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Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has seen rapid growth in recent decades, resulting in significant changes to the region’s landscape and ecosystems, including wetlands. This study aims to examine the causes and effects of urbanization on wetlands. This study lays down the need to intervene to protect and restore wetlands in SSA.

The methodology used was a systematic literature review, supported by the VOSviewer software and the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews criteria, with data analyzed using abductive reasoning and content analysis.

This study found that a complex web of factors reflecting regional and global trends propels urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanization is driven by population growth, economic development, infrastructure development and migration, leading to significant changes in the region’s ecosystems. The key effects include biodiversity loss, flooding and altered hydrology, water quality degradation and loss of livelihood. The study identifies sprawling urbanization, densification, informal settlement, fragmented urbanization and planned urban expansion as patterns of urbanization affecting wetlands.

This study offers practical recommendations for policymakers, planners and local communities to ensure long-term urban sustainability while conserving wetland ecosystems in SSA. Thus, there is a need for continued cooperation, technology and discovery sharing, and cooperative research funding initiatives with the global community. It also commends implementing green infrastructure, like artificial wetlands, to mitigate the adverse environmental effects and promote sustainable development.

This study used VOSviewer software visualization to uncover structural trends and research frontiers, focusing on wetland conservation in the context of urban areas in SSA, where rapid urbanization adds to wetland degradation.

The use of tricycle waste collection services has become an essential component of solid waste management, particularly in densely populated and low-income communities. The growing demand for improved waste collection services has led to an increased focus on understanding households' willingness to pay for better service quality. This study explores the operation of tricycle waste operators, public involvement and households' willingness to pay for improved services.

This study employed a sequential mixed-methods approach, with a multi-stage sampling technique and randomly selected 385 respondents from five traditional communities in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area (GKMA), Ghana, as a case study.

The study reveals that in the GKMA, waste management operates on a volume-based pricing system, where higher waste volumes result in increased disposal costs, encouraging waste reduction. However, regulatory gaps and inconsistent service delivery, particularly in low-income areas, impact efficiency and public health. Most households expressed a willingness to pay more for improved services, with factors such as education, employment status, household income and challenges with the current tricycle waste collection system positively influencing this willingness to pay.

This study provides the key factors influencing WTP for improved tricycle waste collection in Greater Kumasi, Ghana, to address the gaps in regulation, service inconsistencies and promote sustainable waste management practices.

In the Global North, affordable housing has evolved and thrived, and it is now gaining traction in the Global South, where governments have been vocal supporters of the concept. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the important criteria for selecting affordable housing units in Ghana.

A quantitative research approach was used, and a survey was administered to the residents. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The relative importance index technique was used to rank the important criteria, and the EFA technique was used to create a taxonomy system for the criteria.

The hierarchical ranking of the most significant criteria for selecting affordable housing includes community safety, waste management and access to good-quality education. Furthermore, the important criteria for selecting affordable housing are classified into two groups, namely, “sustainability criteria” and “housing demand and supply and social service provision”.

This study has implications for the real estate industry and construction stakeholders, as this will inform decision-making in terms of the design of affordable housing and the suitability of the location for the development.

These findings provide a baseline to support potential homeowners and tenants in their quest to select affordable housing. Furthermore, these findings will aid future longitudinal research into the indicators or criteria for selecting suitable locations for the development of low- and middle-income housing.

The exchange rate is an important driver of a country’s economic growth, influencing trade, investment, inflation, and employment. This study’s main objective was to investigate the threshold effects of exchange rates on economic growth.

In this research, innovative endogenous threshold autoregressive (TAR) models introduced by Hansen (2000) are employed for estimation and inference. The dataset comprises secondary annual time series data from Ghana, covering thirty-one years from 1990 to 2021. Economic growth is represented by GDPPC, with the growth exchange rate serving as the crucial threshold variable.

The finding suggests a single exchange rate threshold for Ghana, indicating a nonlinear relationship with economic growth. However, above 8.97%, the exchange rate considerably slows growth, harming the economy. The exchange rate negatively influences growth in both low and high-exchange-rate regimes, but it is insignificant in the high regime. In addition, inflation has a significant negative influence on growth in the low regime but a positive impact on the high regime. In contrast, interest rates positively impact growth in both regimes, though not as significantly in the high regime.

The findings from this study offer valuable insights to the Ghanaian government and policymakers as they consider choosing an exchange rate target that helps minimise the negative impact of a high exchange rate to promote economic growth.

This paper is remarkable for being one of the few studies that have explored the relationship between exchange rates and economic growth, exploring the threshold effect.

The resource-based theory (RBT) explains that the management control system (MCS) represents a resource that complements dynamic capabilities by steering employees toward strategies, leading to superior performance. This study aims to identify the impacts of the MCS and dynamic capabilities such as entrepreneurship, innovation, organizational learning and market orientation on financial performance.

The research sample included 200 managers from grain-producing agribusiness organizations in Brazil. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to conduct a symmetric analysis, while fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was applied for an asymmetric analysis.

In the symmetric analysis, the linear association model did not fully explain how the use of MCSs and dynamic capabilities drive financial performance. However, the findings indicate that diagnostic and interactive MCSs positively affect dynamic capabilities. In the asymmetric analysis, the results suggest that the high financial performance of the analyzed organizations can be achieved without considering the need for Entrepreneurship or Innovation.

The study broadens and complements the interpretive scope of previous studies and allows for comparisons.

MCSs must be used in a balanced and synergistic manner (diagnostic and interactive), with an emphasis on monitoring goals and discussions with managers. This is important and contributes to developing internal capabilities, which are embodied in decisions and actions, potentially impacting financial performance. These results are crucial for Brazilian agribusiness organizations, as they provide actionable insights into how the strategic use of MCSs can directly enhance financial performance. By revealing that the balanced and synergistic use of diagnostic and interactive MCSs fosters dynamic capabilities such as innovation and market orientation, the study offers practical guidance for managers aiming to boost organizational effectiveness. This research not only informs management practices but also positions Brazilian agribusinesses to remain competitive in a global market.

This study has generated new discussions based on possible combinations and interactions between MCSs and dynamic capabilities to predict high organizational performance. In practical terms, MCSs and dynamic capabilities can be designed in various manners to reach optimal performance levels.

The present paper offers a literature review on the application of institutional theory in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study aims to synthesize existing research on how institutional factors, both formal and informal, shape the strategic behaviors of SMEs through the lens of new institutionalism and its three strands – rational-action neoinstitutionalism (RAN), social-constructionist neoinstitutionalism (SCN) and mediated-conflict neoinstitutionalism (MCN). It also identifies critical gaps and proposes avenues for future research.

Employing the B-SLR’s multi-method framework, this study integrates bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review. The analysis examines 202 articles, categorizing them into four key research clusters related to the application of institutional theory to SMEs.

The literature on SMEs and institutional theory is framed around the following clusters: (1) institutional theory and innovation in SMEs, (2) institutional theory and the environmental sustainability of SMEs, (3) institutional theory and the internationalization of SMEs and (4) institutional theory and SME strategies in emerging markets.

This study represents the first literature review applying institutional theory to SMEs, offering a framework for understanding how institutional factors influence SME strategic decisions. The paper also identifies research gaps, proposing directions for future studies within each of the four clusters and contributes to bridging the fragmented research on SMEs and institutional theory.

Health shocks are among the factors that have impeded households from experiencing better welfare. To mitigate the consequences of these shocks, individuals have sought to enrol in a formal insurance scheme or borrow from banks. This study estimates the effects of health shocks on households' welfare while examining the mitigating role of social assistance in Ghana.

The study utilized the three-stage least squares and feasible generalized least squares to estimate the impact of health shocks on households' welfare.

The authors find that health shocks put households at risk, particularly disability and severe illness, which significantly limits individuals’ ability to smooth consumption to increase welfare. We further find that hospitalization due to illness significantly allows households to increase welfare through consumption. Finally, we find that social assistance has the potential to reduce these adverse effects of shocks conditioned on the type of shock and the outcome variable in question.

First, we only used cross-sectional data for the two waves and therefore lacked panel data across time for analyses. Second, the data do not provide information on the exact amount of cash received by beneficiaries, so it was quite impossible to measure the exact effect of social assistance on welfare. We could only track whether or not having such assistance could mitigate the effect of a health shock.

The practical implication of the findings is that Ghana needs to build a resilient health system in order to withstand the health shocks of individuals.

No study has attempted to investigate the differential effect of health shocks – hospitalization, disability and labour days lost due to illness in Ghana. Our choice is dependent on the fact that these shocks have been an issue for many households in Ghana, thus the need to examine their impact on individual well-being. Second, social assistance has been Ghana’s flagship social protection programme, but what is missing in the literature is whether this programme is capable of reducing the effect of health shocks faced by beneficiaries’ households in Ghana.

This research investigates the effect of accessibility to points of tourist interest (buffer) and direct and indirect spatial spillover effects of agglomeration economies on tourism industry revenues in Spain.

Data were collected from the Bureau van Dijk's (BvD) Orbis global database. The data were analysed using a spatial econometric model and the Cobb–Douglas production function.

This study reveals that hotels located inside the buffer zone of points of tourist interest achieve better economic outcomes than hotels located outside the buffer. Furthermore, the results show that there is a direct and indirect spatial spillover effect in the hotel industry.

The results provide valuable information for identifying areas where the agglomeration of hotels will produce a spillover effect on hotel revenue and the area of influence of location characteristics. This information is relevant for hotels already established in a destination or when seeking a location for a new hotel.

The results of this study can help city planners in influencing the distribution of hotels to fit desired patterns and improve an area's spatial beauty.

The paper provides insights into how investment, structural characteristics, reputation and location affect hotel revenue.

This research introduces and validates psychological ownership of health as a novel theoretical construct characterized by individuals’ perceived possessiveness, attachment and responsibility toward their health. This study aims to examine the construct’s ability to predict and explain consumers’ health-related decision-making for themselves and others.

Two online surveys with US participants (N = 680) were conducted. The psychological ownership of health scale was first validated through confirmatory factor analysis. Next, the influence of psychological ownership of health on positive health behaviors and blood donation intentions was assessed using multiple regression analyses and conditional process modeling.

Psychological ownership of health demonstrated significant positive associations with health-promoting behaviors (dietary choices, physical activity, sleep hygiene) mediated by health self-efficacy. In addition, psychological ownership of health predicted increased blood donation intentions, and this relationship is amplified among individuals high in cultural collectivism.

The findings suggest that interventions fostering psychological ownership of health may simultaneously promote personal health maintenance and prosocial health behaviors. These dual implications offer promising applications for individualized and public health initiatives.

This research advances psychological ownership theory by establishing and validating a health-specific dimension that predicts critical health behaviors at individual and societal levels. By identifying cultural collectivism as a moderator, this research also integrates psychological ownership theory with cultural dimensions theory, revealing cultural variability in health ownership’s influence on prosocial health outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the capabilities essential to vaccine supply chain (VSC) resilience given a mass vaccination endeavor during a pandemic.

An exploratory qualitative study was used to elicit the required capabilities pertinent to the design of resilient VSC flows. Data were extracted from white papers, reports, academic papers and the presentations of over 100 experts globally who convened at webinars, symposia and workshops to discuss the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign and the VSC.

The results of this study indicated that 7 primary capabilities, 44 Level 1 sub-factor capabilities and 145 Level 2 sub-factor capabilities are essential to VSC resilience in a mass vaccination situation during a pandemic. Furthermore, through cluster analysis, associations of various degrees were identified between some pairs of resilience capabilities.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, a comprehensive and holistic exploratory research study that identifies systemic resilience capabilities of mass vaccination supply chains and aligns these requirements to the seven critical flows in the VSC has not been previously undertaken. A cluster analysis that depicts the relationships between the resilience capabilities has also not yet been done.

The results have significant consequences as an informative reference for leaders managing herd immunity goals during pandemic situations. Stakeholders in the public sector, private sector and other entities, involved in planning and managing all or part of a mass VSC during a pandemic, should find the results valuable in providing a structured approach for building resilience at systemic and individual flow levels.

This study contributes to the literature on designing resilient mass vaccination supply chains during a pandemic. Using data from a wide spectrum of published and audiovisual sources, this study identifies seven resilience capabilities to reduce disturbances that lead to delays in mass vaccination supply chains. This study develops a structured approach to align these capabilities to the seven critical flows in the VSC. Through cluster analysis, associations between the resilience capabilities are identified, indicating where multiple strategies may be required to reinforce VSC resilience.