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The ever-increasing demand and consumption of energy and the effects of global warming with its long-term comrade, climate change, is obvious today than ever before. In today’s world, naturally-ventilated buildings hardly provide the satisfaction that occupants need and wish for. It’s on this backdrop that the study aims to investigate how responsive buildings on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana campus are to its warm humid climate and assess students thermal comfort levels.

Quantitative approach was adopted for the study. Empirical investigation was carried out using the survey approach. In total, 14 buildings (offices, classrooms and halls of residences) were assessed using the Mahoney Tables. Again, subjective thermal perceptions of occupants in the halls of residences was sought. A total of 214 valid questionnaires were used for the analysis.

Adaptive principles like the Mahoney Tables are not followed in recent years. Even where these principles have been followed, indoor spaces were still found to be uncomfortable. In total, 58 per cent of the occupants in all the three halls of residence voted in the comfort band: an indication unacceptable sensations. Warm sensation votes (44 per cent) was more than cool sensation votes (29 per cent). In warm sensation, 39 per cent of the subjects preferred cooler environment. The occupants felt that opening windows and the use of fans could keep them comfortable. Moreover, 48 per cent of the subjects voted that their fans and windows were effective.

The papers contribution to the body of knowledge is the provision of empirical evidence in the field of adaptive designs and thermal comfort. There is a strong indication from the results that human activities in terms of blatant disregard for laid down design principles coupled with the worsening situation of global warming is making interior spaces ever uncomfortable.

Leadership and governance are all about “people” and the “common welfare”. Africans have an Ubuntu philosophy which culturally calls on individuals to promote the welfare of collective society. It is therefore paradoxical to note how African leaders and governance regimes perform poorly when it comes to the usage of public resources to create conditions for collective human welfare. Why do leaders instead of championing societal advancement rather advance their selfish, egoistic and sectional interests? This study aims to unpack a prevalent paradox and discuss a new approach of linking the rich Ubuntu philosophy to Africa’s governance and leadership discourse.

This study discusses from secondary sources of data, mainly drawn from journal articles, internet sources and scholarly books relevant to leadership and public administration in developing African countries and how Ubuntu African philosophy can be deployed to ensure leadership ethos. In attempt to obtain a more comprehensive and systematic literature review, the search covered all terms and terminologies relevant to the objective of the study. The search process mainly comprised four categories of keywords. The first category involved the concept as approximately related to leadership: “leadership and civic culture”, “Ubuntu culture” and “African collectivist culture”. For the final category, words such as “crisis”, “failure” and “experiences” were used.

This study contends that the preponderance of corruption and poor leadership in Africa is anti-cultural, anti-human, anti-ethical and anti-African; hence, those individuals who indulge or encourage leadership paralysis are not “true Africans” by deeds but merely profess to be. Linking the African Ubuntu philosophy to public leadership, the study maintains that the hallmark of public leadership and governance is to develop the skills of all and caring for the society.

This study draws attention to the need for leaders to espouse virtues so that leadership becomes a tool to promote societal welfare. The hallmark of public leadership and governance is to develop the skills of all and caring for the society. It involves weighing and balancing professional and legal imperatives within a democratic and ethical context with an ultimate responsibility to the people and public interest. It is not a responsibility to a particular set of citizens, but a commitment to be just and equitable to all. The preponderance of corruption and bad leadership is anti-cultural, anti-human, anti-ethical and anti-African; hence, individuals who indulge or encourage leadership paralysis are not true Africans by deeds but merely profess to be.

This study draws a clear link between indigenous African cultural value system and ethical public leadership. It draws congruence between Africa's Ubuntu philosophy of civic virtue and Africa's leadership/governance. This will bring about a renewal of thoughts and practice of public leadership on the continent, as it has been demonstrated that a true African seeks collective social welfare and not selfish interest.

Significant unexplored research gaps exist in relation to assessing how governments influence innovations in the logistics and supply chains of SMEs to mitigate risks. This study emphasizes the impacts of regulatory coercion and government subsidization on logistics and supply chain innovations and the corresponding effect of logistics and supply chain innovations on financial performance, logistics and supply chain robustness, green competitiveness, social and environmental responsibilities.

Using a quantitative approach, partial least square structural equation modeling and a survey research design, data were collected and analyzed on 210 logistics and manufacturing firms.

The results support the fundamentals of the stakeholder theory and natural resources-based view (NRBV) regarding the positive impacts of regulatory coercion and government subsidization on logistics and supply chain innovations. Furthermore, logistics and supply chain innovations significantly influenced firm performance (financial performance, logistics and supply chain robustness and green competitiveness) and societal impact (social and environmental responsibilities). Particularly, while logistics and supply chain innovations had insignificant influence on social and environmental responsibilities, the effects of logistics and supply chain robustness were significant.

The study presents empirical findings on the impact of government influences on logistics and supply chain management and the corresponding implications for firms and society. Thus, this study contributes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and logistics and supply chain literature and provides guidance for policymakers, industry players, scholars and practitioners.

This study explores the role of external pressure, engagement capability (ENC), alliance capability (ACA), environmental sustainability commitment (ESC), and circular supply chain capability in circular economy performance.

Through a cross-sectional survey and data collected from 124 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, this study employs partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed model.

The findings reveal the following; first, external pressure has a significant impact on ESC. Second, ESC positively impacts ACA, ENC and circular supply chain capability. Third, ACA and ENC mediate the relationship between ESC and circular supply chain capability. Finally, circular supply chain capability has a significant impact on circular economy performance.

The originality of this study lies in testing a novel model that confirms that SMEs respond to external pressure by enhancing ESC as well as develop engagement and alliance capabilities to improve circular supply chain capability to achieve circular economy performance goals.

This study aims to find out whether firms in the local textiles industry are benefiting from the combined implementation of lean practices (LPs) and quick-response manufacturing (QRM) during the era of COVID-19. The study further explores the mediating role played by quick response manufacturing in the relationship between LPs, internal process performance (IPP) and customer performance.

A questionnaire is used to garner data from 123 local firms in Ghana’s textile industry. The analysis for all the hypothesized relationships is done using partial least square structural equation.

The results of the study indicate that LPs significantly strengthen the implementation of QRM. The result also suggests that LPs and QRM can be combined to influence IPP and customer performance. The results further suggest that QRM mediates the relationship between LPs, IPP and customer performance.

This study proposes and develops an integrated research model that explores the synergistic application of LPs and QRM in achieving improvements in IPP and customer performance from an emergent country perspective during the era of COVID-19. QRM serves as an important mechanism through which the relationship between LPs, IPP and customer performance can be explained.

The priority giving to green practices in today's competitive market has made green logistics management practices (GLMPS) a significant driver of organizational performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of GLMPS, logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability on sustainability performance.

The study uses structured questionnaires to gather data from 274 managers of manufacturing firms in Ghana. The partial least square structural equation modeling approach is used to analyze the data to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results obtained from the analysis indicate that GLMPS positively influence social sustainability and environmental sustainability. However, GLMPS negatively influence business performance. The results further reveal that logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability augment GLMPS to achieve significant improvement in both business performance and environmental sustainability through the mediation effect approach.

The study proposes a conceptual framework that tests the combined effect of GLMPs, logistics ecocentricity and supply chain traceability on environmental sustainability, social sustainability and business performance from the Ghanaian perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitude of business students towards the accounting profession and investigate the relationship between students’ attitude and their intention to pursue a degree in accounting.

A self-administered survey was used to collect data from students from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS). A total of 457 questionnaires were used in the empirical analysis. A binary logistic regression analysis technique was employed to analyse the data.

The logistic regression analysis demonstrates that intrinsic interest in the accounting discipline, prior exposure to accounting at the senior high level and the desire to pursue professional accounting qualification in future are good predictors of students’ intention to major in accounting. The results also indicate family members, course instructors and other referent group play a crucial role in influencing students’ intention to pursue a career in accounting.

The findings of this study have important implications for the professional accountancy body and business educators interested in addressing the skill shortage in the accounting profession.

This study does not only examine students’ attitude towards the accounting discipline but also investigates how such attitudes influence intentions to major in accounting.

This paper investigates the combined effect of internal environmental management (IEM) and green human resource management (GHRM) on corporate reputation (CR), environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP). The paper further explores the indirect effects of CR and EP between the direct paths.

Data are garnered from 164 firms from three industries in Ghana. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is the methodological technique used to test the hypothesized relationships.

The result demonstrates that unlike IEM which has a significant effect on FP when implemented in isolation, GHRM does not have a significant effect on FP. However, the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM can provide better results in terms of improved CR, enhanced EP and significant FP improvement. CR and EP were further found to mediate the relationship between the direct paths.

The results suggest that the joint implementation of IEM and GHRM is critical for firms that seek to enjoy superior reputation, enhance their environmental sustainability and achieve financial gains. Consequently, managers are strongly encouraged to create a sustainable and vibrant company via significant and rational investment in green initiatives like IEM and GHRM.

This study happens to be one of the first to develop a research model that investigates the joint effect of IEM and GHRM within the context of CR, environmental sustainability and FP.

Anchored on the natural resource-based view and stakeholder theories, this study aims to investigate the mediating roles of sustainable supply chain management and green radical product innovation (GRPI) in the link between sustainable entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) and sustainability performance.

The comprehensive research model developed in this study is empirically tested by using data garnered from 248 managers of Ghanaian small and medium-sized enterprises. Partial least square structural equation modeling is applied as the methodological technique to test all the hypothesized relationships.

Results of the study indicate that SEO has a direct significant positive impact on environmental performance and social performance but not financial performance. However, through sustainable supply chain management and GRPI (both mediating variables), SEO tends to have significant impact on all sustainability performance dimensions (environmental, financial and social performance).

This study offers fresh empirical evidence by developing a unified research model that validates the specific mediation role of sustainable supply chain management between SEO and green radical product innovation, as well as the mediating roles of both sustainable supply chain management and GRPI between SEO and sustainability performance dimensions.

This study examines the mediation effects of time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness and customer performance between logistics outsourcing and financial performance.

The study relied on a questionnaire as the primary data collection instrument and further employed partial least squares structural equation modelling technique to test all formulated hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that logistics outsourcing has a significant positive impact on time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness, customer performance and financial performance. Time-based competitiveness and cost-based competitiveness were both found to have a significant positive impact on financial performance; however, customer performance had no significant impact on financial performance. The mediation analysis further indicates that while both time-based competitiveness and cost-based competitiveness play mediation effects between logistics outsourcing and financial performance, customer performance plays no mediation effect between logistics outsourcing and financial performance.

The sampled firms for this study came from a single emerging country; hence, the results cannot be generalized or imported to reflect the results that may be obtained from other emerging geographical settings.

The results provide sufficient evidence for managers to turn their attention to logistics outsourcing, as a transformative business initiative, to gain time-based and cost-based competitiveness so as to improve financial performance.

The study provides significant insight and makes an additional contribution to literature in the area of logistics outsourcing, especially by collecting data from an emerging country. Modelling time-based competitiveness, cost-based competitiveness and customer performance as mediating variables between logistics outsourcing and financial performance make this work relatively different from other studies.