Market orientation and firm performance in Ghana's telecommunications industry

This study set out to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the adoption levels of market orientation (MO) in Ghana’s mobile telecommunications industry, and to assess its relationship to performance. This was necessitated by the fact that, in-spite of the superfluity of literature on market orientation and its relationship to performance in developed economies and a few on developing nations such as Ghana, there are hardly any studies on Ghana’s mobile telecommunications industry despite its impressive performance. Furthermore, available studies generally assessed market orientation without incorporating any assessment by customers. The study, in addressing these deficiencies, makes significant contribution to academic knowledge on market orientation. Based on literature reviewed, a conceptual model and nine hypotheses are proposed for this study. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods, underpinned by realism philosophy enabled the assessment of the market orientation performance relationship. Qualitative data collection entailed an in-depth interview of ten senior officers of five mobile telecommunications firms operating in Ghana selected by a judgmental sampling method, whose response was analysed by thematic analysis. Quantitative data was obtained by administering questionnaires on 275 staff selected by a simple random sampling method and 302 subscribers selected by a two-stage process of quota and convenience sampling methods. Confirmatory factor analysis, correlation matrix, structural equation modeling and T-test are utilized in the analysis of the quantitative data and the testing of the hypotheses. The findings of the study established that in Ghana’s mobile telecommunications industry, market orientation is determined by one internal antecedent - top management emphasis with no external antecedent influencing it. The significant effect of market orientation on business performance, customer satisfaction, customer retention, employee commitment and employee esprit de corps have also been established by this study. Finally, the study establishes that, when compared, subscribers and staff assessment of the dimensions of market orientation differed with staff rating them higher than subscribers. Based on the findings, the study recommends the need not only for mobile telecommunication operators to continue in the pursuit of market orientated activities, but also undertake measures to close the market orientation gap between them and their subscribers. Top management should also continue with the pivotal role they are playing in the implementation of market orientation, and enhance their information generation, dissemination and responsiveness processes not only to sustain market orientation but also their performance. Notwithstanding the shortfalls identified, which did not adversely affect outcomes of the study, the study has developed an empirical model for market orientation, firm performance relationship for the mobile telecommunications industry incorporating a comparison of the assessment of the dimensions of market orientation by subscribers and staff. It is hoped that this new model will be used for further studies in both developed and developing countries to test the viability of its application

EFFECT OF THE USE OF INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATIONS ON WRITING OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The use of Instant Messaging (IM) applications on the mobile phones of the youth has become inextricably attached to their everyday lives. Students on university campuses cannot leave their mobile phones behind for a minute because of the importance they attach to the use of IM applications. This paper investigated how the use of abbreviations in IM affects the writing of Standard English language of learners of English as a second language. A sample of 150 students in their 3rd and 4th years at Kenyatta University was used. The study also interviewed a lecturer on the problem. While students indicated that the IM usage does not do any harm to their formal English writing, a faculty member disagreed. It was recommended that awareness should be created through seminars and lectures to bring the issue to the fore for students. This would help students to be cautious of the use of IM.  Article visualizations

Sidon sets in algebraic geometry

We report new examples of Sidon sets in abelian groups arising from generalized jacobians of curves, and discuss some of their properties with respect to size and structure.Comment: v2; 17 pages, 1 figure; to appear in IMR

MHD Thermal Stagnation Point Flow towards a Stretching Porous Surface

This paper presents an investigation of the hydromagnetic stagnation flow of an incompressible viscous, electrically conducting fluid, towards a stretching sheet in the presence of axially in- creasing free stream velocity. The Newton-Raphson shooting method along with the fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration algorithm has been employed to tackle the third order, nonlinear boundary layer equation governing the problem. The results indicate that suction and thermal Grashof number have the same effect on the rate of heat transfer. The magnetic parameter has the effect of increasing the skin friction coefficient whilst the reverse is observed for increasing the velocity ratio parameter. Keywords: Convective flow, Viscous, MHD, Free stream, Stagnation Point, Suction, Velocity Rati

Archiving in academic institutions: a case study of Catholic University of Ghana

The study looked into issues surrounding the custody of records considered be of timeless value to the University. The population of study were the administrative and library staff of the University. Purposive sampling was used to select the staff who handle the records at the University. Interviews and observation were the data collection instruments. Findings showed existence of multiple archives across the various departments, faculties and secretariat of the Vice-Chancellor and a lack of university-wide finding aids to accessing records among others. A policy on archiving, the establishment of a centralized archival unit, engagement of a professional archivist, adoption of an electronic media for archiving and promotion of archival material for teaching and learning were recommended for the consideration of the University

Career Progression of Women: Does Work-life Balance Matter?

The study empirically examined the influence of work-life balance practices on the Career Progression of Women at the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP). Given the reliance on an explanatory research design, the study utilized a structured questionnaire for gathering the primary data quantitatively from 209 randomly selected participants. A second-order model was configured in SMART PLS for testing the directional hypotheses formulated. The results indicated that work-life balance practices have a moderately significant positive predictor on both career goal progress and promotion speed. However, it significantly predicts a weak positive variance in professional development ability of career progression. The practical implication is that the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection through its agency, must continually provide favorable work-life balance practices for its female staff to make female workers happy, satisfied, and progress in their various careers. The study offers a better theoretical understanding of how work-life balance, if handled well, may influence female workers' career progression, even in a situation where men predominate, as per role theory. Empirically, the study enriches the theoretical understanding of how work-life balance, if properly managed, would affect female workers in progression in their careers even in a masculine context, as established by the role theory in Sub-Saharan country-context

Career Progression of Women: Does Work Life Balance Matter?

Purpose-The study empirically examined the influence of work-life balance practices on Career Progression of Women at Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP). Design, methodology/approach-Given the reliance on explanatory research design, the study utilized structured questionnaire for gathering the primary data quantitatively from 209 randomly selected participants. A second-order model was configured in SMART PLS for testing of the directional hypotheses formulated. Findings- Work-life balance practices have a moderate significant positive predictor on both career goal progress and promotion speed. However, it significantly predicts a weak positive variance in professional development ability of career progression. Research limitations- The study was limited to only female MoGCSP employees, and this may restrict the degree of generalizability to other ministries of the government of Ghana. Practical implication- The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection through its agency, must continually provide a favourable work life balance practices for its female staff as this would in order to make female workers happy, satisfied and progressed in the various careers. Originality/value- Empirically, the study enriches the theoretical understanding of how work-life balance if properly managed would affect female workers in progression in their career even in a masculine context as established by the role theory in Sub-Saharan country-context

Investigating the Impact of Sustainable Procurement on Economic Growth and Development

The usage of public procurement to accomplish economic growth and development is extensive, but through evidence about its operations are often imprecise and challenging to discover. This study in effect is to look at the impact and linkage between sustainable procurement and economic growth in Ghana from 1975-2015. The article considers the Solow-Swan growth model and came out with the findings and a result that is consistent with most studies. It was realized that there is a positive and strong relationship as well as the significant impact between sustainable procurement and economic growth. Also, it was recorded that trade openness can be a catalyst for economic growth and development as the results proved there is a significant impact. A Johansen cointegration was employed to determine the long run relationship between economic growth and sustainable procurement and it was found out that there exists a long run relationship. Vector Error Correction Model was employed to study the long run and short run impact of sustainable procurement on economic growth. The study also came out that recently, procurement is employed as a tool to promote economic growth as well as attain sustainable development goals. The study contains some reflections on the connections between procurement and economy, society and environment

Career Progression of Women: Does Work Life Balance Matter?

Purpose-The study empirically examined the influence of work-life balance practices on Career Progression of Women at Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP). Design, methodology/approach-Given the reliance on explanatory research design, the study utilized structured questionnaire for gathering the primary data quantitatively from 209 randomly selected participants. A second-order model was configured in SMART PLS for testing of the directional hypotheses formulated. Findings- Work-life balance practices have a moderate significant positive predictor on both career goal progress and promotion speed. However, it significantly predicts a weak positive variance in professional development ability of career progression. Research limitations- The study was limited to only female MoGCSP employees, and this may restrict the degree of generalizability to other ministries of the government of Ghana. Practical implication- The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection through its agency, must continually provide a favourable work life balance practices for its female staff as this would in order to make female workers happy, satisfied and progressed in the various careers. Originality/value- Empirically, the study enriches the theoretical understanding of how work-life balance if properly managed would affect female workers in progression in their career even in a masculine context as established by the role theory in Sub-Saharan country-context