What drives international remittances to Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-418
Author(s):  
John Bosco Nnyanzi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the macro-economic and institutional drivers of remittance inflows to Africa. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an enhanced gravity model in a random effects framework to test two hypotheses dominant in literature as well as the institutional quality hypothesis. A bilateral data set is created from the most recent available remittance data set to afford the capture of the impact of the selected macro-economic variables from both the host and recipient countries. Findings The results provide support for the trio hypotheses. A key finding is the co-existence of altruism and self-interest motives. Also, control of corruption, financial development and a reduction in unofficial economic activity are observed to facilitate remittance inflows. The authors confirm the resilience of remittances during the global crisis and document a positive significant relationship between remittance inflows on the one hand and host migration stock, age dependency, etc., on the other. Practical implications This paper generates various insights in the design of relevant macro-economic and institutional policies to enhance remittance inflows and the productive use of the same for purposes of economic growth and development via poverty reduction and secure resource flow. Originality/value The majority of previous studies on the determinants of remittance inflows have basically focussed on the microeconomic variables, an approach that could understate the macro-economic impact of remittances and lead to inadequate policy formulation. The use of an enhanced gravity model on a newly created bilateral data set in the analysis is a nuance in the economics of remittances. Besides, previous studies have often ignored the institutional environment as critical in the remittance-determinant model.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan M. Gil-Barragan ◽  
José A. Belso-Martínez ◽  
Francisco Mas-Verdú

Purpose Given the unresolved question about which causal conditions contribute to accelerated internationalization among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from weak institutional environment, this paper aims to combine theoretically relevant antecedents of domestic networks relationships (weak or strong domestic ties) and decision-making logic (effectuation or causation) to explore the configurations that are the most promising for explaining accelerated internationalization. Design/methodology/approach This study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine the accelerated internationalization of 33 contrarian cases of SMEs located in weak institutional environment. The data set has been collected through in-depth interviews with managers in Colombia (21 cases) and Peru (12 cases). Building on the findings, an integrative model for accelerated internationalization is presented. Findings The authors found that the combination of weak domestic ties and effectuation logic accelerated the internationalization of SMEs with fewer resource constraints. In contrast, strong domestic ties and causation behavior lead to accelerated internationalization of SMEs with greater resource constraints. They propose a model to help enrich the existing literature about the causal configurations for achieving accelerated internationalization in SMEs from weak institutional environment. Originality/value The contribution of this study is to provide empirical evidence to address three shortcomings in the literature. First, the mixed results regarding the impact of strong and weak domestic ties and decision-making logic in the accelerated internationalization of SMEs; second, the limited research on domestic networks; and third, the scarce investigation in weak institutional environment, where the emphasis on constrained resources is higher.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-419
Author(s):  
Khairul Anuar Kamarudin ◽  
Akmalia Mohamad Ariff ◽  
Wan Adibah Wan Ismail

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the joint effect of product market competition (PMC) and institutional environment on accrual quality. Design/methodology/approach The sample covers a large data set of 52,138 firm-year observations from 35 countries over the period of 2011-2015. Using the weighted least square regression, the study estimates PMC and institutional environment on accrual quality. The study measures PMC based on Herfindahl-Hirschman index, anti-director rights index (ADRI) based on the revised and updated La Porta et al.'s (1998) and accrual quality using the modified Dechow and Dichev (2002) model proposed by McNichols (2002). The study also uses a series of specification tests using alternative measures for each variable. Findings The study finds that highly intensified PMC relates to a lower quality of accruals. The results also show that accrual quality is better in countries with stronger institutional environment, specifically countries with higher ADRI, investor protection, judicial independence, protection of minority shareholders’ interests, protection of property rights, strength of the auditing and reporting standards, efficacy of corporate boards and corporate ethics. The findings suggest that institutional factors weaken the negative impact of PMC intensity on accrual quality, hence suggesting that institutional environment has a significant role to enhance accrual quality among firms in highly intensified industries. Practical implications The findings provide additional insights to policymakers and regulators on the importance of strong institutional and industry environment that can provide incentives and extra governance mechanisms besides the conventional firm-level corporate governance. Originality/value This study contributes in understanding the impact of intensity of PMC on accrual quality internationally and subsequently highlights the role of institutional environment as significant country-level governance in determining financial reporting quality, particularly accrual quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-594
Author(s):  
Steven A. Brieger ◽  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Jolanda Hessels ◽  
Christian Pfeifer

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how national institutional environments contribute to differences in life satisfaction between entrepreneurs and employees. Design/methodology/approach Leveraging person–environment fit and institutional theories and using a sample of more than 70,000 entrepreneurs and employees from 43 countries, the study investigates how the impact of entrepreneurial activity on life satisfaction differs in various environmental contexts. An entrepreneur’s life satisfaction arguably should increase when a high degree of compatibility or fit exists between his or her choice to be an entrepreneur and the informal and formal institutional environment. Findings The study finds that differences in life satisfaction between entrepreneurs and employees are larger in countries with high power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, extant entrepreneurship policies, low commercial profit taxes and low worker rights. Originality/value This study sheds new light on how entrepreneurial activity affects life satisfaction, contingent on the informal and formal institutions in a country that support entrepreneurship by its residents.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 1071-1089
Author(s):  
Alan Chan ◽  
Bruce G. Fawcett ◽  
Shu-Kam Lee

Purpose – Church giving and attendance are two important indicators of church health and performance. In the literature, they are usually understood to be simultaneously determined. The purpose of this paper is to estimate if there a sustainable church congregation size using Wintrobe’s (1998) dictatorship model. The authors want to examine the impact of youth and adult ministry as well. Design/methodology/approach – Using the data collected from among Canadian Baptist churches in Eastern Canada, this study investigates the factors affecting the level of the two indicators by the panel-instrumental variable technique. Applying Wintrobe’s (1998) political economy model on dictatorship, the equilibrium level of worship attendance and giving is predicted. Findings – Through various simulation exercises, the actual church congregation sizes is approximately 50 percent of the predicted value, implying inefficiency and misallocation of church resources. The paper concludes with insights on effective ways church leaders can allocate scarce resources to promote growth within churches. Originality/value – The authors are the only researchers getting the permission from the Atlantic Canada Baptist Convention to use their mega data set on church giving and congregation sizes as per the authors’ knowledge. The authors are also applying a theoretical model on dictatorship to religious/not for profits organizations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikkram Singh

Purpose This study aims to make two major contributions. First, given the literature gap in housing unaffordability for different immigrant groups in Canada, it makes an essential contribution to the literature. To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first study of its kind to examine housing unaffordability by examining different immigrant groups. Second, differences in unaffordability can help understand the decline in welfare, as it can have financial implications and a negative impact on health outcomes. Third, this study’s findings are valuable for policy formulation to improve immigrant integration and ease the housing unaffordability crisis. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the determinants of housing affordability to investigate differences among various immigrant groups in Canada. A bivariate logit model using public microdata from the Canadian census estimates the determinants of moderate and severe unaffordability. Additionally, the separation of tenants and owners provides insights into the dynamics of unaffordability. The results show significant differences between immigrant groups with higher levels of unaffordability among Asian immigrants. The insights can help devise and implement housing assistance programs to address the challenges arising from the post-COVID-19 pandemic phase. Findings The results indicate that unaffordability declines with increasing age, education and full-time employment. Gender dynamics are evident, with women faring worse than men regarding the likelihood of extreme housing unaffordability. Households face a greater likelihood of unaffordability in more populous provinces and larger census metropolitan areas that struggle with the high cost of living, racial disparities and low income. Immigrants, especially from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, continue to struggle with chronic and severe unaffordability issues. The impact is much more severe for those renting, exemplifying the strain it is taking on the financial health of recent immigrants. Originality/value Given the literature gap in housing unaffordability for different immigrant groups in Canada, it makes an essential contribution to the literature. To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first study of its kind to examine housing unaffordability by examining different immigrant groups.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Yuran Li ◽  
Mark Frost ◽  
Shiyu Rong ◽  
Rong Jiang ◽  
...  

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the critical role played by cultural flow in fostering successful expatriate cross-border transitions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop and test a model on the interplay among cultural intelligence, organizational position level, cultural flow direction and expatriate adaptation, using a data set of 387 expatriate on cross-border transitions along the Belt & Road area.FindingsThe authors find that both organizational position level and cultural flow moderate the relationship between cultural intelligence and expatriate adaptation, whereby the relationship is contingent on the interaction of organizational position status and assignment directions between high power distance and low power distance host environments.Originality/valuePrevious research has shown that higher levels of cultural intelligence are positively related to better expatriate adaptation. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of position difference and cultural flow on such relationship. Our study is among the first to examine how the interaction between cultural flow and organizational position level influences the cultural intelligence (CI) and cultural adjustment relationship in cross-cultural transitions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Ginesti ◽  
Adele Caldarelli ◽  
Annamaria Zampella

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on the reputation and performance of Italian companies. Design/methodology/approach The paper exploits a unique data set of 452 non-listed companies that obtained a reputational assessment from the Italian Competition Authority (ICA). To test the hypotheses, this study implemented several regression analyses. Findings Results support the argument that human capital efficiency is a key driver of corporate reputation. Findings also reveal that companies, which obtained reputational rating under ICA scrutiny, show a positive relationship between IC elements and various measures of financial performance. Research limitations/implications The study focuses on a single country; it is not free from the imprecisions of Pulic’s VAIC model. Practical implications This paper recommends companies that are interested to achieve a robust reputation should consider the human capital as a strategic intangible asset. Second, the results suggest that companies with an ICA reputational rating are able to leverage their intangibles to potentiate performance and competitiveness. Originality/value This is the first empirical investigation on the contribution of IC in generating value for corporate reputation. Additionally, the study contributes to the literature on the link between IC and performance by examining a sample of firms not yet explored in prior research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 3835-3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Cui ◽  
A. Yeşim Orhun ◽  
Izak Duenyas

This paper studies the effect of introducing a new vertical differentiation strategy, paying for an upgrade to a premium product after purchasing the base product, on the price dispersion of the base product arising from existing price discrimination strategies. In particular, we examine how a major U.S. airline’s price dispersion in the coach cabin changes after introducing the option to upgrade to a new type of premium economy seating within the coach cabin. We first provide a theoretical analysis that highlights two competing pressures that the new premium economy seating upgrades created on coach class prices. On the one hand, the airline benefits from lowering its prices because by allowing more customers to purchase in the first place, it increases the probability of selling upgrades (admission effect). On the other hand, for some customers, the value of flying with the airline increases because of the upgrade availability, therefore the airline may find it optimal to increase its prices (valuation effect). In the second part of the paper, we conduct an empirical investigation of the impact of upgrade introduction on coach class prices, based on a proprietary transaction-level data set from a major U.S. airline company. The empirical analysis tests the main predictions of our theoretical model and examines further nuances. The results show that the introduction of the premium economy seating upgrades is associated with an increase in the price dispersion and revenues in the coach class, the admission effect is stronger than the valuation effect on the low end of the price distribution, and the opposite is true on the high end of the price distribution. Finally, we discuss implications of our results for firm revenues and consumer welfare. This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Monica Owusu Acheampong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing rural youth farmers’ credit constraints status and the effect of credit constraint on the intensity of participation of these farmers in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The econometric estimation is based on cross-sectional data collected in 2018 from the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana. The sample data set consists of 450 rural youth farmers. The collected data were analyzed through different econometric techniques, using the endogenous switching regression model (ERSM). Findings The direct elicitation approach employed in this study revealed that out of the 450 farmers, 211 (47 percent) of the respondents were credit constrained compared to 239 (53 percent) of their counterparts who were unconstrained. The ERSM indicated that youth farmers education, age, savings, parents occupation reduced the probability of the rural youth farmer to be credit constrained but cumbersome loan application procedure and loan disbursement time positively affect credit constraint. Moreover, farmers that are credit constrained have lower intensity of participation in agriculture activities than a random farmer from the sample. This suggests that access to credit has a positive impact on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities. Research limitations/implications In this study, only rural youth farmers in a particular region were considered. However, there are youths all over the nation. Therefore, future researchers could consider other youth’s farmers elsewhere in the country. Originality/value Although existing studies have examined rural youth farmers’ participation in agriculture and credit constraint separately, the unique contribution of this paper is the analysis of credit constraint of rural youth farmers as well as the impact of credit constraint on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanh Thi Song Pham ◽  
Hien Thi Tran

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effects of board model and board independence on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of multinational corporations (MNCs). Design/methodology/approach The authors developed an empirical model in which CSR disclosure is the dependent variable and board model (two-tier vs one-tier), board independence (a proportion of independent directors on a board) and the interaction variable of board model and board independence together with several variables conventionally used as control variables are independent variables. The authors collated the panel dataset of 244 Fortune World’s Most Admired (FWMA) corporations from 2005 to 2011 of which 117 MNCs use the one-tier board model, and 127 MNCs use the two-tier board model from 20 countries. They used the random-effect regression method to estimate the empirical models with the data they collated and also ran regressions on the alternative models for robustness check. Findings The authors found a significantly positive effect of a board model on CSR disclosure by MNCs. Two-tier MNCs tend to reveal more CSR information than one-tier MNCs. The results also confirm the significant moderating impact of board model on the effect of board independence on CSR disclosure. The effect of board independence on CSR disclosure in the two-tier board MNCs tends to be higher than that in the one-tier board MNCs. The results do not support the effect of board independence on CSR disclosure in general for all types of firms (one-tier and two-tier board). The impact of board independence on CSR disclosure is only significant in two-tier board MNCs and insignificant in one-tier board MNCs. Practical implications The authors advise the MNCs who wish to improve CSR reporting and transparency to consider the usage of two-tier board model and use a higher number of outside directors on board. They note that once a firm uses one-tier model, number of IDs on a board does not matter to the level of CSR disclosure. They advise regulators to enforce an application of two-tier board model to improve CSR reporting and transparency in MNCs. The authors also recommend regulators to continue mandating publicly traded companies to include more external members on their boards, especially for the two-tier board MNCs. Originality/value This paper is the first that investigates the role of board model on CSR disclosure of MNCs.


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