Management Research In Africa Research Articles

Using social practice approaches for strategic management research in Africa: an example, design considerations and potential contributions

ABSTRACT African management theories and practices have received scant scholarly attention in organization and management literature. The recognition for vast opportunities for developing, adapting and extending management concepts, theories and practices in situ has become topical. Scholars have responded thus far, as a bourgeoning body of Africa-centric management and organization knowledge is gradually building as never before. The modest strides made to date covering research approaches are currently limited. By reference to an empirical study this paper explicates a more qualitative, nuanced, relational, and socialized strategy-as-practice research approach that is better attuned to examining strategy as a social practice in context. Extant studies have advanced arguments for the need and value in African-focused management research (the why), the current paper brings the salience of research approaches to the African-focused management scholarship agenda (the how) into sharper focus. The paper specifically, articulates a social practice-inspired research approach for theorizing strategic management in Africa.

Risk governance and firm value: exploring the hierarchical regression method

This study examines the impact of risk governance on firm value of 50 listed firms in the Nigerian financial institutions for the period of five years (2013-2017). The study provides empirical evidence which shows that risk governance variables (enterprise risk management index, chief risk officer presence, board risk committee size, board risk committee activism, and board risk committee independence) have a positive and significant impact on firm value. Similarly, firm attribute variables (firm size and firm age) have a significant positive impact on firm value while on the contrary corporate governance variables (board size and board of directors independence) show a negative but a significant impact on firm value. The empirical evidence observed in this study reveals that the institutionalisation of risk culture, strong risk oversight functions and increase in risk accountability by the board have greater tendency to enhance the value of a firm. This study contributes to the growing literature in the area of corporate reporting, risk governance and risk management research in Africa.

Risk governance and firm value: exploring the hierarchical regression method

This study examines the impact of risk governance on firm value of 50 listed firms in the Nigerian financial institutions for the period of five years (2013-2017). The study provides empirical evidence which shows that risk governance variables (enterprise risk management index, chief risk officer presence, board risk committee size, board risk committee activism, and board risk committee independence) have a positive and significant impact on firm value. Similarly, firm attribute variables (firm size and firm age) have a significant positive impact on firm value while on the contrary corporate governance variables (board size and board of directors independence) show a negative but a significant impact on firm value. The empirical evidence observed in this study reveals that the institutionalisation of risk culture, strong risk oversight functions and increase in risk accountability by the board have greater tendency to enhance the value of a firm. This study contributes to the growing literature in the area of corporate reporting, risk governance and risk management research in Africa.

Management research in Africa: Insights from organizational neuroscience

ABSTRACT The present paper discusses the application of organizational neuroscience in management research in Africa. In so doing, the paper draws from the field of neuroscience, organizational neuroscience, and cultural neuroscience to explore the extent to which topics, such as corruption, tribal identity, and nepotism could be analyzed through the lens of organizational neuroscience. The paper’s implications for further research and management practice are discussed.

Talent management research in Africa: towards multilevel model and research agenda

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to systematically review talent management research in Africa with the aim of developing a multilevel talent management model and defining future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review is performed utilising studies published on the topic from 2008 to 2019 in various research databases. Findings The findings highlighted various talent management contributions and challenges in the African context. They further revealed major issues with the nature of research method adopted in talent management research in Africa. Moreover, contextually, apart from Southern Africa sub-region, talent management research is highly under-researched in the North African, West African and Eastern African sub-regions of the continent. Therefore, talent management research in Africa can be described as being at an embryonic stage. Practical implications Effective talent management has significant transformative and growth power through its varied positive contributions. Talent management in Africa is faced with numerous organisational and macro-level challenges and requires attention from relevant stakeholders, if African talents are to be harnessed to facilitate the development of the continent. Originality/value This systematic review on talent management is the first of its kind focusing solely on Africa. Also, this study contributes further evidence by proposing a multilevel talent management model based on the synthesised evidence since multilevel research in the field of talent management is very limited.

Logistics and supply chain management research in Africa

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the literature on logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in Africa over the last few decades. It provides a comprehensive assessment of theory application regarding the research articles published between 1994 and 2016.Design/methodology/approachIn this structured systematic literature review, a set of 110 articles on SCM research in Africa is assessed.FindingsThe authors present the state-of-the-art review on logistics and SCM research in Africa. Extant literature shows that most research works focused on operational aspects of logistics and SCM and that papers drew heavily on theories inspired by strategic management, marketing, micro/macroeconomics and organizational behavior theories. Also, most of the papers with theoretical background can be categorized into theory matching and theory dressing and only a minority of theoretical papers belongs to theory suggestion category. Furthermore, based on the findings, the authors present a framework to characterize the peculiar aspects of Africa-based SCM and logistics practices and provide research propositions related to underexplored aspects of logistics and SCM in Africa.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has a number of implications. Practitioners and researchers will gain a greater understanding of how logistics and SCM are carried out in Africa and the type of issues that have been addressed. Furthermore, researchers will be able to identify areas that need greater research attention in Africa.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first literature reviews of publications on logistics and SCM in Africa. It presents an overarching map of the research to date and a series of propositions to inform future research.

Leadership and management research in Africa: A synthesis and suggestions for future research

Although we are aware of some positive cases of leadership and management emerging on the African continent, very little empirical or theoretical work has addressed leadership and management in Africa. This raises a challenge for African nations in that ultimately a country's economic performance is contingent on the effectiveness of its leadership and management practices that serve to unlock the potential of its workforce to effectively implement the strategic goals of organizations. Against the backdrop of an increasingly knowledge‐dependent global marketplace, the centrality of leadership and effective management systems as drivers of individual and organization performance has never been more critical. This special section brings together a compendium of papers that advances the science of leadership and management within the African context. Our principle goal was to examine what is unique, what generalizes, and what does not generalize from the West and East to Africa, as well as within different regions of Africa and then offer ideas to guide future research and practice. The papers in this section provide a broad and indeed innovative approach to studying leadership and management in Africa by including historical, philosophical, economic, and socio‐political perspectives, as part of the analyses of leadership and management in the African context. Our editorial provides an integration of this work and a launching point for some audacious goals for future leadership and management science and practice in Africa and beyond.