Managerial competencies and business performance: innovation as a mediator in Rwandan SMEs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenie Byukusenge ◽  
John C. Munene ◽  
Laura A. Orobia
Keyword(s):  
Business Performance ◽  
Bootstrap Method ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Managerial Competencies ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of innovation on the relationship between managerial competencies and business performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Rwanda. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey and quantitative methodological approach were used to collect the data. The bootstrap method was used to test mediation effects. Findings The findings revealed that innovation is a significant mediator in the association between managerial competencies and business performance. This study, therefore, adds new knowledge by stating that innovation toward business performance is a partial mediator in the relationship between managerial competencies and business performance of SMEs in Rwanda. Research limitations/implications Only a single research methodological approach was used. Qualitative studies through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross-sectional. Longitudinal studies ought to be undertaken to examine the mediation effects studied to investigate any possibility of variations in the results. Practical implications The results may help owners-managers of SMEs to develop policies and strategies that could enable them to take advantage of new opportunities in relation to updated technology and cope with changes that may take place in the business environment to boost their business performance level. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, no research has ever been carried out on the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between managerial competencies and business performance of SMEs in Rwanda.

Leader positive humor and organizational cynicism: LMX as a mediator

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Gkorezis ◽  
Eugenia Petridou ◽  
Panteleimon Xanthiakos
Keyword(s):  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Cynicism ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
Sectional Analysis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been proposed as a core mechanism which accounts for the impact of various antecedents on employee outcomes. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of LMX regarding the relationship between leader positive humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 114 public employees. In order to examine the authors’ hypotheses hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Findings – As hypothesized, results demonstrated that LMX mediates the relationship between leader positive humor and organizational cynicism. Research limitations/implications – Data were drawn from public employees and, therefore, this may constrain the generalizability of the results. Also, the cross-sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to examine the mediating effect of LMX in the relationship between leader humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism.

Attitude: mediator of subjective norm, religiosity and intention to adopt Islamic banking

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juma Bananuka ◽  
Musa Kasera ◽  
Grace Muganga Najjemba ◽  
Doreen Musimenta ◽  
Bob Ssekiziyivu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Subjective Norm ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Islamic Banking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intention To Adopt ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Secular State

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of a study carried out to examine the mediating effect of attitude in the relationship between subjective norm, religiosity and intention to adopt Islamic banking in a developing secular state like Uganda. Design/methodology/approach This study’ research design was cross sectional. Closed ended questionnaires were distributed to 258 managers of micro businesses in Uganda. Data were analyzed with the help of SPSS v22 and MedGraph program (Excel version). Findings Attitude is a significant mediator in the relationship between subjective norm and intention to adopt Islamic banking. Also, attitude significantly mediates the relationship between religiosity and intention to adopt Islamic banking. Research limitations/implications The study used only a single research methodological approach; therefore, future research could be undertaken using a mixed-methods approach. Practical implications Emphasis should be put on improving the mindsets of Ugandans toward Islamic banking. Originality/value While there has been a number of studies on Islamic banking, this study provides an initial empirical evidence on the mediation effect of attitude in the relationship between subjective norm, religiosity and intention to adopt Islamic banking in a single study in an African developing secular state like Uganda.

Property rights and investment: the mediating effect of contract enforcement

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Ziade Hailu ◽  
Isaac N. Nkote ◽  
John C. Munene
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Contract Enforcement ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether enforceability mediates the relationship between property rights and investment in housing, using data from land formalization project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach The study was cross-sectional in design; data were collected from a sample of 210 households that benefited from the recent Addis Ababa city land and buildings formalization project. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the goodness-of-fit of the latent structures underlying the constructs. Mediation was tested using the Baron and Kenny steps, combined with bootstrapping technique. Robustness of results was checked. Findings The results indicate statistically significant mediation effect of contract enforcement. However, the mediation is partial, there is still a substantial direct effect of security of property rights on investment. Practical implications Any initiative to land formalization projects needs to consider contract enforcement environment, as presence and size of property rights effects largely depend on whether those rights are properly enforced. Originality/value This is the first study that conceptualizes the mediating effect of contract enforcement on the relationship between property rights and investment from an African country perspective.

Understanding knowledge hiding under technological turbulence caused by artificial intelligence and robotics

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
José Arias-Pérez ◽  
Juan Vélez-Jaramillo
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technological Turbulence ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Hiding ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Robotics

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) will be performing 52% of the tasks in companies by 2025. The increasing adoption of AI is generating technological turbulence in the business environment. Previous studies have also shown that employees are aware of the high risk of losing their jobs when being replaced by AI. The risk of employees engaging in opportunistic behaviors, such as knowledge hiding, is thus fairly high. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the mediating effect of employee’s AI awareness on the relationship between technological turbulence generated by AI and the three types of knowledge hiding: evasive hiding, playing dumb and rationalized hiding. Design/methodology/approach Structural equations by the partial least squares method were used to test the proposed research model. Findings The most interesting finding is that employee’s AI and robotics awareness fulfills almost all mediating functions in the relationship between technological turbulence generated by AI and the three types of knowledge hiding. Originality/value The results show that knowledge hiding in the digital age is first and foremost a strategy by employees to sabotage and induce failure in process automation, to reduce the risk of being replaced in the workplace by AI. This study indicates that employees are willing to hide knowledge in all possible ways when perception that AI is a threat to their job increases. In other words, technological turbulence generated by AI and employee’s AI awareness are the two great new triggers of knowledge hiding in the digital age.

The effect of talent management and human capital on sustainable business performance: an empirical investigation in Malaysian hospitals

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nagwan Abdulwahab AlQershi ◽  
Ramayah Thurasamy ◽  
Gamal Abdualmajed Ali ◽  
Hussein Abu Al-Rejal ◽  
Amr Al-Ganad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to examine the mediating role of human capital on the talent management in hospitals’ sustainable business performance in the health-care sector of Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The study used a quantitative approach, with an initial sample of 174 Malaysian hospitals. The theoretical framework was based on previous studies of talent management (TM), human capital (HC) and sustainable business performance (SBP). Partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Findings Talent management mindset (TMM), but not talent management strategy (TMS), has a significant relationship with HC and SBP. HC has a significant direct relationship with SBP, and also mediates the relationship between TMM and SBP but not between TMS and SBP. Research limitations/implications This work is one of a limited number of studies to empirically address TM, HC and SBP in this context. The study is limited to Malaysian hospitals. It provides theoretical contributions by broadening the knowledge of HC, TM and the multifocal perspective of hospitals’ SBP, a relevant but underexplored issue, offering several avenues for future research. Practical implications The findings have beneficial practical implications for both policy makers and managers. First, focusing on talented people will directly improve sustainable performance in the Malaysian health sector. The findings also have important theoretical implications both for Malaysia and countries in similar situations. The study will serve as a reference point for such countries in trying to understand factors influencing SBP. Originality/value This is the first study to examine the mediating effect of HC on the relationship between talent management and hospitals’ sustainable business performance in Malaysia, or worldwide.

Frontline employees’ engagement and business performance: the mediating role of customer-oriented behaviors

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Behrooz Ghlichlee ◽  
Fatima Bayat
Keyword(s):  
Business Performance ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Retail Banking ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Business Trend ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Within the retail banking sector, the customer-centric business model has become an important and new business trend in recent years. The enhancement of the frontline service employees’ engagement and their customer-oriented behaviors are among the key factors affecting business performance (BP) in this sector of the banking industry. The purpose of this paper is to improve management decisions to enhance BP through examining the relationship between the frontline employees’ engagement and BP while taking into account the mediating effect of customer-oriented behaviors on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach was adopted to conduct the present study, and the respondents were sampled from a large commercial bank in Iran using a structured questionnaire. Overall, 50 branch managers and 90 frontline employees were selected using random sampling. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity and reliability of the observed items and a structural equation model was used for testing the proposed hypotheses and research framework. Findings The findings showed that customer-oriented behaviors mediated the relationship between the frontline employees’ engagement and bank’s branches’ BP. Higher levels of the frontline employees’ engagement enhance the customer-oriented behaviors. It was revealed that the frontline employees are engaged in their job and organization. Moreover, the engaged frontline employees listen carefully to customers, the customer’s problem is important to them and they complete their tasks precisely for customers. It has been confirmed that customer-oriented behaviors enhance branches’ BP. The bank frontline employees’ engagement and customer-oriented behaviors, in turn, affected the bank’s branches’ financial performance, process performance and employee performance compared with the bank’s key competitors. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the value of empirically establishing how employee customer-oriented behaviors are affected by employee engagement as an integrative construct bringing together BP. Practical implications This study can help improve BP by increasing the frontline employees’ engagement and their customer-oriented behaviors. This study suggests that organizations using the findings of this study could effectively assess their frontline employees’ engagement and their customer-oriented behaviors and then plan for improving them. Social implications This study offers a customer-oriented initiative as a social responsibility to be considered by retail banks. In light of the social exchange theory, the banks valuing customer-oriented can provide employees with knowledge, skills, values and support to develop motivation and abilities to demonstrate customer-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. Originality/value Previous studies demonstrated that the employees’ engagement affects their customer-oriented behaviors. In addition, studies have referred to the effect of employees’ customer-oriented behaviors on BP. However, to the best of the knowledge, key questions regarding how the employees’ engagement at the branch level fosters customer-oriented behaviors and, in turn, the bank’s branches’ BP, remain unanswered. Hence, this study contributes to the investigation of the mediating role of the frontline employees’ customer-oriented behaviors in the relationship between their engagement and branches’ BP in the retail banking sector.

The mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between moral judgement, empathy and social opportunity recognition in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-372
Author(s):  
Boris Urban ◽  
Jabulile Galawe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Opportunity Recognition ◽  
Moral Judgement ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Scholars researching entrepreneurship argue that the distinct characteristics of social entrepreneurs, together with the particular category of opportunities they pursue, invite us to further understand social entrepreneurship (SE) as a distinct field of investigation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunity recognition behaviour of social entrepreneurs and closely related unique attributes of empathy, moral judgement (MRJ) and self-efficacy, in an emerging market African context. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to social entrepreneurs across two of the largest provinces in South Africa, namely Cape Town and Gauteng. Hypotheses were statistically tested using correlational analysis and hierarchical regression with mediation effects. Findings Results reveal that social entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) plays a significant mediating effect in the relationship between MRJ and social opportunity recognition. Moreover, perceived MRJ and social ESE act as important determinants of increased social opportunity recognition. Originality/value This study has brought to attention the relevance of opportunity recognition to social entrepreneurs, while recognising their distinctive features in terms of empathy and MRJ. While self-efficacy and opportunity recognition are relatively well established in the traditional entrepreneurship literature, this study extends the reach of these variables into the SE domain.

Analyzing the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion in rural Uganda

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Okello Candiya Bongomin ◽  
John C. Munene ◽  
Joseph Mpeera Ntayi ◽  
Charles Akol Malinga
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Direct Effect ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Main Stream ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings on the mediating effect of social network in the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a cross-sectional research design to collect data used to test for mediation under this study. Structural equation model (SEM) through use of bootstrap in the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) was adopted to establish the existence and type of mediation by social network in the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion. Findings Social network had a partial mediating effect in the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion. In addition, institutional framework through its regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars also exhibited a significant direct effect on financial inclusion. Besides, social network had a positive and significant effect on financial inclusion. This suggest that there exist both a direct effect of institutional framework on financial inclusion and an indirect effect of institutional framework through social network on financial inclusion. Research limitations/implications While the sample for this study was big enough, it limited itself to only poor households in rural Uganda. Besides, the current study adopted cross-sectional design, thus, leaving out longitudinal design to investigate the characteristics in the sample over time. Practical implications The study makes significant empirical contribution and implications to financial inclusion policy makers on evidence of the critical role played by social network in indirectly enhancing the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion of the poor who are vulnerable to exclusion by main stream financial services’ providers. Originality/value The study recommends that social network, which acts as a conduit through which useful information flow and can be shared, plays a critical role in mediating the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Therefore, the study contributes to existing body of literature by highlighting the mediating influence of social network in the relationship between institutional framework and financial inclusion, especially in rural Uganda.

Examining the impact of socialization and information sharing and the mediating effect of trust on innovation capability

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1601-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisha Paul Kulangara ◽  
Sherry Avery Jackson ◽  
Edmund Prater
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Innovation Capability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationship between trust, socialization, and information sharing on the buying firm’s innovation capability in the context of the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR). A nomological model is developed that examines the mediating role of relational capital (supplier trust) on the relationship between structural capital (socialization and information sharing) and innovation capability. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on 357 US executives. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships. Findings Information sharing and formal socialization activities increased the buying firm’s trust in its key supplier. However, formal socialization activities within the context of the business environment did not have a significant direct impact on buyer’s innovative capabilities; but when mediated by trust, it positively impacted innovation capabilities. Informal socialization within the context of the social environment directly impacted innovation capabilities but trust did not mediate the relationship. Information sharing impacted trust and innovation significantly and trust mediated the impact of information sharing on innovation capabilities. Originality/value This study defines the formal and informal aspects of socialization and investigates its impact on trust and buyer innovation capabilities. This is one of the few studies that highlights the mediating role of trust between firms to facilitate innovation capability.

The mediating effect of knowledge sharing on the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faizuniah Pangil ◽  
Joon Moi Chan
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Effectiveness ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The limited proximal communication between virtual team members can create a lack of trust among members which can significantly reduce the effectiveness of these teams. Hence, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness by looking into the mediating effect of knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach – This is a cross-sectional study conducted in a multinational company in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to individuals working in a virtual environment. The questionnaire required the respondents to answer questions regarding three different types of trust (i.e. personality-based trust, institutional-based trust and cognitive-based trust), their knowledge sharing behavior, and their evaluation of the effectiveness of the virtual teams that they are involved with. Findings – Results of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that knowledge sharing and all the three types of trust are significantly related to virtual team effectiveness. However, only personality-based trust and institutional-based trust are significantly related to knowledge sharing, but knowledge sharing only partially mediates the relationship between these two types of trust and team effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – The population of this study are virtual teams working for an organization, hence the generalizability of the findings to other settings is unknown. Originality/value – Trust has been founded to be a significant predictor of virtual team effectiveness. However, this paper shows the effect of different types of trust and the role of knowledge sharing in mediating the relationship between trust and virtual team effectiveness.

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