Ghanaian Organizations Research Articles

Assessing the Implementation Success of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) in Ghanaian Organizations

Assessing the Implementation Success of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) in Ghanaian Organizations

An assessment of critical success factors in information security implementation in organizations in Ghana

Purpose This paper aims to identify the critical success factors in improving information security in Ghanaian firms. Design/methodology/approach Through an exploratory study of both public and private Ghanaian organizations. The study relied on a research model based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework and a survey instrument to collect data from 525 employees. The data was analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings The findings confirm the role of the technological, organizational and environmental contexts as significant determinants in the implementation of information security in Ghanaian organizations. Results from PLS-SEM analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between the technology component of information security initiative, organization’s internal efforts toward its acceptance and a successful implementation of information security in Ghanaian firms. Top management support and fund allocation among others will result in positive information security initiatives and positive attitudes toward securing the organization’s information assets. Research limitations/implications The authors discussed the implications of the authors’ findings for research, practice and policy. Social implications The results of this study will be useful for both governmental and non-governmental organizations in terms of best practices for increasing information security. Results from this study will aid organizations in developing countries to better understand their information security needs and identify the necessary procedures to address them. Originality/value This study contributes to filling the knowledge gap in organizational information security research and the TOE framework. Despite the TOE framework being one of the most influential theories in contemporary research of information system domains in an organizational context, there is not enough research linking the domains of information security and the TOE model.

Society and organizational leadership: Investigating the sociocultural construction of toxic and constructive leaders in Ghana

Toxic leadership phenomenon persists in many institutions at the expense of organisational progress and performance. This article explores the centrality of sociocultural values in leadership formation in Ghanaian organisations. Through the lens of the constructivist paradigm and ethnomethodology research design, fifteen (15) in-depth interviews were analysed. The study revealed that society’s underlying sociocultural values systems fundamentally impact the construction of toxic organisational leaders through complicity and condoning malpractice, impertinence to time, and nonchalance towards leaders’ toxic behaviours. Context, in this regard, has an inbred role in making a leader either toxic or constructive. Society and its organisational setups must positively impact the co-creation of constructive leadership by nurturing values that demand leadership accountability and reward constructive leadership for its significant impact in engendering organisational progress.

A comparative analysis of the current anti-bribery practices and ISO 37001 requirements in Ghana

Corruption is a worldwide problem and a significant issue in Ghana, causing retarded economic growth and development, and reduced confidence in government institutions. Over the last few years, corruption has taken over various aspects of Ghanaian society, including political monetization, bureaucracy, and lack of enforcement of relevant laws. To deal with corruption, Ghana has implemented a comparatively robust legal and institutional framework against corruption. However, corruption pressures still exist in Ghanaian enterprises, and weaknesses are reported in the legal and institutional business environment. Since Ghana has failed to implement ISO 37001, an international standard for anti-bribery management systems, this paper examines the gaps between the existing anti-bribery practices in Ghanaian organizations and the requirements of ISO 37001. Employing content analysis, the study assesses the potential of ISO 37001 to reduce corruption-related challenges in Ghana and recommends promoting Ghanaian organizations to adopt and implement the standard’s requirements, which would provide organization-level good practices and local anti-corruption champions and create positive examples for society.

Succession Planning in Ghana’s Nascent Technical Universities: The Case of Cape Coast Technical University

This paper investigated on succession planning in Ghana’s Technical Universities with the Cape Coast Technical University as a case. In this study, the researchers interviewed nine purposively sampled senior managerial and administrative personnel. The interview transcripts were content-analysed using the Taguette computer-aided qualitative data analysis software. The study uncovered that the CCTU has neither a succession policy nor a formal arrangement for training and mentoring personnel to fill leadership roles. Personnel interviewed demonstrated a positive perception of succession planning even though it was based on basic knowledge of the concept. Further, interviewees expressed a desire to see succession planning given a try at the CCTU. However, they wanted such a program to be transparent, inclusive, and coherent. They also would like to see any such policy have adequate top-level backing. The challenges to a potential succession planning policy included the risk of it being abused as a tool for cronyism, the risk of people selected and sponsored under the policy leaving the organization and the risk of it only existing on paper without full implementation The authors recommend that the dominant coalition at CCTU should study feasibility of formal succession planning and formulate a unique solution that is based in local context. They also recommend that researchers expand on this study across HEIs in Ghana. Finally, the researchers recommend that it would be insightful to examine the prevalence and nature of succession planning in various Ghanaian organizations. Such research may uncover practices and leadership development philosophies that are rooted in Ghanaian culture and which may be further developed.

Investigating Marketing Communication Mix on Brand Performance Indicators

In today’s world of business, an increased number of brands are competing in order to gain market share. As a result, companies’ promotion has become more significant in order to reach out to target customers. Effective financial service (FS) delivery is driven by the strategic application of each element of the marketing communication mix (MCM) in the organization. The population of this study was employees in Ghanaian organizations where the MCM tools are known to be frequently used and their customers. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) Fit Statistics for the Measurement and Structural Models were used. The first four models were the measurement models of MCM, brand quality, brand loyalty, and brand performance respectively. The fifth model is the structural model through which all relationships and hypotheses were tested simultaneously. The study finds that, the first four models did not produce a good fit because they failed to meet the following criteria: p-value > 0.05; RMSEA < .08; TLI > .90; GFI > .80; and AGFI > .90.

The Impact of Servant Leadership on Innovative Work Behavior in Ghana: The Mediation of Employee Voice

Innovation is a crucial concept for organizational sustenance and development. The study investigated the impact of servant leadership on employee innovative work behavior by examining the mediating role of employee voice in Ghana. This was done to contribute to fostering innovation in the nation and stimulate the idea of servant leadership behavior in Ghanaian organizations where generally, power appears to be distant.Data from 200 full-time Ghanaian workers were used in this cross-sectional study. Pearson’s correlation, linear regression, and SEM were utilized in the data analysis. The empirical findings from the study demonstrate that servant leadership and employee voice correlate significantly and positively with innovative work behavior. However, employee voice failed to mediate the effect of servant leadership on employee innovative work behavior. Servant leadership in Ghana also failed to exert positive influence on employee voice.The implication of this research infers that organizational leaders in Ghana can have confidence in putting on servant leadership behavior to increase innovative work behavior in employees as is critical for organizational productivity and survival. The deliberate attempt to augment innovation also means that organizations necessitate the intentional creation of atmospheres (climate for innovation) for breeding and nurturing practical, innovative concepts. This study also gives employers the assurance that encouraging employee voice in the workplace is critical since it keeps the lines of communication open and serves as a deterrent to operational behaviors that hamper organizational advancement. The study further elaborates a detailed discussion of the research results, implications, limitations, and prospects for future studies. Keywords: Servant leadership, innovative work behavior, employee voice, Ghana DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-2-08 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

The Effect of Regulation on Sustainable Procurement: Organisational Leadership and Culture as Mediators

The study reported in this paper sought to examine the extent to which organisational leadership support and organisational culture explain the effect of regulation on sustainable procurement practice, as insights into this relationship is lacking in the extant literature. Useable survey data from 322 Ghanaian organisations were analysed using descriptive statistics, and structural equation modelling techniques. The analysis examined the nature of sustainable procurement practice in an African context, and the potential mediating effects of organisational leadership support and organisational culture on regulation’s relationship with sustainable procurement. The findings reveal a moderate sustainable procurement practice in Ghanaian organisations, a significantly positive effect of regulation on related practices, and a mediation effect of organisational leadership support on regulation’s relationship with sustainable procurement. There was, however, no mediation effect relative to organisational culture. Potential relevance and implications of the study for theory and practice are explored in the discussion and conclusion sections.

Exploring Recruitment and Selection Practices of Ghanaian Organisations

Although Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has emerged as the new approach to human capital management, operational level Human Resource Management (HRM) activities (traditional personnel functions) remain crucial when linking business strategy with HRM . This paper is inspired by the contribution of selection and recruitment practices in managing the global talent war, particularly in less developed economies. It is based on a multiple case-study research into employee recruitment and selection techniques within five case-study firms located in Tema, Kumasi and Accra. The paper draws on in-depth face-to-face interviews and documents to explore the various recruitment and selection practices utilised by Ghanaian firms. The findings suggest more commonalities in the utilisation of the following employee recruitment sources – for example, newspaper advertisement, campus recruitment, employee referrals, direct applications and unsolicited applications among all case-study organisations and a slight variation in the utilisation of selection techniques such as: psychometric testing or aptitude testing, the use of assessment centres and employee referrals due to differences in employees’ categories and industry types. Though internet-based recruitment is growing significantly among organisations, yet the evidence in this paper rather demonstrate limited growing visibility towards internet-based or social media recruitment among Ghanaian organisations. This paper set out a rationale for utilising multiple case-study design in Human Resource Management research in under-researched contexts. Keywords: recruitment sources, selection techniques, multiple case-study research, Ghana DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-12-02 Publication date: April 30 th 2020

HRM practices of MNEs and domestic firms in Ghana: divergence or convergence?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to adopt the convergence-divergence perspective to examine the extent of similarities and differences in human resource management practices between multinational enterprise subsidiaries and local firms in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws from multiple case study evidence using in-depth face-to-face interviews and document analysis. The data were analyzed in four stages using both thematic analysis and cross-case analysis techniques.FindingsThe authors found both convergence and divergence, however, the evidence points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.Research limitations/implicationsEven though there was evidence of cultural embeddedness within local firms in the adoption of certain HRM practices, the influence of national culture on HRM practice convergence between MNEs and local firms has been limited. Thus, the convergence-divergence debate through the lens of national culture may need to be re-examined.Practical implicationsThe evidence of convergence and direction toward convergence tendencies within the context can be argued to be less underpinned by local isomorphism limited host-country influence. Practically, there is something to learn from indigenous Ghanaian organizations that can contribute to HRM advancement, the Ghanaian concept of annual durbars, annual or semi-annual gatherings to take stock of past activities and to award hard working staff, could provide the platform to strengthen the employer-employee relationship at the firm level.Originality/valueThis study fills an important contextual gap (a less developed country’s context) within the convergence-divergence debate and contributes to informing new knowledge of the convergence-divergence debate, which points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.

Unmasking the Sociocultural Constraints to Career Growth of Married Women in Ghanaian Organizations

This study investigated the question of how culture and activity can be explored towards understanding the professional career development of married women and the relative constraints associated with such development in the Ghanaian environment. Guided by the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) framework, data was collected from a sample of 141 married Ghanaian women professionals engaged in white collar jobs in the public and private institutions located in Accra. It is established that the acceptance by the Ghanaian traditional society of the married professional woman as a capable person who can equally perform in an organization and thus need to be trusted, supported and recognized is of relevance to her career development. This observation provides learning on the impact of the inflow of socio-cultural dynamics into a gender-oriented organizational life and the complexities that it generates in understanding the constraints to the professional career development of married women.

Effect of Fraud on Financial Performance in Ghanaian Organizations

The main objective of this study was to examine the effect of fraud on company’s performance in Ghana. It is encumbered on Auditors to ensure that the occurrence of fraud is brought to the barest minimum in the company. Information gathered for this work were obtained from one hundred auditors (100, one hundred staff (100), fifty managers (50) all in Accra and hundred members (100) of the academia from koforidua Technical University in Koforidua and Accra Technical University in Accra. The study revealed that sixteen (16) out of the seventeen (17) checklist used for the study on respondents perception relating to possible fraud in a company had more than 300 respondents agreeing with these factors while and one (1) recorded less than 300.It is hope that management in every organization will do it’s very best to avoid the reoccurrence situation. Therefore, organizations must commit themselves to fraud prevention with the involvement of all stakeholders.

Perceived Favouritism and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Insights from Ghanaian Organizations

The effects of subordinates’ perception of favouritism by their superiors and how it affects subordinates’ commitment and extra-role behaviours in their organisations were examined in this study. Analysis of empirical data from a survey of 296 employees in two organisations in Ghana revealed interesting insights into their work and extra-role values. It was found that although no significant difference in the amount of perceived supervisory support existed, perception of relational demography in particular ethnicity greatly shaped the exchanges between supervisors and their subordinate. The amount of perceived supervisory support was equally shaped by perception of relational demography. Since subordinates with more supervisory support were highly committed, there was an inverse relationship between perceived favouritism and their organisational commitment behaviours. Contrary to expectations, subordinates who perceived supervisor discrimination were unwilling to quit their organisations but rather continued to stay and offer extra-role behaviours. It is suggested that organisational output will increase tremendously if the negative perceptions are corrected.

An empirical examination of the relationship between information security/business strategic alignment and information security governance domain areas

The purpose of this study was to examine empirically the extent of the relationships between information security governance (ISG) strategic alignment and other individual information security domain areas consisting of risk management, value delivery, performance measurement, and resource management in order to ascertain whether the domain areas were integrated for ISG success in Ghanaian organizations. Corporate governance theories, including agency theory, stakeholder theory, and organizational theory, were employed to explore the literature. These theories were mapped to strategic alignment, risk management, resource management, performance measurement, and value delivery domains of information security governance. Random sampling strategy was used and data were collected via web survey. The data analysis employed a linear regression analysis to determine the degree of correlation among the domain areas. The study found that relationships between information security governance strategic alignment and other ISG domains were positively statistically significant. Strategic alignment was related to risk management (R² = .836); to value delivery (R² = .718), to performance measurement (R² = .722), and to resource management (R² = .747). The results highlighted consistent importance of strategic alignment practices as a predictor of organizational information security risk management, performance measurement, resource management, and value delivery. This implies that effective information security governance strategic alignment greatly improves organizations’ risk management, resource management, performance measurement, and delivers business value. Therefore, organizations should improve strategic alignment attributes in order to attain effective information security governance.

Rationale and cross-sectional study design of the Research on Obesity and type 2 Diabetes among African Migrants: the RODAM study

IntroductionObesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are highly prevalent among African migrants compared with European descent populations. The underlying reasons still remain a puzzle. Gene–environmental interaction is now seen as...

Total Reward Concept: A Key Motivational Tool For Corporate Ghana

This paper examines the concept of total reward and its application in motivating employees in Ghana. Total reward as an integral element of reward management is the combination of financial and non-financial rewards given to employees in exchange for their efforts. The aim of total reward is to maximize the combined impact of a wide range of reward elements on motivation, commitment and job engagement. Hence, total reward embraces everything that employees’ value in the employment relationship. In spite of the growing need to pay attention to the concept of total reward, it appears most Ghanaian organisations place more emphasis on traditional rewards that are typically extrinsic and financial in nature. Thus, most Ghanaian organisations pay too much attention to financial rewards at the expense of non-financial rewards. This paper thus examines existing literature on the concept of total reward to determine whether the adoption of total reward strategy could be the answer to corporate Ghana in its bid to obtain maximum efforts from employees.

Assessing Project Management Maturity in Africa: A Ghanaian Perspective

The level of project management awareness and recognition of the standards and knowledge sharing among professionals is on the rise. Despite this many projects continue to fail. Ameliorating project failure requires project management maturity among practitioners. Project management maturity is the progressive development of an enterprise-wide project management approach, methodology, strategy, and decision-making process. To ascertain the level of maturity among project oriented organisations in Ghana the following research questions were raised: Is the concept of PM maturity understood in Ghana? What are Project Management Maturity levels in Ghana? What maturity models are in use? Are there differences in project management maturity levels in industries in Ghana? The study was exploratory in nature and utilized a questionnaire survey method to collect data on project management Maturity in Ghanaian organizations. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 200 managers from different economic sectors. The findings showed that differences exist in the current project management maturity levels across each phase of the project life cycle for all organisations. The study also showed that most of the practitioners expect their respective organisations to attain higher levels of project management maturity (PMM) albeit at various levels. Organisations operating in the non-profit (NGO) category exhibited relatively higher levels of maturity compared to the other categories of organisations in all the five phases of the project management life cycle. Firms in the public sector of Ghana recorded low levels of maturity in most of the phases of the project management life cycle. This may be attributed to the low level of project management expertise in the sector, with possible dire consequence to the country’s development since the public sector accounts for a large percentage of projects executed in Ghana. Overall, the findings seem to indicate that project management maturity occurs in phases; PM maturity does not occur as an event but is an ongoing process that is interlinked. The implication therefore is that organisations cannot claim to be mature in one area and neglect the other; it becomes imperative for project implementing organisations in Ghana to strive to attain maturity in all the five phase of the project management life cycle in order to attain the full benefits of the projects they implement.

Project Management Practices and Critical Success Factors–A Developing Country Perspective

The study sought to identify and assess the quality of project management practices as well as the criticalsuccess factors for projects in Ghana. The study adopted an exploratory approach and utilized a survey methodto collect data on project management practices of Ghanaian organizations. Purposive sampling was used inselecting the sample which comprised 200 managers from different economic sectors. Results from the studyindicated that the critical factors that contribute to the success of a project include top management support,effective communication, clarity of project purpose and goals, and stakeholder involvement. Documentation anddissemination of critical success factors and best practices in project management will improve the quality ofproject management in Ghana.The absence of a structured system of documentation of project management practices among Ghanaian projectmanagers has resulted in a dearth of empirical data. The inability of the researchers to sample organisationsacross Ghana is considered as one of the study’s limitations, an example of a geographical constraint. Thisresearch focused on the key factors and best practices that lead to the success of projects in Ghana.

Utilization of ICT in Knowledge Management at the Ghana Volta River Authority

This study investigates the use of ICT tools in Knowledge Management in the Ghanaian state organization, Volta River Authority (VRA), in achieving set goals. Knowledge Management seeks to develop a strategy for capturing, sharing, distributing, using and transferring knowledge across an organization in order for it to improve efficiency and increase competitive edge. A Knowledge Management system creates an enabling environment to foster better knowledge and experience sharing, so that the organization can leverage its collective knowledge. The adoption and use of ICT has raised the need for organizations to come out with new methods, policies, tools and techniques to develop frameworks, processes and technologies so as to promote effective management of knowledge. Our research uses the SECI model for knowledge creation and sharing as its conceptual framework. Our findings show that the concept of ICT in Knowledge Management is still a relatively new at VRA, even though ICT tools are widely used. VRA management would, therefore, have to adopt a Knowledge Management policy, framework and governance and integrate the concept into its strategic plan in order to enhance meeting the organization's goals of competitive advantage.

Individual and Organizational Factors of Safe Behaviour among Ghanaian Industrial Workers

The aim of this study is to compare individual and organizational factors as predictors of accident frequency. Four hypotheses based on the literature were presented: 1) both individual and organizational factors contribute to accident frequency, 2) individual factors have more impact than organizational factors, 3) both Organizational citizenship behaviour and Perceived organizational support are positively associated with safety behaviour, and 4) among the four organizational factors, Perceived organisational support has the most impact. The participants were 320 Ghanaian industrial workers from textile factories, breweries and mines. Organizational safety climate was measured using the 50-item Workplace Safety Scale. Organizational citizenship behaviour, Perceived organizational support and job satisfaction were measured by standardised scales. Individual factors were gender, age, education, marital status and job tenure. The respondents reported their accidents during the past 12 months. Models were tested using Structural Equation Modelling: Both individual and organizational factors contributed to accident frequency supporting hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 2 was rejected as organizational factors were more strongly related to accident frequency than individual factors. Organizational citizenship behaviour and Perceived organizational support were positively associated with safety performances as Hypothesis 3 suggested. In line with Hypothesis 4 the strongest predictor of safety behaviour was Perceived organizational support. This study showed that both individual and organizational factors are contributory for accident process. However, the influence of organizational factors was stronger than that of individual factors. Implications for safety in Ghanaian organizations were discussed.