Microfinance, gender and entrepreneurial behaviour of families in Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Acheampong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between microfinance participation and entrepreneurial behaviour of Ghanaian families as well as the moderating role of the family head’s gender. It is argued from a resource-based theory perspective that microfinance is a financial resource that removes credit constraints to entrepreneurial behaviour of families. However, gender of the family head creates heterogeneity in this relationship in line with the gender theory. Design/methodology/approach In order to test these claims, cross-sectional data from 2,727 families on microfinance participation and household characteristics in Ghana are utilised. Findings The study finds that microfinance participation has a positive and significant relationship with a family’s decision to own an enterprise. Also, the study finds that female-headed families are better utilizers of microfinancial resources for entrepreneurial purposes compared to their male counterparts. This difference is a pure gender effect. Originality/value This finding is in contrast to the dominant stream of gender-based entrepreneurship research that suggests that women are subordinate to men and need to be helped to become “honorary men”. From a policy standpoint, solutions aimed at reversing discrimination against women in economic markets must consider women within their own right. The study makes a contribution to the literature by showing empirically the source of heterogeneity in entrepreneurial returns to microfinance participation by families.

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1431-1447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalini Srivastava ◽  
Swati Agrawal

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to study the turnover intention of employees during the phenomenon of resistance to change. The paper examines the mediating role of burnout in the relationship of resistance of change to turnover intention and the moderating role of perceived organizational support in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data of the study has been collected via cross-sectional data collection method and include responses from 410 employees. The moderation mediation analysis has been done using the SPSS macro process.FindingsThe paper finds that resistance to change is an antecedent to the turnover intention which often represents employees' voluntary turnover in the future. This relationship of resistance to change and turnover intention is explained by burnout. However, the study establishes perceived organizational support as moderator, and with high POS, strength of this relationship will be reduced.Originality/valueThis paper contributes by examining the burnout as an intervening variable in the relationship of resistance to change and turnover intention and perhaps establishes for the first time the moderating role of perceived organizational support in reducing the influence of resistance to change on turnover intention, since retaining employees is of value to the organization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1287-1305
Author(s):  
Emre Burak Ekmekcioglu ◽  
Mahmure Yelda Erdogan ◽  
Alptekin Sokmen

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to test the moderating role of career-enhancing strategies (CESs) in the relationship between career commitment (CC) and subjective career success (CS).Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 217 full-time employees working for three different sectors in Ankara, Turkey. The participants were asked to respond to a self-reported survey. The hypotheses were tested using a hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsThe results indicated that CC had a significant and positive effect on subjective CS. Furthermore, the positive relationship between CC and subjective CS was stronger for employees with a high level of self-nomination and for employees with a high level of networking. However, creating career opportunities did not moderate the effects of CC on subjective CS.Research limitations/implicationsBecause this study had a cross-sectional research design, causality cannot be established among the study variables.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest a better understanding of the way CC is able to affect subjective CS through the networking and self-nomination CESs.Originality/valueThis study is original, in that no previous studies have investigated the moderating role of CESs in the relationship between CC and subjective CS.


2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenico Berdicchia ◽  
Francesco Nicolli ◽  
Giovanni Masino

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between job enlargement and some specific job crafting behaviors and to analyze the moderating role of self-competence. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 158 workers in a large retail company and analyzed through a regression methodology. Findings – Job enlargement is positively related to specific job crafting behaviors, such as increasing structural and social resources. Self-competence does not moderate the relationship between job enlargement and increasing structural resources; however, it does negatively moderate the relationship between job enlargement and increasing social resources. Research limitations/implications – This is a cross-sectional, single source study. Practical/implications – Organizations may implement job design policies aimed at facilitating the way workers proactively craft their jobs (increasing social and structural resources) by promoting a collaborative organizational culture and decreasing the social costs of job crafting initiatives. Originality/value – This study clarifies the role of contextual and personal antecedents to job crafting. More specifically, it shows that enlarged jobs and employees’ level of self-competence may significantly influence employees’ job crafting in the workplace.


Author(s):  
Néstor F. Ayala ◽  
Wolfgang Gerstlberger ◽  
Alejandro G. Frank

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study service innovation in product companies (servitization) by considering the relationship (moderation) between product companies and service suppliers.Design/methodology/approachUsing a relational view of the firm, the authors propose that there are three main business dimensions that product companies have to manage in servitization and that the support of service suppliers can moderate the effects of these dimensions on the benefits obtained from the product–service system (PSS) delivered. To test these hypotheses, the authors perform a cross-sectional quantitative survey in 104 Brazilian and Italian product companies.FindingsThe findings show that the three business dimensions are important for servitization while there is a trade-off decision regarding service suppliers’ support since suppliers act differently depending on the PSS orientation (product- or service-oriented).Research limitations/implicationsThe work is limited to the analysis of what should change in a company during servitization and the impact of supplier’s support. Further research is needed to complement this study by analyzing the process and context of the organizational change.Practical implicationsThe research contributes an understanding about how the benefits practitioners can obtain from servitization are strongly influenced by the support of service suppliers and how this influence depends on the PSS orientation of the product company.Originality/valueThis is one of the first quantitative studies to provide evidence of how service suppliers’ involvement affects different servitization business dimensions and the obtained benefits for both product- and service-oriented outputs.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason G. Ellis ◽  
Sarah Allen ◽  
Michael Perlis ◽  
Michael Grandner ◽  
Maria Gardani ◽  
...  

The aim of the present study was to determine whether normal sleepers with vulnerability to insomnia, via high sleep reactivity, demonstrate more sleep-related dysfunctional cognitions and behaviours and poorer psychological health compared to those who are not vulnerable. Further, the influence of stress on the relationship between sleep reactivity and psychological health was also examined. A cross-sectional survey of 737 young adult ‘normal’ sleepers from the general population was undertaken. Results indicated normal sleepers vulnerable to insomnia demonstrated more sleep-related dysfunctional cognitions and behaviours as well as poorer psychological health compared to those not vulnerable. Furthermore, the relationship between sleep reactivity and psychological health was moderated by perceived stress over the previous month and life events over the previous year. Therefore, identifying and supporting those who are vulnerable to insomnia may be a fruitful avenue for preventative public health campaign to mitigate both insomnia and poor psychological health.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Lu ◽  
Jinliang Chen ◽  
Hua Song ◽  
Xiangyu Zhou

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how cloud computing assimilation reduces supply chain financing (SCF) risks of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study also investigated the mediating roles of internal and external supply chain integration between cloud computing assimilation and the SCF risks of SMEs, as well as the moderating role of environmental competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from surveys of SMEs located in China. Multiple regression analysis was used to validate the proposed theoretical model and research hypotheses. Findings The findings show that cloud computing assimilation could reduce the SCF risks of SMEs directly. The results also indicate that both internal and external supply chain integration mediate the relationship between cloud computing assimilation and SCF risks. Furthermore, environmental competitiveness inhibits the effects of cloud computing assimilation on SCF risks. Originality/value To our best knowledge, this is the preliminary study to explore the role of cloud computing assimilation in reducing the SCF risks of SMEs. Also, this study attempted to investigate the process by which cloud computing assimilation affects the SCF risks of SMEs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zulfiqar ◽  
Shihua Chen ◽  
Muhammad Usman Yousaf

PurposeOn the basis of behavioural agency theory and resource-based view, this study investigates the influence of family firm birth mode (i.e. indirect-established or direct-established), family entering time on R&D investment and the moderating role of the family entering time on the relationship between birth mode and R&D investment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected 2,990 firm-year observations from family firms listed on A-share in China from 2008 to 2016 in the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. They used pooled regression for data analysis and Tobit regression for robustness checks.FindingsIndirect-established family firms show more inclined behaviour towards R&D investment than direct-established counterparts. Family entering time positively affects the R&D investment of family firms. Moreover, family entering time plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between family firm birth mode (i.e. indirect-established or direct-established) and R&D investment.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is a pioneering study that introduced the concept of family firm birth mode (i.e. indirect-established or direct-established) and family entering time. This work is novel because it differentiated family firms according to their birth modes, an approach which is a contribution to the existing literature of family firms. Moreover, the investigation of the moderating role of family entering time has also produced notable results that help understand the impact of family entering time on different types of family firms. The interpretation of outcomes according to behavioural agency theory also produced useful insights for future researchers as well as for policymakers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chansoo Park

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess how the transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge is affected by the knowledge disseminative capacity of a foreign parent firm, with an emphasis on the moderating role of psychic distance, by developing and testing a theoretical model of international joint venture (IJV) learning. Design/methodology/approach The author tested the hypotheses with survey data collected from 199 IJVs in South Korea, estimating a structural equation model using AMOS 23.0. Findings The authors found that the capacity of the foreign parent to disseminate knowledge to the IJV has a greater impact on explicit knowledge transfer than tacit knowledge transfer. He also found that the relationship between disseminative capacity and explicit knowledge transfer is significantly moderated by psychic distance, but the relationship between disseminative capacity and tacit knowledge transfer is not. Originality/value The results are critical for IJVs and parent firms seeking to improve knowledge transfer, as they establish the importance of parent firms’ disseminative capacities and the moderating role of psychic distance in the process of both tacit and explicit knowledge transfer. This research addresses the research gap regarding disseminative capacity by providing empirical evidence.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Merinuk ◽  
Stephanie C. Varcoe ◽  
Peter J. Kelly ◽  
Laura D. Robinson

Purpose Substance use disorder (SUD) frequently co-occurs with other psychological conditions, such as eating disorders (EDs). Psychological factors such as emotional dysregulation, rash impulsivity (RI) and reward sensitivity (RS) play a role in the etiology of each disorder, yet little is known about the combined effects of these on comorbid SUDs and EDs or disordered eating behaviours (DEBs). This study aims to examine the role of these psychological factors in comorbid DEBs and SUDs among individuals in treatment for SUDs. The role of gender is tested as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional self-report survey was completed by 131 participants attending Australian residential substance use treatment centres. A binomial logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the effects of emotional dysregulation, RI and RS on comorbid DEB and SUD. Further, moderation analyses were used to examine the moderating effect for gender on the relationship between these three personality variables and comorbidity. Findings The most commonly reported primary substance of use was alcohol (43.5%), followed by amphetamines (38.6%). Findings showed that emotional dysregulation and RI were significantly related to an increase in comorbidity likelihood; however, RS was not. Gender moderated the relationship between comorbidity and RI only. Originality/value The significant positive relationship found between RI and comorbidity for females only was a novel finding for the current study. Further research is needed to develop an understanding of the etiology of comorbidity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostantinos Alexandris ◽  
Nicholas Theodorakis ◽  
Kiki Kaplanidou ◽  
Dimitra Papadimitriou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate if the three service quality dimensions (service environment, interaction and outcome quality), proposed by Brady and Cronin (2001), influence the development of event loyalty, among runners of the “‘Alexander the Great’ International Marathon”, and to test if running loyalty moderates the relationship between event quality and event loyalty. Design/methodology/approach In all, 368 runners participated in the study and filled the Sport Event Quality Questionnaire (Theodorakis et al., 2015) and an adjusted version of the Leisure Involvement Questionnaire (Kyle et al., 2010). Findings The results indicated that only the service environment and outcome dimensions contributed significantly to the prediction of event loyalty, while, and in contrast to other sport services, interaction quality was not shown to be an important determinant for the development of event loyalty. Furthermore, running involvement was shown to play a moderating role in the relationship between event quality and event loyalty. Service quality is more important for the development of event loyalty among low- than high-involved runners. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. Research limitations/implications The study provided results on how high- and low-involved runners perceive event quality, and for which of these groups the event quality is an important antecedent for the development of event loyalty. Practical implications Investigating the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty has also applied value. While committed runners have been traditionally seen as a key target group for event marketing professionals, the majority of runners in city marathons today are more leisure oriented. The increase in the number of leisure runners is actually the reason for the rapid growth of city marathons in the last few years. Meeting the needs of these leisure runners and increasing their loyalty levels is therefore a key task for marathon marketers today. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature, as for the first time it explores the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty in the context of a sport event.


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