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This paper aims to analyse economic growth in Africa focussing on the role of digitalization and financial sector development.

The authors employ country-level data from 36 African countries over the period 2000–2020 and used fixed effect, random effect and the Hausman–Taylor estimation techniques.

The study, first finds that, digitalization propels financial sector development in Africa. Building on this, the study further finds that, digitalization conditioned on financial sector development at best does not promote economic growth in Africa. However, results of the net effects suggest that digitalization, overall, improve economic growth in Africa.

In the current environment of a sluggish global economy, digitalization can play an important role in assisting policymakers to spur economic growth. This has attracted the attention of many researchers in the developed world. However, little is done about the subject matter in Africa.

The findings of this paper are novel in the African sub-region with important policy implications.

The present study explores both the validation of the unified model of activism and the methodological reliability of the LlamaParsing approach to natural language processing. Theoretically, it applies the unified model of activism within the context of the Scottish independence movement, evaluating its effectiveness in social media environment.

Methodologically, it addresses the reliability and validity challenges associated with AI analyses, particularly the issue of AI hallucinations—instances where AI generates seemingly accurate but incorrect information. By employing the LlamaParsing approach and then comparing and contrasting it with a quantitative content coding process, the study demonstrates how context-specific instructions can enhance the accuracy of AI analyses.

The findings indicate this approach not only tests and extends the unified model of activism but also offers a robust methodological framework for using NLP and RAG in qualitative research. This dual focus underscores the potential of AI to provide systematic and theoretically valuable insights while highlighting the importance of mitigating its limitations.

This study represents a cutting-edge approach to qualitative data analysis, theory development, and theory testing in communication using a tool that was developed in 2024.

This study aims to intend to investigate the dynamic causality and asymmetric relationships between corruption and economic growth of Nigeria.

Toda–Yamamoto (TY) Dynamic Causality Test and Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model (NARDL) were used for the estimations, for the period 1984–2018.

The result reveals the existence of bidirectional causality between control of corruption and economic growth, Similarly, in both the short run and long run, corruption can affect economic growth and economic growth can as well affects corruption.

Findings of the research are limited to Nigeria whose data were used, based on TY causality test and NARDL as the econometrics techniques applied, for a period 1984–2018.

For a meaningful progress to be recorded in Nigeria in terms of economic growth, the country must device some means for strengthen the control of corruption.

The study was able to prove empirically, the existence of not only causality between corruption and economic growth but also asymmetric effect of corruption on economic growth and that of economic growth on corruption in both the long run and short run, as against the previous studies that are lopsided on the effect of corruption on economic growth only.

The impact of COVID-19 on the educational systems across the globe was characterized by the shutdown of university education systems. In the post COVID-19 era, examining the prospect of on-line education becomes demanding with emphasis on promoting effective and uninterrupted university education sector in Nigeria.

This study employed phenomenological and descriptive research design. The sample size for the study was 15, comprising university lecturers, students and school social workers. In-depth Interview (IDI) interview was the instrument for data collection.

Findings revealed that university education in Nigeria was adversely disrupted by COVID-19 lockdown during the pandemic. Similarly, the study revealed that online education will facilitate effective and uninterrupted university education in post-COVID-19 era. Challenges such as lack of access to laptops, smartphones, reliable internet services, electricity etc. are major obstacles to an effective transition to online education in the post-COVID-19 University education era. The students lamented that poor knowledge of ICT by their lecturers and inclusivity of indigent/disabled students were major concerns.

Revitalizing the education sector is a core concern for low-income countries. Online education presents the lasting solution to the constant interruption of university education in Africa. Promoting effective and uninterrupted university education is pegged on an adequate government education budgetary allocation targeted towards providing an enabling environment for online education to thrive. The study recommends that school social workers' engagement in the educational sector would help advocate for the availability of technological infrastructures and mainstreaming of the poor and disabled in the online education dispensation.

The scientific and professional accounting and auditing community has been widely discussing the transformation of the information environment for presenting the results of business conduct by commercial entities in the field of sustainable development in three vectors: environmental impact assessment, impact assessment for compliance with human rights and solving socially important tasks, and assessment of corporate governance efficiency. Cash flows are an important object of financial accounting in companies. Cash flows combine indicators used to make key decisions and reflect the effectiveness of compliance with corporate policies and implementation of sustainable development programs. Today's external environment is predetermined by the need to make financial decisions in real time. Thus, it is necessary to understand what cash flow the company has and what type of activity will generate cash flows in the future. Therefore, companies need to be guided by national and international accounting and financial reporting standards in terms of analytical disclosure of cash flow information in the sustainable development context. The presented research considers the conceptual apparatus, historical aspects of the accounting category “cash flows,” and contemporary approaches to forming cash flow reporting in accordance with certain provisions of international standards. The authors provide recommendations on developing cash flow accounting and reporting in the context of new requirements of international standards. The presented research discloses practice-oriented recommendations on forming the company's cash flow statements, as well as methodological aspects of analyzing financial statements on cash flows as an additional information environment for making decisions on the main and additional financing of various business areas.

This study aims to understand the mechanism by which the value of ride-sharing services influences consumers’ continuance intention.

The authors collected data from 484 Chinese ride-sharing respondents and analyzed them using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results show that hedonic value, social connection value and environmental value positively affect consumers’ cognitive fit and emotional fit, while utilitarian value has no significant effect on either cognitive fit or emotional fit. In addition, both cognitive fit and emotional fit significantly affect consumers’ satisfaction and continuance intention. Furthermore, satisfaction mediates the effects of cognitive and emotional fit on continuance intention.

Ride-sharing practitioners should have a clear understanding of all the value dimensions of ride-sharing services, which would subsequently increase customers’ continuance intention.

This study defines and divides the dimensions of ride-sharing value and demonstrates the significant impact of environmental value on the sustainability of ride-sharing services. This study extends fit theory by dividing it into two dimensions.

This chapter focuses on the integration of virtual reality (VR) into human resource management (HRM), with a special emphasis on theoretical underpinnings that support its adoption and utilisation. The speed at which technology is improving has placed VR as potentially game-changing for the field of HRM. This chapter reviews a number of theoretical models, including the Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, Diffusion of Innovations Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, in an attempt to make the framework as exhaustive as possible in the quest to unravel the ingredients that influence the acceptance of VR in HRM. This chapter discusses the practical implications of VR on the enhancement of organisational efficiency and employee well-being, based on a literature review of empirical studies that shed light on the challenges for VR applications due to technical limitations, ethical concerns and people's resistance to change. It concludes by indicating the literature gaps and proposing some future lines of research for the use of VR in HRM.

This study examines direct effect of leader-member exchange (LMEX) and learning orientation (LEOR) on workplace innovation (WPIN) and indirect effect between underline relationships in presence of mediators such as creative self-efficacy (CRSE), thrive at work (THAW), task interdependence (TAIN) work significance (WOSI) and creative performance (CRPE). Moreover, this study investigates the serial mediating effect of CRSE, WOSI, THAW, TAIN and CRPE between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN in entrepreneurial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This study collected a total of 286 usable responses from entrepreneurial SMEs in three major business cities in Pakistan. In this cross-sectional study, data were gathered through self-administered surveys using purposive sampling approach and tested hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The findings suggested insignificant direct effect of LMEX and LEOR on WPIN in the presence of mediators. Interestingly, CRSE, THAW, TAIN and CRPE were identified as significant mediators between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN. However, WOSI was found to be an insignificant mediator in the observed context. Moreover, the results revealed significant serial mediating effect of CRSE and CRPE with work context elements such as THAW and TAIN between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN, while serial mediating effect of WOSI in underline relationships found insignificant.

The study emphasizes that chief executive officers (CEOs) of entrepreneurial SMEs should prioritize individual, team and organizational factors to improve WPIN for competitiveness. Entrepreneurial management should focus on building strong relationships with employees to foster creativity and create a learning-oriented work environment that improves motivation and collaboration, thereby boosting employees' CRSE and CRPE, leading to enhanced WPIN.

This research offered a novel research framework and identified critical mediators and serial mediators between LMEX, LEOR and WPIN for entrepreneurial SMEs in developing countries, a domain grossly underrepresented in the literature.

This paper aims to compare the effects of social procurement policies on companies in the Victorian and Scottish construction industries. Scotland and Victoria have led the way in the recent revival of social procurement.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 27 organisations and 28 participants who have experience of implementing social procurement policies into the construction industries of both jurisdictions.

Findings contribute important new comparative insights from multiple stakeholder perspectives, into the effects of social procurement policies on firms operating in the construction industries of the two jurisdictions. Findings indicate an increasing awareness of social procurement in the construction industries of both Scotland and Victoria. However, differences in policy design determine the nature and extent of this awareness, the level of empowerment felt by actors and the social impact these new policies have in practice. It is concluded that to maximise the social impact of social procurement policies into major industries like construction, policymakers need to carefully consider supply-side limitations, the political context into which social procurement is being implemented and the way they prescribe what types of social value they want to create and for whom.

Successful social procurement policy implementation into the construction industry can have significant positive social implications for the communities in which the industry builds due to the large numbers of people it employs and its large multiplier effect into the wider economy.

By investigating the effects of social procurement policies on a cross-section of organisations from across the construction industry supply chain, this international study, contributes new comparative insights to the emerging bodies of research on the impact of public procurement on companies in major industries like construction.