Relationship Marketing and Customer Retention in the Ghanaian Banking Industry

The Ghanaian banking industry has experienced a heightened level of competition in recent times due to the recent banking sector clean-up by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) which has resulted in a number of mergers, acquisitions and bank closures. As a result of this development, banks in Ghana have adopted relationship marketing (RM) as a strategy to attract new customers and for customer retention purposes. This research seeks to investigate the impact of relationship marketing (RM) on customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. It also examined the impact of relationship marketing (RM) on customer satisfaction as well as the impact of customer satisfaction on customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. A survey of customers from twenty banks was conducted using a questionnaire. The results revealed that relationship marketing account for a significant variation in the extent of customer retention in the Ghanaian banking industry. The study further revealed that customer satisfaction also accounts for the level of customer retention in the Ghanaian banking sector. The study also discovered that banks in Ghana are able to retain their customers even without employing non-financial benefits, which is considered as very essential in the implementation of RM practices. This indicates that banks in Ghana which employ non-financial benefits in addition to financial benefits could have a competitive urge over other competitors in the Ghanaian banking industry. As a consequence, there is a call on Ghanaian banks to implement effective relationship marketing strategies in order to ensure the retention of their customers. Furthermore, banks should employ strategies that will ensure that their customers are satisfied in order to guarantee higher level of retention of their customers Keywords: Relationship Marketing, Customer Retention, Banking, Ghana. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-29-01 Publication date:October 31st 202

The Effect of training and development on employee performance in the Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape of South Africa

Training and development are regarded as significant tools for any organisation to achieve the target goals and objectives. These goals and objectives are heavily and highly dependent on its workforce. In the literature, it is well documented that many organisations invest in employees’ training and development to enhance their performance and the growth of the organisation. Many organisations, however, including the Buffalo City Municipality, regard training and staff development as needless expenditure, and always do little, or make no effort to improve employees’ technical know-how. Such actions incapacitate staff to adapt to the ever-changing working environment and rapid technological innovation. This study employed purposive sampling technique to draw a sample of 70 employees from a total of 150, through structured interviews and a self-administered questionnaire, to examine the effect of training and development on employees’ performance in the Buffalo City Municipality, situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The findings of the study generally revealed that training and development does not only increase employees’ performance, but assists in developing the overall personality of employees by making them more productive through building their senses of teamwork, boosting the attitude of staff which is the most critical component in attaining profit, and developing a cordial relationship and connectivity between management and the workforce. The study, therefore, recommended that the municipality, as a matter of urgency, earmarks a certain percentage of its resources for employees training and development, based on identified skills gaps to sharpen employees’ skills, competencies, capabilities and technical know-how, to capacitate them to cope with the ever-changing working environment and innovations, and to enhance their motivation, satisfaction and performance.Thesis (MPA) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 201

The Effect of training and development on employee performance in the Buffalo City Municipality in the Eastern Cape of South Africa

Training and development are regarded as significant tools for any organisation to achieve the target goals and objectives. These goals and objectives are heavily and highly dependent on its workforce. In the literature, it is well documented that many organisations invest in employees’ training and development to enhance their performance and the growth of the organisation. Many organisations, however, including the Buffalo City Municipality, regard training and staff development as needless expenditure, and always do little, or make no effort to improve employees’ technical know-how. Such actions incapacitate staff to adapt to the ever-changing working environment and rapid technological innovation. This study employed purposive sampling technique to draw a sample of 70 employees from a total of 150, through structured interviews and a self-administered questionnaire, to examine the effect of training and development on employees’ performance in the Buffalo City Municipality, situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The findings of the study generally revealed that training and development does not only increase employees’ performance, but assists in developing the overall personality of employees by making them more productive through building their senses of teamwork, boosting the attitude of staff which is the most critical component in attaining profit, and developing a cordial relationship and connectivity between management and the workforce. The study, therefore, recommended that the municipality, as a matter of urgency, earmarks a certain percentage of its resources for employees training and development, based on identified skills gaps to sharpen employees’ skills, competencies, capabilities and technical know-how, to capacitate them to cope with the ever-changing working environment and innovations, and to enhance their motivation, satisfaction and performance.Thesis (MPA) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 201

Service Quality and Business Students Satisfaction in Private Ghanaian Universities. The Moderating Role of Brand Positioning

Higher educational institutions face increasing competition from local and international education providers. In view of this development, most higher educational institutions focus on service quality delivery in attracting and retaining students. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction and to ascertain the moderating role of brand positioning in the relationship between service quality and customer (student) satisfaction. The study adopted a quantitative approach using self-administered questionnaires to collect data from the respondents and a moderated hierarchical regression model was performed to assess the statistical interdependencies between the service quality measures and student satisfaction.  The results revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between service quality and student satisfaction in Private Ghanaian Universities. The results indicate however, that brand positioning was not statistically significant in the relationship between service quality and student satisfaction as only one path was supported, which suggests that brand positioning moderates only the relationship between empathy and student satisfaction. Based on these findings, it is recommended that private universities must adopt measures to enhance on the delivery of service quality since it plays a major role in determining the satisfaction of students. One limitation is related to the scope of the study which is limited to the education industry, specifically private tertiary education industry in Ghana. Despite these limitations, the study offers practical recommendations on how private tertiary educational institutions can continue to improve on the level of student satisfaction in order to ensure their survival and profitability. Keywords: Service Quality, Brand Positiong, Student Satisfaction, Private Universities DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/74-04 Publication date: December 31st 202

Evaluating the relationship between the formal and informal economy in Ghana : a case study of Koforidua in the Eastern Region.

This thesis re-evaluates the relationship between formal and informal work in third world cities. Until now, informal work has been theorised either as a residue (modernisation), by-product of contemporary capitalism conducted out of economic necessity (structuralism) or an alternative to formal work chosen due to either an overburdensome state (neo-liberalism) or for social, redistributive, resistance or identity reasons (post-structuralism). Keith Hart was the first scholar to use the concept of the "informal sector", which he employed to describe a large segment of the economy of Ghana during the 1970s. Following Hart's seminal work, there has been a continuous debate about the nature of the relationship between the informal and formal sector. This thesis returns to the birthplace of the concept and through a survey of the contemporary informal economy in' Koforidua it critically re-evaluates these various competing theories of the relationship between formal and informal work. Reporting on data from a study of 80 households and three key institutions in Koforidua in Ghana, the study identifies the multifarious relationships between formal and informal work in Ghana. The major finding is that even though each and every theoretical perspective may be applicable to specific types of informal work, no one theory captures the varied character and multiple meanings of the informal economy as a whole in Ghana. As a consequence, this study asserts that a more far-reaching understanding of the multifaceted and diverse character of the informal economy will only be achieved by using all the theoretical perspectives. The outcome is a call for a rethinking of how to explain the relationship between formal and informal work and for an appreciation of the multiple meanings of informal work in different contexts. This thesis concludes by calling for a review of the potential wider applicability of these findings

Conditional cash transfers as a risk management and poverty reduction strategy: a literature review and an assessment of barriers that hinder the full implementation of livelihood empowerment against poverty (LEAP) in Ghana

Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is the largest social intervention policy in Ghana directed mainly to the poor and vulnerable. Since its first implementation in 2008, the aim of the LEAP programme is the alleviating of poverty and help in risk management of the poor. However, the programme has been faced with a number of implementation barriers which has led to the programme being implemented differently from what the programme’s policy document stipulates. This has the tendency to affect the objectives of the programme. The aim of this work is to explore how the LEAP programme is supposed to be implemented and the barriers that affects the implementation process of the LEAP programme. The study will also examine how the implementation barriers may affect the risk management and poverty reduction strategies of beneficiaries of the programme, and the overall success of the LEAP programme. Data were collected through 36 personal interviews and two focus group discussion after selecting my informants through a combination of purposive sampling and snowballing. Findings from the study showed that there are differences in how the LEAP programme is supposed to be implemented and how it is being implemented. This is as a result of barriers that hinder the implementation process. The large informal sector and the lack of updated census, limited institutional capacity, low transfer amount, lack of vocational and technical training, lack of or limited information and education of the activities of LEAP, lack of coordination with service providers, limited resources and political influence were found to be the barriers in the implementation of the LEAP programme. These barriers may be seen to be having a negative impact on the implementation process of the LEAP programme and hence on risk management and poverty reduction strategies of beneficiaries

Empirical Investigation of Service Quality in Ghanaian Hospitals

Service quality within the health sector in Ghana has been of great concern to many.  For years, the quality of health services in hospitals has come under intense scrutiny and this has become more worrying in recent times. This study was undertaken to assess perceived service quality in hospitals located in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The research was a cross-sectional survey which employed the use of a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire that was administered to 400 outpatients in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Data obtained from the study was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressions.  Findings of the study revealed that, of the six dimensions used in the study, empathy, tangibility, reliability and affordability were the most significant predictors of service quality in Ghanaian hospitals. Although responsiveness and assurance are also considered in determining service quality, they were of less significance in this study. Furthermore, empathy emerged as the best predictor of service quality. Key words: Perception, Service quality, Ghanaian hospital

Economic empowerment among female shea actors: the case of Savelugu District, Ghana

AbstractThe shea industry is a catalyst for the economic empowerment of women engaged in this sector. However, we do not know the extent to which women actors are economically empowered along this value chain, and the factors impeding their empowerment. Addressing this is crucial to developing policies in advancing the economic empowerment of female shea actors. This study aims to assess the extent to which the shea industry economically empowers female shea actors. We utilized a convergent mixed-methods approach, gathering quantitative data from 384 female shea actors (including producers, collectors, and marketers) and qualitative data from 12 experienced older women in the industry, making an overall sample of 396. The qualitative data underwent thematic analysis, while the quantitative data were subjected to the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the level of economic empowerment among the three groups of shea actors. We found significant differences among the three groups of shea actors (χ2 (2) = 75.266, p = 0.000). Collectors had a mean rank of 236.60, marketers had a mean rank of 131.24, and producers had a mean rank of 205.31; showing economic empowerment varies among the shea actors. However, they face challenges of inaccessibility to land, finance, and markets, as well as inadequate storage facilities that affect their operations. We recommend that the shea actors join or form groups to increase their access to loans, and control over prices, while development agents (both statutory and non-statutory) must improve access to lands, finance, and storage facilities

Towards an Inclusive Pedagogy: Applying the Universal Design for Learning in an Introduction to History of Global Art Course in Ghana

This convergent parallel mixed methods study was aimed at addressing the lack of empirical studies in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as an inclusive pedagogy in the Ghanaian higher education context. The overarching objective was to find out whether UDL has the potential in improving the learning processes and learning outcomes of the diverse students reading a History of Global Art course. Quantitative and qualitative data sets were garnered from 122 conveniently sampled students using an adapted version of the Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory-Students (ITSI-S) survey instrument. The findings of the study revealed that the UDL principles of multiple means of representation, multiple means of engagement and multiple means of action and expression impacted positively on students’ learning processes and outcomes. UDL assisted greatly in the development of collaborative, problem-solving, good time management and critical thinking skills, while increasing learners’ level of motivation. The study contends that though the UDL as an inclusive pedagogical approach requires a lot of dedication on the part of the instructor as well as a great deal of time and material resources, the accrued benefits of its implementation on the students’ learning processes and learning outcomes are far-reaching

Effect of waste landfill site on surface and ground water drinking quality

Drinking water quality of surface and underground water within 1.34 km from a waste landfill site in Kumasi, Ghana was investigated. Physico‐chemical properties and heavy metal concentrations were analysed to determine water quality and pollution indices. It was found that turbidity of 83% of hand dug wells, 50% of the streams and 33% of boreholes were higher than World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for drinking water. Water quality index (WQI) showed that 25% of the water sources are of excellent quality, while 50%, 15% and 5% are good quality, poor quality, very poor quality and unsuitable for drinking, respectively. Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) indicated that the water sources were above the critical limit for drinking water (HPI > 100). Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed 75.30% and 70.88% of the total variance for the physico‐chemical parameters and heavy metals, respectively. The findings concluded that cadmium concentrations in all the water sources were extremely higher (0.0122–0.1090 mg/L) than WHO limit (0.003 mg/L), rendering them unwholesome for consumption