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The purpose of this study was to examine students’ innovation capability in virtual team projects from the COVID-19 pandemic era.

The researchers conducted an empirical study and the data were collected from a total of 308 participants engaging in virtual team projects. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the relationship of the conceptual framework.

The findings showed that virtual team culture positively influenced propensity to innovate. Also, knowledge management and communication influenced propensity to innovate through the mediation of support for innovation.

Developing a strategy for propensity to innovate in any organization demands that project team members should be able to seamlessly communicate. Developing knowledge management, communication and support for innovation strategy in a virtual team may prepare an organization for permanently different post-pandemic events and the future turbulent business environment.

This study highlights innovation capability for the propensity to innovate, a topic that is not widely researched, especially in the context of virtual teams.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of human resource management (HRM) practices on the level of innovativeness observed within the service sector of Ghana, taking into account the potential mediating role of innovation capability.

The research used a quantitative methodology to fulfill the study's objectives. A Web-based survey questionnaire was designed to gather data from a sample of 168 respondents, selected through a convenient sampling technique. The proposed model was tested using the Process Macro Model 4 by Hayes in SPSS version 26.

The study’s outcomes indicate that there is no statistically significant correlation between HRM practices and firm innovativeness. However, the mediating role of innovation capability was observed to fully account for the relationship between human HRM practices and firm innovativeness. Additionally, a positive and significant association was identified between HRM practices and innovation capability, as well as between innovation capability and firm innovativeness.

It is important to note that the findings are limited to the perspective of employees within the service sector of Ghana. Therefore, future research could explore the manufacturing and/or extraction industries in Ghana to obtain a more comprehensive understanding. Furthermore, a larger sample size could be considered in future studies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study presents a novel examination of the hypothesized model within the Ghanaian context, providing valuable insights into the relationship between HRM practices, innovation capability and firm innovativeness.

This study aims to investigate the effects of several individual elements vis-a-vis the environment that affects students’ choice of a career. The study assesses the effects of cognitive-person factors on the career decision-making of tertiary students and analyses how chance events moderate these relationships.

The study used the survey research design to gather data from 302 final-year tertiary students from four (4) Faculties and sixteen (16) academic departments of a Technical University in Ghana. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires and analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The study reveals that students’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations are two cognitive-person factors that positively and significantly influence students’ career choices. However, chance events of tertiary students were found not to moderate the relationship between cognitive-person factors and students’ career choices.

Understanding how several cognitive-person factors influence the career choice of students through the lens of social career-cognitive theory could enable researchers to advance knowledge in the career choice process. Counselors and guidance coordinators need to motivate and encourage career/job exploration and development by identifying sources of psychosocial support available to students.

This study identifies the cognitive person factors that drive career decisions and provides one of the initial attempts to investigate how chance events moderate students’ cognitive-person career choice relationship.

The purpose of the study is to examine performance differentials in the hospitality industry through organisational culture.

The study adopted the positivism philosophy, thus relying on the quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire was deployed to gather data from 162 sampled respondents.

The study finds that mission, involvement and consistency as dimensions of organisational culture have a significant positive relationship with performance of the hotels. However, adaptability as an organisational culture dimension has no statistically significant relation with performance.

Through this study, key stakeholders in the hospitality industry will understand that deploying organisational culture in businesses is important in enhancing performance of businesses.

The study is underpinned by the organisational excellence theory, and its main contribution to the literature is by proposing that when firms deploy excellent cultural attributes, their performance will improve.

This study aims to examine the moderating effect of supportive organisational culture (SOC) on the differential impact of work-based learning (WBL) on employee agility, ambidexterity and proactive goal generation.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online structured questionnaire with 443 respondents in Ghana. The data set was analysed using structural equation modelling.

The outcomes of the study show that WBL has a significant and positive impact on employee agility, ambidexterity and proactive goal generation. However, the effect on employee agility was higher, followed by proactive goal generation and employee ambidexterity. The moderating effect of SOC on H1, H3a and H3b was found to have a decreasing effect.

This study augments knowledge by examining how different approaches to WBL collectively affect proactive goal generation, agility and ambidexterity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the differential impact of summative WBL approaches on employee outcomes.

This study explores the role of external pressure, engagement capability (ENC), alliance capability (ACA), environmental sustainability commitment (ESC), and circular supply chain capability in circular economy performance.

Through a cross-sectional survey and data collected from 124 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, this study employs partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the proposed model.

The findings reveal the following; first, external pressure has a significant impact on ESC. Second, ESC positively impacts ACA, ENC and circular supply chain capability. Third, ACA and ENC mediate the relationship between ESC and circular supply chain capability. Finally, circular supply chain capability has a significant impact on circular economy performance.

The originality of this study lies in testing a novel model that confirms that SMEs respond to external pressure by enhancing ESC as well as develop engagement and alliance capabilities to improve circular supply chain capability to achieve circular economy performance goals.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the nonlinear relationship between electricity consumption (EC) and electricity transmission losses (ETL) in Ghana. Also, we examined how ETL moderate the effect of EC on economic growth in Ghana from 1980 to 2021.

We used timeseries data from 1980 to 2021 within an autoregressive distributed lag framework to analyze the links among ETL, EC and economic growth in Ghana.

Findings show the existence of an asymmetric long-run relationship between EC and ETL. Also, the negative effects of ETL on EC are bigger in the long run. In addition, ETL and EC combine to reduce economic growth, in the long run, providing evidence for the energy-led growth theory in Ghana. Population and inflation were also found to have a significant effect on economic growth in Ghana.

We examined the nonlinear nexus of EC and ETL, which extant studies have ignored in discussing the link between EC and economic growth. Again, we showed that ETL reduces EC causing a reduction in economic growth.

This study aims to develop adoption barriers model that captures location factors and non-transparency in government support programs, and attempted to unveil why certain locations offer more adoption opportunities than others.

The opinions of small and medium enterprise (SME) owners/managers in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria were purposefully sampled. Two major cities (the commercial nerve center and a state capital) in each zone were chosen for the study and the data were analyzed using multiple regressions.

Irrespective of the need to enhance operations through real-time knowledge sharing and network externalities; evidence from the study shows that SMEs in Nigeria are yet to exploit the full potentials of e-commerce solutions. This is evidenced by non-transparency in government support programs, location factors, weak finances, firm’s size, confidentiality of information, infrastructural inadequacy and lack openness and business integration.

Sampling the opinions of SMEs in Nigeria limits the power of generalization. Therefore, extended data and measures are required to replicate the study to improve external validity and reliability, and possibly build theories. Also, some errors seem unavoidable in the course of converting data just as all the measures used appear subjective and prone to common method bias.

Though e-commerce adoption draw-backs enjoy huge literature, location factors and non-transparency in government support programs as critical inhibitors seem least studied. Therefore, this paper complements literature, stimulates future research and advises policymakers on promulgating, and real implementation of, appropriate policy frameworks to create information, communication, technology (ICT)-friendly environment within which e-commerce diffuse amongst SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the stability of demand for money in the proposed Southern African Monetary Union (SAMU).

The study uses annual data for the period 1981 to 2015 from ten countries making-up the Southern African Development Community. A standard function of demand for money is designed and estimated using a bounds testing approach to co-integration and error-correction modeling.

The findings show divergence across countries in the stability of money. This divergence is articulated in terms of differences in cointegration, CUSUM (cumulative sum) and CUSUMSQ (CUSUM squared) tests, short run and long-term determinants and error correction in event of a shock. Policy implications are discussed in the light of the convergence needed for the feasibility of the proposed SAMU.

This study extends the debate in scholarly and policy circles on the feasibility of proposed African monetary unions.

Supply Chain Management, Technology, Procurement, Supply Chain Finance

The key learning objectives are as follows: to gain critical insights into e-commerce supply chains of fashion garments; understand the importance of digitization to manage the risks due to supply chain disruptions; evaluate the role of digitization to improve supply chain performance; understand the importance of supply chain finance in maintaining a healthy buyer–supplier relationship; and appreciate the role of supply chain digitization to transform a regional supply chain into a global supply chain.

This case highlights the challenges faced by fashion garments industry due to fragmented nature of their supply chains, where the manufacturing base was in the east and most of the consumers in the west. Digitization can create a bridge to integrate these supply chains to drive out their inefficiency, fragility and vulnerability to disruptions.

The case could be discussed in 90 min of an Operations Management, Supply Chain Management and Technology Management class at MBA or Executive MBA level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.