The study examined the relationship between workforce diversity management and employees' in-role performance in multinational mining companies in Ghana, with duty orientation and diversity strategies as intervening variables. Drawing from social exchange theory, the study collected data from 368 employees across 8 multinational mining companies in Ghana. The study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), available in the SmartPLS software, for data analysis. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between workforce diversity management and employee in-role performance and duty orientation. The study also found that duty orientation mediates the relationship between WDM and employee in-role performance. However, diversity management strategies did not moderate the relationship between WDM and employee in-role performance. The findings provide insights for mining companies to focus on implementing policies that foster inclusiveness, combat racism, and incorporate employees' cultural differences in the workplace.
In accordance with the trait activation theory and the social exchange theory, this work considers the interaction of autonomy and self-efficacy to impact on the transformational leadership and creativity relationship. Four hundred and seventy-five (475) engineering employees of three major telecommunications companies in Ghana were sampled using convenience sampling and questionnaires. SmartPLS was used to perform the analysis utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings demonstrated that a transformational leadership style gives employees autonomy, which fosters individual creativity. Additionally, self-efficacy moderates the relationship between autonomy and creativity in that individuals with high levels of self-efficacy are in a better position to come up with creative results when granted autonomy. As a result, telecommunications companies should inspire and educate transformational leaders to provide employees with the freedom they need to develop creative solutions.
Drawing on the views of leading public intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy and the author's life work on Africa and developing countries in general, a case is made for African business school academics to adopt an unflinchingly critical approach to the work that they do - as educators and intellectuals. Rather than speaking truth to power, they can do this most effectively by speaking truth with the powerless and by encouraging their students to think critically about the overarching paradigm of capitalism. The need for dissent could not be greater, particularly in Africa, which has been one of the main victims of capitalist excess. The pessimism engendered by the unprecedented immensity and urgency of the capitalist-created polycrises facing life on Earth, the scale and speed of change that is needed to prevent global catastrophe, the unwillingness of ruling elites to consider systemic change, and the obstacles and hardships that would-be critics will encounter must be separated from hope and action. This stance enables public intellectuals to accept the evidence regarding the worsening prospects for human survival while hoping for the best and doing whatever they can within their spheres of influence and the bounds of their personal circumstances to prevent Armageddon.
Despite its importance, knowledge sharing as a driver of organizational performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within emerging markets has received limited scholarly attention. Grounded in the resource-based view and knowledge-based view of the firm, this study investigates the relationships among knowledge sharing, innovation capability, and organizational performance in SMEs operating in emerging markets. Data were collected from 343 SMEs, using simple random sampling and the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.The findings reveal that knowledge sharing significantly enhances innovation capability, which in turn positively affects organizational performance. Additionally, innovation capability was found to partially mediate the relationship between knowledge sharing and performance outcomes, highlighting its crucial role as a conduit through which knowledge sharing translates into performance gains. The study also uncovers a novel link between specific dimensions of knowledge sharing - knowledge donation and knowledge collection - and market performance. Notably, knowledge donation positively influences market performance, whereas knowledge collection has a negative impact.
This research employs the proximity framework to understand the factors that drive small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to collaborate with their competitors in innovative projects. It investigates how different proximity dimensions, geographical, organizational, social, cognitive, and institutional, shape coopetition among SMEs in constrained developing economies. To fulfill the research objectives, we carried out a qualitative research design based on an embedded single case study (Betronics project) in the Moroccan electrical and electronic industry. Semi-structured interviews served as the primary source for data collection. Secondary data from reports on the project and non-participant observations were also used for data triangulation. The findings show that a high level of social proximity and a medium level of cognitive proximity are the relevant factors directly contributing to the development of coopetitive relationships among SMEs engaged in innovative projects. Conversely, geographical and organizational proximities exhibit an indirect role in fostering coopetition, while institutional proximity appears to impede coopetition establishment among SMEs.
This paper examines human resource management (HRM) practices in Ghana's local government and advances a twofold argument. First, it shows that decentralization reforms introduced in the 1980s and 1990s locked the system into a path-dependent governance trajectory. This has narrowed the scope for alternative approaches to achieving an effective HRM system. Second, despite formal provisions establishing local governments as autonomous and non-partisan, the findings reveal that informal norms, political patronage, and asymmetric power relations remain central in shaping HRM decisions. These realities affect staff motivation, retention, and organizational performance, often impairing formal HR procedures and meritocratic intent. The paper challenges taken-for-granted assumptions that implementing cookbook governance and/or new public management prescriptions can automatically improve institutional effectiveness and service delivery in developing countries. Instead, it argues for greater attention to historical legacies and political contexts. The paper contributes to scholarly debates on public sector management and state capacity by highlighting the limits of technocratic and one-size-fits-all approaches to strengthening subnational governance
This study examines the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the performance of hospitality firms in Ghana, using stakeholder theory and considering green innovation (GI) as a mediating factor. A quantitative survey of 380 respondents was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and tests for reliability and validity (Cronbach's Alpha, Composite Reliability, and AVE). Bootstrapping tested mediation effects. Results show that GSCM significantly influences GI, which positively affects firm performance (FP). GI fully mediates the GSCM - performance relationship and partially mediates the CSR - performance link. The study concludes that GSCM and CSR have greater impacts on GI, which is a significant factor positively influencing hotel performance. The novelty of this research lies in its examination of these relationships within the underexplored African context, contributing fresh perspectives to the literature on sustainable practices in the hospitality sector. By offering empirical evidence of how integrating GSCM and CSR can foster GI and enhance FP, this study provides valuable insights for similar developing economies seeking to align environmental and economic goals effectively.
Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is increasingly recognized as a vital strategic factor, particularly in volatile business environments. While EO can potentially drive superior sustainable financial practices (SFP), there remains a gap in understanding the underlying mechanisms and contextual factors that complement or influence this relationship. This study proposes and tests a moderated-mediation model in which the relationship between EO and SFP is mediated by dynamic capabilities (DC), with institutional conditions (IC) moderating the DC-SFP link. The model was empirically tested using a sample of 217 individuals in managerial positions from 23 commercial banks in Ghana, a developing African economy. The results revealed that DC partially mediated the relationship between EO and SFP. Furthermore, the study found that IC significantly strengthened the indirect effects of EO on SFP through DC. The study contributes to the literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of the micro- and macro-level factors that influence SFP in a developing economy context. Managerially, the findings provide a strategic roadmap for bank managers to leverage EO and develop DC to achieve their sustainable financial goals.
The migration of highly educated and working professionals from Africa to more developed regions - commonly referred to as "brain drain" - is a significant issue that undermines the continent's socioeconomic progress. This paper provides a systematic literature review of the drivers of brain drain within the context of Africa's healthcare sector. The analysis categorizes the reasons why healthcare professionals choose to emigrate out of Africa. Our findings reveal the inadequacies of the healthcare sector in various African countries as well as cross-national issues that motivate brain drain decisions, drawing attention to the urgent need for policy interventions. By synthesizing current research, this paper offers a comprehensive model that future studies can utilize in developing new research questions aimed at understanding and addressing the issues around brain drain. We offer recommendations that focus on sustainable policy solutions and management practices to enhance retention and create an environment conducive to healthcare excellence and socioeconomic resilience. This study contributes to policy and academic discussions by framing actionable strategies to mitigate brain drain in the hopes of improving the overall health and well-being of African citizens.
This paper presents the findings of a systematic multi-level literature review of research on social entrepreneurship in Africa. Our review focuses on work from the last decade, since the first issue of the Africa Journal of Management was published, and the widely cited Academy of Management Perspectives paper "Social entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa" by Rivera-Santos et al (2015). Through analysis of 128 papers in 35 journals, patterns in research on social entrepreneurship in Africa are revealed and critically discussed, including insights on the field's growth, where work is being published, who is writing it, and the role of African based scholars. Saebi et al's (2019) multilevel multistage social entrepreneurship framework is also used to classify existing work, and critically identify those aspects of the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship in Africa that have received more and less attention. Finally, these analyses are synthesized to identify opportunities for future scholarship.
This paper presents a systematic literature review of ethnic leadership in Africa, analyzing 31 peer-reviewed articles published between 1960 and 2024 across multiple disciplines. We define ethnic leadership as the process by which individuals mobilize shared ethnic identity as a basis for influence, legitimacy, and collective action. While ethnicity is a salient organizing force across the African continent, its role in shaping leadership practices, behaviors, and outcomes remains empirically underexplored, conceptually fragmented, and peripheral to mainstream Management and Organization (M&O) research. Drawing from literary works indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, and Google Scholar, our review identifies four dominant thematic domains: the cultural context of ethnic leadership, its nomological network, its role in governance, and associated critiques. Findings reveal that ethnic leadership can foster cohesion, legitimacy, and community well-being; yet it may also enable favoritism, exclusion, and governance inefficiencies. Notably, empirical research on ethnic leadership within organizational contexts is limited, especially when contrasted with its more extensive treatment in political science. As such, we advance a comprehensive research agenda that calls for greater methodological diversity, the integration of indigenous African frameworks into broader leadership theory, and the development of culturally grounded, psychometrically robust, measurement tools. This research agenda positions ethnic leadership as a theoretically rich lens for examining authority, identity, and inclusion in Africa. Overall, the review's insights have implications for building leadership theories that are both contextually grounded and globally relevant, with practical value for governance, organizational management, and inclusive development.
As the world grapples with grand challenges, Africa remains the most affected yet receives the least research focus. This study adopts a systematic scoping review to analyze the extent of corporate sustainability research in Africa. Using a predetermined search strategy applied to the comprehensive ABI/INFORM Global database, 107 articles were analyzed. This paper's contribution is threefold: (1) it reviews literature to provide an African perspective of corporate sustainability; (2) it critically synthesizes findings in the dataset to illuminate contributions and research gaps; and (3) it provides recommendations for potential future studies and policy implications to enhance management scholarship and practice.
Migrant entrepreneurs are generally assumed to come from rather than settle in Africa. This paper systematically reviews scholarship on immigrant entrepreneurs operating on the continent, a topic of interest to Africans more than the general scholarly community. Using Scopus and two Africa-focused databases, Africa Journals Online and Sabinet, we identified 123 relevant papers. Papers cross various disciplines are generally descriptive, theory-poor, from unranked journals, and with South Africa strongly overrepresented. Currently, papers mostly mirror themes from work in high-income contexts, with resourcing an important exception. We highlight opportunities to further advance research on the challenges of and diverse types of resources in a resource-poor context. The need to include Africans into scholarly endeavors is often expressed, but in this case African scholars dominate. We discuss how African scholars can improve the quality and impact of their work, both by facilitating the emergence of a community around the topic and thematically.
This study advances the upper echelons literature by examining the (a) cognitive microfoundations of business model change and (b) intervening organizational mechanisms that help to explain the influence of strategic leaders on firm outcomes. We develop our theory by considering features of the African context, including underdeveloped factor markets and institutions and their heterogeneity within African countries. The paper examines two aspects of cognition - entrepreneurial alertness and cognitive adaptability - explains their influence on firm's opportunity-capitalizing capabilities and business models, and argues that opportunity-capitalizing capabilities mediate influence of each cognition variable on business model change. Using a sample of micro-enterprises in the emerging economy context of Egypt, we find support for the hypotheses. We also present interview data to corroborate the findings.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global governance initiative that has the primary goal of promoting greater transparency and accountability concerning the use of royalties paid by global extractive firms to governments. Global extractive firms are largely supportive of EITI and most African countries are members of the initiative. However, research findings presented in this study concerning the Ghana EITI (GHEITI) suggest that global extractive firms are not seeing stronger visibility or impact of their payments to government reflected in mining areas. A thematic analysis of interviews conducted with mining managers from four global mining firms operating in Ghana demonstrates that managerial perspectives centre on how GHEITI relates to securing and maintaining the legitimacy of the business of mining. Through the adoption of an institutionalist approach, the paper demonstrates the broader theoretical and empirical implications for global extractive firms operating in complex institutional settings in African countries where EITI is implemented.
Extant literature recognizes organizational learning orientation (LO) as a critical resource, yet the mechanisms and conditions under which it translates into superior performance remain underexplored and often assumed. We draw on Resource-Based View (RBV) and dynamic capability frameworks to develop and test arguments that firm-specific human capital (FSHC) plays an intervening role in the organizational LO-organizational performance relationship and that, such indirect association via FSHC, is conditional upon differences in levels of knowledge-based dynamic capability (KBDC). Using survey data from 331 SMEs in Ghana, a Sub-Saharan African market, the findings reveal that beyond their direct positive association, FSHC mediates the organizational LO-organizational performance link. Further analysis shows that the indirect effect of LO on organizational performance, via FSHC, is amplified under higher levels of KBDC. These results provide a nuanced understanding of the LO-performance pathway, demonstrating how firms can leverage learning processes and dynamic capabilities to build unique human capital and achieve superior performance. Implications for theory and practice are provided.
Innovation is at the heart of economic growth and societal progress. It's a driving force that keeps businesses competitive and economies thriving. However, Moroccan SMEs often struggle with financial barriers that limit their innovative capabilities. Despite government initiatives offering subsidies and guarantee schemes, the effectiveness of these mechanisms in fostering innovation remains uncertain. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of public financial support on innovation intensity within Moroccan SMEs, addressing a gap in understanding how direct and indirect financial support influence product, process, and technological innovation. Data were collected from a survey of 133 SMEs in the Casablanca-Settat region, gathering insights into innovation practices, public support received, and firm characteristics. The Ordered Probit regression model was employed to assess the determinants of innovation intensity, providing a rigorous analysis of how subsidies and guarantee schemes impact innovation while accounting for firm-specific factors. Results indicate that guarantee schemes have a consistently positive and significant effect on all forms of innovation, demonstrating their effectiveness in reducing financial risk and enabling firms to invest in innovative projects. Conversely, subsidies show limited and occasionally negative impacts, suggesting a misalignment with SMEs' specific needs. Our findings suggest that expanding guarantee schemes could significantly enhance innovation in SMEs. However, subsidies need to be restructured to better target innovation, potentially through R&D grants and innovation vouchers. Policies that promote workforce development are also essential, as the research's findings prove that employees' training directly contributes to a firm's innovation capacity.
