Context Of Developing Economy Research Articles

The Mediating Effects of Board Role Performance in the Relationship Between Board Capital and Survival of Financial Cooperatives in Uganda

Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) in Uganda face persistent survival challenges, often associated with governance limitations and board effectiveness issues. This study investigates the association between board capital, which encompasses both human and social capital, and SACCO survival—measured through liquidity and gearing—with board role performance as a potential mediator. Data were collected from 311 participants across 60 SACCOs in a cross-sectional survey. Structural equation modeling analysis indicates that although board capital does not directly influence SACCO survival, it positively correlates with board role performance, which in turn is significantly associated with SACCO survival outcomes of liquidity and gearing. These findings underscore the importance of board engagement in translating board members’ collective expertise, knowledge, and external connections into enhanced liquidity and balanced gearing for SACCOs. Practical implications suggest that SACCOs could benefit from initiatives to strengthen board members' skills and networking capabilities through targeted training, mentorship, and structured networking opportunities. Establishing clear board roles, strengthening accountability mechanisms, and implementing regular performance evaluations are essential practices to bolster SACCO survival. This study contributes a novel perspective by integrating Role Theory with Agency and Resource Dependency Theories, providing a multi-theoretical framework to better understand SACCO survival in a developing economy context. This integration enriches the theoretical landscape and provides actionable insights for strengthening SACCO survival in Uganda’s challenging economic context.

Two birds, one stone: minimum wage and child labor

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of quasi-exogenous and substantial increases in the minimum wage on child labor outcomes in Türkiye. The study aims to provide empirical evidence on how minimum wage policies affect child labor outcomes in a developing country context, with a focus on gender and age differences. It seeks to understand whether minimum wage increases lead to a reduction in child labor and whether the impact is different for various demographic groups.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs a difference-in-differences methodology using data from the 2012 and 2019 Child Labor Force Survey in Türkiye. The treatment group consists of children from households with minimum wage earners, while the control group comprises children from other households. Various labor market outcomes are analyzed, and robustness checks are performed.FindingsOur findings indicate that while the overall effect of minimum wage increases on child labor is statistically insignificant, there are notable heterogeneous impacts across different demographic groups and employment sectors. Specifically, we observe a significant reduction in the employment probability of girls under the age of 15 and unpaid family workers. Additionally, the likelihood of younger children being wage earners decreases, and the minimum wage increase reduces employment in the agriculture and services sectors for certain subgroups. The impact is also more limited for children in single-adult-worker households.Social implicationsThese results underscore the varying effects of minimum wage policies on child labor and highlight the importance of considering demographic and sectoral differences in policy formulation. Policymakers should complement such policies with income-generating programs and targeted education initiatives to address child labor issues more comprehensively and sustainably.Originality/valueThis study fills a critical gap in the limited international literature on the causal effects of minimum wage policies on child labor incidence. One notable exception, Menon and van der Meulen Rodgers (2018) have explored the impact of minimum wage on child labor in India using regional variation, our study uniquely analyzes the effects at the household level in Türkiye. This approach provides valuable insights into how minimum wage changes affect child labor outcomes in a developing economy context with a high prevalence of minimum wage earners. It also contributes to the broader economic understanding of child labor and household income dynamics.

Exploring the influence of contextual factors on social entrepreneurial intentions: A study of generation Z

With the increasing trend of social entrepreneurship intention research, the literature is majorly fragmented into examining the influence of individual personality level factors. Little attention has been given to the role of contextual factors which affect the social entrepreneurial intention process. The purpose of the study is to explore the inter-relationships between contextual factors i.e., perceived support and perceived barriers with social entrepreneurship intentions of Generation Z in the presence of theory of planned behaviour. Data was collected from 610 students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. PLS-SEM 4.0 was used for the analysis. PLSpredict and IPMA were employed. Results of our study highlights the significant positive impact of perceived support and negative impact of perceived barriers on social entrepreneurial intentions. Theory of planned behaviour holds different significant as a mediator for both the contextual factors. Majority of the current body of literature on social entrepreneurship has focused on testing intentions of older generations. Therefore, empirically testing the impact of contextual factors (combined) from entrepreneurship support system framework on social entrepreneurial intentions among the Generation Z in a developing economy context provides valuable insights.

Nexus between customer relationship management dimensions, customer involvement and customer retention: a mediation analysis in Ghana’s hotel industry

PurposeThis research investigates the role of customer involvement (CINV) in customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions and customer retention (CR) in Ghana’s hotel industry.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative-based explanatory research obtained primary data via structured questionnaires from 277 hotel customers in Ghana, processed it with SmartPLS4.0 software, and analysed it with structural equation modelling.FindingsCRM dimensions (CRM-based technology, managing knowledge and personalisation of services) and CINV positively affect CR. Also, CINV partially mediates the interactions between the CRM dimensions and CR in Ghana’s hotel industry.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is geographically limited to hotels in Ghana and conceptually limited to three CRM dimensions, CINV and CR. Methodologically, the study was limited to the quantitative approach. However, our outcomes imply that hotels in Ghana that invest in relevant CRM dimensions would improve CR. CRM-CR association can also be improved through CINV.Practical implicationsThe study outcomes imply that when Ghanaian hotels implement the CRM dimensions and foster active CINV, their customers’ retention will improve significantly. Hence, CRM and CINV are prerequisites for enhancing CR in Ghana’s hotel industry.Originality/valueThe study offers valuable contributions to the current literature on CRM, consumer behaviour and hospitality management, especially in a developing economy context. Its novel contribution, the mediating role of CINV, would advance CRM studies in the hospitality sector.

Big Data Analytics and Organizational Performance: Mediating Roles of Green Innovation and Knowledge Management in Telecommunications

In the rapidly evolving telecommunications industry, organizations in Bangladesh are facing the challenge of improving their performance to stay competitive. However, there is limited research on how big data analytics (BDA) impacts organizational performance (OP) in this context. Therefore, this study examines the impact of BDA on OP in Bangladesh’s telecommunications industry, with green innovation (GI) and knowledge management (KM) as mediating variables, and big data analytics technical capabilities (BDATCs) as a moderating variable. We collected data from 384 management-level employees across five major telecom companies in Bangladesh using a structured survey questionnaire. Our analysis employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart-PLS 4.0 software. The findings indicate that BDA positively influences OP, and both GI and KM significantly mediate this relationship. However, while BDATCs enhance the BDA–OP relationship, they do not significantly moderate the BDA–GI link. These results underscore the importance of integrating BDA with KM and GI to boost organizational performance. Telecom companies should invest in advanced data analytics, foster a culture of sustainability, and enhance knowledge management practices to achieve superior performance. This study contributes to the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory by demonstrating the strategic role of BDA, GI, and KM in a developing economy context. Future research should expand this investigation across different sectors and consider longitudinal approaches to capture the dynamic nature of BDA’s impact on organizational performance.

Women's economic empowerment and COVID-19 pandemic: A study on women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

This paper aims to explore the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women's economic empowerment in Bangladesh. Based on the available literature, this paper develops a holistic framework for economic empowerment and measures how COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to changes in the framework. The study adopts a quantitative research method to address the research question; of whether and to what extent women entrepreneurs were economically empowered by their businesses during COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical data was collected from 52 Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs via telephone interviews and online surveys using a structured questionnaire in February–March 2022, and respondents were chosen randomly from various online social groups and pages. The findings suggest that women entrepreneurs have contributed to family spending, resource allocation, and decision-making. However, their role has diminished significantly in asset ownership during the pandemic. In addition, women's attitudes toward violence, social stigma, and education have shifted dramatically. Furthermore, women entrepreneurs face several challenges, including a lack of government support, limited availability of credit, a lack of entrepreneurial education, and an increased responsibility in the family. Although numerous research studies have demonstrated how COVID-19 pandemic affected women during the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on economic empowerment through gender lenses has frequently been disregarded in Bangladesh context. This study bridges that gap, particularly in developing economies context and the framework constructed in this study is instrumental for understanding the dynamics of economic empowerment that can be applied in future research.

Navigating barriers to reverse logistics adoption in circular economy: An integrated approach for sustainable development

Achievement of sustainability goals is an epic task for developing economies that still strive to fulfil their basic needs. The availability of limited resources in the developing world vis-à-vis the ever-increasing demand poses further challenges to developing economies willing to transition into circular economies. Reverse logistics (RL) can facilitate this transition towards a circular economy (CE) by maximising resource utilisation and minimising waste, contributing to sustainability goals. This paper contributes to emerging literature by analysing the development and comprehensive potential of reverse logistics as a sustainability tool. It explores the significant barriers to the adoption of reverse logistics towards a circular economy, considering long-term sustainability. In the first phase, thirteen barriers have been identified from the past academic literature. Three barriers with a defuzzification number less than the threshold limit are excluded, and the final ten barriers are then prioritised using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The findings suggest that a lack of strategic plans for returns is crucial for RL adoption towards a circular economy, followed by a lack of visibility for recycling/reuse. Organisations can increase customer satisfaction, promote environmental sustainability, and gain a competitive edge in the market by creating a strategic plan for reverse logistics. Organisations may lower costs and contribute to a more sustainable and ecologically responsible supply chain by improving visibility across the reverse logistics process. The results serve as a framework for decision-making in RL towards sustainable development. Managers and policymakers can formulate more robust and realistic decisions that align with “maximising profits,” “saving the planet,” “social concerns,” and, most importantly, “consumer concerns” in the circular economy ecosystem. Several implications are derived, leading to increased competitiveness and resilient business strategies. The novelty of this work lies in the identification of barriers to reverse logistics adoption towards a circular economy using an integrated fuzzy Delphi-DEMATEL approach, considering long-term sustainability. This approach is studied for the first time in a developing economy context, proposing social, economic, and environmental effects and actions to be taken by organisations for sustainable development.

Effects of different electronic HRM configurations on organizational consequences: An intra-country analysis

Purpose: This study focuses on the effects of electronic-Human Resource Management (e-HRM) on organizational consequences. In this analysis, the effects of different configurations are assessed within the same socio-economic context. Design/Methodology: This study adopts a cross-sectional survey of e-HRM actors, such as human resource managers, IT professionals, and line managers. The data analysis was conducted using linear regression. A sample of 300 respondents was selected based on Gill et al.’s framework for obtaining a representative sample. Findings: ‘Integrated e-HRM configurations’ employed in multinational corporations (MNCs) generate positive and improved operational, relational, and transformational consequences or outcomes. In small-to-medium-sized organizations, the operational-user configuration exhibits positive but lower operational, relational, and transformational consequences. However, the socio-economic variables used to categorize e-HRM configurations do not apply in a developing economy context. Practical implications: The application of information technology in HRM is not the sole predictor of organizational consequences. The sophistication of the adopted e-HRM system deserves some consideration too. When managers adopt sophisticated e-HRM systems, they are likely to achieve positive and improved outcomes. More predictor variables need to be uncovered for an elaborate categorization of effective e-HRM configurations. Originality/value: The contextual factors that define effective e-HRM configurations are not consistent across different socio-economic contexts. Company-based categorization of effective configurations is advisable. This study establishes the limitations of current categorization variables in explaining effective e-HRM systems.

Impact of Transformational Leadership toward Organization Efficacy in Nigeria Petroleum Company

This study investigates the relationship between transformational work performance and organizational efficacy in selected Nigerian petroleum companies. It is anchored in transformational leadership theory and the high-performance work systems (HPWS) framework. Transformational leadership, pioneered by Burns and developed by Bass, emphasizes leaders' influence through idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. The HPWS framework highlights HR practices that enhance employee skills, motivation, and opportunity, ultimately driving organizational performance. While existing literature on transformational leadership mainly focuses on Western contexts, this study seeks to address the gaps by examining its applicability in Nigeria's petroleum sector. Methodological limitations, organizational-level focus, and contextual specificity are identified as gaps in prior research. The study aims to investigate these relationships in Nigeria, considering sociocultural variations and employing a mixed-methods approach. Through structured interviews and questionnaire surveys, data were collected from 280 employees. The data analysis included regression analysis, correlation analysis, and reliability testing. Results indicate a significant positive relationship between transformational leadership dimensions and organizational efficacy. The study contributes to understanding the dynamics of transformational leadership and HPWS in a developing economy context, particularly within Nigeria's petroleum industry. Future research should explore these relationships further, considering contextual factors and employing longitudinal designs.

Clothing disposal in Ethiopia: methods and motives

PurposeThis study explores clothing disposal in a developing economy. It focuses on how consumers dispose of clothing and what motives influence them to use a specific disposal method.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews, a qualitative research method, were conducted with a purposive sample of 27 participants from diverse demographic backgrounds within the developing economy of Ethiopia. The interviews were coded and analysed using thematic analysis to identify categories and themes.FindingsThe findings reveal various clothing disposal methods, such as bartering, donating, gifting, repurposing and reusing, and discarding. Different motives drive consumers to use these methods, including economic benefits, altruism, and convenience.Originality/valueThe study bridges an important knowledge gap in literature mainly on three aspects, as highlighted by previous research. Theoretically, in addition to proposing a different perspective of bartering as a disposal method, the study investigates the motives behind clothing disposal methods from diverse consumer groups and proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate the link between clothing disposal methods and motives. Methodologically, the study addresses the call for a more inclusive and diverse sample, considering gender and varied socio-economic groups. Contextually, while previous research has focused on developed economies, this study explains clothing disposal methods and motives from a developing economy context, specifically Ethiopia.

Conflict fuels inflation but the tinder lies elsewhere: Eclectic structuralist thoughts in a developing economy context

AbstractDeveloping country inflation is in the headlines again. Mainstream macroeconomics typically ignores the role of conflict while non‐mainstream work tends to ignore macroeconomic constraints. This paper revisits the issue employing a dependent economy framework with eclectic characteristics. Specifically, I explore the mechanisms that propagate both real and monetary sources of inflation in the presence of real wage resistance and distributional conflict. The analysis shows that the inability to pay for subsidies with taxes or bond issuance in a stylized developing economy could create a situation where a relatively small shock leads to sustained and accelerating inflation and a wage‐price spiral, thanks to conflicting claims on income. Subsidies to protect consumers from external price shocks could, similarly, leave a country vulnerable to accelerating wage‐price spirals as the stabilizing relative price effects of a declining foreign asset position are dampened. Distributional conflict thus plays the role of sustainer rather than the primum mobile. Price controls could, in theory, better enable inflation management if these do not result in redistribution toward spenders. Such controls, however, create other trade‐offs for countries facing balance‐of‐payments fragility.

Liquidity Management in Pakistani Firms: An Empirical Analysis

This study investigates the factors affecting corporate cash holdings among Pakistani firms, utilizing a comprehensive analysis through multiple regression models, including OLS, fixed effects, and Fama-MacBeth methodologies. The results consistently demonstrate significant relationships between cash held by companies and various factors that are specific to firms such as market-to-book ratio, firm size, leverage, cash flow from operations, net-working capital, long-term investments, and cash flow variations. Key findings indicate that companies having greater growth potential maintain higher amount of cash, supporting the trade-off theory, while larger firms hold less cash, reflecting their better access to external financing. The negative association between borrowing and cash-holdings aligns with the pecking-order theory, and the positive association between capital expenditures and cash held by companies supports the precautionary motive. This study makes the contribution to the current research on corporate finance by providing evidence on the liquidity management practices of firms in a developing economy context, offering insights that are particularly relevant for policymakers, financial managers, and investors. The robustness of the results across different models underscores the reliability of the findings, enhancing the understanding of how various factors influence corporate cash holdings.

Communicating Banking Cyber-security Measures, Customer Ethical Concerns, Experience, and Loyalty Intentions: A Developing Economy’s Perspective

AI technology-based banking services development has disrupted the way people participate in banking transactions. It has created easier and faster banking transaction possibilities with the use of electronic gadgets. However, ethical concerns about these applications have also been amplified together with the need for management communication of safety features and protocols for customer information protection, and redress when infringements occur. The study was an attempt to highlight how AI-enabled banking services safety communication affects customers’ ethical concerns and how the concerns shape their banking services value perception, attitude, and loyalty intentions. A conceptual framework based on the generic AI technology, ethical concerns, and loyalty intentions was used as a basis for this study. It attempted to test the link between management communication, ethical concerns, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and customer loyalty to AI-based banking services in a developing economy context. The study used three theoretical grounding bases to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. The results analysis followed Structural equation modeling (SEM). The results confirmed the impact of management communication on customers’ ethical concerns of security, privacy, diversity, and discrimination, and the positive influence of privacy and security on satisfaction/dissatisfaction. However, the relationship between diversity and discrimination concerns with customer satisfaction was not confirmed. Lastly, customer satisfaction was proven to impact their loyalty intentions.

Invasiveness, privacy concerns and mobile banking services technology adoption by millennials: Emerging economy perspective

Purpose: This study was conceptualised to investigate the relationships of invasiveness, privacy concerns, perceived usefulness and the adoption of mobile marketing technology by millennial banking customers in an emerging market economy.Design/methodology/approach: This was a quantitative study that targeted millennial banking service customers from an emerging market environment. The non-probability sampling approach was used, and the data were collected via a survey questionnaire. For data analysis, SPSS and SmartPLS Structural equation modeling were used.Findings/results: The results confirmed a direct relationship between privacy, invasiveness and usefulness perception. It also confirmed a direct relationship between perceived usefulness and the intention to accept mobile-marketed banking services. In addition, the results also showed that in addition to the direct impact of perceived usefulness on intention to adopt mobile marketing usage for banking services, it acts as a mediator variable.Practical implications: Academics can pursue a qualitative study to unpack the reasons for sensitivity around banking technology in emerging markets. The study should lead to better understanding of both the investigated market and others like it. Organisations will gain valuable insight for informed investment in such markets.Originality/value: The article is the first empirical investigation into the adoption of mobile-marketed banking services by millennials in a developing economy context. The study adds a valuable component to academic debates by using two independent theories to gain a holistic view of the performance of advanced technology in banking business. The study adds to the literature by also proving the mediation role of perceived technology usefulness in banking.

The role of green innovation in the relationship between green HRM practices and sustainable business performance; evidence from the mining industry

PurposeDrawing on the natural resource-based view (NRBV) theory, the study aimed to examine the mediating role of green innovation (GI) in the nexus between green human resource management practices (Green HRMPs) and sustainable business performance (SBP).Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted the descriptive time-lagged research design. Data were collected from 278 managerial staff of five mining companies in Ghana at different waves within a 3-month interval. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data received using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) statistics (V. 26.0) and Smart PLS (V.4.0).FindingsThe study found that Green HRMPs significantly related more to economic performance (EP) than social performance (SP) but did not significantly relate to environmental performance (EnP). Moreover, the results revealed that GI partially mediated the nexus between Green HRMPs and both SP and EP but fully mediated the link between Green HRMPs and EnP.Originality/valueThe relevance of Green HRMPs in ensuring corporate sustainability has been largely established in the extant literature. However, there is an evidential dearth of studies in the literature concerning the mediating role of GI in the nexus between Green HRMPs and SBP, especially in developing economies context. Hence, this study serves as a significant contributing card from Ghana by advancing the NRBV theory.

Fuzzy causal model of enterprise flexibility dimensions using Fermatean Fuzzy DEMATEL: a case study of Indian pharmaceutical industry

PurposeTo develop a fuzzy causal model of enterprise flexibility dimensions in a case study of Indian pharmaceutical industry.Design/methodology/approachThe eight dimensions of enterprise flexibility were identified based on literature review. Fermatean fuzzy decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory (FF-DEMATEL) technique is applied to develop the cause-and-effect interrelationship model among various enterprise flexibility dimensions.FindingsThe information technology flexibility, supply chain flexibility, technical flexibility and marketing flexibility are found to be causing/influencing other flexibilities and contributing to overall enterprise flexibilities. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to develop and sustain them for competitive advantage.Research limitations/implicationsFermatean fuzzy sets offer more flexibility and more accurate handling complex uncertain group decision making. FF-DEMATEL is a more accurate method to develop inter-dependencies and causal model than ISM, TISM. Ratings from the limited number of decision experts (DEs) from few pharmaceutical firms were done. Future study should take bigger sample of firms and more number of DEs to generalize the findings.Practical implicationsThe model will help managers in pharmaceutical industry to prioritize the dimensions of enterprise flexibility to achieve agility, responsiveness, resilience and competitive advantage.Originality/valueTo the best knowledge of the authors, causal modeling enterprise flexibility dimensions using FF-DEMATEL has been studied for the first time in a developing economy context.

Cultivating the digital citizen: trust, digital literacy and e-government adoption

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of trust and digital literacy in influencing citizens’ adoption of e-government services.Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the technology acceptance model (TAM), a research model was developed focusing on e-filing services adoption. Hypotheses were formulated to assess the moderating effect of digital literacy on the relationship between trust and the key TAM determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. A questionnaire-based survey of 876 citizens who have used e-filing using the snow-ball sampling technique was adopted to generate data. The data was analyzed using PLS-SEM through the aid of SmartPLS 4 to assess the measurement model and structural relationships.FindingsTrust positively influences perceived usefulness and ease of use, which in turn drive adoption. Additionally, digital literacy significantly moderates the impact of trust on usefulness and ease of use perceptions – the effect is stronger for higher digital literacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adopted a single country developing economy context limiting cross-cultural applicability. Second, the focus on e-filing adoption precludes insights across other e-government services. Third, the reliance on perceptual measures risks respondent biases and fourth, the study is a cross-sectional survey design.Practical implicationsThe findings emphasize multifaceted strategies to accelerate e-government adoption. Nurturing citizen trust in e-government systems through enhanced reliability, security and transparency remains vital. Simultaneously, initiatives to cultivate digital access, skills and proficiencies across population segments need to be undertaken.Originality/valueThis study integrates trust and digital literacy within the theoretical model to provide a more holistic understanding of adoption determinants. It highlights the need for balanced technology-enabled and social interventions to foster acceptance of e-government services.

Regulatory influence, board characteristics and climate change disclosures: evidence from environmentally sensitive firms in developing economy context

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of board characteristics on climate change disclosures (CCDs) in the context of an emerging economy, with a unique focus on regulatory influences.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes longitudinal data (2014–2021) from environmentally sensitive firms listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange, using a disclosure index developed within the Global Reporting Initiative framework. The authors use a neo-institutional theoretical lens to explore regulatory influences on CCD through board characteristics. This study uses hand-collected data from annual reports owing to the absence of an established database.FindingsThe results indicate that a larger board size, the presence of foreign directors and the existence of an audit committee correlate with higher levels of CCD disclosure. Conversely, a higher frequency of board meetings is associated with lower CCD disclosure levels. This study also observed an increase in CCD following the implementation of corporate governance guidelines by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, albeit with a relatively low number of firms making these disclosures.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the climate change reporting literature by providing empirical evidence of regulatory influences on CCD through board characteristics in an emerging economy. However, the findings may not be universally applicable, considering the study’s focus on Bangladeshi listed firms.Practical implicationsThis study suggests growing pressures for diverse stakeholders, including researchers and regulatory bodies, to integrate climate change disclosure into routine activities. This study offers a valuable framework and insights for various stakeholders.Social implicationsBy emphasizing the influence of good governance and sustainability practices, this study contributes to stakeholders’ understanding, aiming to contribute to a better world.Originality/valueThis study stands out by uniquely positioning itself in the climate change reporting literature, shedding light on regulatory influences on CCD through board characteristics in the context of an emerging economy.

Fit and Viable Determinants of Gamification in Christian Religious Studies in Developing Economy Context

Abstract Gamification has been utilized in bible applications for religious learning activities to create excitement and encourage positive behavioral outcomes. However, there is a noticeable gap in the effectiveness and viability of gamified bible applications, particularly among Ghanaian Christian faiths. In this study, we explored the fit and viability of gamification in Christian religious studies. Based on the Fit-Viability Theory, we analyzed data from 432 respondents from various Christian denominations in Ghana using structural equation modelling. Our findings revealed that Task and Technology Characteristics, Economic, Organizational, and individual Christian Doctrines significantly influence the adoption and use of gamified Bible applications in a developing country context.

Determinants of supply chain finance adoption among SMEs: evidence from a developing economy

Purpose Little is known about the determinants of supply chain finance (SCF) adoption among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. This study aims to address this relevant research gap and hence, draws on the resource-based view and transaction cost economies to empirically investigate five factors that make SCF adoption practicable among SMEs in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The approach involves a sample of 257 SME managers/owners and modelling via structural equations modelling. Findings All five factors (innovative capability, information sharing, inter- and intra-firm collaboration, external financing and trade process digitization) were found to impact positively and significantly on SCF adoption. The findings provide SME managers/owners with a research model which guides them on how to settle the SCF process. Research limitations/implications This paper used a cross-sectional survey, which makes it impossible to access changes over time. In addition, the use of quantitative method limits respondents from expressing their feelings fully. Using a mixed or qualitative methodology will provide avenues for future research. Practical implications This paper offers a completive advantage for Ghanaian SMEs to strengthen their relationships while collaborating with each other. The findings suggest that by adopting SCF solutions, SMEs can optimize their liquidity and working capital. The factors underpinning SCF adoption are of incredible attractiveness for SME managers/owners to discover the relevant practice of SCF solutions. SMEs should adopt SCF strategies for improving their capability to respond promptly to transactions. Originality/value This paper is among the few papers that have examined these five factors in a developing economy context. The study also provides new understanding of the factors that influence SCF adoption in the context of a developing economy.