The Effect of Mergers and Acquisitions on Bank Performance in Ghana

The study examined the consequence of mergers and acquisition on bank performance in Ghana. Specifically, the study investigated the effect of mergers and acquisition on net profit margin, return on assets and return on equity of commercial banks in Ghana. Data from the annual reports of eight (8) commercial banks over a 10-year period (2009-2018) were collected and analysed by the use of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The findings revealed a negative and significant association between mergers and acquisition and net profit margin. There existed a positive but statistically insignificant relationship between mergers and acquisition and return on assets of commercial banks in Ghana. Further, there was a negative but statistically insignificant relationship between mergers and acquisition and return on equity. The results, however, could not establish a conclusive evidence of the impact of mergers and acquisition on bank performance, implying that mergers and acquisition might not necessarily improve bank financial performance

Is the effect of a health crisis symmetric for physical and digital financial assets? An assessment of gold and bitcoin during the pandemic

The emergence of the covid-19 health crisis, in this advanced technological era where connections between markets, nations, and economies have grown stronger than ever before, the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly had an impact on both physical and digital financial assets. The Chinese financial market experienced the first consequences of the covid-19 pandemic, then spilled over to other financial markets, including those for cryptocurrencies and the precious metals. This study examines the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the volatilities of the dynamics of bitcoin and gold. Both assets share some characteristics, such as online trading platforms, however, gold is a tangible financial asset unlike bitcoin, which is digitally generated without any physical form. This study argues that the similarities and differences between bitcoin and gold play major roles in how the covid19 crisis affected their respective dynamics. Using daily data ranging from 9/22/2014 to 1/ 31/2023 and employing ARMA as the mean equation for GARCH model, the impact of the health crisis (covid-19) is examined on the volatilities of the prices and volumes of bitcoin and gold. Empirical evidence points out that, the pandemic has a symmetric impact on the volatilities of bitcoin and gold price returns, causing them to be more volatile. The impact of the covid-19 observed on the volume returns of the assets, however, is asymmetrical. The empirical results give evidence to the role that the vital differences existing between these assets played during the covid-19 pandemic

Assessing the roles of green innovations and renewables in environmental sustainability of resource-rich Sub-Saharan African states : A financial development perspective

Environmental literature keeps expanding on the natural resources-environmental sustainability conundrum. However, most studies examine this conundrum in different geographical locations other than resource-rich Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries while also neglecting the criticality of issues like green innovations, financial development, and renewable energy. Besides, the likelihood of a nonlinear relationship has often been jettisoned in the framework. Thus, the resources-sustainability nexus was examined in the SSA using robust econometric techniques, while underscoring the roles of green innovations, renewable energy, and financial development. Using the cross-sectional augmented auto-regressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), cross-sectional augmented distributed lag (CS-DL), and the common correlated effect mean group (CCEMG) approaches that conciliate with residual cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity amongst others, we discovered that (i) the natural resources-sustainability nexus is nonlinear in SSA. (ii) unlike the environmental gains from green innovations and renewables in the SSA, natural resource harms their environmental sustainability (iii) the interaction between financial development and natural resources worsened the ecosystem of the countries (iv) the interaction between natural resources and the duo of green innovations and renewable energy enhances SSA's ecological quality (v) urbanization damage environmental sustainability by spurring ecological footprints. Furthermore, one-way causality paths were observed from the trio of natural resources, financial development, and green innovations to ecological footprints. But renewable energy and urbanization had a feedback causal relationship with ecological footprints. The findings are robust to CO2 emissions as an alternative environmental quality measure. Policy implications to foster SDGs-related pollution mitigation agenda were thereafter extensively discussed for the SSA.© 2024 The Authors. Natural Resources Forum published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of United Nations. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Exploring the relationship between role overload and intention to leave the profession among elementary school teachers

Teacher role overload has vibrantly been of a considerable concern for school administrators since the birth of formal education. The phenomenon often leads to teacher early departure from the profession due to uncontrolled stressors. This study investigates the relationship between role overload and intention to leave the profession among teachers in three Chinese medium elementary schools in Malaysia. It also explores whether or not role overload exists in the sampled schools. The study uses a convenience sampling technique and distributed 65 survey questionnaires to the sampled school teachers. The findings reveal that role overload had moderately correlated with intention to leave the profession among teachers in the sampled schools. Furthermore, the findings also disclose that aspects role overload moderately existed in the settings of the sampled schools. The practical and theoretical implications of the study for teachers, school administrators, and further research on the teachers? role overload related issues were also addressed

Investigation of Malaysian higher education quality culture and workforce performance

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the quality culture and workforce performance in the Malaysian higher education sector. The study also aims to test and validate the psychometric properties of the quality culture and workforce performance instruments used in the study. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 267 academic staff from the International Islamic University Malaysia completed the survey questionnaires. A principal component analysis (PCA) technique was performed to extract the underlying factors, followed by the application of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test factorial validity of the constructs. Findings – The analysis yielded a nine-factor-indexed quality culture construct, while the workforce construct constituted two factors. The findings of the study postulate statistically significant correlation between quality culture and workforce performance. Practical implications – The findings of the study suggest that a quality culture initiative can be used effectively in the context of the Malaysian higher education sector to enhance academic staff performance. Originality/value – The results are important since there have been few published studies on quality culture that examine its effects on academic staff performance in the Malaysian higher education sector. Keywords Quality culture, Malaysia, Workforce performance, Higher education,Psychometric propertie

Assessing the effects of World Vision Ghana education project interventions on beneficiaries in the Saboba district of Ghana

Enrolment, Performance and Retention are the key elements in providing quality education and building the skills and technical expertise of its human resource. The roll out of quality education is however thwarted by some challenges and therefore there is the need for concerted efforts on the part of Private Sector, Public Sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to collaborate and contribute to achieving this excellence. The study sought to examine the effects of World Vision Intervention education component on the project beneficiaries at the basic school level in the Saboba district of northern Ghana. The investigation sought to give answers to various inquiries like: perception of stakeholders on the effectiveness of the project, effect of the project on academic performance, school enrolment as well as the challenges associated with the implementation of the intervention Program. The approach to the study was eclectic. Results revealed that more than two-thirds of the stakeholders identified Water and Sanitation, and Education as the priority areas of World Vision. It also attributed the appreciation of enrolment to sponsorship packages enjoyed by beneficiaries and the aggressive mount of enrolment campaign drives.  However, increase in enrolment did not translate into performance, as percentage of pupils graduating from the basic school level to higher levels of academic was not impressive. The situation worsened as the performance of the girl child continues to lag compared to their boys counterparts. The study suggests that development actors should incorporate pupil enrolment campaign Programs into their mainstreamed local Programs, with much emphasis on quality instructional delivery as this will enable pupil to climb higher educational ladder. Also, consultation strategy should be incorporated into donors’ agencies Programs to encourage stakeholders to fully participate at each stage (design to implementation) of the Program since that will allow optimal achievement of the intended goals

Problems Faced by Novice Principals in Malaysia: An Exploration Study

This study explores the problems faced by novice principals and their impact on work performance. Based on a qualitative research design, we adopted an exploratory design and applied in-depth interview method through purposive sampling for which eight novice principals were interviewed. The findings indicate that novice principals faced various problems such as isolation, time management difficulty, lack of position-related knowledge, failure to integrate theories with real practices, lack of experience in decision-making and problem solving, and inability to adapt to the culture at the new school. Such situations assert undue pressure on the novice principals to the extent of affecting their performance in the initial stage of their appointment as school administrators. These findings suggest that novice principals should attend the National Professional Qualification for Educational Leader course for exposure to theories of school leadership and management. In addition, the findings further suggest implementing socialisation and induction programs for novice principals prior to their appointment. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s3p56

Testing the validity of academic staff performance predictors and their effects on workforce performance

This study investigated the validity of quality culture (QC) and excellent work culture (EWC) constructs, and their effects on academic staff performance (ASP) mediated by EWC in selected West Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs). The study included 1,068 faculty members from eight HEIs. The findings showed that QC construct is represented by nine separate elements, whereas two factors index both ASP and EWC. Moreover, the findings established evidence of construct reliability and validity in relation to the elements comprised the three constructs. The findings indicated that quality culture and excellent work culture have direct impact on ASP. The findings also showed that excellent work culture exhibits indirect causal effect on academic staff performance. This empirical study analyzed the mediating effect of EWC on ASP, which has not been extensively examined in the context of Malaysian HEIs

The effect of board characteristics and life-cycle on corporate performance

This research investigates the effect of board characteristics and corporate life-cycle on the performance of listed firms in Ghana covering the period 2009–2018. The paper adopts the approach propounded by Dickinson (2011) to cater to proxy measures of firms’ life cycle stages. Using the pooled estimated generalized least squares (EGLS), the findings reveal that chief executive officer (CEO) tenure has a positive significant effect on performance. The presence of inside directors negatively and significantly influences performance. The results further indicate that at different levels of statistical significance, the various stages of the firm’s life cycle have a negative impact on the main dependent variable (ROA). With the alternative firm performance proxy (ROE), the results report that aside from the decline stage which negatively drives performance, the rest of the stages (i.e., introduction, growth, and maturity) have a positive influence on performance. However, only the growth and maturity stages exert a significant effect on performance. As part of the suggestions, the study proposes that firms should reduce the proportion of executive directors and appoint more non-executive directors to the board to boost performance. Also, firms should endeavor to increase investment in research and development at every stage of their production to ensure steady profit growth

Lider Öğretmen Olmak: Malezya'daki Öğretmen Adaylarının Algı, Hazırlık Düzeyi ve Zorlukları Üzerine Bir Araştırma

The ever growing demand for educational transformation in Malaysia has placed greater responsibilities upon school leaders to improve school performance. This brings to light the need to explore alternative approaches of school leadership where teachers can be roped in to help, lead and manage the operational tasks of the school. This study explores in-service teachers’ perceptions of teacher leadership within their contexts. The study also investigates teachers’ readiness and the challenges they face while practising informal teacher leader roles. The study employs a mixed-methods design and data were collected through questionnaires from 587 primary and 189 secondary in-service teachers and semi-structured interviews with eight selected teachers. In-service teachers have positive perceptions towards teacher leadership with most acknowledging familiarity with the concept. They admitted that they were ready to be selected as informal teacher leaders, for professional reasons. The findings further reveal that in-service teachers face challenges from various parties within the school community in executing their role as teacher leaders. Moreover, the findings recommend a framework for policy and school based initiatives for improving teacher leadership practices in Malaysian school context.Malezya'da eğitimsel dönüşüm için artan talep, okullardaki liderlere okul performansının arttırılması yönünde sorumluluklar getirmektedir. Bu durum, okuldaki rutin görevlere yardımcı olmaları için, öğretmenlerin okul liderliği yaklaşımlarını geliştirmelerini sağlamaktadır. Sunulan çalışma, öğretmen adaaylarının lider öğretmenlik konusundaki algılarını incelemektedir. Çalışma ayrıca öğretmenlerin hazırlık durumlarını ve lider öğretmen rollerini uygularken karşılaştıkları zorlukları da ele almaktadır. Çalışmada karma yöntem tasarımı kullanılmıştır. Veriler 587 ilköğretim ve 189 ortaöğretim öğretmen adayı ile yapılan anketler ve seçilen sekiz öğretmen ile gerçekleştirilen yarı yapılandırılmış mülakatlardan elde edilmiştir. Öğretmen adaylarının çoğu eğitim liderliği kavramına aşina olup, konuyla ilgili olumlu algılara sahiptir. Profesyonel hedefler doğrultusunda informal lider öğretmenler olarak seçilmeye hazır olduklarını kabul etmektedirler. Bulgular ayrıca öğretmen adaylarının, lider öğretmenlik rollerini yerine getirmeye çalışırken eğitim ekosisteminde karşılaştıkları güçlükleri de tespit etmektedir. Çalışmanın bir sonucu olarak. Malezya eğitim uygulamaları bağlamında lider öğretmenlik uygulamalarını geliştirmek için politika ve girişimleri bir çerçeve olarak sunulmaktadır