Peter Quartey, Charles Ackah and Monica Puoma Lambon-Quayefio
The increase in volumes and circulation of internal and international remittances have become a substantial part of resource flow for economic development especially in developing…
Abstract
Purpose
The increase in volumes and circulation of internal and international remittances have become a substantial part of resource flow for economic development especially in developing countries with a significant impact on household welfare. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between remittances and savings mobilization.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the most recent wave of the Ghana Living Standard Survey data, the study accounts for the endogeneity in remittance receipts by employing treatment effect estimators, in addition to a probit model to establish the relationship between remittances and likelihood of savings.
Findings
The results suggest that receiving remittances significantly affects household’s propensity to save. Households that receive international remittances seem to have a slightly higher probability of savings compared to households that receive only domestic remittances.
Originality/value
From the literature, whereas the theoretical relationship between savings and remittances is mixed, it is also evident that the empirical relationship between remittances and savings has not been clearly established, especially in sub-Saharan African countries in general and Ghana in particular. The present study adds to the paucity in the literature in two main ways. First, the study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between remittances and savings by not only focusing on international remittances but also on internal remittances. Second, in sharp departure from other studies, the current study employs more robust empirical estimators in estimating the relationship between remittances and savings.
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Peter Quartey, Mark Edem Kunawotor and Michael Danquah
The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative sources of retirement income apart from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension benefits and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative sources of retirement income apart from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension benefits and the significance of these retirement income sources in the consumption decisions of pensioners in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Using household survey data on SSNIT pensioners in Accra, Ghana, this study employ the Garrett and Kendall coefficient of concordance (W-test) to robustly identify the sources of retirement income and determine the significance of these income sources in financing consumption expenditure during retirement.
Findings
The findings show that apart from SSNIT pension benefits, other sources of retirement income including rental income, income from post-retirement jobs and remittances from family and friends are significant sources of income for pensioners in Ghana. Personnel savings and investment was the least important source of retirement income.
Research limitations/implications
Further research will be needed to validate these results, particularly using household survey data that covers the entire country.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the scanty literature on retirement income by robustly identifying the alternative sources of retirement income and their importance or significance to pensioners in Ghana.
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Abdul Malik Iddrisu, Michael Danquah and Peter Quartey
Using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper aims to take a critical look at issues relating to the demand for education in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
Using data from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper aims to take a critical look at issues relating to the demand for education in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
In doing this, the paper develops a model for the determinants of household’s educational expenditure using the full sample of data and an income-quintile disaggregated model of the determinants of household’s educational expenditures. The study adopts robust empirical estimation techniques to estimate the model.
Findings
The paper finds that household resources importantly influence children’s educational expenditures with wealthier households spending proportionately more in educating their children than poorer households; large-sized households spend more in terms of educational expenses than small-sized households reflecting largely the quantity of education purchased, given that quality and contextual factors matters for educational investments. Strikingly, the findings show that female headship is a significant positive predictor of households’ demand for education. These findings provide valuable policy options relating to the goal of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promoting a lifelong learning by 2030.
Originality/value
While literature on the determinants of households’ educational expenditures abound, very few of this literature focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, this study makes an important contribution to the literature by providing evidence on the determinants of households’ educational expenditure in the context of sub-Saharan Africa.
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Peter Quartey, Michael Danquah, George Owusu and Abdul Malik Iddrisu
Using the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey data, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributing factors of entrepreneurial propensity among males…
Abstract
Purpose
Using the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey data, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributing factors of entrepreneurial propensity among males and females in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a measure of entrepreneurial propensity that takes into account individuals who are involved in starting a new business (nascent entrepreneurs) as a dependent variable and socio-demographic characteristics, and perceptual variables as explanatory variables, the study adopts robust empirical estimation techniques to examine how these variables influence the probability of starting a new business among men and women in Ghana.
Findings
The probability of being a male nascent entrepreneur is significantly dependent upon a wide range of factors including demographic, economic, perceptual and contextual elements, albeit with important variations across gender. An individuals’ subjective assessment of fear of failure in starting a business and of having the requisite entrepreneurial capabilities; the age of the individual; gender of the individual; work status and contextual factors matters for entrepreneurial propensity in Ghana. However, important differences exist in the drivers of entrepreneurial propensity for males and females with females’ entrepreneurship attributed largely to conditions of necessity relative to their male counterparts.
Originality/value
The main value of this paper is to use the GEM survey (which is nationally representative) for Ghana to analyze the contributing factors of the entrepreneurial propensity among men and women in Ghana.
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George Mawuli Akpandjar, Peter Quartey and Joshua Abor
The purpose of this paper is to investigate household financial choice and the determinants of financial services in rural and urban households in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate household financial choice and the determinants of financial services in rural and urban households in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the Ghana Living Standard Survey 5 (GLSS 5) are used to estimate the participation of a household in a particular financial sector and what determines this choice.
Findings
The results from Tobit and conditional logit models account for households' demographic characteristics and their financial decisions. The Tobit estimates show that household size, age, sex, marital status, occupation, income, remittances and shocks determine households' participation in the financial markets. Conditional logit model results suggest that locational characteristics are important in obtaining financial services from particular sectors of the financial market. The results also suggest that when the alternatives of financial services are available, rural households are more likely than urban households to obtain their financial services from the informal financial sector.
Originality/value
This current study contributes to the existing literature from the Ghanaian perspective.
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Mawuli Gaddah, Alistair Munro and Peter Quartey
The purpose of this paper is to examine the incidence of public education subsidies in Ghana. Since the late 1990s, Ghana’s government has increasingly recognized human capital as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the incidence of public education subsidies in Ghana. Since the late 1990s, Ghana’s government has increasingly recognized human capital as key to alleviating poverty and income inequality, causing dramatic increases of government expenditures to the education sector. At the same time user fees have been introduced in higher education while basic education is being made progressively free. The question then is, whether these spending increases have been effective in reaching the poor and to what extent? What factors influence the poor’s participation in the public school system?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors address the key issues by employing both the standard benefit incidence methods and the willingness-to-pay method.
Findings
The results give a clear evidence of progressivity with consistent ordering: pre-schooling and primary schooling are the most progressive, followed by secondary, and then tertiary. Own price and income elasticities are higher for private schools than public schools and for secondary than basic schools.
Practical implications
Given the liquidity constraints African governments face yet there is the need to improve the human capacity of the countries, this study offers solution to how to optimally allocate the educational budget.
Originality/value
The use of policy simulations to ascertain the incidence of public spending on education is innovative as far as previous studies in Africa is concerned.
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Peter Anabila, Desmond Kwadjo Kumi, Leeford Edem Kojo Ameyibor and Michael Mba Allan
The study investigates the role of e-commerce adoption on Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigates the role of e-commerce adoption on Ghana’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 309 owner-managers of entrepreneurial SMEs was employed using LISREL to determine the nature of the underlying relationships among the study constructs.
Findings
The findings show that adopting e-commerce significantly improves SMEs' performance. The study also found that trust effectively mediates the relationship between e-commerce adoption and SME business performance. Finally, the study found that firm agility moderates the relationship between e-commerce adoption and business performance.
Practical implications
The study recommends SMEs in Ghana seeking to grow their businesses capitalize on e-commerce capabilities to enhance their business performances while ensuring trusting relationships, especially in the delivery of e-commerce services consistently, to improve their contribution to overall business performance.
Originality/value
The findings would help managers of SMEs in Ghana to deliver optimum value in their e-commerce operations to improve their business performances in an uncertain world.
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Charles Andoh, Daniel Quaye and Isaac Akomea-Frimpong
Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of growth of most developing countries, as they employ a large number of people as opposed to large firms. Consequently…
Abstract
Purpose
Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) are the engine of growth of most developing countries, as they employ a large number of people as opposed to large firms. Consequently, these enterprises should succeed in expanding to become significant employers and producers. However, what seems obvious at least through cursory observation is that the current state of SMEs betrays an economic loss with respect to the benefits that ought to be forthcoming from their potential. This loss can be triggered by a number of factors. The study determines the drivers of internal fraud and their impact on Ghanaian SMEs and prescribes coping mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data collected on 250 SMEs collected from various sectors across Accra, the capital of Ghana, are used for this study. Using a cross-sectional regression, the authors identify the key drivers of internal fraud that hamper the growth of Ghanaian SMEs.
Findings
The regression results show that although several fraud variables impact negatively the growth of the SME sector, it is only accounting fraud which is significant. This study also revealed that stealing, fake currency issued for the payment of goods or service and non-payment of goods or service account for almost 83 per cent of fraud cases experienced by SMEs.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to the SMEs located in the Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Practical implications
The study will offer SMEs owners methods that will assist in their determination to fight fraud in the business that they manage.
Social implications
The survival of SMEs is paramount to job creation. Consequently, combating fraud that stifle the growth of SMEs will allow SMEs to grow to their full potential and create more job opportunities for the unemployed. This will minimizes the social vices such as robbery, stealing, drug trafficking and prostitution that confront nations.
Originality/value
This study should be useful to managers of SMEs, auditors and the security agencies in developing economies in particular, in their quest to combat fraud within SMEs.