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Item Defining ‘Smart Rural’ in the Framework of Regional Digitalisation(IST-Africa 2021 Conference Proceedings, 2021) Lindblom, P.; Kolog , E.A.; Nygren, E.; Sutinen, E.In this paper, we explored how a smart development framework could be harnessed for enhancing small and medium enterprise (SME) activities in rural communities. With this aim, this study considered and compared the landscape of the SME ecosystems in Ghana and Finland. Alongside the deprived countryside or remote work context, it has become clear that contemporary digital platforms and collaborative media represent an integral part of smart development. In addition, remote working possibilities help tackle challenging times or even a state of emergency, such as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We created our Smart rural development model (SRDm) to facilitate the digital transformation of SMEs and strategies in peripheral settings. Our SRDm was developed from the exploration of smart development literature in regional settings, and filtering numerous initiatives utilutilizedhin digitalization SME development context. The key target groups who can benefit from our research endeavor are the various strategic development organizations, financing authorities, and of course regional stakeholders, policymakers, business clusters, SMEs, and individuals.Item Development of Strategies and Transformation Paths for Structured and Targeted Digital Change: The Case of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana Trinity Congregation(Digitalization Cases, Management for Professionals, 2019) Asiedu, S.T.; Boateng, R.The situation faced: The Church, irrespective of its steady growth from 4 members in 1965 to 2910 members in 2015, struggles to reach out to larger (newer) communities and improve money collection. It struggles as well in reaching its local community especially its members at the right time with the right message. In brief, for the Church to engage its members and the public concerning worship service, publicizing its social activities (evangelism, donations to the needy, visits to prisons, etc.) and payment of voluntary contributions, it had to count on their physical presence in its premises. (b) Action taken: The Church developed an interactive online presence (website) with payment integration for payment of tithe, offertory, voluntary thanksgiving, etc. Social media accounts were established to help create an online community with the secondary objective of driving traffic to the website and engaging the congregation remotely outside church service hours. Mobile money and a point of sale (POS) device were used to facilitate cashless transactions. Supportive committees were set up while interconnecting existing ones. Some of the pastors upload videos to social media as a supplement to morning devotions. Events were promoted on the website and social media. (c) Results achieved: Amongst the lot, there is currently an increase in social media engagements through event posts, live streaming, images, and other post formats and also an increase in participation in church events by almost 50% on average as well as an increase in the number of website visitors from 2558 (901 unique visitors) in the first year after deployment to 11,612 visitors (5841 unique visitors) in the third year as of September 2017. Even though membership statistics surprisingly indicated a 638 decline in 2017, which is worth investigating. (d) Lessons learned: Although deploying the online system was successful, it came with its lessons drawn from challenges that cannot be ignored. These include trust in electronic payments, the need for a strategic framework in the adoption of technology, and the need to educate users. Other lessons include the need for management support and readiness of employees/volunteers and resource availability as a precursor to achieving strategic IS innovation objectives.Item “It’s the patient that suffers from poor communication”: Analyzing communication gaps and associated consequences in handover events from nurses’ experiences(SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 2024) Atinga,R.A.; Gmaligan,M.N.; Ayawine,A.; Yambah,J.K.Background: Although routine communication gaps among clinical shift teams significantly account for adverse care and treatment outcomes, existing analysis of the phenomenon remain limited in low middle income countries battling with patient safety issues. This study analyzed the drivers and associated episodic consequences of communication gaps from nurses’ experiences in Ghana. Methods: Qualitative design implemented in two referral hospitals. Data collection involved site observations and in-depth interviews with general nurses, midwives, and staff nurses across 3-cycle shift regimes in the emergency, ICU, inpatient wards, and maternity units. A two-stage data analysis was adopted by integrating deductive and inductive codes into broad thematic typologies explaining drivers of communication gaps and the consequences thereof. Results: Communication gaps among shift teams were largely driven by a combination of three broad factors: a) Attitudinal elements of poor work ethics, poor documentation, interpersonal conflicts and use of unconventional language that impaired effective communication; b) organizational dynamics of taxing job demands, limited training exposure and lack of formal handover communication procedures which allowed shift teams to adopt default patterns of communication behavior; and c) cultural values, stereotyping and prejudicing behaviors that restricted inclusive interactions among shift teams. These communication gaps produced adverse episodic effects of diagnostic and treatment errors, complications, and extended hospitalizations. Conclusion: The findings underscore the need to develop standard guidelines to direct structured communication alongside equipping shift teams with competences on emotional intelligence to overcome cultural and behavioral adversities that influence communication breakdown.Item Government-Led digital transformation in FinTech ecosystems(Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 2024-08-01) Senyo,K.P.; Karanasios,S.; Agbloyor,K.E.; Choudrie,J.In this paper, we report on a qualitative exploratory case study of a national-level government-led digital transformation. We depart from most studies on government digital transformation that largely focus on improving existing services, bureaucratic processes, or adopting emerging digital technologies. Instead, we analyze the process of a government-led digital transformation aimed at addressing significant institutional voids within a resource-constrained context. Drawing from 60 interviews with stakeholders in the Ghanaian FinTech ecosystem, we theorize the concept of digital branching strategy as an alternative lens to envisage government-led digital transformation that considers the resource-constrained context and characteristics of governments. Our findings show that governments, especially those in resource-constrained contexts, pursue digital transformation through exploring frugal innovations and leveraging established resources, structures, and relationships within an ecosystem. We subsequently develop a process model to explain the mechanisms of a national-level government-led digital transformation. Based on the findings and the model, our study offers critical insights to re-imagine government-led digital transformation in resource-constrained contexts by demonstrating how pursuing a digital branching strategy leads to planned and emergent outcomes because of the generative nature of the transformationItem Assessing Project Management Maturity in Africa: A Ghanaian Perspective(International Journal of Business Administration, 2013) Ofori, D.; Deffor, E.W.The level of project management awareness and recognition of the standards and knowledge sharing among professionals is on the rise. Despite this many projects continue to fail. Ameliorating project failure requires project management maturity among practitioners. Project management maturity is the progressive development of an enterprise-wide project management approach, methodology, strategy, and decision-making process. To ascertain the level of maturity among project-oriented organizations in Ghana the following research questions were raised: Is the concept of PM maturity understood in Ghana? What are Project Management Maturity levels in Ghana? What maturity models are in use? Are there differences in project management maturity levels in industries in Ghana? The study was exploratory and utilized a questionnaire survey method to collect data on project management Maturity in Ghanaian organizations. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 200 managers from different economic sectors. The findings showed that differences exist in the current project management maturity levels across each phase of the project life cycle for all organizations. The study also showed that most of the practitioners expect their respective organizations to attain higher levels of project management maturity (PMM) albeit at various levels. Organizations operating in the non-profit (NGO) category exhibited relatively higher levels of maturity compared to the other categories of organizations in all five phases of the project management life cycle. Firms in the public sector of Ghana recorded low levels of maturity in most of the phases of the project management life cycle. This may be attributed to the low level of project management expertise in the sector, with possible dire consequence to the country’s development since the public sector accounts for a large percentage of projects executed in Ghana. Overall, the findings seem to indicate that project management maturity occurs in phases; PM maturity does not occur as an event but is an ongoing process that is interlinked. The implication therefore is that organisations cannot claim to be mature in one area and neglect the other; it becomes imperative for project-implementing organizations in Ghana to strive to attain maturity in all five phases of the project management life cycle to attain the full benefits of the projects they implement.Item Assessing Social Capital For Organisational Performance: Initial Exploratory Insights From Ghana(Organizations And Markets In Emerging Economies, 2010) Ofori, D.; Sackey, J.Social Capital is a concept that describes good quality social relations that can lead to mutual benefit. The fundamental proposition of social capital theory is that networks of relationships grant access to resources, especially information benefits not available to non-members of the network. This study assessed the functions of social capital within Ghanaian organizations, described the patterns and determinants of social capital use within organizations, and explored how social capital contributes to firm performance using a sample frame of firms listed in the Ghana Club 100. A questionnaire field survey supplemented by personal interviews was chosen as the most appropriate design for this investigation. Employees were sampled across the organizational hierarchy based on their responsibilities, positions, and type of relationship held with others within the organization. Data was also collected on demographic characteristics and organizational dynamics. The results showed that social capital is critical to knowledge sharing in the Ghanaian organization; that it helps to get things done and helps in the attainment of organizational objectives. The findings also suggested that three determinate variables of social capital: reciprocity, trust, and institutional ties, have the most significant positive relationship with organizational performance. Given that, the study recommends that firms take a proactive approach towards promoting, building, and maintaining viable social networks within their structures to derive maximum benefit from it.Item Pooled procurement program in the quality improvement of medicines of the National Catholic Health Service in Ghana: using the Donabedian model(Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, 2020) Domfeh, K.A.Objectives This study evaluates structures that determine the quality of medicines procured through the pooled procurement program (PPP) in the National Catholic Health Service (NHS) using the Donabedian model. The challenges faced in the PPP are also revealed. Method A qualitative multiple case study was used to collect information from twenty top and middle-level administrators in the NCHS through in-depth interviews. After the data transcription, it was then analyzed using the thematic content analysis approach. Key findings The study found that the structures for quality of services in the health facilities are moderately satisfactory. The structures of the NCHS included experienced healthcare workers, adequate physical infrastructures, functional Drug and Therapeutic Committees (DTCs), and a rapid-testing laboratory facility to ensure that medicines procured were of high quality. This paper established that suppliers of medicines to the health facilities in the NCHS had to register with the NCHS subject to annual renewal. Suppliers are also required to have the Pharmacy Council (PC) and the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), certification to supply medicines to health facilities. However, the predominant challenges that confronted the health facilities were delays in health insurance claims processing and payments and lack of management commitment in implementing the PPP. Conclusion The study contributes to the pharmaceutical health services literature in the context of the pooled procurement approach in the sourcing of medical goods in the health sector. Significant implications for research and management are also presented.Item Policy Responses to fight COVID-19; the case of Ghana(Brazilian Journal Of Public Administration, 2020) Antwi-Boasiako, J.; Abbey, C.O.A.; Ofori, R.A.; Ogbey, P.This paper focuses on the policy responses of Ghana’s government with a focus on three areas: health, economic, and social. Ghana has made several policy interventions in these three areas. The study highlighted the adoption of the 3T approach in health, CAP-20 in economics, and free water and subsidized electricity for citizens as social interventions. The study concludes that the measures undertaken by the Government of Ghana have yielded significant results even though some challenges with delivery mechanisms are identified. The available statistics as of October 25, 2020, on the COVID-19 situation in Ghana further affirm the gains.Item Drivers of Global Social Network Adoption: A Technology-Organisation-Environment Perspective(International Journal of E-Services and Mobile Applications, 2020) Alhassan, M.D.; Adam, I.O.; Nangpiire, C.This study aims to explore the drivers of social network adoption at a global level. Past research has largely focused on social network adoption at the country level with few studies conducted at the worldwide level. Furthermore, the mediating role of ICT access on social network adoption has been given limited attention. To fill this gap, this study employs the Technology Organization-Environment (TOE) framework to investigate factors that may influence global social network adoption. Relying on archival and cross-sectional data from 135 countries and using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling, our findings show that social network adoption at the global level, is positively influenced by ICT access of a county and that ICT regulation and the development of the human resource will not directly influence social network adoption. Although technological, organizational, and environmental factors accounted for 55.5% of the variance in social network adoption, the mediating role of ICT access and the effects of human resource development on social network adoption was found to be significant. Our findings provide a fresh insight into the adoption of social network sites at the global level. Our study provides some implications for research and practice.Item Financial inclusion and inclusive growth in Africa: What is the moderation role of financial stability?(Cogent Economics & Finance, 2023) Iddrisu, K.; Abor, J.Y.; Doku, J.N.; Dziwornu, R.This article aims to explore the interplay between financial stability, financial inclusion and inclusive growth in 40 African countries during the period 2004–2020. It acknowledges that an unstable financial system has the potential to erode confidence and hinder the essence of financial inclusion in promoting inclusive growth. However, studies regarding the combined effect of financial inclusion and financial stability on inclusive growth are hard to find, especially in Africa. By examining the effects of financial inclusion on inclusive growth and the synergistic relationship between financial stability and inclusive growth, this study seeks to shed light on how these factors interact in the context of African economies. To To cater for endogeneity issues, we used a two-step system-generalized method of moment. Our result reveals three outcomes: First, financial inclusion promotes inclusive growth. Second, financial stability alone is less effective at enhancing inclusive growth. Lastly, financial stability forms synergy with financial inclusion to further spike inclusive growth. It is recommended that policymakers strive to enhance financial inclusion by promoting financial stability.