The B2Com relationship: an empirical study of the measure of relationship quality in a business-to-community relationship.

The quality of relationship between Oil Producing Companies (OPC) and their Host Communities (HC) within the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria (NDRN) is a source of concern for different stakeholders such as the practitioners, government, communities, and OPC. Scholars in the field of marketing have studied relationship quality in different contexts, such as business-to-business, business-to-customer, customer-to-business, and interpersonal relationship. In this paper, the authors build on existing studies to develop a new relationship framework in a business-to-community (B2Com) context, intended to assess the degree of relationship quality between a business and its host community. The framework is supported by the results of a qualitative research study conducted using an in-depth semi-structured interview approach in exploring and assessing the various relationship elements and constructs impacting on the quality of a relationship developed between an OPC business and its host community in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The findings showed that activity links, resources ties, actor bond, mutual benefit, communication, control mutuality, mutual goal and culture are the main antecedents of relationship quality, while trust, satisfaction, and commitment are the essential outcomes of relationship quality. The findings also showed that there is a linear relationship between trust, satisfaction and commitment

Exploring learning for on-campus students transitioning to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: perceptions of students in the higher education.

Due to the emergence of COVID-19, the education sector has embraced online learning as the main delivery method to engage and impact knowledge and skills acquisition of their students. However, learning is not just about knowledge and skills acquisition but is an activity contributing to change and enrichment of the learner. This paper draws upon the results of a qualitative interview conducted amongst postgraduate students enrolled in an AMBA-accredited and top business school in the UK. The results revealed that students’ experience of the sudden transition to online learning is shaped by four distinct but interrelated areas: benefits of online learning, challenges of online learning, success factors in online learning and support in online learning. These findings will help higher education institutions and online learning tutors concentrate more on areas important to student learning when migrating from face-to-face to online modes of teaching

Enhancing B2Com relationship quality: a research study investigating the oil producing company to host community relationship in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

The rapid and continuous deterioration of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in the last four decades has been a major source of concern for the government and practitioners. Hence, the region has been the subject of continuous conflicts and violence between the host communities and the oil producing companies. Despite the effort of the government and practitioners, none have looked at the relationship elements and/or the quality of relationship between these two key stakeholders within the context of the Nigeria oil and gas industry. This research study makes a new contribution to the field of relationship marketing in the area of relationship quality by providing a detailed understanding of relationship elements, and determinants and dimensions of relationship quality. The research study focuses on the oil producing company to host community relationship in the Niger delta region of Nigeria, which was investigated in detail. A qualitative approach was adopted as it is considered appropriate for the research focus, which was to investigate and assess the understanding of different community actors in respect to the quality of relationship between the oil producing companies and host communities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. In addition, explore how these actors described both the relationship elements and relationship quality constructs, and related this to their understanding of the relationship between the oil producing company and host community. Semi-structured interviews, as the primary method of data collection were conducted with different community actors. The literature review, as the secondary method of data collection were primarily used as a tool to double check and validate the interview findings. Sixteen community actors provided their views and opinions of the relationship between the oil producing companies with the host communities in the region. This research study extended the application of relationship quality frameworks that were conducted in a developed economic environment such as the United Kingdom and United States of America to a developing economic environment such as Nigeria through the replication of these frameworks and re-testing their constructs and propositions in order to develop a detailed and comprehensive framework of relationship quality in the context of a business-to-community (B2Com) relationship in a unique commercial context. In addition, this research study uncovered the importance of mutual goal and culture of the community people in addition to pre-identified constructs (i.e. mutual benefit, communication, control mutuality) as the key determinants of relationship quality for the oil producing company when engaging the host community in the relationship building process. This research study also explored the research on dimensions of relationship quality subjecting its main constructs (i.e. trust, satisfaction and commitment) to a rigorous qualitative test. Doing this, the finding further emphasised some consensus between these dimensions of relationship quality. In addition, the developed framework highlighted the importance of including the relationship elements (i.e. actor bonds, resource ties and activity links) when assessing the quality of the relationship between business and its community. In conclusion, this research document recommendations (such as, the local community forming a complete and harmonious whole when relating with external bodies, the need for international oil and gas companies in Nigeria to gain adequate and appropriate insight and understanding into the role(s) played by each of the actors within the Niger Delta community, and the importance of oil and gas practitioners developing and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the region) for various stakeholders within the NOGI

Making sense of maritime supply chain: a relationship marketing approach

Building a relationship with the maritime supply chain partners is considered imperative for organisations to survive and remain competitive. Yet, several studies that examined the maritime supply chain have not adequately explored nor assessed the relationship constructs that impacts maritime supply chain performance. This study intends to fill this gap and ascertain the influence that certain relationship elements have on the maritime supply chain performance. The study is solely a desk research. After providing a general overview of maritime supply chain and its structure, relationship marketing paradigm and relationship constructs, this study examines the influence that the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) has on supply chain performance. The study asserts that the present of the identified relationship constructs (i.e. trust, commitment and satisfaction) among supply chain partners will influence supply chain performance positively. Hence, building a successful long-term relationship among maritime supply chain partners requires an understanding of these key relationship constructs

Designing effective waste management practices in developing economies: the case of Suriname.

Local authorities are responsible for the exponential increase of waste, estimated to be about 9 billion tonnes annually. However, developing economies face enormous waste management challenges compared to developed economies, suggesting the lack of effective waste management approaches in most developing economies, including the small island developing states (SIDS). This study explores waste management practices and behavior in Suriname in support of the government's ongoing efforts in developing a framework to integrate sustainable development goals into its national policies and strategies. The current research adopts a two-stage data collection method involving observation and semi-structured interviews. 15 key informants were purposively recruited and interviewed using the semi-structured interview method to understand the current perceptions and behavior towards waste production and management in Suriname. The results show that Suriname lacks a structured and formal waste management system like many other developing countries. Open dumping and uncontrolled incineration are the dominant waste treatment methods in the country. The semi-structured interviews show that many factors, such as the lack of government commitment, ineffective policies and regulations, lack of investment and infrastructure, and citizens' social-economic status, contribute to Suriname's current unsustainable waste management practices. Although the country faces many challenges, people, especially in villages, have positive attitudes towards the environment, enhancing their engagement in managing waste if the right schemes and facilities are installed. The study argued that the government should improve their participation and commitment to waste management, especially through installing, implementing and enforcing effective waste management policies and strategies. The study further demonstrates the need for collaborations between the government and other institutions, especially NGOs and private firms, to improve waste management investment and efforts. Using the ontology perspective, key findings are synthesized to highlight the practical and theoretical implications of the study. Limitations and future research are discussed

Effects of millennials willingness to pay on buying behaviour at ethical and socially responsible restaurants: serial mediation analysis.

This study empirically examines millennials' buying behaviour at restaurants undertaking Corporate Social Responsibility activities by testing the effects of willingness to pay on buying behaviour. Using Hayes' serial mediation PROCESS model, the study analyses the direct and indirect effects of millennials' willingness to pay on their buying behaviour at ethical and socially responsible restaurants using data from 212 millennials in North-East Scotland. Results showed that willingness to pay has significant direct and indirect effects on buying behaviour. The mediation effect of environmental concern was not supported. The serial mediation analysis showed that environmental concern, social influence, and personal norms jointly mediated the effects of willingness to pay on buying behaviour. The proposed serial model suggests that only direct measure of willingness to pay on buying behaviour is insufficient for restaurants to respond to millennials' expectations, providing empirical evidence on the need for customer's engagement as businesses emerge from covid-19

Determinants of sovereign credit ratings in emerging markets.

This study critically investigates the determinants of sovereign credit ratings in emerging markets, during 2001 to 2015. This was conducted in 20 emerging markets, using S&P and Moody ratings. Linear framework econometric approach with the use of pooled Ordinary Least Square regression method was adopted in the study. The explanatory power of the estimated models has a good performance across both rating agencies. The study reveals the importance of five macroeconomic variables in determining the sovereign credit rating of emerging markets. These variables are: gross domestic product per capital, inflation, government debt, reserves, and external debt. Also, world governance indicators, a proxy for qualitative/political variables, were found to be an essential determinant of rating

The impact of energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions.

This study explored the effect of energy consumption and economic growth on CO2 emissions. The relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions was assessed using regression analysis (the pooled OLS regression and fixed effects methods), Granger causality and panel cointegration tests. Data from 70 countries between 1994–2013 were analysed. The result of the Granger causality tests revealed that the study variables (population, capital stock and economic growth) have a bi-directional causal relationship with CO2 emissions, while energy consumption has a uni-directional relationship. Likewise, the outcome of the cointegration tests established that a long-run relationship exists among the study variables (energy consumption and economic growth) with CO2 emissions. However, the pooled OLS and fixed methods both showed that energy consumption and economic growth have a significant positive impact on CO2 emissions. Hence, this study supports the need for a global transition to a low carbon economy primarily through climate finance, which refers to local, national, or transnational financing, that may be drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing. This will help foster large-scale investments in clean energy, that are required to significantly reduce CO2 emissions

Fostering sustainable development: a corporate social responsibility approach.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the sacrificing of profits in the social interest of the public for sustainable management in an economical, ecological and social manner. It is the use of assets responsibly to create a competitive advantage and promote sustainable development. It is a series of interventions by companies to ameliorate externalized impact or the avoidance of conflicts. This article argues that CSR could be used as a tool for the attainment of sustainable development in the global south. Our aim is that companies should understand the critical role that CSR could play and adopt a corporate strategy that would use CSR to advance and enhance the value of the organization, thereby positively to impact the society