepreneurial strategies is influenced by the impacts of contingent environment and agency problem of goal conflicts. It provides some propositions for qualitative and empirical research that will extend the rigours of strategic entrepreneurship literature. Practical implications This paper highlights the implications of understanding and adopting diverse competitive and sustenance strategies. It provides avenues for entrepreneurial firms to take cognizance and use of the contingency and agency approaches to influence their long-term strategic directions to stay competitive. Institutional authorities will also benefit from having a conceptual reference and guide to further improve their entrepreneurship policies. Originality/value The authors took three novel steps to address the existing gap in the literature. First, the theories of entrepreneurship, contingency and agency were bound together and unified as a single framework to conceptualize entrepreneurial strategy. Second, the identified gaps were embodied in a vignette to problematize the theoretical issues and lastly, some testable propositions were put forward to explain different forms of entrepreneurial strategy. The authors also developed a corporate entrepreneurial strategy matrix based on the Covin and Miles (1999) forms of corporate entrepreneurship. It forms the basis for the propositions.

One of the major concerns of organizations in today's networked world is to unravel how employees comply with information security policies (ISPs) since the internal employee has been identified as the weakest link in security policy breaches. A number of studies have examined ISP compliance from the perspective of deterrence; however, there have been mixed results. The study seeks to examine information security compliance from the perspective of the general deterrence theory (GDT) and information security climate (ISC). Data was collected from 329 employees drawn from the five top-performing banks in Ghana and analyzed with PLS-SEM. Results from the study show that security education training and awareness, top-management's commitment for information security, and peer non-compliance behavior affect the information security climate in an organization. Information security climate, punishment severity, and certainty of deterrent were also found to influence employees' intention to comply with ISP. The implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

This study seeks to examine the extent to which strands of inflationary related conditions (inflation expectations, inflation uncertainty and realized inflation); macroeconomic uncertainty and the likelihood of recessionary conditions influence performance indicators in the US banking sector over a specified time period.,The study adopts seemingly unrelated regression model (SUR) advanced by Zellner (1962) in its examination of how specific strands of inflationary conditions, and other adverse macroeconomic conditions influence performance dynamics in the US banking sector.,Empirical evidence suggest that among various adverse macroeconomic conditions examined, inflation expectations and macroeconomic uncertainty tend to have significant constraining impact on key performance indicators in the US banking sector than other conditions examined. Comparatively, this study finds that inflation expectations and macroeconomic uncertainty tend to have much more constraining impact on return on equity, than on return on assets in the US banking sector. Results further suggest that among the three bank performance indicators examined, net interest margin is the least vulnerable bank performance indicator to various adverse macroeconomic conditions examined in the study.,Apart from the various empirical results noted above, this study's findings are projected to help inform strategic planning decisions among institutions in the banking sector. The various findings could, for instance, inform policies and operational strategies geared toward reducing vulnerability associated with specific performance indicators such as return on equity. This reduction could be achieved by critically examining how the various performance indicators react to individual adverse macroeconomic conditions examined in this study. The process could ultimately help in developing tailored measures/procedures aimed at reducing how susceptible key performance indicators are to the various adverse macroeconomic conditions. This study's findings could also provide the platform for more adaptive policies aimed at minimizing the effects of noted macroeconomic conditions on operational efficiency in the banking sector.,The uniqueness of this study, compared to related ones found in the literature, stems from its treatment of three variant of related strands of macroeconomic condition (different variant of inflationary conditions) in the same framework in its empirical analysis.,本研究旨在探討與通貨膨脹有關的狀況的組成部分(通脹預期 、通脹不確定性及體現了的通脹), 宏觀經濟不確定性及經濟衰退狀況的可能性、在一段特定時間內對美國銀行業的表現指數有何種程度的影響。,研究採用塞爾納 (Zellner) (1962) 提出的看似無關迴歸模型 (SUR)，去探討通脹狀況的特定組成部分及其它不利的宏觀經濟狀況如何影響美國銀行業內的績效動態。,實證證據暗示在被研究的各個不利宏觀經濟狀況中，通脹預期及宏觀經濟不確定性，對美國銀行業內的主要業績指標的約束影響, 與其它被探討的狀況相比，往往會較重大。相對地、本研究結果顯示通脹預期及宏觀經濟不確定性，對美國銀行業資本回報率的約束影響、往往遠多於資產收益率。研究結果進一步顯示，在被探討的三個銀行業績指標中，就本研究所探討的各個不利的宏觀經濟狀況而言，淨息差是脆弱性最小的銀行業績指標。,除了上述各實證結果外，本研究結果預期會給銀行業內機構間作戰略規劃的決定時提供資料，譬如，各項研究結果或可在制定旨在減少與特定業績指標如資本回報率相聯繫的脆弱性的政策和經營策略時提供資料。這脆弱性的減少，是透過嚴謹地研究各個業績指標，如何對在本研究中被探討的個別不利宏觀經濟狀況作出反應而達致的。這程序或許最終會幫助建立一個以減少各個不利宏觀經濟狀況對主要業績指標的影響為目的的量身定制措施／程序。本研究的結果，或許亦可為更多旨在減弱眾所周知的宏觀經濟狀況對銀行業運營效率的影響的適應性政策提供平台。,與文獻中可見的相關研究比較，本研究的獨特性源於其實證分析，是涉及在同一個構架內處理宏觀經濟狀況相互有關的組成部分的三個變體 (通脹狀況的不同變體) 。

The study investigated the effect of supply chain integration on the performance of supply chains. Specifically, the study investigated the effect of information, operational and relational integration of supply chains and how they affect the overall performance of the supply chain. The study administered 1500 questionnaires to some selected supply chain and information systems specialists and based on the responses received, 400 questionnaires were fully completed and which was used in the analysis of the study. Based on the findings, it was found that information and operation integration had a positive effect on supply chain performance whiles relational integration has a negative effect on supply chain performance. The result implies that within the Ghanaian context managers should invest more in information and operation integration in order to achieve positive outcomes in their supply chain whiles relationship integration should be done with more caution because of its underlying elements of trust and long-term commitments.

The goal of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on how technological innovation and transfer promote economic growth. The paper focuses on how technological innovation and transfer affect trade facilitation and its prospect for economic growth and revenue mobilisation in developing economies. Literature was reviewed on the concepts of technology, innovation and trade facilitation to indicate that organisational or national economic competence are the most important determinants of technological innovation adoption and utilisation. The study concludes that improvement of the concepts of technology, innovation and trade facilitation depend on understanding how the various actors are linked together in technological innovation and trade facilitation.