ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2929-4992
Current Organisations
University of Queensland
,
University of New England
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-02-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2022
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 21-02-2023
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0265634
Abstract: The present study examined smallholder farmer profiles based on key psychological variables associated with farm business performance in the South African context. A s le of 471 beef farmers (mean age = 54.15 years SD = 14.46 men = 76%) and 426 poultry farmers (mean age = 47.28 years SD = 13.53 women = 54.5%) provided data on a range of measures assessing attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, personality characteristics, present and future time orientation, expected benefits of, and efficacy to perform the farm business tasks, and farm-related concerns. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct profile segments of smallholder beef and poultry farmers, respectively: Fatalists , Traditionalists , and Entrepreneurs . Our results suggested unique combinations of psychological characteristics in a s le of South African smallholder beef and poultry farmers and show a novel way of understanding enablers of, and barriers to, engaging in the farm business.
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Date: 2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 25-07-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-11-2022
Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
Date: 2016
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 15-06-2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-04-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-06-2021
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 08-01-2018
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of employment security on moonlighting in Ghana as a means to inform policy on enforcing issues of employment security. The paper followed the work of Shishko and Rostker (1976) by applying their approach to the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey data. The paper created an employment index from four variables and used the ordered logit as the main estimation technique. The findings indicated that, as a person with a single job becomes more secured in employment, the likelihood of moonlighting is decreased by 0.03, while for those with two and three or more jobs, the likelihood of moonlighting increased by 0.0297 and 0.0008, respectively, with increasing employment security. This implies that, workers can be made to stick to single jobs by providing them with higher levels of employment security, but once they take on two or more jobs, providing them with employment security will engender the tendency to increase their moonlighting behavior the more. With the current harsh economic conditions in the country and the urgent need for multiple jobs (moonlighting) as a risk coping mechanism, little has been done on the role employment security plays as a catalyst or otherwise. This paper fills the gap by employing a comprehensive index on employment security in the case of Ghana.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2021
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 24-02-2023
DOI: 10.3390/AGRICULTURE13030548
Abstract: Beef cattle and poultry are critically important livestock for improving household food security and alleviating poverty amongst smallholder farmers in South Africa. In this paper, our goal is to examine the relationships between farmer psychological profiles and farm business performance of commercially oriented beef cattle and poultry smallholder farmers in South Africa. We employ a multipronged interdisciplinary approach to test the theory of planned behaviour and its relationship to farm business performance. First, a behavioural science-informed survey instrument was employed to collect data from randomly selected farmer participants in two major beef and poultry projects undertaken by the authors. Second, a latent profile analysis was used to identify the psychological profiles of those farmers. Third, traditional and estimated indicators of farm business performance were obtained using descriptive and econometric-based approaches, including logistic regression and stochastic frontier analyses. The estimated farm business performance indicators were correlated with the psychological profiles of farmers. Results from the latent profile analysis showed three distinct profiles of beef and poultry farmers clearly differentiated by their ability to control and succeed in their farm business enterprises criteria included attitude, openness to ideas, personality, perceived capabilities, self-efficacy, time orientation, and farm- and personal-related concerns. Profile 1 (‘Fatalists’) scored themselves negatively on their ability to control and succeed in their business enterprises. The majority of farmers were generally neutral about their ability to control and succeed in their businesses (Profile 2, ‘Traditionalists’), while a relatively small group of farmers were confident of their ability to succeed (Profile 3, ‘Entrepreneurs’). We found evidence of significant differences in farm business performance amongst the different profiles of farmers. As far as we can determine, this is the only study to have assessed farm business performance based on a differentiation of farmers’ psychological profiles. Our results provide a framework to further investigate whether particular types of on-farm interventions and training methods can be customised for different segments of farmers based on their preferred learning styles.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-01-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 02-05-2022
Abstract: This study aims to examine the comparative link between mobile money (MoMo) and entrepreneurship in East Africa. Apart from analysing the data to examine locational, gender and age heterogeneities in the MoMo–entrepreneurship nexus, the authors explore the potential roles of digital savings and access to digital credit in serving as transmission channels in the link between MoMo adoption and entrepreneurship. This paper uses nationally representative s les from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda which were extracted from the fifth wave of the InterMedia Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) Program. The authors employ a suite of quasi-experimental microeconometric techniques—standard instrumental variable estimation, Lewbel two-stage least squares (2SLS) and propensity score matching. Overall, the authors’ preferred endogeneity-corrected result suggests that adopters of MoMo are 24.4 percentage points more likely to engage in entrepreneurship. This result is robust to alternative ways of conceptualising MoMo adoption and different methods used in resolving endogeneity. The association between MoMo and entrepreneurship is stronger in Kenya compared to Uganda and not significant in Tanzania. The significant positive association between MoMo and entrepreneurship is observed among women and rural residents and not for their male and urban-located counterparts. MoMo significantly enhances entrepreneurship among the youth and adults but not the elderly. Digital savings and access to digital credit serve as important channels through which FinTech adoption influences entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship-enhancing effect of MoMo adoption can be extended to discuss the possibility of employing MoMo as a policy tool to contribute to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) 8 which seeks to ensure full and productive employment and decent work for all. Incomes that accrue from entrepreneurial activities can also increase households' purchasing power to decrease poverty (SDG 1), reduce food insecurity (SDG 2) and provide resources needed to purchase clean and modern cooking and lighting fuels (SGD 7). The growing rate of unemployment and vulnerable employment in Africa has been an issue of concern to policy makers. These problems have been caused by the inability of policy makers to create adequate jobs. The study’s findings show that policies geared towards enhancing the diffusion of MoMo can augment efforts being made by governments to decrease the unemployment rate in Africa through increased entrepreneurship. The employment effect of MoMo can also be realised through the emergence of digital entrepreneurship which has been identified as having the potential to transform African economies to knowledge-based economies for sustainable development. This study contributes to the MoMo literature by deviating from the focus of existing studies which have emphasised more on the intermediate outcome (performance) and less on the immediate (i.e. entrepreneurship or small business venturing). This helps to highlight the entrepreneurship effect of MoMo which has evolved from a simple peer-to-peer payment system to a complex one that provides savings, credit, insurance and other products.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-10-2023
DOI: 10.1111/RODE.13062
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-01-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-06-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2016
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-05-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-08-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/JOCA.12505
Abstract: Considering the worsening levels of food insecurity globally, studies exploring the link between financial inclusion and food insecurity have become imperative. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the effect of financial inclusion on food insecurity using a multidimensional index of financial inclusion and a food insecurity construct obtained from the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Based on data extracted from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, our preferred endogeneity‐corrected results indicate that improvements in financial inclusion is associated with a reduction in food insecurity. This finding is consistent across different conceptualisations of food insecurity, alternative weighting schemes and cut‐offs for the financial inclusion index and different quasi‐experimental methods. Financial inclusion is mainly effective in reducing food insecurity in male‐headed and rural‐located households. Our findings reveal that entrepreneurship is an important pathway through which financial inclusion influences food insecurity.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2023
Publisher: IGI Global
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4639-1.CH013
Abstract: Violence against women seems to be more of an economic than a sociological problem. In Ghana, no study has investigated the economic causes of domestic violence against women. The chapter seeks to investigate the economic factors that are likely to drive domestic violence among married couples. The study uses a survey of 260 married women from selected communities around the University of Cape Coast. Due to the nature of the measurement of domestic violence, the study adopts the binary logit model to estimate the key economic variables that affect the likelihood of being subjected to domestic violence. Average income, property ownership, economic activities, and their interactions seem to drive domestic violence after controlling for some household covariates. It is found that income and a combination of being economically engaged and owning an asset significantly affected domestic violence at their desired level of significance. Stemming from this, the authors call on the appropriate authorities to make credit facilities available to women to enable them to be economically engaged. Empowering women through the provision of micro-credit facilities has the potential to reduce the economic dimensions of domestic violence.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 22-01-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-12-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-01-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11205-022-02881-1
Abstract: Although most studies on disease emergencies underscore the need for household readiness for shocks associated with disease outbreaks, no study to date has provided a holistic measure for profiling households based on their readiness toward disease outbreaks. This paper introduces a novel Disease Outbreak Resilience Index (DORI) using a multidimensional approach that draws on the Alkire-Foster methodology. DORI measures disease outbreak resilience in four dimensions: (a) water and hygiene, (b) physical distancing, (c) energy and communication, and (d) economic security and resilience. The paper details the development of DORI and its use by presenting findings from ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. In addition to serving as a resilience index, we illustrate how DORI can be used to produce a disease outbreak vulnerability index (DOVI). As a versatile index, the indicators under each dimension can be tailored to meet country- and region-specific contexts based on indicators appropriate to each context.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-01-2021
Publisher: IGI Global
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0988-2.CH013
Abstract: Violence against women seems to be more of an economic than a sociological problem. In Ghana, no study has investigated the economic causes of domestic violence against women. The chapter seeks to investigate the economic factors that are likely to drive domestic violence among married couples. The study uses a survey of 260 married women from selected communities around the University of Cape Coast. Due to the nature of the measurement of domestic violence, the study adopts the binary logit model to estimate the key economic variables that affect the likelihood of being subjected to domestic violence. Average income, property ownership, economic activities, and their interactions seem to drive domestic violence after controlling for some household covariates. It is found that income and a combination of being economically engaged and owning an asset significantly affected domestic violence at their desired level of significance. Stemming from this, the authors call on the appropriate authorities to make credit facilities available to women to enable them to be economically engaged. Empowering women through the provision of micro-credit facilities has the potential to reduce the economic dimensions of domestic violence.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Date: 19-09-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-03-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11205-022-02898-6
Abstract: In recent years, gambling harm has been considered a significant public health concern due to its increasing socioeconomic costs. Although the adverse effects of gambling have attracted research interest, evidence of its effect on financial stress remains largely anecdotal. This study empirically examines the link between in idual problem gambling severity and financial stress using panel data from the household, income and labour dynamics in Australia survey. After addressing endogeneity, we find that problem gambling severity is positively associated with self-reported financial stress. Thus, problem gambling severity tends to increase financial stress. This finding is robust to alternative measures of financial stress and gambling behaviour—whether gambling is measured using the problem gambling severity index, gambling risk statuses, number of gambling activities, or gambling expenditure. The positive effect of gambling on financial stress is largely driven by gambling activities involving scratch cards and poker machines. Although males exhibit higher levels of problem gambling severity, females are more financially stressed than males. Our findings also suggest that gambling widens the gender gap in financial stress. Further analysis reveals that financial resilience mediates the gambling-financial stress relationship. This implies that promoting policies that enhance financial resilience can help to insulate in iduals against the effects of gambling on financial stress.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 18-02-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-02-2015
DOI: 10.1186/S40497-015-0017-8
Abstract: Youth unemployment is a major setback to sustainable growth. In recent times, Ghana has experienced a downward trend in youth employment in spite of several attempts made by the government to control the unemployment situation. This paper explores savings behaviour, entrepreneurial trait and the decision to be self-employed among students from selected public and private universities in Ghana. Employing the bivariate analysis and probit model on a s le of 1046 students shows that savings behaviour among the youth varies according to their programmes of study, type of institution (public and private) and family background of the students. Savings and entrepreneurial trait increase the probability of self-employment decision among university students. Policies that can address graduate unemployment should focus on helping students to save while in school. Also, incorporating entrepreneurial training into the academic programmes of these institutions has the tendency of improving the entrepreneurial traits of students and thereby, decide to be self-employed. Policy intervention needs to be designed strategically to target students into self-employment as a way of curbing youth unemployment in Ghana in order to contribute to national development.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 22-10-2021
DOI: 10.1086/717770
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2017
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 15-12-2020
Abstract: Does financial inclusion matter for productivity among smallholder farmers? The authors answer this question by using the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey to examine the extent to which financial inclusion affects productivity among smallholder farmers in Ghana. The study uses a pooled data of the 6th and 7th rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey which are national representative data. The authors model an Instrumental Variable (IV) to correct for endogeneity in financial inclusion and a dominance analysis to examine the effects of access to credit, ownership of savings account and insurance product on farmers' productivity. Results from the study indicate that financial inclusion significantly enhances productivity. Moreover, credit, savings and insurance products influence productivity at various degrees. Thus, expanding the scope of financial services (access to credit, savings and insurance) among smallholder farmers is crucial for inclusive finance and sustainable agricultural production. The findings of the study have implications for financial institutions in the design of financial products that the meet the needs of smallholder farmers. Several studies have looked at how access to credit influences agricultural productivity in Africa. However, in recent times financial inclusion has been advocated for because it goes beyond mere access to credit. This paper to the best of our knowledge is the first of its kind to examine how financial inclusion could affect agricultural productivity in Ghana.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-03-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-03-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S11150-022-09603-Z
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of financial literacy training on household asset accumulation using data collected from a randomised controlled trial implemented in Ghana. Financial assets are measured using account holdings and savings while durable assets and their decomposed components are captured using their total values. After testing for baseline balance, impact is estimated using treatment effect models. We find that financial literacy training plays a significant role in accumulation of both financial and durable assets, but the impact is more evident in the accumulation of productive durable assets. Our overall findings on productive and non-productive assets are robust to alternative conceptualisations of what constitutes productive and non-productive assets. Our results also show that financial literacy training has an impact on the accumulation of both total and productive assets in female-beneficiary households, as well as enhancing account holdings for females, although this effect was larger for males. The analyses for different age cohorts also revealed that financial literacy training results in higher asset accumulation among younger household heads.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2020
Publisher: Universidad de Oviedo
Date: 18-12-2019
DOI: 10.17811/EBL.8.4.2019.166-175
Abstract: In this paper, we employ data from 46 African countries over the period 1980–2014 to examine financial sector development convergence, using bank- and market-based measures of financial development. Within the framework of the generalized method of moments (GMM), we present evidence that both the bank– and market–based financial sector development in Africa erge over time. However, we find strong evidence of financial development ergence when using bank-based financial sector development indicators whereas this evidence is weaker for market-based indicators. Given the ergence in the level of finance, the gap between countries with underdeveloped and well–developed financial markets will continue to widen as financially less developed countries do not appear to catch-up with the financially more developed economies. Keywords: Financial development ergence, convergence, AfricaJEL Classification: F15, F36, G01, O55
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-06-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2022
No related grants have been discovered for Isaac Koomson, PhD.