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Item Abortions in Ghana: experiences of University students(2014) Appiah-Agyekum, N. N.Background: Students in Ghana and other developing countries remain the major vulnerable group most likely to have abortions and suffer abortion stigma. However there is a dearth of empirical information on the experiences of Higher Education students on abortion needed for evidence based policies and interventions. Aim: The aim of the present study was to explore some of the key experiences of University students on abortion in Ghana so as to provide information for evidence based interventions. Methods: Data was collected from 142 students of the University of Ghana through 18 focus group discussions [FGDs]. Questions asked during the FGDs were based on a modified version of the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health’s abortion questionnaire and focused primarily on first-hand experiences of students. The results were recorded, transcribed and analysed qualitatively using the thematic analysis approach. Results: 66.9% of students had personally undergone abortion procedures with more than 50% having done so more than once. Further, majority of the abortions were self-induced and done in the first trimester of the pregnancy. Only 9.8% of students used safe abortion services despite being aware and having access to them. Quack abortion services were popular and patronised by a relatively significant number (26.1%) of students. Conclusions: Abortions, mostly unsafe, are common experiences among students. Immediate sensitization and education on the alternatives to abortions; unsafe abortions; contraception; and counselling and family planning services is necessary among students. Male partners play a significant role in the decision to abort, choice of method and also provide support during the abortion procedures; and must be actively involved in all abortion interventions among students. Particular attention and the necessary research by both state and non-state stakeholders on abortion must focus on the activities of quack abortion providers, self-induced abortions among students as well as reasons for the low utilization of safe abortion services among students in spite of their knowledge of and access to these servicesItem Academic Mentoring in a Public Research Institution: Experiences of New Academics(2014) Abugre, J.B.; Nyuur, R.B.Item Accountability and transparency: Is this possible in hospital governance?(Cogent Business & Management, 2023) Abor, P.A.; Tetteh, C.K.Health institutions in developing countries need to be transparent and accountable to attain universal health coverage and effective institutions as man dated by Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 (target 3.8) and SDG 16 (target 16.6), respectively. This study seeks to achieve two objectives: 1) to examine financial, performance, and political or democratic accountability at the teaching hospitals in Ghana toward achieving good hospital governance; 2) to examine event and process transparency practices in the teaching hospitals. A comparative case methodology was employed with data from structured questionnaires administered to hospital administrators. The study revealed only one of the four teaching hospi tals understudy is accountable in terms of financial, political/democratic, and per formance accountability. Also, the same teaching hospital was found to practice both process and event transparency, establishing the correspondence between accountability and transparency. The study concludes that most of the teaching hospitals in Ghana have challenges with accountability and transparency at varying intensities. Thus, efforts to ensure accountability and transparency are recom mended for quality healthcare delivery and good hospital governance.Item The accounting discipline and the governance budgeting concept(Internatioanl Journal on Governmental Financial Management VIII(2): 1-18, 2008) Onumah, J. M; Simpson, S. N. YItem Accounting for disasters Evidence of under-representation of victims in the accountability process(Emerald, 2018-12-03) Agyenim-Boateng, C.; Oduro-Boateng, K.Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate disaster accountability process, and it seeks to advocate for involvement of victims as salient stakeholders in the accountability process. Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopt a case study of the 3rd June, 2015 flood disaster and fire that occurred in Accra, Ghana and draw mainly on interviews, as well as observations and a review of publicly available documents. Findings – Several actors are involved in disaster management in Ghana. These actors play several roles as part of the disastermanagement process. Coordination is observed among some governmental actors. However, there is a little collaboration among these actors. There are, therefore, no clear accountability relationships between the actors. Moreover, the forms of accountability process are largely upward and internal. So, although we find the victims as salient stakeholders, their perspectives are not prioritised as part of the accountability process. Research limitations/implications – As a result of less engagement with victims in the accountability process, a central accountability concern, outcomes, namely, benefits for victims in terms of changes in their knowledge, status, attitudes, values, skills, behaviours or conditions were not promoted. Downward accountability should be encouraged to promote better outcomes. Originality/value – Although some studies on accounting for disasters have been undertaken, there is none in our local context, and also this study has been able to uncover under-representation of victims in the accountability process using adaptive accountability lens.Item Accounting for the transitions after entrepreneurial business failure:An emerging market perspective(Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2019-06-25) Hinson, R.E.; Amankwah-Amoah, J.; Honyenuga, B.; Lu, Y.This study builds on prior scholarly works on institutions and entrepreneurship by examining the process of transitions and institutional obstacles that force serial entrepreneurs’ shift to operate in the formal or informal sector after entrepreneurial business failures. Using insights from 32 serial entrepreneurs in Ghana, a framework was developed and utilized to explicate how the pull and push motivations for the transition into or persisting with formality or informality after business failure unfolds over time.Our analysis sheds light on the processes and effects of the motivations on the persistently high level of entrepreneurial activities in the informal sector for many emerging economies.Item Achieving E-commerce Benefits in a Garment Manufacturing Firm(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2014) Boateng, R.ubject area – Enterprise, Strategy Study level/applicability – This case study documents the history of e-commerce adoption and usage in a fabric and garment manufacturing firm operating in an African country. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied to understanding the achievement of e-commerce benefits through the complex interrelationships between firm-level, national and global resources. Case overview – The case study presents a summary of e-commerce capabilities in the firm, the key resources developed and actions taken to deploy e-commerce capabilities and the notable benefits obtained through these e-commerce capabilities. The study shows that, first, the ability to access information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure matters in developing countries, but managerial capabilities matter more. Managerial capabilities enable firms to find external resources (both in-country and globally) to substitute for internal resource deficiencies. Second, intangible social resources – trust, reputation and credibility – play a critical role in determining whether the e-commerce strategies of firms are successful or not. Expected learning outcomes – An understanding of how managerial capabilities influence the creation of e-commerce capabilities and the achievement of e-commerce benefits, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to understanding how a firm’s strategic orientation, resource portfolio and the nature of its target market differentiate the extent of integration or adoption and usage of e-commerce in the firm. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.Item Achieving sustainable development in Africa: Progress, challenges and prospects,(2014) Ahenkan, A.; Osei-Kojo, A.This study analyses the achievement of sustainable development in Africa using the qualitative paradigm. Using secondary data, the study results are taken to suggest mixed indicators for the progress of Sustainable Development in Africa. It argues that whereas most African countries have significantly made progress, over the past decade, in building strong economies, strengthening democratic institutions, improving agriculture and reducing poverty, pressing challenges such as climate change, population growth, and inadequate employment opportunities continue to undermine efforts towards sustainable development. The study recommends that African governments must deepen their commitment to designing and implementing innovative policies to create jobs, tackle climate change and improve agriculture.Item Achieving university libraries user loyalty through user satisfaction: the role of service quality(Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 2020) Twum, K.K.; Adams, M.; Budu, S.; Budu, R.A.A.This study examines the influence of library service quality dimensions (i.e. service affect, information access, library as place, and personal control) on user satisfaction, as well as user satisfaction on user loyalty. Data were drawn from 349 library users from a public university library in Ghana. The hypothesized relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The study revealed that, with the exception of library as place, all the service quality dimensions had a positive and significant relationship with library user satisfaction. The study further established a positive and significant relationship between user satisfaction and user loyalty. The practical implication is that the attainment of library user loyalty is possible when the management of libraries improve the level of user satisfaction with services. This study is one of the few on assessing library service quality, customer satisfaction, and user loyalty in a developing country contextItem Activity theory analysis of the virtualisation of teaching and teaching environment in a developing country university(Education and Information Technologies, 2019-01) Adam, I.O.; Effah, J.; Boateng, R.This study aims to understand how a developing country higher education institution (HEI) attempted to digitalise teaching. The Internet has disrupted the traditional teaching environment and teaching practices leading to the migration from physical face-to-face teaching to online teaching changing the work environment of the teacher. Information systems literature has examined the academic environment of HEIs from student’s perspective in a virtual learning environment but not from the instructor’s perspective in a teaching work environment. How the teaching work environment can be virtualised has not also been widely explored. Using activity theory and an interpretive case study approach data was obtained from interviews, documents and participant observation. Using hermeneutics as the mode of analysis the findings reveal how tools: an open source technology and rules are modified through the resolution of contradictions to suit developing country context of the HEI. The study provides practitioners insights on how emerging contradictions in tools, implementers and rules in a teaching work environment virtualisation can be used as an avenue for development. It also offers insight into how HEIs can migrate their physical teaching environment to online.Item Actualizing the affordances of seaport smart container terminal system in a developing country(JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CASE AND APPLICATION RESEARCH, 2023) Owusu-Oware, E.; Effahb, J.; Adam, I.O.; Amankwah-Sarfo, F.Transportation by sea routes and seaport container terminals are critical infrastructure that facilitates global trade. Thus, the emerging information systems research on smart container systems is essential. However, these studies lack empirical insights, and there is little on developing country contexts. To address these knowledge gaps, this study employs qualitative interpretive case study approach and technology affordance and constraint theory to investigate how Ghana’s port authority replaced a predominantly paper-based container handling system with smart systems, as well as the consequences of doing so. The study’s findings show that technology affordances are actualized in a developing country seaport smart container system based on management’s perception of the system and the port’s situational context. The study’s findings show significant improvements over the manual paper processes, along with constraints including stakeholder digital unpreparedness, limited data storage capacity, unreliable internet and power supply disruptions, and equipment breakdowns. The findings have implications for research, practice, and policy.Item Adaptation to compound climate risks: A systematic global stocktake(iScience, 2023) Simpson, N.P.; Williams, P.A.; Mach, K.J.; Berrang-Ford, L.; Biesbroek, R.; Musah-Surugu, J.I.; et al.This article provides a stocktake of the adaptation literature between 2013 and 2019 to better understand how adaptation responses affect risk under the particularly challenging conditions of compound climate events. Across 39 countries, 45 response types to compound hazards display anticipatory (9%), reactive (33%), and maladaptive (41%) characteristics, as well as hard (18%) and soft (68%) limits to adaptation. Low income, food insecurity, and access to institu tional resources and finance are the most prominent of 23 vulnerabilities observed to negatively affect responses. Risk for food security, health, livelihoods, and economic outputs are commonly associated risks driving responses. Narrow geographical and sectoral foci of the literature highlight important conceptual, sectoral, and geographic areas for future research to better understand the way responses shape risk. When responses are integrated within climate risk assessment and management, there is greater potential to advance the urgency of response and safeguards for the most vulnerable.Item Addressing the Problem of Political Vigilantism in Ghana through the Conceptual Lens of Wicked Problems(Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2019-11-26) Asamoah, K.Ghana entered into the Fourth Republic in 1993 after experiencing political instability over two decades. A defining feature that has characterized the Fourth Republic of Ghana and marred Ghana’s democratic credentials is the emergence of political vigilantism. Political vigilantism has basically been perpetuated by the two leading political parties in Ghana: the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Party. The major political actors in the political system of Ghana continue to express the debilitating effects of political vigilantism on Ghana’s democratic advancement, nevertheless, it continues to persist in monumental proportion in our political dispensation. Using a qualitative research approach, the paper examines the factors responsible for the pervasiveness of political vigilantism under the Fourth Republic of Ghana and proffer some plausible solutions to address this political canker.Item Adjustments in purchasing arrangements to support the COVID-19 health sector response: evidence from eight middle-income countries(Health Policy and Planning, 2024) Parmar, D.; Mathauer, I.; Abuosi, A.A.; et al.The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered several changes in countries’ health purchasing arrangements to accompany the adjustments in service delivery in order to meet the urgent and additional demands for COVID-19-related services. However, evidence on how these adjustments have played out in low- and middle-income countries is scarce. This paper provides a synthesis of a multi-country study of the adjustments in purchasing arrangements for the COVID-19 health sector response in eight middle-income countries (Armenia, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Romania and Ukraine). We use secondary data assembled by country teams, as well as applied thematic analysis to examine the adjustments made to funding arrangements, benefits packages, provider payments, contracting, information management systems and governance arrangements as well as related implementation challenges. Our findings show that all countries in the study adjusted their health purchasing arrangements to varying degrees. While the majority of countries expanded their benefit packages and several adjusted payment methods to provide selected COVID-19 services, only half could provide these services free of charge. Many countries also streamlined their processes for contracting and accrediting health providers, thereby reducing administrative hurdles. In conclusion, it was important for the countries to adjust their health purchasing arrangements so that they could adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in some countries financing challenges resulted in issues with equity and access. However, it is uncertain whether these adjustments can and will be sustained over time, even where they have potential to contribute to making purchasing more strategic to improve efficiency, quality and equitable access in the long run.Item Administrative Reforms in the Ghanaian Public Services for Government Business Continuity During the COVID-19 Crisis(Public Organization Review, 2022) Bawole, J.N.; Langnel, Z.The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to public service delivery but heightened citizens demand for services. We examined public sector reforms implemented in the Ghanian public sector to ensure public service continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using content analysis and key informant interviews, found that reforms such as flexible working schedule, redesign of offices, directorates, and installations of equipment, online monitoring and assessment of targets, and conducting services online were instrumental in ensuring the continuity of government business. We recommend that public sector managers allocate adequate resources to digital-based public sector reforms to better prepare for transboundary human threats such as Covid-19.Item Adopting a specific innovation type versus composition of different innovation types: Case study of a Ghanaian bank(International Journal of Bank Marketing, 2012-04) Baba, Y.Purpose: Although several types of innovation are identified in the extant literature, researchers have not resolved conflicting theoretical predictions about the implication of adopting innovation types. Following the conceptualization of Damanpour et al., this paper aims to distinguish between three innovation types (i.e. services, technological process, and administrative process) and make suggestions for banks on whether to focus their innovation efforts on a specific type or composition of different types in order to optimize the returns to innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Based on an empirical case study of a large multinational bank in Ghana (name withheld for anonymity), data were collected with questionnaire instruments from 51 bank managers. Two regression equations were estimated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings: The paper finds evidence that focus on adopting a specific innovation type seems to contribute more to performance than adopting bundles of different types of innovation. As the bank focuses on adopting only administrative process innovation it enjoys higher growth in market share than when it adopts services innovation and technological process innovation in conjunction with administrative process innovation. Practical implications: It seems that even when resources are in abundance, and complementary changes or innovations are found to be necessary, there is less need to introduce different types of innovation with a more balanced rate simultaneously. Originality/value: The study proposes to resolve conflicting theoretical predictions and ongoing policy disputes about the effects on business performance (i.e. market share) of the adoption of a specific innovation type versus composition of different innovation types. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.Item The adoption and use of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in Ghana(ICEIS 2015 - 17th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems, Proceedings, 2015-01) Osei Nyame, P.K.; Boateng, R.The study looked at the adoption of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) among Ghanaian firms. A survey was conducted on 129 firms out of the 150 samples randomly selected from both the public and the private sectors in the country with a response rate of 86%. The findings first revealed that the adoption rate of HRIS in enterprises is not a common practice in Ghana since two-thirds of the organizations have never adopted HRIS use. Major general denominators for adoption and use of HRIS include firm size, organization type (i.e. profit making limited liability companies and profit making government organization) and age as well as the industry to which firms belong. Firms attributed the slow rate of adoption to reasons including the low numbers of employees, high cost of system installation, unawareness and low priority for such a system. Again, it was realized that the companies' readiness to adopt such a system was not encouraging. There were some technical, organizational and environmental factors that affect HRIS adoption which were unearthed. Copyright © 2015 SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications All rights reserved.Item Adoption of contactless technologies for remote work in Ghana post-Covid-19: Insights from technology-organisation-environment framework(Digital Business, 2022) Ofosu-Ampong, K.; Acheampong, B.The Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020 has changed people's way of life, work and access to information. This has led to the growth of contactless digital technologies for customers' and organisations' benefit. In this context, one specific area of interest is the remote work environment, especially the introduction of remote work systems (RWS) in organizations. Notwithstanding its growing importance, RWS implementation in developing countries has experienced several challenges. Thus, the purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the antecedents of RWS adoption in organisations among different industries in a developing country context. Using the technology, organisation and environment (TOE) framework, the study unearths the RWS antecedents through a quantitative method design (353 participants) in Ghana. Relative advantage, complexity, organisational readiness and competitive advantage had a significant impact on contactless digital technologies adoption while compatibility, top management support, competitionand regulatory support were insignificant antecedents in a developing country context. Our study highlights the important role of RWS adoption factors in propelling users' interest in future innovations and new technologies. A successful convergence of the validated TOE factors would advance organizations's services and change traditional business models and transform business operations and social lives.Item Adoption of mobile payments in Ghana: A merchant perspective(Association for Information Systems, 2019-08-17) Boateng, R.; Afeti, E.Y.; Afful-Dadzie, E.Despite the potential benefits of merchant adoption of mobile payment, merchants still hesitate to employ it in their transactions, making the penetration of merchant adoption of mobile payment relatively low compared to other recent modes of cashless, noncontact payment. Therefore, this study seeks to theoretically discover the drivers and barriers of mobile payment adoption by merchants and to provide a theoretical explanation of how the adoption of mobile payment enhances the payment experience of merchants. The study adopted an exploratory approach by strategically using the case study of two merchants in the retail sector in Ghana. The findings demonstrate that, in Ghana, the business model and nature of the business, contextual factors and technology type as well as competition and cost serve as drivers of merchant adoption of mobile payment. On the other hand, factors such as risk, legal challenges, lack of trust in the expertise of the telecom industry in financial service delivery and lack of skills on the part of some merchants to comprehend mobile payment application were classified as barriers to mobile payment adoption in Ghana.Item Adoption of mobile pedigree as an anticounterfeiting technology for pharmaceuticals in developing countries(Association for Information Systems, 2019-08-17) Anim-Yeboah, S.; Boateng, R.; Kolog, E.A.One major challenge facing the pharmaceutical industry is counterfeiting, which is more prevalent in developing countries. Combating counterfeiting requires various technological approaches, and the most hailed technologies, including RFID-based ePedigrees, are too expensive for developing economies. However, mobile pedigree, which utilizes mobile phones and SMS communication, is a highly affordable, readily available, and user-friendly alternative technological approach. This research seeks to explore factors that influence the adoption of the mobile pedigree in the pharmaceutical industry in developing countries and offers a case study of four companies in Ghana using the Technology-Organization-Environmental (TOE) framework. The findings establish influencing factors as relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility; strategic direction and management support; pressures from partners, competitors, associations, and regulator; and legal framework and counterfeiting threat. These factors provide guidelines for research, practice, and policy, while the study could be extended to include consumer views, other industry types and developing countries.