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Institutional Repository of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

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Eradicating Poverty in the Age of Sustainable Development: The Basic Means Approach
(KNUST, 2026-02) Osei-Wusu, Prince Adjei; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4033-5687
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Problèmes de traduction le cas des étudiants à Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi
(KNUST, 2019-10) Azasu, Cornelius Yaw
The focus of this work was to take an inventory of translation problems through an evaluation of translation skills of undergraduate students learning French at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. Basically, the underlying hypotheses stem from the following: firstly, the translator's translation of an utterance is dependent on relevant choices of information made in the context; secondly, when the translator translates by taking into account only lexical information, the result is literal translation if the meaning of the utterance is left out; thirdly, translation is a hypothetical process where comprehension is important. A model of skills grouped into six sub-skills skills and abilities. subject learnt. was used. These sub-skills constituted the know-how, the body of knowledge, In addition, each touches on the main areas that the translator should master in his work. It has to do with knowledge universally acquired and the Two questionnaires with forty-one variables were coded and entries made into the statistical package for Social Sciences, SPSS 20.0 Then, frequency distribution tables were generated according to levels of study for two consecutive academic years, i.e. the first semester of both the 2015/2016 and the 2016/2017 academic years. Analyses from our findings have enabled us to validate all our hypotheses. We have also discovered that regarding computer assisted translations, computers are not capable of making contextual inferences and this fact marks off the translator from the machine. After completing this study, we are of the opinion that there is still a very wide field in research to be covered in the didactics of translation.
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Attention-based drivers, operational resilience, and operational efficiency: model development and empirical analysis
(KNUST, 2019-09) Essuman, Dominic
Developing knowledge of drivers and outcomes of operational resilience is important for building resilient societies as societal welfare depends on the sustenance of business operations. However, such knowledge will not only be incomplete but also misleading if the operational resilience construct remains ambiguous. This study first develops the conceptual domain of operational resilience, and second combines insights from the attention-based view of the firm, the contingency theory, and the resource-based view to propose a model to investigate how attention to threats, uniquely, and in interaction with strategic mission rigidity and disruption orientation, affect operational resilience and how operational resilience affects operational efficiency. The proposed conceptual model is tested on survey data from 259 firms in a major Sub-Sahara African economy - Ghana. The measurement and the structural parts of the model are analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and three-stage least squares estimator respectively. Results support the arguments that operational resilience consists of two distinct theoretical components: disruption absorption and recoverability; and that attention to threats positively relates to operational resilience. Additional analysis, however, shows that there is a limit to the operational resilience benefit of attention to threats: extreme levels of attention to threats are associated with low levels of operational resilience. Further results support the arguments that strategic mission rigidity and disruption orientation negatively and positively moderate the attention to threats-operational resilience relationship respectively and that operational resilience is positively related to operational efficiency. The study demonstrates that contingency-based models can be useful for investigating the drivers and outcomes of operational resilience. A key practical implication from the study is that managers' ability to match emphasis on attention to threats with relevant attention structures may boost operational resilience, and accordingly operational efficiency.
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Regulatory institutional environment and operational performance: the roles of inter-firm governance mechanisms and structural network complexity
(KNUST, 2019-09) Anin, Emmanuel Kwabena
The regulatory institutional environment (hereafter regulatory environment) has important implications on a firm’s strategies and operations. Accordingly, several scholarly works, over the years, have focused on investigating its influences on business performance outcomes. Yet, how regulatory environment affects business performance outcomes is still not clear as the emerged evidences have been largely inconsistent and inconclusive. Of interest, knowledge of the conditional processes through which regulatory environment may enhance or undermine operational performance appears limited. Drawing on institutional theory and inter-firm governance literature, this study proposes and tests a model that suggests that regulatory environment drives operational performance, via inter-firm governance mechanisms, but that this indirect effect is conditional upon levels of structural network complexity. The study uses a sample of 331 firms from the service and manufacturing sectors in Ghana—a developing economy in sub-Saharan Africa—to test the proposed relationship. Largely supporting the theoretical predictions, the results from structural equation modelling show that under varying conditions of structural network complexity, different dimensions of governance mechanisms (formal control and social control) play differential mediating roles in the relationship between regulatory environment and firm operational performance. Specifically, the study finds that at low and high levels of structural network complexity, the positive indirect effects of regulatory environment on operational performance, via formal control and social control are strengthened respectively. The significance of the findings is that they provide a possible explanation for the divergent and sometimes conflicting results obtained on the direct regulatory environment-performance relationship. The theoretical implication is that different dimensions of governance mechanisms channel the impact of macro level regulatory conditions to firm level operational performance at different levels of structural network complexity. Practical implications for managers who make strategic and operational decisions about inter-organizational business networks are discussed.
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Electronic Procurement Assimilation, Procurement Process and Value for Money in the Public Sector: Investigating the Role of Influence Mechanisms and Absorptive Capacity
(KNUST, 2019-06) Manso Frimpong, John
The concept of value for money has become very critical in developing countries where states struggle to raise the needed revenue in-house and must augment with funds from international sources to finance public projects. Given the limited resources available to government, ensuring value for money in procurement is key to attain the optimum utilization of scarce budgetary resources. To realize the objective of value for money in public procurement, several interventions have been employed by developing nations including instilling professionalism in procurement actors, enacting procurement laws and implementing sustainable initiatives. One initiative is the use of electronic procurement systems in the public procurement process. These systems afford public sector organisations to respond rapidly to changes and to pursue technologically innovative strategies. The ability of public institutions to recognize the value of a new information, assimilate and apply it largely depends on the institutions’ prior knowledge, institutional pressures emanating from regulations that govern the practice of procurement in the public sector and government policies and initiatives. However, the relationships among institutional pressures, absorptive capacity, e-procurement assimilation and value for money have not been studied. The study first develops a survey instrument to measure value for money and examines how absorptive capacity and institutional pressures influence e-procurement assimilation and the tendering process to achieve value for money in public procurement. A total of 306 public entities were surveyed and partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the empirical data. Theoretical implications of the study include: 1) institutional pressures and absorptive capacity are key drivers of an efficient and effective tendering process, 2) institutional pressure have direct effect on institutional absorptive capacity, 3) the influence of institutional pressures on e-procurement assimilation is mediated by absorptive capacity, 3) the influence of e-procurement assimilation on value for money is mediated by an efficient tendering process and 4) industry type has marginal statistical significance on the influence of institutional pressures and absorptive capacity on e-procurement assimilation leading to value for money in public procurement. Practical implication of this study include: 1) a legal framework for e-procurement would compel actors to comply and use the application, 2) provision of tools needed to scan, identify and assimilate new information necessary for e-procurement application use would enhance efficient procurement process and 3) the instrument developed could be used to conduct value for money audit prior to the selection of appropriate service providers in public sector tendering.
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Exploring the forces behind adoption of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) Practices in an Emerging Economy
(KNUST, 2019-06) Nkrumah, K. Seth
The concept of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is becoming popular in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, empirical academic investigations into GSCM adoption in the region have been largely non-existent. The present study seeks to empirically explore the forces behind GSCM adoption in the region. Specifically, the study proposed that institutional pressures drive firms to develop GSCM capabilities, which enable them to adopt GSCM practices. Additionally, organizational culture is proposed as a moderator of the effect of GSCM Capabilities on GSCM Adoption. The study further proposed an additional dimension to institutional pressures, named Custodial Pressure, which captures the influence exerted by chiefs on organizations operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. Data was collected from a survey of 341 manufacturing and extractive firms operating in Ghana, out of which 146 usable responses were obtained, representing a response rate of 42.8%. The results of the data analysis revealed that firms surveyed had above average to high levels of GSCM adoption and GSCM capabilities. The measurement model was sound, including the proposed new Custodial Pressures construct. The findings indicated that Institutional Pressures positively and significantly impact GSCM Capabilities, with GSCM Capabilities positively impacting GSCM Adoption. GSCM Capabilities mediated the effect of Institutional Pressures on GSCM Adoption. Organizational culture was also found to moderate the effect of GSCM Capabilities on GSCM Adoption. Implications of the study include developing more relevant contextualization of institutional pressures driving GSCM and providing academic and practical guidelines to help drive successful GSCM adoption in Ghana and the sub-region.
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Studies on strategies to increase national health insurance scheme's enrollment and retention rates; case of Ashanti region, Ghana
(KNUST, 2017-04) Boaheng, Joseph Marfo
The discouraging rates of enrollment and retention on Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) due to non-affordability of the cost of paying premium under the existing payment mode are a persistent source of worry to administrators of the scheme and the nation at large. This study explores a proposed Mobile Phone Payment System (MPPS) that can allow premium payment on pro-rata basis. The study used both qualitative study and quantitative cross-sectional survey to solicit the required information from an ICT specialist, NHIS experts and about 1152 respondents living in Kumasi Metropolis, Atwima Nwabiaya and Sekyere Central Districts of Ghana. The study’s findings indicate that the feasible rate of cost of collecting premiums through the MPPS is between 0-22%. The empirical results have revealed that the insured individual is more than 2 times as likely to remain insured while the uninsured individual is less likely to remain uninsured when payment of NHIS premium is pro-rata. The study findings further reveal that there is a statistically significant relationship between a savings rate of 38% on cost of medical care for outpatient services when insured and enrollment or retention in NHIS (p<0.0001). This finding implies that about 93.98% of individuals who have never enrolled were likely to enroll on the NHIS while 99.53% of those who have ever enrolled were also likely to remain on the NHIS based on the knowledge of the savings rate on medical fee for out-patient services' when insured. It is recommended therefore that the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) consider this payment system that has the potential of increasing the enrollment and retention of uninsured and insured respectively in NHIS especially those in the informal sector.