Investigating the Moderating Role of Social Support in Online Shopping Intentions

Relationship building plays a crucial role in business success because of the saturated nature of the market. Thus, there has been stronger competition because many businesses offer similar products for sale on an online shopping platform. This has given online consumers a wide range of alternatives when shopping online. This present study aimed to investigate the influence of relationship quality on purchase intention among Ghanaian consumers in an online shopping platform while moderated by social support. A convenience sampling method was employed to collect 304 responses from the respondents via web-survey. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the structural model. The findings reveal that customer trust and customer satisfaction did not significantly influence purchase intention. Furthermore, Customer commitment and social support had a significant and positive influence on purchase intention. Also, social support moderated the relationship between customer trust and purchase intention but had no moderation effect on the relationship between customer satisfaction and purchase intention and customer commitment and purchase intention. This article ends with theoretical and practical implications. Keywords: Relationship Quality, Consumer Behavior, Purchase Intention, Social Support, Ghana DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/78-04 Publication date: April 30th 202

Towards an Improved Health Service Quality Delivery and Patient Loyalty: Does Satisfaction Really Matter?

The healthcare industry in developing nations has chronicled high development rate in our current dispensation. This study sought to identify the most critical factors in hospitals related service delivery quality that will drive loyalty and hence ensure the survival and success of the hospital in the future; it ideally tested if the satisfaction of a patient had any role to play in such relationship. This study was conducted using data from (562) patients who received services from (4) four major but different private hospitals in Ghana. The five Service Quality dimensions; Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, patient satisfaction and loyalty to the hospital were the variables well-thought-out for this study. A path analysis was done utilizing SmartPLS V3.2.8; a second-generation multivariate data analysis method (PLS-SEM) in order to compute path coefficients, direct and indirect effects of the variables on patient's satisfaction and also loyalty to the hospital. The study prompted that empathy, responsiveness and tangibility (not assurance and reliability) impact patients’ satisfaction and patient's satisfaction is directly related to patients’ loyalty to the hospital/clinic

The Antecedes of Service Quality and Patients’ Satisfaction Equally Drive Patients’ Loyalty in Private Healthcare Delivery: Thinking the future

The healthcare industry in developing nations has recorded high progress rate in recent years, leading an initiative varied studies into the examination of patients’ comparative and varied views with regards to private healthcare providers service delivery. This study objectively focused on the hospital’s service quality, and patients’ satisfaction as a predictor and collective impact or on patient’s loyalty; it attempted to draw a distinctive border amongst quality of service and satisfaction of the patient, one with more effect size and predictive relevance to drive greater loyalty amongst the patients in a private healthcare delivery setting. A total of 562 patients recruited, participated in a cross-sectional survey with a questionnaire as the main and only data collection tool from four major private hospitals in Ghana. A path and linear regression analysis of the data was performed through SPSS 23 and Smart PLS version 3 in order to compute path coefficients, direct and indirect impacts of the factors; service quality and patient's satisfaction on patient’s loyalty to the hospital.  The study suggested that both clientele perceived service quality and patient satisfaction significantly influence patient loyalty. However, patient satisfaction with service delivery had a better predictive relevance and effect size than the quality of the service on patient loyalty in this study

Education for Sustainable Development: Understanding Students' Choice of Business Education Program

Career choice is inevitable for many students all over the world. The career they choose will determine the Program they will read in school. This study explores the rationale that drives students to study the Business Education Program at the tertiary level by expanding the theory of planned behavior. The study also examined the trends in Business Education enrolment for ten years. PLS-SEM was used to analyze 342 responses obtained, and trend analysis was used to assess the student enrolment data. The findings highlight some variations in the factors that affect student choice of the Business Education Program; revealing a gradual decline in enrolment, and the Programs continue to be dominated by males. As such, the relevant stakeholders should employ interventions aimed at improving student enrolment and making the Program attractive

Relationship beyond the Workplace: Impact of Guanxi GRX Scale on Employee Engagement and Performance

The primary objective of this research was to find out the impact of GRX scale (ganqing, renqing, and xinren) on a non-Chinese working environment. Thus, to apply and ascertain the effect of the three dimensions of guanxi on employees’ engagement and, eventually, their job performance in an African working environment. This research used social exchange theory to explain the relationship between supervisors and their subordinates. The research data comprises 530 respondents who were randomly chosen from seven organizations. Smart-PLS 3.2.8 was the primary instrument used to analyze the data. The finding indicated that renqing, synonymous with mutual sharing or need for reciprocity, was highly significant with employee engagement and job performance. Hence, a win-win outcome is achieved whenever employers exhibit genuine concern and care for their employees. Additionally, there was a negative relationship between ganqing (emotional attachment) and employee engagement. This revealed that making decisions based on personal relationships will negatively affect employees’ engagement and job performance. This research adds to the literature by revealing that guanxi is applicable in non-Chinese workplaces

Relationship beyond the Workplace: Impact of Guanxi GRX Scale on Employee Engagement and Performance

The primary objective of this research was to find out the impact of GRX scale (ganqing, renqing, and xinren) on a non-Chinese working environment. Thus, to apply and ascertain the effect of the three dimensions of guanxi on employees’ engagement and, eventually, their job performance in an African working environment. This research used social exchange theory to explain the relationship between supervisors and their subordinates. The research data comprises 530 respondents who were randomly chosen from seven organizations. Smart-PLS 3.2.8 was the primary instrument used to analyze the data. The finding indicated that renqing, synonymous with mutual sharing or need for reciprocity, was highly significant with employee engagement and job performance. Hence, a win-win outcome is achieved whenever employers exhibit genuine concern and care for their employees. Additionally, there was a negative relationship between ganqing (emotional attachment) and employee engagement. This revealed that making decisions based on personal relationships will negatively affect employees’ engagement and job performance. This research adds to the literature by revealing that guanxi is applicable in non-Chinese workplaces

Research on the Effect of Evidence-Based Intervention on Improving Students’ Mental Health Literacy Led by Ordinary Teachers: A Meta-Analysis

Background: the purpose of this study was to systematically review the effects of intervention experiments led by ordinary teachers to improve students’ mental health literacy and to provide evidence-based research and new ideas for improving students’ mental health literacy. Methods: A systematic search using 5 English (Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, EBSCO, Springer Link) and 3 Chinese (CNKI, WanFang, and VIP) databases was initiated to identify controlled trials assessing the immediate effect and delay effect of the intervention experiment led by ordinary teachers on improving students’ mental health knowledge, anti-stigma, willingness, or behavior to seek-help. Results: a total of 14 experiments with 7873 subjects were included. The results showed that the immediate effect of the intervention on promoting students’ mental health knowledge [g = 0.622, 95% CI (0.395, 0.849)] and anti-stigma [g = 0.262, 95% CI (0.170, 0.354)] was significant, but the amount of delay effect is not significant. Conclusions: the results of this review show that ordinary classroom teachers can effectively participate in projects to improve students’ mental health literacy, significantly improve students’ mental health knowledge and attitudes towards psychological problems, and make up for the shortage of full-time mental health teachers in schools. In future, more attention should be paid to students’ mental health literacy, and evidence-based intervention research should be strengthened. Furthermore, we can improve students’ mental health literacy and avoid poor mental health by addressing delays in early intervention, as well as improve experimental design, prolong the intervention time, and improve the effectiveness of the intervention

Лазерное зондирование и многофакторное статистическое моделирование оптико-физических свойств неизотермических закрученных турбулентных газовых потоков

Currently, the only effective treatment for cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) infected with the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease (CSSVD) is to cut and replant infected trees. Hence, the development of preventive control measures and strategies to mitigate the severity of the disease are of utmost importance. While past research has mainly focused on resistance breeding, mild strain cross protection and vector control, diversification measures such as agroforestry have received relatively less attention, despite their potential to mitigate CSSVD severity. Therefore, we studied the effects of shade on CSSVD symptom severity, capsid damage and cocoa yield along a gradient of increasing shade tree abundance in smallholder cocoa farms in Ghana. Furthermore, we measured photosynthetic active radiation and assessed soil fertility in order to elaborate on potential causal factors for possible shade effects on CSSVD symptom severity. Both CSSVD symptom severity and cocoa yields followed quadratic curves, and were found to be lowest and highest in plots with 54% and 39% shade, respectively. The simulated optimal shade levels for CSSVD symptom severity and cocoa yield overlapped between 45%-53%, indicating that agroforestry systems with around 50% shade cover may be an optimal coping strategy to balance CSSVD symptom severity versus reduced cocoa yield until diseased cocoa is replaced with more resistant varieties. Furthermore, our results suggest that rather than soil fertility, high-light and possibly also soil moisture stress may have been responsible for the shade effects on CSSVD symptom severity