PurposeThis article aims to analyze the effect of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on agricultural credit in sub-Saharan Africa between 2015 and 2023, in a context of recurring lack of agricultural financing.Design/methodology/approachBased on the Vector Error Correction model applied to a panel of 30 countries, the study highlights short- and long-term relationships between ICTs, the institutional framework and agricultural credit.FindingsThe results indicate that mobile money and mobile phones have a positive and significant long-term effect by promoting access to the financial sector and information in rural areas. The effect of the Internet was slower, signifying its low connectivity to agricultural services. Political stability as well as the quality of regulation negatively affect agricultural credit in the short and long terms. Low institutional predictability can cause dysfunction in rural financial markets. The article recommends strengthening digital financial inclusion and improving the governance of agricultural financial systems.Originality/valueThe study complements the extant literature by assessing the effect of information technology on agricultural credit in sub-Saharan Africa.

Purpose Energy risks, financial access (FA) and women's economic participation remain crucial scholarly and policy concerns in the achievement of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This study assesses the link between energy risks, FA and women's economic participation in Africa.Design/methodology/approach The focus is on 31 African countries for the period 2000-2019. The empirical evidence is based on quantile regressions (QR) and the generalized method of moments (GMM). Interactive regressions are employed in order to provide more room for policy implications.Findings Positive and negative FA thresholds are consistently established for the QR and GMM results. Positive FA thresholds are turning points where the negative effect of energy risk on women's economic participation (i.e. female labors force participation and female employment) is completely mitigated. Negative FA thresholds are turning points where the positive effect of energy risk on female unemployment is completely crowded-out. The FA thresholds are within policy range and contingent on the conditional distribution of women's economic participation.Practical implications Reaching FA thresholds is necessary to change the unconditional impact of energy risks on women's economic participation (unemployment) from negative (positive) to positive (negative). It follows that FA critical levels are necessary to reverse the unfavorable negative (positive) influence of energy risks on female employment (unemployment). The recommended FA thresholds in order to completely mitigate the unfavorable effect of energy risk on women's economic participation are both feasible and implementable. The policy implications are directly related to promoting SDG5 on the economic empowerment of women as well as SDG7 on affordable and clean energy. Other policy implications are discussed.Originality/value The study complements the extant literature by examining linkages between energy risks, FA and women's economic participation.

Purpose The primary objective of this study is to assess the incidence of bank concentration on female education in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach The focus of the study is on 80 countries from 2000 to 2020 and the empirical evidence is based on fixed effects and 2SLS regressions. Bank concentration is measured in terms of total assets owned by the three largest banks as well as the total assets owned by the five largest banks. Female education is proxied from four main perspectives, notably: (1) female enrolment in primary education, (2) female enrolment in secondary education, (3) female government spending on primary education and (4) female government spending on secondary education. Findings It is apparent from the findings that bank concentration (in terms of the total assets held by the three largest banks) reduces gender inclusive education and female government spending on education. Moreover, bank concentration (in terms of the total assets held by the five largest banks) also reduces gender inclusive education. Policy implications are discussed. Originality/value The study complements the extant literature by assessing the nexus between bank concentration and inclusive education in developing countries.

Les technologies numériques renforcent la résilience économique en Afrique subsaharienne en favorisant l’inclusion et les investissements à long terme. À l’aide d’un modèle d’autorégression vectorielle en panel portant sur 29 pays (2000-2021), cet article montre que la téléphonie mobile stimule la croissance tandis que l’accès à Internet favorise la mise en place d’infrastructures durables financées par l’endettement.

PurposeThis study aims to assess how linkages between inclusive education and financial sector (FS) formalization dynamics influence income inequality in Chad. Design/methodology/approachAn interactive ordinary least squares approach on data covering the period 1980 to 2017 is employed. Concepts of FS formalization and informalization as well as corresponding gross domestic product-based FS competition measures are used, while two main inequality measurements are also considered, namely the Gini coefficient and the Palma ratio. FindingsBeyond aiming to provide findings that are relevant to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda in Chad, the study also provides a practical way with which to disentangle the incidences of various financial sectors on income inequality. Net influences of inclusive education and FS formalization dynamics are provided. Originality/valuePolicy thresholds and thresholds for complementary policy initiatives related to the FS formalization dynamics and inclusive education are also disclosed.

Purpose Farmers’ decisions to take up agricultural insurance are often shaped by deep-seated psychological and cognitive processes rather than purely economic considerations. This manuscript addresses an important gap in the literature by examining both farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural insurance and the extent of their participation in insurance programs. Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from a nationally representative survey conducted in Senegal in 2017, covering 1,200 rural households engaged in dry cereal production. It employs an econometric framework that integrates logit, ordered logit and Heckman selection models to assess the influence of key determinants on insurance uptake. These include awareness of insurance products, trust in insurance providers, financial constraints, perceptions of climate-related risks and participation in cooperatives or agricultural extension services. Findings Agricultural insurance adoption remains relatively limited, with only approximately 30% of surveyed farmers subscribing to an insurance scheme. The findings indicate that awareness, educational attainment and access to credit constitute the primary drivers of insurance adoption. In addition, trust in insurers and prior exposure to climatic shocks significantly increases the likelihood of subscription. With respect to the level of coverage proxied by the insured amount in CFA francs, the highest elasticities are associated with farm size (+0.397 per logarithmic hectare), agricultural income (+0.034 per thousand CFA francs) and cooperative membership (+8.45). These findings underscore the complementary roles of financial capacity, institutional support and behavioural factors in influencing both farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural insurance and the level of coverage they choose. Practical implications Targeted policy interventions, such as rural radio campaigns, tax incentives and strengthened extension services, could potentially double the adoption rate (currently around 30%) while enhancing farmers’ resilience to climate-related risks in Senegal. Originality/value This study contributes to the agricultural insurance literature by proposing a multidimensional modelling framework that simultaneously examines insurance adoption and the intensity of participation. By integrating behavioural, socioeconomic and institutional determinants within a unified analytical framework, it complements the extant literature by examining drivers of farmers’ decisions to adopt agricultural insurance.

PurposeThis study aims to assess linkages between education, technology and agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa. In developing countries, agriculture struggles with limited resources, poor infrastructure and climate change impacts. Access to information technologies (IT) has become crucial for boosting production and resilience. However, farmers' lack of understanding of IT can negatively affect their food production. Thus, education is necessary to help farmers understand and use IT to improve their food production.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes the role of education in the IT-agricultural production nexus in sub-Saharan African nations (SSA) using panel data on 34 countries over the period 2004-2020. The system generalized moments technique was used for the model estimation.FindingsThe results show that IT can be effectively complemented by education to enhance agricultural production. The thresholds of education needed for IT to increase agricultural production are provided. The established thresholds are as follows: 0.651 for "fixed broadband," 0.641 for "fixed telephone", 0.476 for "internet," 0.538 for "mobile cellular subscription" and 0.489 for "IT." These findings suggest that the reinforcement of educational quality could help consolidate IT to enhance agricultural production.Originality/valueThis study complements the extant literature by examining the nexus between education and technology in light of agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Aware of the nature of deficits in the current account, fiscal account, and the financial account balances of the countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, this inquiry assessed the relationship between these deficits and the implication of such relationship for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). To do this, the study adopted panel data analysis techniques using the Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) specifications to test for the Triple Deficit Hypothesis (TDH) in the region. The findings of the study revealed the presence of the TDH in SSA where bidirectional causality exists between current account balance and budget balance, and between saving gap and current account balance, with a unidirectional causality running from budget balance to saving gap. The adoption of sound fiscal, monetary, and trade interventions in the region constitutes the major policy recommendations.

Purpose-This paper aims to examine the threshold effect of financial development on sectoral efficiency using 42 African countries from 2000 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach-The paper used the panel threshold regression estimation. To measure financial development, the paper used domestic credit to private sector and bank deposits to GDP. Findings-The findings showed that the effect of financial development on sectoral efficiency depends on the measure of financial development. Domestic credit and bank deposits have a positive linear effect on the efficiency of the manufacturing sector. Domestic credit has a U-shaped relationship with agriculture technical efficiency, but its relationship with the service sector is inverted U-shaped. This study makes some significant contributions. Bank deposits drive efficiency but beyond a certain level, the effect is not significant. Practical implications-It is recommended that domestic credit to the private sector beyond 8.0976% is good for agriculture technical efficiency, while domestic credit below 11.1906% is needed for service sector efficiency. Also, threshold values below 25.9713% and 14.8981% are recommended to see a significant positive effect of bank deposits on efficiency (agriculture and service sectors, respectively). Originality/value-To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to consider the threshold effect of financial development on sectoral efficiency.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate how family farming serves as a relevant source of income generation for the Senegalese population. In the face of climate change and agricultural shocks, the production of family farms and income generated from family farms are unfavorably affected. Given these hazards and shocks, family farms must adopt strategies of adaptation to climate change and agricultural shocks to prevent and mitigate the negative effects of potential shocks.Design/methodology/approachThe objective of this research is to analyze family farms' resilience strategies in rural Senegal in response to agricultural shocks and examine the impact of these resilience strategies on farms' productivity and the income of farmers. To do this, the study focuses on three specific objectives. First, the authors identify common resilience strategies to agricultural shocks among family farms in rural Senegal based on a descriptive analysis of the 2018/2019 Senegal Annual Agricultural Survey. Then, the main factors that affect the adoption of resilience strategies by farms are identified using the Probit model. Finally, the study examined the effect of resilience strategies on the productivity of family farms and on the income of rural farmers using an endogenous switching regression technique.FindingsIt is apparent from the multivariate analysis that climate variables (humidity, temperature, precipitation), the education level of farm owners, the size of the agricultural household and agroecological zone are substantially linked to the adoption of resilience strategies by family farms. The impact evaluation shows that attendant strategies of resilience in rural areas positively impact the productivity of family farms. Policy implications are discussed.Originality/valueThis research improves existing studies by examining how rural farms in Senegal can enhance their resilience strategies to climate change and agricultural shocks to improve their productivity and income.

This study investigates the impact of public welfare spending on global economic interconnections among the Group of Seven nations from 1980 to 2021. Using panel-corrected standard errors and feasible generalized least squares estimation, the results show that welfare expenditure contributes 37.55

This study provides an extensive review of modern slavery practises within the global supply chain, highlighting it as a significant human rights violation that affects both the well-being of victims and the overall supply chain performance of organisations. Using secondary data from the Scopus database, we identify critical gaps and propose practical and theoretical approaches to mitigate modern slavery. The findings indicate that globalisation and neo-trade liberalism exacerbate modern slavery across various forms, including forced labour, child labour, labour exploitation, human trafficking, underpaid wages, coercion and debt bondage, particularly within sectors such as agriculture, fishing, construction, apparel and fashion, mining and transportation. Furthermore, we examine the effectiveness of regional and national laws, including the UN Principles on Human Right and Business, UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015, Australia's Modern Slavery Act of 2018, the California Transparency in Supply Chain Act of 2010, the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act 2021, and Franch Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law of 2017, and find that while these legislative frameworks are effective at downstream levels of supply chains in developed nations, their impact is limited upstream, particularly in developing countries hindered by weak legal systems and prevailing socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, unemployemnt, food insecurity and gender dispartities which, continue to perpetuate social injustices. Additionally, we observe a troubling trend of inadequate financial investment in anti-slavery initiatives, coupled with poor collaboration between scholars in the global south and north, which undermines efforts to combat modern slavery, particularly in less developed regions. To address these theoretical gaps, we propose a Modern Slavery Diffusion Model, alongside practical and policy-level implications aimed at effectively tackling modern slavery issues in global supply chain.

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other similar global events on the global stock market. The data used covers 16 countries of the world and a series of quarterly data ranging from 1919Q1 to 2020Q2 for major stock market index was used. The Bai and Perron’s multiple structural break approach were adopted. Different number of break dates is noticed across several regions. While selected sample countries in Europe have at least ten break dates under the period of investigation, we observe for US, Canada and Australia, only twelve break dates. Asia and the other bloc of countries report ten and twelve break dates respectively. Notably, one most prominent causes of structural changes in stock markets (with the exclusion of Germany) appears to be from the GFC, which had inverse effects on major market around the world. The most prominent source of structural breaks in the Asian markets appears to be from the 2008-2009 GFC. In addition, we found evidence of structural breaks in several stock markets in the world, resulting from the 2009-2010 Global Pandemic, that is, the H1N1 virus/pigs Swine Flu; 2003 SARS; MERS; and EBOLA. In addition, as explained above, events have the tendency of unfolding over time; hence matching exact breaks in stock market data to precise events is very unlikely.

PurposeThis study investigates how gender economic inclusion affects sustainable development in Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe study is focused on 42 African countries for the period 2000–2019. It argues that enhancing gender economic inclusion in all sectors of society promotes and sets a better pace for the attainment of sustainable development in Africa. The gender economic inclusion variable used is the number of females employed as a ratio of the working-age population. The study employs the generalized method of moments as the main analysis method alongside the ordinary least squares technique.FindingsThe results show that gender economic inclusion has a negative effect on sustainable development in Africa, but they reveal contradictions when income groups are taken into consideration. Specifically, the middle-income group in Africa experiences a positive effect of gender economic inclusion on sustainable development.Practical implicationsAs policy implications, this study recommends that policy makers in low-income countries in Africa do everything within their reach to have equitable gender-inclusive societies, that is, to narrow the gap between the already wealthy class of women and the poor. This could be done by having more women included in different economic sector activities, in order to create a more conducive atmosphere for sustainable development.Originality/valueThe study has complemented the existing literature by assessing the nexus between gender economic inclusion and sustainable development in Africa.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2024-0498

In response to escalating environmental constraints and resource pressure, transitioning to a sustainable circular economy is imperative for contemporary enterprises. Circular Supply Chain Management (CSCM) offers a systemic approach to minimise waste and advance regenerative practices. However, the role of Corporate Governance (CGOV) in this transformation remains underexplored, especially in emerging economies. To address this gap, this study develops and empirically tests a framework to examine how CGOV fosters CSCM using data from 381 manufacturing firms in Ghana. Structural equation modelling revealed that CGOV partially influences CSCM through the mediating role of Eco-Adaptive Organizational Culture (EAOC). While Leadership Eco-Innovation Willingness (LECOIN) significantly moderates the CGOV-EAOC relationship, its influence does not extend to impact CSCM outcomes. Importantly, this study identifies the Perceived Urgency for Circularity (PURGENCY) as a critical boundary condition that intensifies the indirect effect of CGOV on CSCM via EAOC when PURGENCY is high. These findings offer a novel theoretical contribution by elucidating the interdependent dynamics of governance, leadership disposition, cultural adaptability, and perceived urgency in enabling circular transition. Practically, this study provides actionable insights for corporate leaders, supply chain strategists, and policymakers seeking to realign governance mechanisms and leadership capabilities to accelerate circular economy implementation by communicating a sense of urgency that can accelerate systemic transitions toward circular economy adoption.

The objective of this work is to evaluate the effects of adopting technological innovation, nontechnological innovation, and their complementarity on price competitiveness. This work employs a recursive bivariate probit model applied to microdata from 1897 firms in three SubSaharan countries: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal. This model allows us to solve the endogeneity problem by assessing the complementarity relationship between technological and non-technological innovation practices and their effects on firm competitiveness. The results confirm that technological and non-technological innovations are complementary and have significant effects on firms' competitive advantage in terms of price. This complementarity constitutes evidence that their simultaneous adoption contributes more to firms' competitiveness than the individual adoption of each type of innovation. Non-technological innovations facilitate the effectiveness of technological innovations, which leads to a competitive advantage of about 26 % when both types of innovations are adopted together. However, firms can also suffer significant losses in market share as a result of the non-adoption of innovations. Indeed, firms that do not adopt any innovations deteriorate their competitive advantage in terms of price by 4 % on average.

This study examines the impact of energy price volatility on industrialization in 39 sub-Saharan African economies between 2001 and 2023. The study utilizes two measures of energy price volatility: the standard deviation of energy price inflation and the standard deviation of the residuals of energy price inflation from an autoregressive process. Using the Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects, Quantile Regression, and the System Generalized Method of Moments as estimation strategies, the result revealed that irrespective of the measure of energy price volatility, an increase in energy price volatility reduces both manufacturing and industry growth. Countries with lower initial manufacturing growth are more adversely affected, while those with high industry growth experience greater volatility impacts. Interestingly, where manufacturing growth is high, volatility may increase growth rates. The findings are robust to cross-sectional dependence, unobservable heterogeneity, and endogeneity. Policy recommendations are discussed.

The paper assesses the role of environmental policy, technological innovations, digitalisation, and natural resources management across 29 Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) countries from 1999 to 2022. The findings are contingent on various econometric approaches that account for cross-sectional dependencies, notably: PVAR-GMM, Granger causality and Quantile Regressions. The findings show that stringent environmental policies in resource-rich countries positively influence natural resource management practices. However, in resource-poor countries, the impact of such policies is less significant. Moreover, the results show that technological innovations, particularly in digital infrastructure, can strengthen resource management practices across both resource-rich and resource-poor countries in SSA. In resource-rich nations, fostering the development of digitalisation, marked by increased fixed broadband subscriptions and digital infrastructure, correlates with more effective resource management. Conversely, the impact of digital advancement on resource management practices in resource-poor countries appears to be less pronounced, indicating potential challenges in leveraging digital technologies for resource management in these contexts. These findings underline the importance of sustainable resource management in promoting long-term economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability across SSA. Policy implications are discussed.

Research in any discipline establishes the groundwork for advancing knowledge, facilitating learning, and solving problems. Management research is conducive to observing the world and decision-making wonders through a novel outlook. Such research is a fabulous tool for addressing emerging topics and challenges for which scientific data cannot be accessible due to budding awareness of the phenomena. Writing and publishing complement each other and require specific technical knowledge to give a final look for publishing a paper in a top-rating journal. Common challenges subvert authors’ efforts to elucidate their understanding and practice. This paper has identified, articulated, and successfully addressed these hurdles to publishing. A trail guide for different components of a typical research paper is also presented by benchmarking the best business, ethics, and management research practices. This study is the first guideline in writing management papers and is conducive to producing high-quality imperative research for scholars.

This study aims to evaluate the ways in which globalization's impact on structural change in Africa is mitigated by gender-inclusive education. With an emphasis on 41 nations between 2004 and 2021, the empirical data are supported by the interactive generalized method of moments. The following results are apparent. First, some positive net effects are established, which implies that gender-inclusive education broadly moderates globalization as well as the corresponding channels to produce a generally favorable impact on structural transformation in the sampled countries. These positive effects primarily manifest through specific globalization channels (e.g. interpersonal globalization, cultural globalization and financial globalization) and at higher education levels (tertiary education). However, thresholds for complementary policies are provided given the relevant negative conditional or interaction impacts. These thresholds for complementary policies are maximum levels of gender-inclusive education that when attained, complementary measures are needed in order to preserve the beneficial role of gender-inclusive education in moderating globalization for a generally favorable impact on structural transformation. Policy implications are discussed. The study complements the extant literature by assessing the role of gender-inclusive education in the impact of globalization on structural change in Africa.