Evaluating Starting a Business Indicators Innovation in the World

Since 2003, the World Bank has produced an annual report ranking economies based on ease of doing business score. However, little is known whether the improvements made by evaluated economies on starting business indicators are statistically significant as claimed by the World Bank. This study aims to evaluate the extent to which starting business indicators were improved in 145 economies evaluated. Indicators assessed are score-starting a business (SBS), starting a business - procedures -men (SBPM), Starting a business –time-men (SBTM), Starting a Business - Cost - Men (SBCM), starting a business - procedures - women (SBPW), starting a business - Time - Women (SBTW), Starting a Business - Cost - Women (SBCW), and Starting a Business - Paid-in Minimum capital (SBPMC). This study used secondary quantitative data retrieved from the database of the World Bank for the 2004 and 2020 periods. The sample size was made by 145 economies. Wilcoxon-sign-rank-test-paired-sample was computed using R programming environment. The results of the Wilcoxon-sign-rank-test-paired-sample indicated that the mean differences are statistically different from zero for all indicators except evaluated. This means economies evaluated improved those indicators for 2020 compared to 2004. The study’s findings provide clear insight to policymakers regarding innovations made on the efforts of ease of doing business improvement. Better use of the findings of this study would lead to reducing corruption and increasing formal business, increasing the number of newly registered businesses, generating an increase in business opportunities of starting a new business, and increasing the productivity of companies. This study evaluated whether business regulatory implemented regarding starting a business was statically significant. Future research should be conducted to test empirically the significance of implemented procedures related to other indicators evaluated in doing business reports. This research is novel by testing empirically innovations made in 145 world economies on starting business requirements.

Reflecting on the Entrepreneurship Paradox in Sub Saharan Africa

Entrepreneurship is a strategy for economic growth and it is perceived to be higher in developing countries. But other scholars found that it does not bring economic growth in developing countries. The purpose of the study was to reflect on this paradox in Sub Saharan Africa from neoclassical economic theory where entrepreneurship is perceived as carrying out innovations. A cross-sectional survey of enterprises was undertaken in Malawi to measure values of new products, new methods of production, new markets and new enterprises. Comparison of mean values and 2 independent samples tests were used to analyse innovations carried out, types of entrepreneurial enterprises and their prevalence. The study found that carrying out innovations among enterprises in Malawi is low. Opportunity-motivated, growth-oriented and limited liability enterprises are entrepreneurial types of enterprises but there were very few. Therefore the paradox depends on the theory which guides the understanding of entrepreneurship. The classical economic perspective reflects the paradox while the neoclassical economic perspective does not. The study contributes to knowledge on the types of entrepreneurial enterprises and that the paradox depends on the understanding of entrepreneurship. The findings imply that entrepreneurship is ineffective for economic growth in developing countries because of a lack of carrying out innovations. Therefore, the understanding of entrepreneurship in developing countries needs to be adjusted to neoclassical economic theories so that policy focuses on supporting entrepreneurial enterprises for entrepreneurship to be effective for economic growth, ceteris paribus.

Psychological Contract Breach, Behavioural Work Outcomes, Organisational Identification, and Islamic Work Ethics: A Moderated Mediation Study

We investigated how organisational identification (OID) mediates the influences of psychological contract breach (PCB) on two work outcomes [organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB)], and how Islamic work ethics (IWE) moderated the PCB–OID relationship. We collected data from 256 Palestinian managers in Gaza Strip ministries using a self-report questionnaire; we employed Structural Equation Modelling in analysing the data using Smart PLS. Our findings reveal that OID mediates between PCB and the two work outcomes. Further, we show that IWE has no moderating influence on the PCB–OID relationship. Finally, the influence of PCB on the two work outcomes is insignificant.

Leadership Styles and Firms’ Innovation, Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity: Empirical Evidence from Emerging Economy

This study contends explicitly that leadership styles (transformational and transactional) are positioned as a pylon for firms’ innovation performance. Further, this study contemplates the intermediating inspiration of absorptive capacity (potential and realized) linking leadership styles (transformational and transactional) and firms’ innovation. Data was collected from 301 permanent employees working in Pakistani manufacturing firms (food and tobacco) through the self-administered questionnaires to test the proposed hypothesis of this study. The study's findings demonstrate a positive influence of leadership styles (transformational and transactional) on the firm's innovative performance. Moreover, both absorptive capacity dimensions (potential and realized) mediate the relationship between leadership styles (transformational and transactional) and innovative performance. This study demonstrates that both leadership styles (transformational and transactional)provide phenomenal path routes to augment firms’ innovation. Overall, this study contributed a legitimate illustration of leadership styles strengthening firms’ innovation, specifically transactional leadership style, encouraging results within the developing economy perspective.

Sectoral Approach in Output Growth Decomposition and its Determinants in Europe

The structural changes in Europe have occurred over the last several decades, reducing output share in the goods sector, while increasing its share in overall services. Applying the growth accounting approach, we decomposed output growth in economy while following the sectoral approach, in ten individual sectors in twenty-six European countries, from 2000 to 2019.Our analysis shows that total factor productivity has accounted for almost half of the European countries growth in output in the last two decades, with the other half primarily accounted for by increases in fixed asset growth and employment growth, while its variations among sectors are significant. The output growth in the services sectors is significantly more driven by employment growth than in the goods sector, leading to overall employment growth in the economy. Applying the panel pooled OLS model, we found that the relevance of expenditures for research and development is high and positive in all sectors, but higher in industry and knowledge-intensive services (information and communication, scientific activities) compared to all sectors average. To the best knowledge of the author, this is the first study presenting output growth decomposition estimates at the sectoral level for a selected group of countries, but also the first study presenting estimates of TFP in the total economy for a selected time periods. In addition, this is the first study that presents the relevance of investment in research and development at the sectoral level in this specific time period and group of countries. Results of the study may be used in defining national policies priorities, as there are varieties among sectors in terms of its impact on employment and economic growth.

Healthcare Financing and Health Outcomes: Analysis of Oil-Producing Countries in Africa

The major concern of the study is on healthcare financing and health outcomes in the major oil-producing countries in Africa. We used the data sorted from World Development Indicators (WDI) to identify the effect of four different health expenditures on the rate of mortalities on maternal, under-five, infant, neonatal and life expectancy at birth through random and fixed effect models. This paper also takes cognizance of the environmental variable (pollution) that is common to the top 10 oil-producing countries in Africa. Our findings showed that high health expenditure from government, private and external sources improved health outcomes, while health expenditure from out of pocket is detrimental to health outcomes. Also, the environmental variable has a negative impact on life expectancy. The outcome of the paper indicated that there is a need to reduce environmental pollution, increase health expenditure from government, private, external sources and reduce out of pocket payments in the selected areas.

Workers’ Remittances in Yemen: Macroeconomic Determinants and Impact on Economic Growth

This study aims to examine the determinants of workers’ remittances and their impact on economic growth in Yemen. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test to co-integration and error correction model (ECM) were applied on data covering the period from 1990 to 2014. According to the model of remittances determinants, workers’ remittances in Yemen respond to the macroeconomic conditions of both the home and host countries. It is found that, in the long-run, migrant stock and income level at the host countries are positively and strongly influence remittances level, with a feeble impact of domestic inflation rates. The effect of the home country’s income seems to be positive but insignificant in explaining the behavior of remittances level. The model of economic growth suggests that, in the long-run, the impact of workers’ remittances appears to be positive and moderate with positive and stronger influences observed for financial development and official development assistance. Accordingly, it is recommended that a lesser weight should be given to remittances in the strategic planning process, taking into consideration the increasing potentials of the conditions in the neighboring host countries to be changed. In addition, using remittances as a means of economic growth can be enhanced by encouraging migrants to direct their savings towards productive investment activities, and via formal channels.

Tourism, Trade and Self-employment growth in West Africa: Evidence from Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire

This study attempts to evaluate the relationship between tourism and trade and self-employment growth in Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire using a time series data spanning the period 1991-2019. In this study, applied GMM approach is employed. Results show that export and import trade, development assistance and personal remittance flows significantly spur self-employment during the study period while indicators of tourism activities represented by the number of tourist arrivals retard growth of self-employment but increases export trade in these countries. On this basis, the business atmosphere and infrastructural facilities should be improved to sufficiently boost the relationship between trade and tourism and hence spur self-employment growth in these countries.

Internationalization of Bulgarian Tourism Business

The purpose of this research is to be traced the internalization process of the tourism business over the last decades in our country. It has been reasoned by a number of foreign economic factors by virtue of the open character of our national economy, the course of the transition economy reforms, as well as the peculiarities of the Bulgarian economy EU integration. The relation "internationalization of business - internationalization of the national economy" is studied in different directions and methodology, but in the present study an adapted version of the method developed by Alan Rugman is applied. The main approach is based on the comparison between the degree of internationalization in the national economy and the degree of internationalization of a specific type of business. The measurement of the degree of internationalization is done with the help of variables and a system of indicators, which are directed respectively to the business environment of the Bulgarian economy and to the specifics of the Bulgarian tourism business. As analysis findings of the processes of internationalization in the context of tourism, it is concluded that these processes play an important role in determining the position of Bulgarian tourism in its inevitable competitive opposition to other tourist destinations and their business. As limitation has been identified two periods of research on the degree of internationalization of business - the first covers seven years before Bulgaria's accession to the EU, and the second period - almost ten years after the signing of the membership agreement. The practical implication of the study consists in the fact that the effect of the increasing degree of internationalization of the tourism business in our country complements the overall result of the internationalization of the Bulgarian economy. This is especially clear in the second observed period of the study, which is expected to achieve a general synergy effect for the economy as a whole. The originality of the research consists in the adaptation as well as approbation of a known methodology for studying the processes of internationalization to the specifics of tourism business and to a given economy, such as the Bulgarian one, for two separate periods.

The Mediating of Institutional Trust on Corporate Image and Customer Trust in Iraqi Banking Sector

In today’s highly volatile environment, banks strive to leverage the perceptions of their multiple customers more than ever before with the aim to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Accordingly, corporate image and customer trust concepts are of vital importance for both academicians and practitioners, concerning their potential impact on internal and external stakeholders. Recognizing the intensified significance of a multi-stakeholder perspective, the current study attempts to contribute to the literature through examining the mediating role of institutional trust on the relationship between corporate image and customer trust.The study applies partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method to examine this relationship. The data are collected from a total of 372 Iraqi banking customers using a random sampling technique. The finding for path-1 shows that there exists a positive and significant association between corporate image, institutional trust and trust in online banking services. Similarly, the result of path-2 also reveals a positive and significant association between institutional trust and trust in online banking services. Finally, bias-corrected bootstrapping confirms that institutional trust plays a mediating role between corporate image and trust in online banking services in Iraq. This study has important theoretical and practical implications. It not only fills some of the gaps in the literature about trust in online banking services, particularly for Iraq but it also reinforces to policy-makers that institutional trust is an important factor in promoting customer’s trust in financial services.