A SURVEY OF THE ROLE OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.The study was designed to investigate the role of Vocational Guidance Counsellors in promoting student’s entrepreneurship development in a developing economy. This study focused on secondary schools students in Oredo Local Government area of Edo state, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study, while purposive sampling technique was used to select eighty senior secondary school students from eight schools with professional Guidance counsellors. The question the study attempted to answer is to ascertain the extent to which school counsellors’ impact on students’ entrepreneurship development through counselling services. A 10-item self-designed instrument titled ‘Counsellor’s role in promoting Entrepreneurship development’ was used for data collection. This instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation and a reliability coefficient value of 0.75 was obtained. Data generated from this study were analysed using frequency count and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that school counsellors were deficient in promoting entrepreneurship development of secondary school students through the following counselling services: orientation and information services and also in the organization of entrepreneurship workshop, excursion and career day programmes. Based on these findings, it was recommended, among others, that, the school Guidance Counsellors should be reoriented to drill into their repertoire of professional orientation, a high dosage of entrepreneurship protocols, knowledge and skills. The school heads should be required to provide support for the school counselling programmes, by education authorities

The Role of Uncertainty Avoidance and Situational Abnormality in Satisfaction-Trust-Loyalty Link

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose – The relational link between satisfaction-trust-loyalty is rather complex and dynamic. This paper examines the effect of situational abnormality (SA) and uncertainty avoidance (UA) variables as moderators to trust and loyalty outcomes in the Turkish Automobile Industry. The research proposed a theoretical model with SA and UA interaction effects on the proposed loyalty relational link. Design/methodology/approach – Existing instruments were employed to sample 250 customers of an insurance company in Turkey, 200 returned questionnaires were used. Two-stage data analysis method was employed. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to establish the research constructs' validity and model goodness of fit, while Structural Equation Modelling was employed to test the proposed model hypotheses. Findings – In the pivotal model, the result showed that UA was not significant, but SA mitigated strongly on relational outcomes when compared to the rival model, which had stronger and positive customer loyalty intention. The findings reveals that SA led to a negative customer’s loyalty disposition towards their insurance service provider in Turkey. Research limitations/implications – The research data was homogenously analysed without conducting analysis on demographics such as relationship length, profession or family profile. There is value in extending the current research by considering demographic effects on the research model. Originality/value – the research developed a relational model that embeds contextual factors in the Turkey insurance sector. The research shows that SA had a strong influence on the relationship dynamics within the context. The paper proves the value of SA importance, especially when the environment is dynamic and risky

Nigerian SMEs - Commitment and Loyalty to their Retail Banks

Purpose: Commitment in underpinning long‐term business relationships is well established. Limited research exists involving relationships between SMEs and banks. The paper presents an instrument to assess such relationships and is evaluated for validity and reliability with reference to the Nigerian SME‐banking environment. Design/Methodology / Approach: Various scale sets from existing studies are combined to assess commitment and advocacy and repurchase intention. Data was collected from 199 SMEs via interviews with owners or senior managers. Analysis involved exploratory factor analysis to determine the underlying data structure, with internal reliability assessment. Findings: Commitment is based on two components; affective and calculative, whilst advocacy and repurchase intention converged into a single factor. This SME‐bank relationship has some way to mature with the banks affording only modest financial support, although SMEs' commitment and levels of loyalty appear relatively strong. Originality / Value: The findings provide initial insight into this relationship within the SME‐bank context from the SME perspective. Originality lies in the validation of commitment and behavioural intention constructs within this business arena and geographical location, as well as engaging with smaller organisations rather than their larger counterparts in the consideration of bank performance

The SMEs’ perspective of trust in a B2B relationship

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Despite the diversity in its associated definition and related structures, the role of trust in underpinning long-term business relationships is well established. This article presents an instrument to assess trust from the perspective of Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) towards their banks, an area with limited research to date. Items borrowed from various scale sets presented in existing studies are combined to assess trust by encompassing both the dimensions of credibility and benevolence. Data were collected from 221 SMEs via a self-administered questionnaire completed either by the SME owner or senior manager with responsibility for relationship with their bank, providing 199 usable records. An Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to determine the underlying data structure, with subsequent deployment of Cronbach’s α as a post-hoc assessment of the internal reliability of the retained factors. The analysis presented suggests that the SMEs’ perspective of the trust they have in their banks primarily encompasses credibility, supported by only a marginal presence of benevolence. In absolute terms, these SMEs declare a strongly positive level of credibility-based trust towards their banks despite the financial crises that have plagued the Nigerian banking industry. The originality of this work lies in the investigation of a business-to-business relationship involving SMEs and banks from the perspective of the former in an under-researched emerging economy setting

Defining Trust in a B2B Relationship - The SMEs’ Perspective

Trust’s role in underpinning long-term business relationships is well established, albeit with a range of associated definitions and structures. This paper presents an instrument to assess the structure and level of SMEs’ trust-perception of their banks in Nigeria, which represents an area with limited research to date. Various scale sets from existing studies are combined to assess the credibility and benevolence aspects of trust. Data were collected from 199 SMEs via interviews with owners or senior managers. Analysis involved Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to determine the underlying data structure, with subsequent deployment of Cronbach’s alpha to assess the internal reliability of the retained factors. For the context of this study, trust primarily encompasses credibility, with only a marginal presence of benevolence. Interestingly, despite the financial crises that have plagued the banking industry in Nigeria, SMEs still have considerable a positive trust-disposition towards their banks. The originality of this work lies in the investigation of a particular B2B relationship within an under researched business setting

A Survey of the Role of Vocational Guidance Counsellors in Entrepreneurship Education in a Developing Economy

The study was designed to investigate the role of Vocational Guidance Counsellors in promoting student’s entrepreneurship development in a developing economy. This study focused on secondary schools students in Oredo Local Government area of Edo state, Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study, while purposive sampling technique was used to select eighty senior secondary school students from eight schools with professional Guidance counsellors. The question the study attempted to answer is to ascertain the extent to which school counsellors’ impact on students’ entrepreneurship development through counselling services. A 10-item self-designed instrument titled ‘Counsellor’s role in promoting Entrepreneurship development’ was used for data collection. This instrument was validated by experts in measurement and evaluation and a reliability coefficient value of 0.75 was obtained. Data generated from this study were analysed using frequency count and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that school counsellors were deficient in promoting entrepreneurship development of secondary school students through the following counselling services: orientation and information services and also in the organization of entrepreneurship workshop, excursion and career day programmes. Based on these findings, it was recommended, among others, that, the school Guidance Counsellors should be reoriented to drill into their repertoire of professional orientation, a high dosage of entrepreneurship protocols, knowledge and skills. The school heads should be required to provide support for the school counselling programmes, by education authorities. Keywords: role, vocational guidance, entrepreneurship, development DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-15-06 Publication date:May 31st 2022

Assessing the Impact of Relationship Length in the SMEs and Bank Association

Despite the importance of satisfaction, loyalty and relationship length in the literature, there is very little evidence of studies within the Nigerian Business to Business (B2B) Relationship terrain. This paper seeks to investigate the effect of relationship length on SMEs association with their banks in Nigeria. Measurement Items were adapted from various scale sets presented in existing studies are combined to investigate the B2B relationship context. Data were collected from 221 SMEs via a self-administered questionnaire completed either by the SME owner or senior manager with responsibility for relationship with their bank, providing 199 usable records. Principal Component Exploratory Analysis (PCA) was used to determine the underlying data structure, with subsequent deployment of Cronbach’s alpha as a post-hoc assessment of the internal reliability of the retained factors. Subsequently, regression analysis was employed to determine the impact of satisfaction on loyalty in a short and long term relationship contexts. The analysis presented suggests that the SMEs’ had evidence of been satisfied with their bank, however, the regression analysis for both short and long term relationship length were both significant in imparting their loyalty towards their bank. The originality of this paper lies in the investigation of a B2B relationship involving SMEs and banks within a relationship context that hitherto was unknown and the validation of relevant relationship building blocks

The relationship between business and bank: the role of perceived injustice in complaint behaviour

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The purpose of this study was twofold: to examine, firstly, if dissatisfaction can sufficiently predict complaint behaviour and, secondly, whether perceived injustice will trigger complaint behaviour by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) following a dissatisfying marketplace experience with Nigerian banks. A two-stage data analysis method was employed. Confirmatory factor analysis was utilised to establish the validity of the research constructs and the model’s goodness of fit, while structural equation modelling was employed to test the proposed model’s hypotheses. The result showed that an SME’s negative experience with their bank (negative disconfirmation) produced dissatisfaction and subsequently increased the likelihood of the SME both exiting and spreading negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Perceived injustice moderated the relationship between dissatisfaction and exit but was not significant in causing NWOM. The research data was homogeneously analysed, without including demographics such as length of banking relationship, number of employees, capital, or type of trade activity. Therefore, there is value in extending this research by considering different demographic features on the research model. The research adds value to the customer complaint behaviour (CCB) literature by establishing the structure of CCB by SMEs experiencing bank service failure. This study has shown dissatisfying service experience to be a sufficient condition for complaint behaviour, regardless of the role of perceived injustice

Investigating the Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)-banking long term relationship building

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose - It evaluates the role of the commitment between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their banks in Nigeria from the perspective of the senior SME employees. The antecedents to, and outcomes from, commitment that underpin these crucial business-to-business (B2B) relationships are quantified as part of a proposed relationship model. Design/methodology/approach - 850 SMEs located across three Nigerian regions were targeted leading to the achievement of 491 complete surveys. The data collected comprised various validated items from which scales were developed. Data collection was supported by means of face-to-face interviews with senior SME representatives. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equations Modelling (SEM) were employed to validate the research model and quantify the associated relationships. Findings - Two dimensions of commitment are relevant here, namely the affective and calculative components. The key respective antecedents to these commitment dimensions are trust and social bonding for affective commitment and costs related to benefit loss for calculative commitment. Affective commitment has the greater marginal effect on SMEs’ behavioral intentions towards their banks. Research limitations/implications – The research could be expanding further in future studies through consideration of the banks’ perspectives alongside those of the SMEs as consumers. Originality/value – This lies in the assessment of the relationships’ strengths and characteristics from the perspectives of SMEs as clients, a sector under-represented in relationship marketing research and in a location where B2B relationships have perhaps not been fully supported by their banking sector. Keywords: Commitment, SMEs, banks, Nigeria, trust, social boding, costs relating to benefits loss