African Journal of Management Research

Analysis of human and financial resources as drivers of project success in local governments in Tanzania

Amani Patrick Mbogella — 2025-02-04

This paper aims to present information regarding the drivers of project success in Local Government Authorities of Tanzania. Key interviews and desk reviews were used and content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Findings show that Projects in local government still suffer from a shortage of qualified manpower, high turnover of human capital, and weak incentives for staff motivation who are engaged in the project lifecycle. On the other hand, delay of funds, limited funds, fund deviation, and fund misuse have been reported to impact negatively the success of projects in local governments. Thus, this calls for the government to devise robust measures to ensure that both financial resources and human capital are converted to the best level as input for project success.

Women inclusion in the context of multilateral trade agreements: The Nigerian experience

Oluwatosin Juliana Oyetayo — 2025-02-04

In 2017, Nigeria, a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), signed the agreement on ‘Gender and Trade’. The main focus of the agreement is ‘inclusive trade and gender equality’. Similarly in July 2019, Nigeria signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). The main objective is to remove tariffs on 90% of goods, thereby encouraging more intra-regional trade across the African continent. In 2020, a World Bank report on women and trade argues for the positive and negative effects of trade, trade agreements, and trade policies on women. Women in developing countries including Nigeria are said to make up 33% of the total workforce of exporting firms. Based on the World Bank report, there are concerns that AfCFTA may facilitate competitive pressures on labor and capital markets which tend to discriminate against women due to lack of capacity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the direct and indirect effects of exports on women’s social inclusion in the period before and after 2017. Utilizing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) with a policy shift period of 2017, in the short-run, results reveal that, increases in all exports, majorly, have positive and significant indirect effects on women inclusion that is more prominent in female primary school enrollment rate. In the long run, increases in manufactured and agriculture exports had positive and significant indirect effects on women inclusion through female primary school enrollment. The study recommended among others the targeting of parents or guardians of children in primary schools for some trade incentives or employment in the export sector. Women’s participation in agriculture should be encouraged through access to high quality inputs and provision of gender-focused training in their application. Revamping of the food export sector and improved investment in human capital development; mainly health and education with a special focus on the female folk in order to enhance women inclusion are advocated.

UN SDG 3.1: International partners and Ghana’s interventions on maternal healthcare

Daniel Dramani Kipo-Sunyehzi — 2025-02-04

The main aim of the study is to analyze the role of global partners and the government of Ghana’s efforts toward achieving UN SDG 3.1. It specifically examines the effectiveness or otherwise of policy interventions of Ghana toward achieving SDG 3.1 by 2030. The health of mothers is crucial as states are taking appropriate measures and interventions to reduce maternal death to the barest minimum globally, in Africa, and Ghana. Maternal mortality is a global public health issue that has been at the center of global health. States' efforts toward achieving the target to reduce maternal mortality as part of the MDGs were not reached or achieved. Thus, the UN SDGs were adopted in 2015. SDGs particularly Goal 3.1 calls for interventions by governments to reduce maternal mortality globally. A qualitative design was used in this study in which data was obtained largely from in-depth interviews, a few FGDs and official document reviews. The researchers also utilized secondary data sources largely from books, journal articles, and internet sources. The data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings from Ghana revealed maternal mortality is largely due to obstetric causes, as such Ghana adopted rigorous interventions to address the problem. Some maternal health intervention gaps or some challenges were found which impeded the quality and access to maternal health services in Ghana. It recommends an improvement in mothers’ access to emergency obstetric care and intensive education on maternal healthcare among others towards achieving SDG 3 by 2030.

Examining the role of non-traditional actors in the healthcare supply chain network

Pasty Asamoah — 2025-02-04

The traditional actors have been the focus of healthcare supply chain network studies over the years. Authors have used linear perspectives to examine the challenges and proposed solutions to them. The non-traditional actors in the HSC network including the regulators, and information technology (IT) service providers have been left unexplored. We argue that the non-traditional HSC actors contribute to the successes and failures in the HSC network, and that there is the need to examine how the non-traditional actors influence the HSC network. We leverage the actor network theory and the snowball sampling technique to identify and select sixteen (16) actors and interviewed forty-three (43) individuals to examine how the non-traditional actors contribute to the successes and failures of the HSC network. We found that, both the regulators, insurance firms and IT service providers influence the HSC network. We discussed the findings, contributions of the study to knowledge and practice, and provided avenues for extending this study.

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Religiosity, gender, personality type A, and trait professional skepticism: Perspective of accounting students in Ghana

Edem Emerald Sabah Welbeck — 2025-02-04

Professional skepticism of auditors has been described as an essential skill required to detect material misstatements and to evaluate the evidence obtained. This study investigates the professional skepticism traits of undergraduate accounting students described as potential auditors and analyses the relationship between religiosity, personality type A, gender and trait professional skepticism from the perspective of these students. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 225 undergraduate accounting students enrolled at the University of Ghana Business School, who have taken one auditing course. The study's hypothesized associations were tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The study shows that accounting students are exhibiting the search for knowledge and self-confidence dimensions of trait professional skepticism rather than action-oriented dimensions. On the factors that influence the professional skepticism of these potential auditors, the study finds a positive and significant relationship between achievement striving, a personality type and trait professional skepticism, while impatience irritability personality type showed a negative but significant relationship. The study failed to find support for a direct relationship between religiosity and professional skepticism, although the relationship is positive, but reports a positive and significant indirect relationship between religiosity and professional skepticism.

The impact of financial management decisions on firm value: The moderating role of profitability

Erick Lusekelo Mwambuli — 2025-02-04

The study was conducted to determine the moderating role of profitability on the influence of financial management decisions on firm value at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE). The study was guided by four specific objectives derived from two independent variables named financing decision and dividend decision, while considering profitability as the moderating variable. The study was guided by the positivism philosophy, employed a causal inference research design, and adopted a deductive approach. The study utilized quantitative secondary data spanning a ten (10) year period from 2013 to 2022, sourced from the DSE database and annual reports of specifically chosen companies. The study population comprised twenty-eight (28) listed companies, and by a sample of ten (10) non-financial firms listed at DSE was selected through the purposive sampling technique. Data analysis was carried out using E-View software version 12, and a fixed effect panel regression model was employed for the study. The study found financing decision do not influence firm’s value while dividend decision has a positive influence on firm’s value. Furthermore, Profitability has a positive moderating role on both the influence of financing decisions and dividend decisions on firm value. Based on the findings, it is recommended that listed companies to enhance their dividend policies and prioritize profitability strategies to strengthen shareholder value, while capital market authorities should encourage prudent dividend policies and promote transparency.

Do marketing expenses moderate the relationship between working capital management and profitability?

Matiko Dickson Kisyeri — 2025-02-04

This study examines the impact of working capital management (specifically working capital financing policy, working capital investing policy (WCIP), and marketing expenses (MKTEXP)) on the profitability of listed manufacturing companies (LMCs) in Tanzania using 84 observations from the 14 financial statements of the six LMCs from 2005 to 2018. A panel data regression analysis was conducted utilizing these variables, revealing a significant collective influence on profitability. However, only the constant term and working capital financing policy (WCFP) have a strong statistically significant relationship with profitability. The marketing expenses used as another predictor variable improves the collective relationship between the policies and profitability but as a moderating variable diminishes the relationship between explanatory variables and LMCs’ profitability. Considering the findings, this research recommends that, the companies should adopt a comprehensive approach to decision-making that takes into account the interplay between working capital financing and investing policies, alongside marketing strategies to improve profitability.

Accounting for disasters: A cultural perspective

Cletus Agyenim-Boateng — 2025-02-04

This paper examines the ways and manner in which disaster management stakeholders are involved and engaged in the rendering of disaster accountability in Ghana. Particularly, the paper attempts to explain the limited involvement and participation of sections of the public in the disaster accountability process by considering the influence of culture on disaster accountability and stakeholder involvement.

To achieve the objectives of the study we adopt a qualitative, single case study of the coordinating body responsible for managing disasters in Ghana: National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO). The study makes use of semi-structured face-to-face interviews and a review of publicly available documents in collecting data and adopts a largely inductive approach to data analysis.

The study finds that an all-inclusive approach is adopted in defining disaster management roles and responsibilities for which accountability may be demanded. However, the level of inclusiveness varies with the nature and characteristics of the social actors, particularly the community. We find that compared to urban communities, rural communities are more responsive to stakeholder involvement efforts and have a preference for felt accountability. The urban communities, conversely, tend to be less responsive and have a preference for upward accountability. There is, therefore, evidence of the co-existence of both upward and felt accountability.

We argue for a more adaptive approach to delivering disaster accountability that takes into account the cultural differences and accountability preferences of the stakeholder groups. We are, therefore, arguing for a fully adaptive accountability approach to adequately manage the tensions and contradictions present in the co-existence of upward and felt accountability.