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The purpose of this paper is to offer a state of the art description of open air markets (OAM), a little-known phenomenon that is indispensable in Africa’s consumer packaged goods industry.

A qualitative methodology comprising in-depth semi-structured interviews and direct observation was employed.

Analysis of data from Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, reveals that channel members have roles that are different from that of their Western counterparts. For example, distributors often do not distribute and principals are expected to actively sell on behalf of their distributors to empty the latter’s warehouse. Also, while many end-users in developing countries expect credit sales and opportunity to bargain, extant literature does not include these demands in the formal list of service output demands. Another major finding is the surprising order underlying OAM. It is the bedrock of commercial activities: for most consumer packaged goods manufacturers, sales through OAM account for over 90 percent of revenue.

The focus on one industry and country limits the generalizability of the above findings.

Africa is the next growth frontier. Tapping into this growth requires a deep understanding and appreciation of the important role played by its unique marketing channels.

Given the dearth of documented knowledge about marketing channels in emerging markets, this study addresses an important gap. Its findings could inform theory development and encourage more research on marketing channels in developing countries.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the impact of natural resource rents on income inequality in Ethiopia from 1981 to 2022 and investigate whether investments in manufacturing moderate this relationship.

Dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulation and Kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) models are used to analyses short- and long-run relationships, as well as the potential moderating role of manufacturing.

The bounds test indicates natural resource rents have a long-run positive effect on inequality but a short-run negative impact. The KRLS model finds manufacturing conditions for this linkage in the short run. In the long run, economic growth decreases inequality following an inverted Kuznets pattern, while government expenditures reduce disparities when directed at priority social services.

The findings provide mixed support for theories while highlighting nuances not fully captured without local analyses. Strategic sectoral investments may help optimize outcomes from resource dependence.

The results imply Ethiopia should prudently govern resources, productively invest revenues and prioritize social spending to equitably manage industrialization and uphold stability.

Reducing disparities through inclusive development aligned with empirical evidence could help Ethiopia sustain peace amid transformation and realize its goals of shared prosperity.

This study applies innovative econometrics to provide novel insights into Ethiopia's experience, resolving inconsistencies in the literature on relationships between key determinants and inequality.

The growth of interest in individual and organizational performance has elevated the importance of theories that explain their mutual relationships. The aim of this study is to thoroughly explore how different factors that boost performance, such as individual motivation and management systems, are connected to the results achieved by both individuals and the organization as a whole.

Data were collected from 409 employees across heterogenous companies. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to examine the relationships among the performance enable variables and output performance variables.

The results of the final model show (1) a strong relationship between individual and organizational performance, (2) a moderate relationship between an individual’s satisfaction with the task between internal motivation and individual performance, (3) a moderate relationship between organizational skills between internal motivation and organizational performance, (4) a relationship between adherence to the principles of management systems and organizational performance. It was also found that (5) the motivation of employees mediates the relationship between adherence to the principles of management systems and individual performance.

The limitation could be the choice of scales for individual factors, as some of them have not been validated in the past and have only been empirically examined in this study. Another limitation could be the geographical scope of the study, as the data were collected from only one country.

This research introduces a new approach to exploring the relationship between motivational factors, management systems and performance at both individual and organizational levels. Unlike previous studies that focused on isolated performance components, our research presents a comprehensive model integrating these factors into a unified framework. This model offers deeper insights into how the combination of internal motivations and management systems impacts performance in various contexts. The research fills a gap in the literature on the interactions between these key components and provides new empirical evidence on their influence in achieving performance goals.

Evaluation and measurement (E&M) remains a critical and debated topic among communication scholars and practice. Substantial research and professional efforts have been devoted to discussing what should be measured and which methods should be applied. Most of the E&M models seem to carry a positivist imprint. But, in real-life, organizations could not have clear aims, enough resources, or adequate informative systems to support E&M. Moreover, several contextual factors could affect the implementation of E&M management processes. The communication literature rarely highlights these factors. To fulfill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to theorize the contextual factors relevant to the management of the evaluation process.

A scoping literature review was carried out exploring the role of contextual factors and impact of contextual factors on E&M management processes. More specifically, the review examines the contribution provided by program evaluation and performance measurement (PM) fields of research.

The paper provides a scoping review of program evaluation and PM approaches. Additionally, it explains how both streams of thought argued the importance of contextual factors, such as organizational, relational, cultural and communicative factors, for the success of any evaluation processes. The study underlined that the main evaluation models used in the field of communication have overlooked these studies and put on evidence the role of contextual factors in effectively executing communication E&M.

The paper enriches the dominant rationale concerning the E&M management processes by incorporating literature on: program evaluation; and PM. The analysis could provide useful insights also from a professional perspective, by helping practitioners for a contextual assessment of strategic communication programs and activities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations among knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL), knowledge worker satisfaction (KWS), knowledge worker productivity (KWP) and organizational performance (OP). The study hypothesizes that the explicit mixtures, i.e. KOL, KWS and KWP can improve OP.

The study sample was composed of 248 academicians and management staff of higher educational institutes (HEIs). The relations were tested through Smart PLS 3.2.9. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was also used for examining configurational paths.

The study found a substantial direct influence of KOL on OP. The findings revealed that KOL significantly affects KWS, and KWS enhances KWP, which ultimately improves the OP of HEIs. Grounded on the fsQCA, the outcomes exposed configurational trails to the enhanced OP.

There is scarce of studies that determine the connection of KOL, KWS, KWP and OP. This is one of the preliminary studies that examine the association of KOL, KWS, KWP and OP in HEIs. From a procedural viewpoint, the research subsidizes by merging symmetric and asymmetric tools to further understand structural issues. The use of fsQCA discloses numerous paths to improve OP and renders asymmetric relations. fsQCA also aids to comprehend the relations that might not be directly understandable via symmetric means.