College of Humanities

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    The Politics Of Public Policy Implementation In Ghana: The Case Of Small-Scale Mining Legislation
    (University Of Ghana, 2023) Botchway, B.A.
    In Ghana, successive governments have employed various measures to streamline the small-scale mining (SSM) sector. These measures span four broad strategies: the enactment of legislation; the deployment of security taskforce; stakeholder engagement; and constituting inter-ministerial taskforces. However, these strategies seemed not to have produced the expected results. Focusing on legislation, the study assessed the political drivers or factors that affected the implementation of the SSM legislation in Ghana from 1989 - 2022. The study used the complexity of joint action model to assess the power play between the actors and how it affected the implementation of SSM legislation. The study employed the qualitative research approach to obtain primary data while secondary data was obtained from books, journal articles, etc. The results of the study showed that the number of actors involved in the implementation process and the power play among them reduced the chances of the successful implementation of the SSM legislation. Similarly, political factors such as the winner-takes-all politics, the delegate system of electing national party leadership, the lack of a national political party funding, and other challenges such as conflicts, delays, lack of capital and geological data, among others, frustrated the implementation of SSM legislation. The study, inter alia, recommended the empowerment of regulatory and security agencies to curb the illegality and other challenges affecting the implementation of SSM legislation.
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    Corporate governance in banks: impact of board attributes on banks performance
    (African J. Accounting, Auditing and Finance, 2020) Nyuur, R.B.; Ofori, D.F.; Dedzo, B.Q.
    The study examines the impact of the board of directors’ composition on firm performance in the Ghanaian banking industry. Using the GMM, fixed and random effect econometric models, the presence of independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on boards are found to significantly and positively contribute to higher bank performance in terms of return on assets. Board size is also found to have significantly influenced banks' performance positively concerning both return on assets and return on equity, but negatively affects the net profit margins of banks. The study further establishes that board members political attachment has a profound adverse influence on firm performance particularly on net interest margin. These findings provide further insights into the impact of board attributes on firm performance in the banking industry, especially in a developing and under-researched context. Research and practical implications are discussed.
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    The influence of lean management and environmental practices on relative competitive quality advantage and performance
    (Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 2020) Agyabeng-Mensah, Y.; Owusu, D.; Ahenkorah, E.; Afum, E.
    Purpose – Firms are adopting strategies to advance product quality and environmental sustainability to achieve improved profitability and shareholders’ wealth. The study investigates strategies that create a superior quality performance to competitors and improve both environmental and business performances. This paper explores the direct and indirect influence of lean management and environmental practices on relative competitive quality advantage, environmental performance, and business performance. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a quantitative method where data is gathered from 259 manufacturing firms in Ghana. The data is gathered through customized questionnaires. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (SmartPLS 3.2.8) is used to analyze the data. Firm size, industry type, and importance of environmental issues are used as control variables in this study. Findings – The findings of the study indicate that both lean management and environmental practices create relative competitive quality advantage and improve environmental performance and business performance. Environmental performance and relative competitive quality advantage mediate the influence of lean management and environmental practices on business performance. The results further indicate that lean management creates a higher relative competitive quality advantage than environmental practices, while environmental practices have more potential to enhance environmental performance than lean management. Originality/value – The study develops and proposes a comprehensive theoretical framework that examines the potency of environmental practices and lean management in creating a relative competitive quality advantage and improving environmental performance and business performance from a Ghanaian perspective, which is an emerging economy in Africa. Lean management and environmental practices may jointly help firms create relative competitive advantage and improve environmental performance to enhance business performance.
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    Customer loyalty and value anticipation: does perceived competition matter?
    (African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, 2021) Christian, I.O.; Tackie, N.N.; Anning-Dorson, T.
    Purpose – Drawing on customer value theory and the demanding nature of today’s customers, this paper examines the moderating effects of competition, as perceived by customers, on the nexus between customer value anticipation (CVA), satisfaction, and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing data from the Ghanaian banking sector, which has been going through some reforms that are changing the banking landscape, the study analyzes data from 587 customers. Respondents were drawn from a cluster of banks within an enclave with different types of customers and epitomized the competitive nature of Ghana’s banking sector. Findings – CVA drives customer satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and behavioral loyalty among bank customers. However, between attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, customers will be more behaviorally loyal to banks that successfully anticipate their needs than they would be in attitude. The relationships between CVA and satisfaction and loyalty are such that the level of competition among sector players does not alter the effect; thus, when a bank can anticipate customer value, customers are going to stay loyal to such a bank irrespective of the competitive offers. Originality/value – Although the impact CVA has on satisfaction and loyalty is justified in the existing literature, extant research has not systematically examined the influence of external boundaries and situational effects on the potency of anticipating customer value in detail. The current study shows the effect of competition on CVA and customer behavioral outcomes. The study further concludes that irrespective of competition, banks that are perceived to be high on CVA will have their customers being loyal. This is very important in the development of bank marketing and product innovation strategies.
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    A (Re)turn to Older Conversations in African Studies
    (African Studies Review, 2021) Darkwah, A.K.; Lawrance, B.N.
    In an interdisciplinary journal such as the African Studies Review, we are all enriched by the unique perspectives that writers from different disciplines bring to the table. Historians, political scientists, economists, literary scholars, and sociologists can draw on their disciplinary perspectives as well as on the perspectives of other disciplines to gain insights into the continent, and we all are better off for it. What do we do, though, with disciplines that are considered ill-fitting for a study of Africa? Fifty years ago, the South African anthropologist Archie Mafeje remarked about how historically, on the continent, sociology had been viewed as a discipline best suited to making sense of the civilized European settler communities in the eastern and southern parts of the continent, while the rest of Africa could be left to anthropologists to study. He expressed the belief that these African sites, conceptualized as static and non-modernizing, lent themselves better to a discipline that had been developed to study the Other than one developed to study the metropole. Concepts such as modernity, civilization, and knowledge, as developed by sociologists, were perceived at the time as inappropriate for describing Africa, hence the decision to leave the study of the continent to those who worked with concepts such as kinship, “tribes,” and witchcraft beliefs. No wonder, then, that the early academics in many departments of sociology on the continent such as Kofi Abrefa Busia, Godwin Nukunya, and Max Assimeng, all of whom taught in the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana in its early years, were trained primarily in the United Kingdom as social anthropologists. Even today, there are many more African and Africanist anthropologists than there are sociol ogists.
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    Migrants in Countries in Crisis: The Experiences of Ghanaian and Nigerien Migrants during the Libyan Crisis of 2011
    (African Human Mobility Review, 2019) Kandilige, L.; Hamidou, M.N.
    Using the experiences of Ghanaian and Nigerian migrants who were implicated in the 2011 Libyan crisis as a case study, this paper highlights the importance of examining micro-level factors in explaining migration decision-making processes. It therefore challenges the uncritical use of macro-level factors as exogenous ‘root causes’ of migration especially in developing country contexts. Adopting mainly qualitative approaches among seventy-five key informants from six distinct categories, the study finds that migration culture, household livelihood aspirations, geographical propinquity, the existence of social networks and migrant smuggling rings motivate migrations to Libya. The paper also challenges scholarship on the 2011 Libyan crisis that treats the experiences of sub-Saharan African (SSA) migrants in the country as an undifferentiated group. The paper concludes that within a developing country context, the political economy of the origin country contributes to the establishment, over time, of a migration culture especially among youth who feel trapped in ‘waithood’ and are unable to realize basic socio-cultural and economic markers in life. The paper recommends the regionalization of evacuation and repatriation programs to facilitate the timely extraction of trapped migrants from countries in crisis.
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    Generational Perspective of Digital Literacy Among Ghanaians in the 21st Century: Wither Now?
    (Medijske Studije, 2019) Dovie, D.A.; Dzorgbo, D.B.S.; Mate-Kole, C.C.; et al.
    This paper investigates the nexus between generations and digital literacy. For the study, simple random sampling was undertaken in selecting 361 respondents, while 10 participants were selected through purposive sampling. The authors made use of mixed methods, including the interview survey method. The data were subjected to bivariate, correlation, and thematic analysis. Concerning the results, younger people turn out to be comparatively more digitally active and more digitally skilled than older people, which is indicative of the fact that there is a generational gap between the two distinct generations in terms of being in a technologically savvy position. This was influenced significantly by the era in which they were born, as each generation comes with its technological innovations, the phenomena of socialization, and social interaction with self-organization as the focus. It is concluded that digital literacy, expositions, and exploits are significant in how they shape generational interactions, including the adaptation to digital device utilization in later life.
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    Vegetable production technical efficiency and technology gaps in Ghana
    (African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2019) Tsiboe, F.; Asravor, J.; Osei, E.
    This study characterizes the nature of the vegetable production shortfall throughout Ghana for remedial action to be taken. By applying the meta-stochastic frontier analysis to a sample of okra, pepper, and tomato farmers, the results show that the ranking of production inputs in production is in the order of the land, hired labor, fertilizer, pesticide, and family labor. Furthermore, the results also suggest that vegetable production is characterized by diseconomies of scale. Technical efficiency for okra, pepper, and tomato farmers in Ghana is estimated at 54%, 74%, and 58% respectively, and this has generally increased for okra and pepper but remained stable for tomato. Technology gaps are close to non-existent for pepper cultivation, modest for tomato, and severe for okra. This implies that, whilst there is no potential for production gain from redistributing pepper technology throughout Ghana, there is limited potential for tomato and substantial potential for okra. Pepper farmers could potentially benefit from managerial improvements.
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    Pooled procurement programme: efficiency and challenges in medicinal health care – perspectives from National Catholic Health Service in Ghana
    (Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, 2021) Domfeh, K.A.
    Objective This article explores the efficiency and the challenges of the pooled procurement program (PPP) among National Catholic Health Service (NCHS) members using the stakeholder theory. Method This article used the qualitative research approach relying on a multiple case study design to conduct 20 in-depth interviews with respondents working within the health facilities and the secretariat of the NCHS. Key findings This article established that the PPP improved accessibility, quality, and availability and ensured solidarity among the health facilities within the NCHS. This ensured efficient PPP management in the health facilities. Although a 30% reduction in the average cost of medicines was achieved in the first 3 years of the program’s inception, prompt payment of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) could further drive down the costs of medicines. Notwithstanding, there were other teething challenges such as inadequate consultation between the health facilities and the secretariat, inadequate physical structures, poor internet accessibility, and inadequate coverage of the PPP. Conclusion The article contributes to medicine health services research literature in the context of using the PPP in Ghana in procuring medicines. This article suggests that monitoring and evaluation of procurement procedures in health facilities are critical in guaranteeing compliance with the pooled procurement guidelines by participating healthcare providers.
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    Investigating Students’ Perception towards the Use of Social Media for Computing Education in Nigeria
    (Journal of Information Systems Education, 2021) Agbo, F.J.; Kolog, E.A.; Olawumi, O.; et al.
    This study examined the use of a social media platform – WhatsApp – by computer science students for learning computing education in the context of a Nigerian education institution. Nowadays, a large community of students in higher education institutions has embraced the WhatsApp platform for social interactions which makes it a useful tool in education. In this study, students formed three closed groups, and each group had a specific computing topic they discussed. Their discussions were in the form of posting questions, providing answers to questions, or expressing knowledge on the group topic. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants regarding their experiences. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the student’s learning outcomes. The results show that the use of social media contributes positively to students’ learning achievement, and they are motivated to acquire more knowledge about different computing topics.