| 1 |
Author(s):
Fredrick Githui, Margaret Oloko (Prof.), Jane Njuru (Ph.D.), Caroline Ntara (Ph.D.).
Page No : 1-18
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Innovation Strategy and Performance of Government Commercial Institutions in Kenya.
Abstract
In an era of unparalleled technological transformation and an escalating demand for greater operational efficiency, innovation has increasingly become a key driver of organizational performance. This study explored the role that innovation has in shaping the performance of Kenya's government commercial institutions with the aim of finding out how various dimensions of innovation affect public sector performance. Grounded on a post-positivist philosophical stance and taking a quantitative research methodology, the study employed a descriptive survey design in collecting and analyzing data from a purposive sample of 34 state-owned enterprises. Questionnaires were constructed and distributed to key institutional personnel to collect primary data, while instrument reliability was established using Cronbach's alpha via SPSS software to determine internal consistency. Descriptive statistics provided information on general trends, and linear regression analysis was employed to analyze the strength and significance of the relationship between innovation variables and organizational performance. The findings revealed that automation of business processes had a positive and significant impact on institutional performance, particularly in terms of improving service delivery and organizational efficiency. Nevertheless, the impact of other forms of innovation—such as process and service innovations—turned out to vary significantly between institutions, which portrays that innovation is not universally applicable. The study concludes that innovation, when deliberately shaped to a specific institution's goals, means, and conditions, can be used as a vehicle for change to improve performance. It recommends that government commercial institutions employ innovation strategies that are not only evidence-based but also context-specific, focusing on measurable impacts and sustainability
| 2 |
Author(s):
Wiam ID Boumsoud, Bilal Zaghmout, Ibtissam Maazouz, Yacoob Suleiman.
Page No : 19-33
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AI Adoption and the Evolution of Lecturer Leadership in UK Business Schools.
Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which the implementation of artificial intelligence is transforming the leadership roles of lecturers in business schools in the UK in terms of adapted leadership practices, role diffusion in academia, and decision-making. It aims to gain insight into the leadership role of lecturers in AI-infused learning environments. This study has a qualitative research design that is fundamentally interpretive in nature. Data for this research were gathered using a series of semi-structured interviews that were carried out with lecturers who were involved with AI technology in UK business schools. This research used a reflexive type of thematic analysis that allowed for a detailed examination of issues related to the leadership practices of AI technology in higher education. These results have shown that AI implementation is transforming the leadership of lecturers from being more individual-role-based to more practice-based forms of leadership. The leadership practices of lecturers are becoming more practice-based, including leadership through expertise exchange, support, and sensemaking, as opposed to role-based leadership. This transformation of leadership is also accompanied by various challenges of emotional labour, role ambiguity, and ethical complexities related to issues of academic integrity. It was revealed that support structures of institutions played important roles in determining the degree to which leadership practices enabled by AI were empowering or disempowering. This research makes a contribution to both the literature on leadership practices and literature on higher education by reframing the adoption of AI as a trigger for the development of lecturer leadership, as opposed to it being a technological issue. This research also pushes the development of literature on both distributed leadership practices as well as leadership practices by highlighting the importance of ethics being at the heart of AI-enhanced academic leadership practices.
| 3 |
Author(s):
Wiam ID Boumsoud, Bilal Zaghmout, Ibtissam Maazouz, Yacoob Suleiman.
Page No : 34-47
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Imposter Syndrome and Senior Academic Leadership in UK Business Schools.
Abstract
This paper explores the role of the imposter syndrome in defining the leadership identity, the decisions taken, and the perception of effectiveness of senior leaders of UK business schools. Although the syndrome of the imposter has had considerable literature coverage in terms of research as an issue faced by young academics, little research seems to exist that explores this syndrome at the senior levels of leadership. It is evident that the study employs a qualitative research methodology that is rooted in the principles of the interpretivist paradigm. This study involved conducting in-depth interviews with senior academic leaders, such as Programme Directors, Departmental Heads, or Associate or Deputy Deans, in various business schools in the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed for the analysis of data to understand the interpretation of IMPS among the senior academic leaders. Findings suggest that the presence of imposter syndrome is widespread among senior university leaders, sustained by performance-managed systems of governance, metric-based accountability, and uncertain leadership power. Perceptions of imposter syndrome shape leadership behaviours in complicated ways, including positively influencing self-monitoring, emotional labour, risk-aversion behaviours, and reflexive behaviours that also cultivate self-reflection, self-consciousness, or self-humility. Psychological safe work environments with collegiate support were shown to soften the experience of leadership self-doubt among university leaders with imposter syndrome. This research moves the literature on leadership forward by shifting the understanding of the imposter syndrome from a personal psychological issue to a structurally created phenomenon. This research offers new empirical evidence on senior academic leadership in the context of UK business schools, emphasizing the importance of dealing with the institutional factors that enable the issue of self-doubt in leadership.
| 4 |
Author(s):
Nicholas Andoh (Ph.D.), John Lampogo (Ph.D.), Opare Darko Irene Lawrencia, Danso Dennis Osei (Ph.D.), Paul Quaisie Eleke-Aboagye (Ph.D.).
Page No : 48-66
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Unlocking Employee Creativity in Hospitality: How Empowering Leadership Builds Psychological Empowerment and Job Engagement in an Emerging Economy Context a PLS-SEM Analysis of Sequential Mediation Mechanisms in Ghana’s Hotel Industry.
Abstract
Purpose – This study examines how empowering leadership enhances employee creativity through psychological empowerment and job engagement in Ghana’s hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey data from 423 hospitality employees were analyzed using PLS-SEM, testing direct, parallel, and sequential mediation effects with 5,000 bootstrap resamples.
Findings – Empowering leadership significantly predicted creativity, psychological empowerment, and job engagement. Psychological empowerment and job engagement both independently and sequentially mediated the leadership–creativity relationship. The model explained 67.8% of the variance in employee creativity, with most effects operating indirectly through empowerment and engagement.
Practical implications – Hospitality organisations should strengthen empowering leadership, foster psychologically empowering work environments, and design engaging jobs to stimulate employee creativity.
Originality/value – The study advances leadership and creativity research by uncovering sequential mediation mechanisms in an under-researched African hospitality context.
| 5 |
Author(s):
Liboum Mbonayem, Jean Martial Bell (Ph.D.).
Page No : 67-114
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Monitoring and Evaluation Frameworks as Project Management Tools : A Documentary Comparison of Donor Standards Relevant to Central African Projects.
Abstract
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems are essential for management, accountability, and learning in development projects. In the forest environment sector in Central Africa, they are strongly shaped by donor norms and international standards, raising challenges of coherence, harmonization, and governance. This study offers a comparative analysis of the M&E frameworks and mechanisms used by major donors operating in the region.
Drawing on a structured literature review following the principles of the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, it examines donor guidelines, evaluation manuals, and standards (OECD DAC, UNEG, European Commission).
The findings highlight strong convergence in results frameworks, indicators, and reporting requirements, but also notable differences in procedures, flexibility, and accountability demands. These variations affect planning, stakeholder coordination, accountability practices, and adaptive management. The study provides operational guidance to project managers, implementing agencies, and donors to strengthen the effectiveness and coherence of M&E systems in complex institutional contexts.
| 6 |
Author(s):
Ifekanandu Chukwudi Christian (Ph.D.).
Page No : 115-129
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Logistics Outsourcing Practices and Supply Chain Performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms in Rivers State, Nigeria.
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between logistics outsourcing practices and supply chain performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. This study adopted the correlational research design and the positivism research philosophy. The study population consisted of 30 registered food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. The study adopted the census sampling technique where all the members of the population were studied. The sampling unit consisted of branch managers, logistics managers and operational managers of the 30 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. A sample size of 90 managers was drawn from the 30 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State on the ratio of 3 managers per company. A structured questionnaire was used as the main instrument for data collection. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics while the hypotheses were tested using the Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rho). The SPSS version 26 was utilized for data processing and computation. The findings revealed that transportation outsourcing has a significant relationship with on-time delivery of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. The study also found a significant relationship between transportation outsourcing and cost reduction of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. Warehousing outsourcing was also found to have a significant relationship with on-time delivery of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State The study equally discovered a significant relationship between warehousing outsourcing and cost reduction of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State. Based on these findings, it is concluded that logistics outsourcing practices (transportation and warehousing outsourcing) has a significant impact on supply chain performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Rivers State, Nigeria.
| 7 |
Author(s):
Abdulsalam Dauda, Vincent Olawale Bamidele.
Page No : 130-149
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Patterns and Prevalence of Financial Management Practices among SMEs in North-West Nigeria: A Descriptive Study.
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are vital to economic growth and employment in Nigeria, yet their survival and growth rates remain low, often due to suboptimal financial management practices. This descriptive study examines the patterns and prevalence of financial planning, record-keeping, and financial decision-making practices among SMEs in North-West Nigeria, a region characterized by high SME density but also significant economic and infrastructural challenges. Using a multi-stage sampling technique, data were collected from 322 SME owners and managers across Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and frequency distributions, were used to profile the extent and consistency of each financial management practice. The results reveal moderate to high engagement in financial management, with the highest prevalence observed in financial decision-making (M = 3.95, SD = 0.43), followed by record-keeping (M = 3.78, SD = 0.39), and financial planning (M = 3.64, SD = 0.68). Record-keeping was the most consistently applied practice, while financial planning showed the greatest variability, particularly in goal-setting and budgeting. Strategic financing decisions were less prevalent than operational decisions, indicating a gap in long-term financial strategy. The findings highlight the need for targeted training, digitalization of records, and improved access to diverse financing options. This study fills a critical regional gap in the literature and provides actionable insights for policymakers, SME owners, and development partners seeking to strengthen financial management capacity and foster SME growth in North-West Nigeria.
| 8 |
Author(s):
Alanood Almaghlouth.
Page No : 150-163
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Impact of the Qualified Digital Content on Digital Experience Optimization and Conversion.
Abstract
This research explores the critical role of qualified digital content in enhancing user experience and increasing conversion rates. In the digital age, content quality is paramount in attracting and retaining users. However, the relationship between content quality, user experience, and conversion rates remains underexplored, in the context from business to business view. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining how high-quality digital content can improve user experience, leading to higher conversion rates. The methodology analyses the outcomes of the Digital Government Authority (DGA) in Saudi Arabia which implemented a project to enhance the digital content in their website. A qualitative approach was applied, using a statical paired T-test. Preliminary findings suggest a strong correlation between the quality of digital content, experience useability, credibility and usefulness, and conversion rates. This research recommends organizations, especially in the governmental sector, invest in creating and maintaining high-quality digital content as a strategic approach to enhance user experience and boost conversions.
| 9 |
Author(s):
Mohamed Bangura.
Page No : 164-176
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Socio-Cultural Synthesis and Jobholder Allegiance in Sierra Leone Manufacturing Agencies: A Retrospect of Treatise.
Abstract
This sociological article reviews the interaction between social incorporation as a novel theory of quality of employment existence and jobholder dedication in Freetown, commitment in Sierra Leone. Embracing a literary digest technique. Social data collected from three hundred and twenty respondents interviewed implies that social incorporation is a powerful predictor of jobholder allegiance such as sentimental, duration and social normative allegiance. Consequently, the researcher propose that manufacturing agencies should embrace policies that will accustom their jobholders and incorporate them to the culture of the organization intended to prevent job hostility, and that systems should be established in a manner that give jobholders entitlement and access to social ranks and status in critical establishment of the organization, as this will increase the allegiance status of the jobholders.
| 10 |
Author(s):
Olugbami Mary Oluwatoyin, Ibrahim Ali Aliyu.
Page No : 177-195
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Transformational Leadership and Employee Commitment: The Mediating Role of Organizational Culture in the Hospitality Industry in Abuja.
Abstract
Transformational leadership has long been recognized as a key driver of employee commitment, capable of shaping employee attitudes and strengthening commitment. Yet, it remains unclear how transformational leadership influences employee commitment in Abuja hospitality industry, both directly and indirectly through organizational culture. The study population consists of 1,510 employees drawn from ten (10) selected hotels within the Federal Capital Territory. Using Taro Yamane (1967) formular, a sample of 316 employees was determined, data were collected through structured questionnaire with transformational leadership measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), and analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach was employed via SmartPLS software for Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables, the findings reveal that transformational leadership has a positive and statistically significant relationship with employee commitment, with a standardized path coefficient of β = 0.41. The mediation analysis reveals that transformational leadership has a significant indirect effect on employee commitment through organizational culture, with a standardized coefficient of β = 0.482. The study therefore concluded that transformational leadership is a critical driver of employee commitment and organizational culture plays a central role in translating leadership behaviour into sustained employee commitment.
