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Modeling Macroeconomic Variables Using Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression: The Case of Ghana’s Economy
Eyiah-bediako Francis,
Bosson-amedenu Senyefia,
Otoo Joseph
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
1-9
Received:
25 December 2019
Accepted:
4 January 2020
Published:
13 January 2020
Abstract: The paper sought to model the relationship between GDP and 29 macroeconomic variables in Ghana using the Principal Component Analysis and multiple linear regression. Economic data with 583 data points were collected from January, 1990 through to May, 2018. The KMO statistics was 0.750 and the Bartlett's Test of sphericity statistic obtained for the data was 24807.231 of p-value 0.000. The variables were found to be powerfully correlated with reference to the correlation matrix. Principal Component Analysis was performed to reduce the factors (using orthogonal varimax technique to produce uncorrelated factor structures to help allocate appropriately loadings to factors) to a minimum without compromising the variability of the original data. Seven factors were retained (explained 74% of the overall variation) after using multiple extraction approaches of Scree test, Kaiser Criterion and parallel analysis to avoid over- and under-extraction errors. Regression analysis was performed where component scores were used to develop a relationship with the uncorrelated components and GDP. The component 2 (Closed Economy without Government Activities) explicitly contained seven indicators consisting of consumer price index-Food, Consumer price index-Nonfood, Consumer Price index (overall), Monetary Policy Rate, 91-Days Treasury Bill, 182-Days Treasury Bill, crude oil, and Core Inflation (Adjusted for Energy and Utility). Component 2 was significant and positively related with GDP (B = 0.6, p<0.01). Again, Component 5 (Closed Economy with Government activities) explicitly contained two indicators such as Tax-Equivalent Rate on 28-Days Treasury Bill and Tax-Equivalent Rate on 56-DaysTreasury Bill. Component 5 had a positive and significant impact on GDP (B = 0.386, p<0.01). However, component 4 (monetary economy; B = -3.927, p<0.01), component 6 (B = -0.577, p<0.01) and component 7 (B = -0.256, p<0.01) were negatively related with GDP but were statistically significant. The R-squared value of 0.304 shows that the regression model explains about 30% of the variance. It was recommended for future researchers to consider increasing the number of macroeconomic variables to increase the predictive power of the model.
Abstract: The paper sought to model the relationship between GDP and 29 macroeconomic variables in Ghana using the Principal Component Analysis and multiple linear regression. Economic data with 583 data points were collected from January, 1990 through to May, 2018. The KMO statistics was 0.750 and the Bartlett's Test of sphericity statistic obtained for the...
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Assessment of Impact of Fuel Subsidy Removal on Socio-economic Characteristics: A Survey of Households in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
Abdulkadir Baba Mohammed,
Funmilola Fausat Ahmed,
Abdulkabir Niran Adedeji
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
10-20
Received:
27 December 2019
Accepted:
27 January 2020
Published:
11 February 2020
Abstract: Subsidy has been one of the means of trickling economic effect down to reach majority adopted by many countries, including Nigeria. Recently, in Nigeria, subsidy on petroleum was removed which has led to a great macro-based debates. However, a study on such effect on individual might better provide important information on the impact of the policy, especially the impact on wellbeing of the poor. Thus, this study assessed the impact of fuel subsidy removal on the socioeconomic characteristics of households in Maiduguri metropolis, Borno state, Nigeria. Survey data were collected and analysed using descriptive statistics and simple regression method. Result on socioeconomic characteristics revealed that about 70.4% of respondents in the study area were male, about 61.3% were married, 41.5% fall within the ages of 30-39 years. Besides, 50.7% had tertiary education, 52.1% were civil servants and about 34.5% have income level ranges between ₦40,000 - ₦59,999 monthly. It was also revealed that 56.3% of the respondents had 8 – 10 family members, while 57.7% of them have 1 – 5 dependents. On the other, the inferential statistic result revealed that the households’ characteristics variable were positively related to fuel subsidy removal, significant at 1%, except households’ age. For sustainability, attention should be focused on workers’ wages and salaries increase, family planning and transportation costs reduction as these may alleviate hardship of fuel subsidy removal on low-income earners in Nigeria.
Abstract: Subsidy has been one of the means of trickling economic effect down to reach majority adopted by many countries, including Nigeria. Recently, in Nigeria, subsidy on petroleum was removed which has led to a great macro-based debates. However, a study on such effect on individual might better provide important information on the impact of the policy,...
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Research of Financial Support for Agricultural Development
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
21-25
Received:
15 January 2020
Accepted:
27 January 2020
Published:
12 February 2020
Abstract: Agriculture is an important industry that affects the national economy and people's livelihood. It is also an important guarantee for supporting the development of industry and service industry, and plays a fundamental role in the entire national economy. With the development of science and technology since the new century, the various policies issued by the state to benefit farmers and strong farmers have played a role in promoting agricultural development and increasing farmers' income. However, with the development of the economy, the improvement of people's living standards and the improvement of environmental awareness, the focus of agricultural development has begun to change, focusing on the adjustment of agricultural structure, ecological recycling agriculture and agricultural tourism. The development of agriculture is inseparable from the strong support of finance. In particular, rural financial institutions should make serving agriculture their starting point and foothold, and allocate more resources to the key areas and weak areas of agriculture in order to offer good service to agricultural development and make sustainable development for themselves. Therefore, this paper starts from the current key areas of agricultural development, explores the path of agricultural financial service, and provides financial support for key areas of agricultural development, with a view to assisting agricultural development.
Abstract: Agriculture is an important industry that affects the national economy and people's livelihood. It is also an important guarantee for supporting the development of industry and service industry, and plays a fundamental role in the entire national economy. With the development of science and technology since the new century, the various policies iss...
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Role of Stakeholder Management on Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Commercial Banks in Nairobi City County, Kenya
Jane Ontita,
Godfrey Muigai Kinyua
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
26-35
Received:
9 July 2019
Accepted:
10 September 2019
Published:
26 February 2020
Abstract: The survival and success of any business enterprise in the globalized economies is highly linked to access of valuable resources that are predominantly in the hands of stakeholders. The highly volatile business environment characterized with ever changing behavior of stakeholders makes it critical for organization to constantly pursue practices with potential for performance improvement. It has been observed that the changes in the Kenyan banking sector have resulted in an assortment of responses that has triggered fluctuations in crucial performance indicators amongst the industry prayers. This study therefore sought to examine the role of stakeholders’ management on performance of Commercial banks in Nairobi City County. The study was anchored on Resource Based View and stakeholders’ theory. Descriptive research design was utilized for this study. The target population was commercial banks in Nairobi City County. The unit of observations was employees in the head offices of commercial banks in Nairobi while the unit of analysis was commercial banks in Nairobi. Proportionate stratified random sampling method was used to select 89 management staff of Commercial Banks in Nairobi City County to form the sample. Structured questionnaires were used for purposes of data collection. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics included the frequencies, sample mean and sample standard deviation. The inferential statistics utilized multiple linear regression analysis. The study found out that stakeholder management affected performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya. Management of Commercial banks should formulate policies that provide guidance on execution of activities relating to stakeholder management. The study also recommends the management team should make deliberate effort to involve all stakeholders in the entire process of strategic management.
Abstract: The survival and success of any business enterprise in the globalized economies is highly linked to access of valuable resources that are predominantly in the hands of stakeholders. The highly volatile business environment characterized with ever changing behavior of stakeholders makes it critical for organization to constantly pursue practices wit...
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Top Management Team Psychological Characteristics and Organizational Performance
Joseph Odongo Oketch,
James Mutuku Kilika,
Godfrey Muigai Kinyua
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
36-43
Received:
7 February 2020
Accepted:
20 February 2020
Published:
2 March 2020
Abstract: Previous strategic management researchers have argued that TMT psychological characteristics have the potential to significantly affect organizational performance. Some of these previous scholars have argued that inquiry into the influence of TMT psychological characteristics on organizational performance should start by examining the process by which traits affect behaviours of the TMTs and hence the outcomes of their actions. The specific objective of the study was to examine the effect of top management team psychological characteristics on organizational performance of the independent regulatory agencies in Kenya. To achieve this objective, the study adopted descriptive cross-sectional research design. The target population of the study was the twenty-three independent regulatory agencies currently existing in Kenya. Due to the uniqueness of each independent regulatory agency and the distinct roles played by each top management team member in their organization, the study adopted a census survey of all the top management team members in all the twenty-three independent regulatory agencies in order to capture the required information. Primary data was gathered using structured questionnaire administered through drop and pick later method. Descriptive statistics was then used to summarize the survey data into percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviations. Inferential statistics employed regression analysis to test hypothesis and draw conclusions. The findings of the study showed that top management team psychological characteristics significantly affect organizational performance. The study recommends that the recruitment process of the TMTs should include psychological characteristics as requirements apart from the normal demographic characteristic requirements mostly in use.
Abstract: Previous strategic management researchers have argued that TMT psychological characteristics have the potential to significantly affect organizational performance. Some of these previous scholars have argued that inquiry into the influence of TMT psychological characteristics on organizational performance should start by examining the process by wh...
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Impact of Social Media in Coffee Retail Business
Ersoy Ayse Begum,
Keceli Yavuz,
Kwiatek Piotr
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2020
Pages:
44-55
Received:
18 June 2019
Accepted:
7 February 2020
Published:
17 March 2020
Abstract: Retail coffee business has been growing fast in the Middle East countries particularly during the last decade. High penetration rates of mobile communication devices such as smart phones and high usage of Social Media make the coffee retails in the region with Fee WIFI access, very attractive off-line and on-line social venues. The growth of internet in Arab countries is continuous and offers many e-commerce opportunities for retail businesses to penetrate, grow and achieve loyalty. This article aims to test how coffee retail businesses can optimize social media usage in order to increase their customer base, reach higher level of customer satisfaction and hence increase rate of customer loyalty in the long run. The literature review focuses on social media engagement and use of businesses, small businesses and retailers in the world and in the middle-east, coffee shop industry and coffee shop service expectations of customers. The primary data collection is targeted to test the constructs identified in the secondary data for coffee retail business as well as social media engagement of subjects who frequent coffee shops. Proposed conceptual model suggests that social media engagement of coffee shops customers through retailers’ social media and internet presence will lead to higher satisfaction about the shop and consequently transform them into loyal customers. Therefore, finally the model suggests that coffee shops should continuously seek to optimize their social media enabled marketing activities in order to achieve their business objectives.
Abstract: Retail coffee business has been growing fast in the Middle East countries particularly during the last decade. High penetration rates of mobile communication devices such as smart phones and high usage of Social Media make the coffee retails in the region with Fee WIFI access, very attractive off-line and on-line social venues. The growth of intern...
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