This study examines the collection building of Western language materials in a Third World national library. Given the multitude of demands and needs of a developing country…
Abstract
This study examines the collection building of Western language materials in a Third World national library. Given the multitude of demands and needs of a developing country, national libraries are confronted with basic problems, including convincing the government that the library is an important national institution, contributing to the nation's development and worthy of financial support. In addition to resource constraints, there is also the question of spending wisely for one's domestic collection as well as foreign publications, the latter being crucial if the Third World country is embarked upon a determined program of modernization. With limited resources on the one hand and the need to procure information from the developed world on the other, libraries in Third World countries could best meet their goals through careful planning. When collecting Western language materials, constructive planning could be achieved through a collection development policy in which Western collections are systematically and rationally built to assure collection growth and maximum utility.
Evans Opoku-Mensah, Yuming Yin, Love Offeibea Asiedu-Ayeh, Dennis Asante, Priscilla Tuffour and Sandra Asantewaa Ampofo
Existing studies have found that most merger and acquisition (M&A) activities do not create the intended synergy. These studies have mainly investigated how firms' internal…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing studies have found that most merger and acquisition (M&A) activities do not create the intended synergy. These studies have mainly investigated how firms' internal factors contribute to M&A successes or failures. The current study differs from the earlier ones by exploring how governments' activities can contribute to the creation of acquisition synergy.
Design/methodology/approach
A novel technique based on multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis and complex proportional assessment method under an interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy (IVIF) environment is proposed to prioritize these government roles needed during the M&A process focusing on the Chinese M&A market.
Findings
Enactments of regulations and loan guarantees are the most important strategies to help Chinese acquirers overcome acquisition failures. While tax relief ranks third, government training support ranks fourth. Finally, the result shows that government institutional support is the least to help acquirers overcome acquisition failures.
Practical implications
The government has a role to play in the acquisition success. Although this study has prioritized governments' role in relative importance order, the authors recommend that governments capable of providing all these strategies should do so without any specific order. However, if otherwise, governments should not neglect the strategies with less weight completely but rather consider reducing capital allocations to such strategies. Moreover, this study shows how firms with stronger business ties with government officials may enjoy success during acquisition activities. The authors recommend that firms intending to make acquisitions develop stronger ties with governments in order to benefits from governments.
Originality/value
This is the first study to develop a theoretical framework showing how government can contribute to M&A success. The study achieves this by extending Keynesian's arguments and identifies five (5) ways in which governments can ensure acquisition success. Second, within fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (F-MCDM) research, this study is the first to show the applicability of integrated multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis (MULTIMOORA) and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) techniques in an IVIF environment. The novel methodology proposed in this study offers an insightful research method to future studies focusing on group decision problems.
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Priscilla Anaba, Emmanuel Anongeba Anaba and Aaron Asibi Abuosi
Promoting patient satisfaction is crucial for healthcare quality improvement. However, literature on patient satisfaction with nursing care in Ghana is limited. The aim of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Promoting patient satisfaction is crucial for healthcare quality improvement. However, literature on patient satisfaction with nursing care in Ghana is limited. The aim of this study was to assess patient satisfaction with perioperative nursing care in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the largest tertiary hospital in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was a cross-sectional study. A sample of one hundred (n = 100) in-patients in the surgical department were interviewed. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 22, was used to analyze the data. The results were presented using univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses.
Findings
It was found that majority of the respondents were males (53%), employed (56%) and insured (85%). It was also found that eight in ten respondents were satisfied with the perioperative nursing care. Overall patient satisfaction with perioperative nursing care was significantly associated with information provision (p < 0.001), nurse–patient relationship (p < 0.001), fear and concern (p < 0.05) and discomfort and need (p < 0.05). At the multivariate level, overall patient satisfaction was significantly influenced by nurse–patient relationship (β = 0.430, p = 0.002).
Originality/value
There is limited literature on nursing care in surgical departments and rarely are patients' views considered in assessing quality of perioperative care, especially in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs). This study is a modest contribution to the literature on patient satisfaction with perioperative nursing care in Ghana.
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Kofi Kamasa, Isaac Mochiah, Andrews Kingsley Doku and Priscilla Forson
This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact that financial sector reforms have on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact that financial sector reforms have on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Composite financial sector reform index was constructed, which was made up of various forms of reform policies that were implemented from 1987 to 2016. The auto regressive distributed lag bounds test was used to establish cointegration between variables. Having controlled for other covariates that affect FDI such as trade openness, exchange rate, gross domestic product per capita, inflation and by using the fully modified ordinary least squares method, the estimations are robust as it uses a semi-parametric correction to avoid for any possible issues of endogeneity and serial correlation.
Findings
Results from the paper reveal that financial sector reform deepening boost FDI with a 2.167% increase in FDI following from a unit percentage improvement of the financial sector reforms. Considering the various categories of reforms, the results reveal that competitive reforms have the highest impact on FDI followed by privatization reforms with positive and significant elasticity coefficients of 2.174% and 0.726%, respectively. Behavioral reforms revealed a positive effect on FDI, albeit insignificant.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to policy by providing empirical evidence on the effect of financial sector reform on FDI inflows in Ghana. As far as the review of literature is concerned, this paper provides the foremost empirical evidence on the subject with sole emphasis on Ghana. Thus, this paper suggests the deepening of the financial sector reforms, improving competition and maintaining macroeconomic stability.
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Zabihollah Rezaee and Mohammad Hossein Safarzadeh
This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and various measures of earnings quality in listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and various measures of earnings quality in listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The theoretical intuition for prediction of any relationship between earnings quality and CG is based on the behavioral theory and the institutional settings in Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the data of 117 listed companies on the TSE for the period from 2005 to 2019. The authors use panel data regression as the main methodology, along with principal component analysis, t-test and rank-sum test.
Findings
This study finds that the CG has a positive association with earnings quality. More precisely, better CG mechanisms cause lower earnings smoothness, more predictable and persistent earnings, and higher levels of timeliness, conservatism and value relevance. The relationship between CG and earnings quality is statistically and economically significant for all models.
Originality/value
The findings further the understanding of the role of CG in improving earnings quality in an Islamic and emerging country. First, this study provides evidence on the relation between CG and earnings quality by focusing on the behavioral theory, which suggests that corporate decision-making is not only influenced by formal CG mechanisms, but also by informal CG arrangements. In this case, this study departs from the restrictive theories (specifically, agency theory) that are widely used in past literature. Second, this study constructs an index that fits to corporate context of Iran rather than applying indexes introduced in Anglo-American environments.
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Raphael Odoom and Priscilla Mensah
This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of innovation capabilities and social media capabilities on the relationship between brand orientation and brand performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of innovation capabilities and social media capabilities on the relationship between brand orientation and brand performance among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the size differential feature from the organizational ecology theory, the paper further tests variations in these conditions across disaggregated SME levels.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part of the study was carried out with a sample of 484 enterprises in an emerging market context via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, along with a moderated hierarchical regression.
Findings
Results from the moderated hierarchical regression analysis indicate that although the two capabilities generally offered positive moderating effects across all enterprises, these are conditional and not invariant when disaggregated based on enterprise sizes (small vs medium).
Originality/value
The study suggests the need for enterprise owners/managers to identify optimal combinations of enterprise capabilities, based on their sizes, for which their complementarities with brand orientation efforts are more potent.
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Valerie Priscilla Goby and Catherine Nickerson
This paper aims to focus on the successful efforts made at a university business school in the Gulf region to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the communication skills of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the successful efforts made at a university business school in the Gulf region to develop an assessment tool to evaluate the communication skills of undergraduate students as part of satisfying the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation requirements. We do not consider the validity of establishing learning outcomes or meeting these according to AACSB criteria. Rather, we address ourselves solely to the design of a testing instrument that can measure the degree of student learning within the parameters of university-established learning outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The testing of communication skills, as opposed to language, is notoriously complex, and we describe our identification of constituent items that make up the corpus of knowledge that business students need to attain. We discuss our development of a testing instrument which reflects the learning process of knowledge, comprehension and application.
Findings
Our work acted as a valid indicator of the effectiveness of teaching and learning as well as a component of accreditation requirements.
Originality/value
The challenge to obtain accreditation, supported by appropriate assessment procedures, is now a high priority for more and more universities in emerging, as well as in developed, economies. For business schools, the accreditation provided by AACSB remains perhaps the most sought after global quality assurance program, and our work illustrates how the required plotting and assessment of learning objectives can be accomplished.
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Dominic Essuman, Nathaniel Boso, Priscilla Addo Asamany, Henry Ataburo and Felicity Asiedu-Appiah
This study draws on the conservation of resources logic to theorize the role of firm resilience in explaining variations in entrepreneurial well-being under varying conditions of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study draws on the conservation of resources logic to theorize the role of firm resilience in explaining variations in entrepreneurial well-being under varying conditions of supply chain disruption and dependency ratio.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses ex-post survey data from 373 women entrepreneurs in diverse agricultural supply chains in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African country. Moderated regression analysis is employed to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that firm resilience has both positive and negative relationships with economic and subjective well-being, depending on the level of supply chain disruption and dependency ratio women entrepreneurs face. Notably, the findings suggest that firm resilience contributes more to economic and subjective well-being of women entrepreneurs when dependency ratio is low and supply chain disruption is high.
Originality/value
The study integrates firm resilience research and entrepreneurial well-being literature to provide new insights into theorizing and analyzing the benefit of firm resilience for women entrepreneurs’ well-being.
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Mun Yee Lai and Yin Wah Priscilla Lo‐Fu
The purpose of this paper is to report a case study of how learning study was incorporated in teacher education programs in Hong Kong. It aims to share the success of the program…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report a case study of how learning study was incorporated in teacher education programs in Hong Kong. It aims to share the success of the program and to disseminate how pre‐service teachers enhanced their mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge by practising learning study. Building on the work, this paper suggests incorporating the framework of learning study, a theory‐guided pedagogical principle, as an integrated subject of mathematics pedagogy and teaching practice in teacher education programs.
Design/methodology/approach
In total 32 pre‐service teachers’ learning journals of their reflections of learning processes were analyzed. The analysis of data and reporting of findings are linked tightly to how pre‐service teachers enhanced their mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge by practising learning study.
Findings
The 32 pre‐service teachers noted that the learning study subject fostered their understanding of relationship between theory and practice and their understanding of transforming knowledge into action. In particular, they came to understand that knowledge of pupils and content involves a particular mathematical idea or procedure and familiarity with students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions. They also reported that they understood better what mathematics pedagogy content knowledge means and what components it includes.
Originality/value
The suggestions of incorporating the framework of learning study in teacher education programs is supported and manifested by the positive feedback and comments of the 32 pre‐service teachers who underwent the entire learning process of learning study in Hong Kong. The findings demonstrate how pre‐service teachers’ mathematical content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were enhanced by practising learning study.