bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In competency Aspects of Microfinance Industry: Via SFA approach
Authors: Riaz Madiha
Published: February 2020

Microfinance is a well known terminology used for microcredit and financial services for financially deprived community. Through informal, semi-formal and formal ways different institutions has been providing these services. Expenditure of the industry is considered to be high because of its inherent structure, dealing with small loans and having high risk of recovery. Therefore, expected inefficiency is greater than its profit. There are several factors and reason. Through this study, we analyzed few factors which have a positive or negative relation with the inefficiency of Microfinance in Pakistan. Stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) is used for weighing up a relationship between inefficiency and its determinants. It is seen that the average efficiency of this sector is low, on average the highest technical efficiency score is 87 only. Age and number of clients have a negative relationship with inefficiency whereas for other variable's relationship is conditional on Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) working status. The number of women borrowers and average loan balance has been incorporated in the study to analyze the focus of MFIs, either on mission drift or achievement. We found that microfinance banks (MFBs) are drifting away, however, Non Government Organizations (NGOs) and Rural Support Programs (RSPs) are fulfilling their social mission efficiently. We did not find a strong evidence of mission drift in the industry because microfinance banks considered their social mission on second priority. Hence, if MFBs are drifting away from their social services, it is not unexpected.
Effect on performance audit implementation of good corporate governance in kab.Luwu (Case Study Inspectorate Kab.Luwu)
Authors: A. Rahmawati
Published: February 2020

This paper describes how internal audit can support Good Corporate Governance in local government. How auditor capability and quantity can be accepted by 33 department of the local government Luwu. It also finds that Auditor capacity to do audit with independency, professionalisms and quality of auditor. This paper elaborates that the internal audit such as finance audit, compliance audit, and operational audit is required in local government to decrease fraud before the external audit find, and can be good for corporate governance. One of the things that can realize good corporate governance is seen from the performance of any organization of government activities, good performance in terms of achieving policy objectives, regulations and applicable law, the achievement of performance in an efficient, effective, and economical, as well as the compatibility between the performance achieved with established criteria. To assess the extent to which the achievement of local government performance in serving the interests of society, it is necessary to audit the performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Internal Audit on the implementation of good corporate governance in local government Luwu. The sample in this study was all local governments Internal Auditor in Luwu district Inspectorate office. The collection of information is done by compiling a list of questions that are appropriate for the respondents submitted to the analysis method used in this research is quantitative method by using a simple linear regression analysis were processed with SPSS software version 18. The results of this study concluded that the existence of an internal audit will encourage the achievement of implementation of good corporate governance system within the Inspectorate so that later in outline will encourage financial governance system within the district will go well. Although many other factors that will support that have not been investigated as thoroughly as the auditor's own characteristics, auditor ethics deal other factors. Accountability and transparency have become important issues in the management of an organization that disclosure with full disclosure will provide a thorough understanding of users of financial statements. Compliance audit of internal audit affects the implementation of good corporate governance can be seen that the results of testing for compliance audits variable has a probability of 0.041 significance where the value is less than 0.05. Thus H4 accepted, this means that the compliance audit of internal audit significantly influence the implementation of good corporate governance in Luwu.
Online Store Service Convenience, Customer Satisfaction and Behavioural Intentions: A Focus on Utilitarian Oriented Shoppers
Authors: Mpinganjira Mercy
Published: February 2020

The paper investigates, using transaction cost theory, the concept of service convenience and its influence on utilitarian customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions to repurchase from an online store. Data used in the analysis was collected from utilitarian oriented online shoppers from Gauteng, South Africa using a structured questionnaire. According to the findings search, evaluation, order and possession convenience were identified as unique,reliable and valid dimensions of service convenience in the context of online shopping. The four dimensions were all found to exert significant direct influence on utilitarian customersâ€™ level of satisfaction as well as on intentions to repurchase from specific online stores. The findings further showed that service convenience can be conceptualised as a second order factor made up of all the identified four dimensions and that when conceptualised this way the explanatory power of service convenience on both customersatisfaction and repurchase intentions is greatly enhanced. Additionally, the results show thatoverall satisfaction on the relationship between service convenience and behavioural intentions to repurchase from an online store plays a significant mediating role when service convenience is considered at the dimensional level but not at the overall level. The findings in this study validate the transaction cost theory in the context of online shopping and contribute to a better understanding of the concept of service convenience and its influence on utilitarian oriented online customers. The findings have wide managerial implications on use of convenience as a source of value creation for online store managers and these have been outlined in the paper.
The Determinants of Banksâ€™ Capital Adequacy Ratio: Some Evidence from South Eastern European Countries
Authors: Aktas Rafet , . Bilge Bakin , . Gokhan Celik
Published: February 2020

The legal authorities set the minimum capital level for the banks. Recent studies have shown that variables used to explain capital structure of non financial firms, such as size, profit, leverage, liquidity and risk, could also be helpful in understanding banksâ€™ capital structure. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of bank-dimensional and environmental factors on bankâ€™s capital adequacy ratio in South Eastern European (SEE) region. Size, profitability (ROA), leverage, liquidity, net interest margin (NIM), and risk are used as bank-dimensional explanatory variables in a feasible GLS regression model. On the other hand, economic growth rate, inflation, real interest rate, Eurozone stock market volatility index, deposit insurance coverage, and governance indicator are added to the original model to control for environmental factors. Annual data from 71 commercial banks belong to 10 different countries in SEE region for the period of 2007 â€“ 2012 is used. This region mainly consists of the â€œtransition economiesâ€ which are still experiencing the difficulties of turning into efficient market economies with high economic potentials. The results of our study show that among the bank dimensional explanatory variables size, ROA, leverage, liquidity, net interest margin and risk have statistically significant effects in determining CAR for the banks in the region. Among the environmental factors, economic growth rate, Eurozone stock market volatility index, deposit insurance coverage, and governance have statistically significant effects in determining CAR for the banks in the SEE region.
The Determinants of Interest Rate Spreads in South Africa: A Cointegration Approach
Authors: Niyimbanira Ferdinand , . Sanderson Sabie Kuyeli , . Koleka Rangaza
Published: February 2020

This study empirically identifies the determinants of interest rate spreads (IRS) in South Africa over the period 1990 to 2012. The study uses the Johansen Cointegration Approach and Vector ErrorCorrection techniques to identify the variables in explaining the interest rate spreads in South Africa. It considers the inflation rate, reserve requirements, Treasury bill, discount rate, money supply (M2) and gross domestic product per capita variables as they explain the movement of interest rate spreads. A significant short-run relationship between IRS and its explanatory variables was observed. These macroeconomic variables are significant in explaining the behavior of the South African IRS in the longrun. This paper has focused on illuminating on how the interest rate spreads are impacted by both exogenous and endogenous variables. If controlled, these variables are most likely to have the largest effects on reducing such spreads. In addition, it suggests that the reduction in the reserve requirements prescribed by the South African Reserve Bank would help to reduce the interest rate spreads. Based on the results of the study, policy implications and suggestion for future research are made.
Effect Ownership, Accountant Public Office, and Financial Distress to the Public Company Financial Fraudulent Reporting in Indonesia
Authors: Mardiana Ana
Published: February 2020

This study empirically examine the influence of ownership, accountant public office and the financial distress on fraudulent financial reporting. The variables studied were foreign ownership, family ownership, accountant public office and the financial distress of public companies in Indonesia in 2009 to 2012. The research was conducted by quantitative methods using secondary data. Secondary data comes from a list of cases Bapepam-LK and the annual reports listed companies on the Stock Exchange. This population of study was company listed on the Stock Exchange, and then the samples were taken by purposive sampling criteria the company's corporate criteria sanctioned Bapepam-LK and the sanctions contained elements of fraud, including the non-financial corporate sector and have the data required in this study. At the end, the total sample of 64 companies that the company. This study uses logistic regression statistical tools as the dependent variable is a dummy variable (non-metric), while the independent variable is a variable mixture of metric and non-metric. The results show that the family ownership significantly affect financial reporting fraud but in the opposite direction because of the negative impact. Foreign ownership of a significant negative effect on fraudulent financial reporting. This indicates the greater ownership by the family, the lower the level of financial of fraudulent reporting accountant public office has no effect on fraudulent financial reporting. This occurs because both KAP Big Four and Small Firm have the same standards in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in carrying out their duties as auditor. Financial distress negatively affects fraudulent financial reporting.
The Role of Manufacturing Industrial Activity in the Environmental Pollution in South Sulawesi
Authors: Astuti Tri
Published: February 2020

Deteriorating environmental conditions can be a hindrance in creating a sustainable economic development so that necessary concern of all parties. The study aims to identify the industrial sectors causing the heaviest pollution and to confirm the environmental economic theories applicable to the condition in South Sulawesi. The study objects are the economic activities in South Sulawesi as summarized in the I-O table transactions. The data used are secondary data of the income per capita and of environmental pollution, table I-O of South Sulawesi in 2010, and the IPPS standard of pollution intensity estimate, and cost coefficient for pollution eradication. The tools used are conventional input-output, environmental input-output, and trend analyses. The reveals that the chemical and metal manufacturing industry sectors are the primary causes of severe pollution in South Sulawesi in 2010 and the environmental economic cases tend to comply with Hypothesis Haven. This research is an academic study limited only to investigate the role of economic activities in industrial manufacturing sector so that further study can be foccused on the role of the whole activities of the economic sector in the environmental pollution.
Acceptance of Banking Information Technology in PT BNI of Makassar
Authors: Muchran Muchriana
Published: February 2020

Various advantages offered by the use of internet banking, but some customers are still associated with conventional ways of doing that is through ATM transactions or queue. The research aimed to analyze trust, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and experience to intention to use internet banking. This research was conducted in PT BNI of Makassar. The data were obtained using questionnaire given to customers. The populations were customers of BNI Bank listed as service users of Internet banking. The sample was selected using simple random sampling technique. Hypotheses tested use of Partial Least Square (PLS) method by means of AMOS program. The results of the research indicate that among the eight hypotheses, four of them are significant, while the other four not significant. Trust has significant to perceived ease of use. Trust does not have significant to perceived usefulness. Trust has significant to intention to use internet banking. Perceived ease of use has significant to perceived usefulness. Perceived ease of use does not have significant to intention to use internet banking. Perceived usefulness does not significant to intention to use internet banking. Perceived ease of use has significant relationship with intention to use internet banking modernized by experience. Perceived usefulness does not have significant relationship with intention to use internet banking modernized by experience.
Level and Factors of Womenâ€™s Employment in the Sekhukhune District in the Limpopo Province of South Africa: Some Discriminant Analysis
Authors: Kyei Kwabena A.
Published: February 2020

Unemployment is very high in South Africa with the official rate ranging from 26.7% to 35%. The Limpopo province has the highest proportion of rural dwellers in South Africa and possibly higher unemployment rate than the national average. Womenâ€™s unemployment is a much bigger problem especially when women are the bread winners. Most women singularly look after their children due to polygamy and / or labour migrant system which usually takes the men from home to other parts of the country. This study focuses on factors which militate against womenâ€™s employment. A 3-stage sample survey was conducted between May 2013 and January 2014 covering all the municipalities in the Sekhukhune district. About 2000 women aged between 20 and 55 years were interviewed. Applying discriminant analysis, this study shows that over 85% of the women in the district are unemployed; and factors like: education, age, family status and marital status affect the employment status of women in Sekhukhune. DA = 0.734educ + 0.654age +0.490familystatus + 0.153marital status If Limpopo wants to reduce unemployment of women and to redress familyâ€™s crises, this study recommends that efforts be made to â€œeducateâ€ women, i.e. encourage women to complete higher/ tertiary education and also be given special preference/family support in job offers.
Determinants of Know Your Customer (KYC) Compliance among Commercial Banks in Kenya
Authors: Arasa Robert
Published: February 2020

KYC conformity entails the creation of auditable evidence of due diligence activities, in addition to the need for customer identification. There is necessity for financial institutions to validate that their customers are not or have not been involved in illegal activities such as fraud, money laundering or organized crime in order to meet KYC conformity requirements. This study examines factors that determine the level of compliance with KYC requirements by commercial banks in Kenya. Specifically, this study investigates the effect of customer characteristics, staff competency, information communications technology infrastructure and bank size on the level of KYC compliance requirements. The study used descriptive research design. The target population of this study was the top and middle level officers who are directly involved in the day-today operations of the commercial banks. For purposes of this study a descriptive survey design was employed. The target population was 43 commercial banks and 1 mortgage finance firms operating in Kenya. Target respondents comprised of top and middle level involved in the day-to-day institutionâ€™s operations. Questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument. To address the objectives of the study, descriptive and inferential analysis techniques were utilized. Regression analysis was employed to ascertain the relationships between KYC compliance and the four variables of interest in this study. Computations of coefficient of determination indicates that four independent variables that were studied, explain 78.3 percent of the commercial banks compliance level with KYC requirements in Kenya, implying that 21.7 percent could be explained by other factors not examined in this study. Study findings reveal that customer characteristics are a key determinant of KYC compliance, small banks are not capable of meeting KYC compliance cost and that staff attitudes and physical facilities affect customer service and effective KYC procedures compliance. Regression analysis further reveals that there is a significant relationship between the four variables and KYC compliance level. Finally the study recommends that ICT is a useful tool that could be used to enhance compliance with KYC requirements.
Denied Investment: A Case of Community Memberâ€™s Attitudes towards Volunteering in Corporate Social Investment Initiatives
Authors: Muzindutsi Paul-Francois
Published: February 2020

Companies use corporate social responsible investment (CSI) initiatives to contribute to the wellbeing of the society they operate in. South African companies continue to increase their involvement in CSI initiatives in the areas of education and training, capacity building, community development and health care. The impact of these initiatives can be extended, if community members, who are mostly the beneficiaries of these initiatives, are willing to work with companies through volunteering in CSI initiatives. This study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research designs to assess the attitude of community towards volunteering on a CSI project. Interviews and survey questionnaire were used to collect data from householdsâ€™ members who benefited from a CSI initiative of re-roofing houses in one of low income areas of South Africa. Qualitative analysis revealed that the CSI project provided skill which opened employment opportunities to community members who worked on the project. However, quantitative results showed that only 30% of participants were willing to volunteer on the CSI project. The majority of those who were not willing to volunteer on the CSI project were unemployed and did not have any skills; implying that volunteering on the CSI project could have provided them with some skills. Based on the investment model of volunteering, findings of this study showed that beneficiaries of the CSI initiative denied an investment opportunity due to their attitude towards volunteering. Hence, it was concluded that CSI initiatives could have a greater impact if community members are encouraged to participate in CSI initiatives as volunteers.
The Rational and Irrational Factors Underlying Property Buying Behavior
Authors: Anastasia Njo
Published: February 2020

Property buying behavior is part of the development of financial behavior. This research will be focused on the buyers perspectives on residential and commercial properties in Bali Island of Indonesia. Rational and irrational factors are the factors underlying the property buying process. The Physical, Location, Environment, Finance factors were part of the rational; while Psychological (over-confidence, conservatism bias, information and familiarity, herd behavior, mental accounting, and loss aversion), Emotion, Intuitional, Socialization, Evaluation were the irrational part. The purpose of this study was, first, to determine the factors that distinguish buyers behavior toward purchasing a property; second, to determine the factors that distinguish buyers behavior between buyers intending to live in compared to those seeking to invest. The study sample consisted of individuals who are prospective buyers and those who have bought property in Bali. Data were analyzed using Discriminant Analysis. The results showed that only financial factor that had significant impact on buyer decisions. Furthermore, this study also showed that there were significant differences in factors between buyers intending to live in compared to those seeking to invest. The factor were psychology, emotion, intuitional, and evaluation.
Validating and Identifying Health and Safety Performance Improvement Indicators: Experience of Using Delphi Technique
Authors: Agumba Justus N.
Published: February 2020

The literature on health and safety (H&S) is bound with different elements and indicators of measuring H&S performance. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the success and challenges of using quantitative and qualitative approach of Delphi technique in validating and identifying H&S performance indicators that small and medium construction enterprises (SMEs) can use to measure and monitor their H&S performance improvement at project level. Furthermore, discuss the identification of experts in the field of H&S, ways of improving consensus analysis and minimizing expertsâ€™ non-response. This study is based on practical experience of the researchers pertaining to the Delphi technique method which is a constructivist or interpretive approach to knowledge. The study started with an extensive literature review to identify core elements and leading indicators characterizing H&S culture to develop a Delphi questionnaire that was used in the first round of Delphi. A four round Delphi technique was conducted to attain consensus of the identified H&S indicators. The experts were identified from published articles of H&S, practitionersâ€™ website of H&S and word of mouth. The use of email was used as a mode of communication. This study set to warn but also encourage the use of Delphi technique as a method to unearth information in areas where consensus has not been reached such as H&S performance measurement indicators for construction SMEs in South Africa.
Effect of the Subprime Crisis on Return and Volatility of the Turkish Stock Market
Authors: Sekmen Taner
Published: February 2020

The aim of this paper is to investigate the return and volatility behaviors of the Turkish Stock Exchange in response to the mortgage crisis using daily observations for the period June 2004 to June 2014. The data are divided into three sub-periods to allow for the investigation of the behavior of the stock market during each sub-period. We employ the GARCH, EGARCH and GARCH-M models to capture volatility. The results indicate that the subprime crisis both induced a notable increase in volatility and changed the relationship between risk and expected return on the Turkish Stock Exchange.
The Influence of Supplier Involvement on Communication, Relationship Longevity and Business Performance in Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises in South Africa
Authors: Chinomona Richard
Published: February 2020

Most firms are increasingly realizing the benefits of involving the outside suppliers by considering their manufacturing processes and technological capabilities, especially regarding quality, time to market, configuration, control and cost. Nevertheless, in the context of small to medium enterprises (SMEs), scant attention has been given to the empirical investigation into the influence of supplier involvement on business performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of supplier involvement on business performance and the mediating role of communication and relationship longevity among SMEs in South Africa. Five hypotheses were posited and sample data of 302 were collected from Gauteng Province of South Africa, to empirically test these hypotheses. The results of this study showed that, supplier involvement has influence on communication, relationship longevity and business performance in SMEs context in South Africa. The managerial implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated.
The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation, Reconfiguring Capability and Moderation of Environmental Turbulence on Export Performance of SMEs in Nigeria
Authors: Samson Abiodun Tope
Published: February 2020

Entrepreneurial orientation encapsulate the firm â€“level process, practice and strategic orientation while dynamic capabilities view of firm consists of the structure routine and processes that constitute its ability to reconfigure its asset base to match the requirement of the changing environment. The aim of this research emanated from the fact that only few studies examined how entrepreneurial strategic orientation and reconfiguring capability impact on export performance of SMEs in turbulent environment. In order to fill this vacuum, this study delineated relationship among these constructs and employed PLS-SEM on data collected from 201 exporting SMEs in Nigeria. The findings of the study suggest that entrepreneurial orientation, reconfiguring capability, and environmental turbulent significantly related to export performance. Environmental turbulence moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, reconfiguring capability and export performance. This suggests that SMEs could benefit from reconfiguring and renewal of their asset base and act in response to opportunities and threat to realize first order transformation in growth and export performance. Besides, this study also provides research conclusion to the appropriateness of entrepreneurial orientation and reconfiguring capability when there is environmental turbulence and their lack of effectiveness when there is stability.
Examining Moral Reasoning and Transactional Leadership behaviour in the Nigerian Public Sector
Authors: Felix Chikelu Okey , . Rosita Bint Arshad
Published: February 2020

The relationship between moral reasoning and leadership style has received considerable attention for decades, however this has been not fully explicated as different leadership styles elist different ethical values. What constitutes moral behaviour is conflicting and subjective. This study examines public leadersâ€™ degree of moral judgment associated with leadership styles in a public sector organization. To test the hypothesized relationship, data were collected using questionnaire survey distributed to 550 workers out which 300 were found worthy to be used. The Defining Issues Test (DIT2) and the Multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ X5) were completed by leaders and subordinates respectively. The PLS path analysis of the structural model indicates significant statistical relationship between cognitive moral development (CMD) and transactional leadership style (TSL) ( Î²= -0.214, P< 0.012). However, we argue that cognitive moral development is amiable to the individual qualities of the leader that might necessitate the application of particular leadership style and behaviour. We also found collaboration evidence that leaders high in cognitive moral development are perceived more as transformational leaders by their subordinates. Finally, we suggest that the dichotomies between moral reasoning and leadership style are hinged more on individual leadership values and motivational beliefs.
The Effect of Organizational Communication towards Employeesâ€™ Performance of the Badan Pendidikan Dan Pelatihan in Makassar City
Authors: Hikmah Hikmah
Published: February 2020

Effective communication in organization is important to regulate the role of organization, coordination, controlling and evaluation from leader to staff and staff to leader, and miscommunication in information can lead to wrong-decision making and ineffective. This research is aimed to explain the importance of communication and its effect in organization by using the methodology of a simple linear regression. Two-way communication model (vertical and horizontal) proved to be effective within this organization based on the findings in this study. This model helped in reaching effective organization like well-established organization atmosphere, excellent employee performance and job finishing punctuality. The importance of communication in the organization is undisputable consequence. Organizational communication allows the company to obtain a valuable result which is unachievable by any standalone individuals. It is then understood that without cooperation from individuals in the organization, the organizational goal is not achievable. The weakness of this study appeared in the government sector due to the small scope held only in Badan Pendidikan dan Pelatihan office.
Strategic Interventions in Tackling Poor Performance of Service Departments: Study on Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd, Malaysia
Authors: Gopal Sekar
Published: February 2020

This case study describes the problems faced by Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd group of companies (Malaysia) due to the poor performance of itâ€™s service departments. This case was identified as a result of declining organizational performance of the company from the starting of year 2011 to early 2013. The main issues are declining profits (losses), delay in completing projects, customer complaints, skill depletion and poor organizational culture in the group besides other associated issues. The data related to the problems &issues are collected through personal discussions with the Project Directors of the company, companyâ€™s financial reports, financial research reports related to the company and through companyâ€™s website articles. The analysis is done on the inputs based on proven management concepts and theories such as leadership styles, organizational culture, span of control, performance management, human behavior and so on. The steps taken to mitigate the problems and the solutions are identifed through the changes made in the company through strategic interventions. The outcomes of each of the major interventions are recorded in this case study for the readers to understand and experiment them in similar and or different situations as the outcomes are positive and proven to be effective.
The Impact of Consumer Animosity and Consumer Ethnocentrism on Intention to Purchase Foreign Products: The Case of Chinese Branded Household Appliances in Vietnam Market
Authors: Giang Nguyen ThiHuong
Published: February 2020

Vietnam-China bilateral relationship has sharply declined due to the recent conflicts on both economic and political affairs. On top of that, the current controversial incident regarding the East Sea issue has constantly deteriorated the connection. At this critical time when the effects of consumersâ€™ attitude toward Chinese products could not be overlooked, the empirical study aims to investigate the impacts of Consumer Animosity and Consumer Ethnocentrism on Purchase Intention of Chinese branded merchandise with the mediating role of Consumer Judgment. Household appliance category is chosen because of the dominance of Chinese brands in Vietnam market. In addition to the assessment of Animosity effect on Purchase Intention, the research is designated to examine its antecedences, including Perceived Economic Hardship and Normative Influences as well as their influences on Animosity. Structural Equation Modeling was utilized to test the theoretical framework, analyzing the data from a sample of 349 consumers with diverse backgrounds. The results have demonstrated that only Perceived economic hardship manifest a significant impacts on Animosity. Meanwhile, Animosity and Ethnocentrism have negative relationships with both Chinese branded household appliances Judgment and Purchase Intention. Overall, the study provides specific discussion and recommendations for the Vietnam household appliances industry and at the same time points into various directions for further researches.
Attitudes of Small Business Owners towards Counterfeit Merchandise: Ethics or Survival?
Authors: Manley Leanne L. , . Michael C. Cant
Published: February 2020

Counterfeiting of products is an industry that affects many countries worldwide and it is an industry that has grown exponentially in the 21st century, due to the value associated with branded products. It is the demand from individuals that fuels this trade and what will keep the trade growing for years to come. It therefore becomes essential that research be conducted to investigate the attitudes held towards the trade in order to gain a better understanding of the current counterfeit environment. This article aimed to investigate the attitudes that South African small business owners have with regard to counterfeit merchandise. Quantitative research was undertaken by means of a self-administered web-based questionnaire that was e-mailed to individuals that either have an active SME (Small, Medium Enterprise) or individuals that are seeking to start their SME, who reside in the provinces of the Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. The data obtained was then analysed by means of SAS JMP version 11 whereby attitudes held towards counterfeit merchandise were established. The main conclusions emanating from the research, was that South African SMEs generally have a negative attitude towards purchasing counterfeit fashion branded merchandise.
The influence of Perceived Hypermarket Size on Perceived Hypermarket Reputation, Trust and Customer Willingness to Purchase in South Africa
Authors: Chinomona Richard
Published: February 2020

While a remarkable increase in research focusing customer purchase intentions in the retailing industry is noticeable, there is a dearth of studies that have investigated the influence of hypermarket size on customer perceived hypermarket reputation, trust in hypermarket and customer willingness to purchase in the African retailing context. This study used a sample 151 consumers in the Vanderbijlpark town in South Africa to examine these relationships. The results indicate that the proposed five hypotheses are positively supported in a significant way. A discussion of the academic and managerial implications of the results is provided and future research directions are suggested.
Determinants of Financial Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Ghana
Authors: Long Gershwin
Published: February 2020

The importance of microfinance to developmental objectives relating to access to financial services, poverty alleviation, inequality reduction, and providing a solution to financial market failure among others cannot be over-emphasized. Academic literature confirming this is abundant. However the sustainability of these institutions has been a major concern in the recent past. This study seeks to determine what drives financial sustainability of microfinance institutions within the Ghanaian context. The study follows a quantitative approach using secondary data sourced from MIX Market. An unbalanced panel dataset from 25 Ghanaian microfinance institutions over six years (2006-2011) was used. Econometric results found that sustainability of microfinance institutions is positively related to the yield on gross portfolio and administrative efficiency ratio and negatively related to staff productivity. The direction of the staff productivity is puzzling and calls for more in-depth research to understand the source of the negative relationship between high level of staff productivity and financial sustainability.
Perception of the Effects of Substance Abuse among University Students: A Case of Built Environment and Civil Engineering Students at a South African University in Gauteng Province
Authors: Agumba Justus N.
Published: February 2020

Substance abuse among youths is a worldwide epidemic that impacts negatively on the health sector as well as the family and society. Early student life at the university is a time of tremendous high motivation to conform to the behaviours, values and attitudes that are valued by the student culture. However, students observe their peersâ€™ behaviour and alter their own behaviour with their peersâ€™ norms and expectations. Some of the perceived peer norms can however lead to substance abuse, which has led studentsâ€™ not to complete their education. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to determine studentsâ€™ perception on the effects of substance abuse on their physical, cognitive and affective development. The research philosophy adopted was positivism and the approach was deductive. Hence, a self-administered questionnaire containing items developed from literature review was administered to 199 built environment and civil engineering students at a South African university. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The reliability for internal consistency of the measured constructs i.e. physical, cognitive and affective was determined using Cronbachâ€™s alpha test. Independent sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses on the perception of students who had experimented on drugs and those who had not experimented on drugs on their physical, cognitive and affective development. The results suggest that over 40 percent of students in this university are not aware of the substance abuse policy. Furthermore there was no statistical significant difference on the perception of the effect of substance abuse on students who had experimented on drugs and those who had not experimented on drugs on their physical and affective development. However, there was a significant difference on the effect on their cognitive development. It is recommended that students at this university should be made aware of the substance abuse policy. Furthermore, those who experimented on substances e.g. drugs indicated less perception on their effects on their cognitive development. It is recommended that this cohort of students warrants further research.
The Determinants of Tourism Demand in Turkey
Authors: Abedtalas Musallam
Published: February 2020

Using data of the inbound tourist arrivals to Turkey from France, Germany, UK, US, and Netherlands over the period 1986-2012, we applied autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to test for cointegration, and we estimated long run model and error correction model for tourism demand. The results referred that the most significant factor determines inbound tourist flows are the real per capita income and real effective exchange. We found weak effects for price and financial crisis, but the political events played a strong role differed from country to other. The added value of this article is the estimation of international tourism demand in Turkey using new approach and the newest data for Turkey
Trust or Not Trust: UnderstandÄ±ng the Effects of AllocentrÄ±sm & IdÄ±ocentrÄ±sm on Coworker Trust
Authors: Ekmekci Ã–zge Tayfur
Published: February 2020

The concept of coworker trust has gained importance for the last decade due to increased teamwork and collaboration within organizations. However, there is a need to study the concept of trust with emic perspective reflecting people or societyâ€™s different values, norms and expectations. The aim of this study is to examine the role of allocentrism and idiocentrism, which represent individual level manifestations of collectivism and individualism on coworker trust and its dimension (i.e. affect- and cognition-based trust). Besides that, this study investigates whether willingness to work with somebody else is affected by cognitiveor affect-based trust. Data were gathered from German and Turkish samples and analyzed separately. Hypotheses were supported in a German sample such that allocentrism predicted both overall coworker trust and affect-based trust, while idiocentrism predicted cognition-based trust. In Turkish sample, allocentrism was found to be associated with overall coworker trust and cognition-based trust. Neither idiocentrism, nor allocentrism could predict affect-based trust in this sample. Remarkably, willingness to work with German coworkers was associated with cognitive-based trust. The results demonstrated the differential effects of idiocentrism and allocentrism on coworker trust and they are discussed together with its implications.
Boosting Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourist Destinations through Loyalty Programs and Stakeholder Collaboration
Authors: Slivar Iva
Published: February 2020

Two opposite approaches gravitate around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): shareholder vs. stakeholder approach. The first paradigm is classical: stating a company has one primary purpose i.e. profitability and is responsible to its shareholders. The second one sees the company not merely in function of its primary goal but also responsible to its employees, providers, local community, the environment etc. It is indisputable that a company operates in a certain context and in order to pursue its reason of existence it has to maintain good relationship and collaborate with others directly or indirectly involved or affected by its business, to a degree that is in line with its primary goal. This starting point was the base to integrate CSR and relationship marketing. CSR is a voluntary based concept. The purpose of this paper is to enhance CRS implementation in tourism. The authors propose a model that will encourage tourism companies to systematically and comprehensively include various CSR practices in their business, which will have a positive impact on the destination as a whole. The realization of the model gathers qualified tourism companies in an exclusive destination loyalty program and further promotes them as superior tourism providers. The involvement of all stakeholders of the tourist destinations in individual phases of the project is part of the proposed model. The model is easily applicable in practice.
An Optimal Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity Model for Forecasting the South African Inflation Volatility
Authors: Moroke Ntebogang Dinah
Published: February 2020

Abstract: In most cases, financial variables are explained by leptokurtic distribution and often fail the assumption of normal distribution. This paper sought to explore the robustness of GARCHâ€“type models in forecasting inflation volatility using quarterly time series data spanning 2002 to 2014. The data was sourced from the South African Reserve Bank database. SAS version 9.3 was used to generate the results. The initial analyses of data confirmed non-linearity, hereroscedasticity and non-stationarity in the series. Differencing was imposed in a log transformed series to induce stationarity. Further findings confirmed that ð´ð‘… (1)_ð¼ðºð´ð‘…ð¶ð» (1, 1)model suggested a high degree persistent in the conditional volatility of the series. However, theð´ð‘… (1)_ð¸ðºð´ð‘…ð¶ð» (2, 1)model was found to be more robust in forecasting volatility effects than the ð´ð‘… (1)_ð¼ðºð´ð‘…ð¶ð» (1, 1) and ð´ð‘… (1)_ðºð½ð‘… âˆ’ ðºð´ð‘…ð¶ð» (2, 1)models. This model confirmed that inflation rates in South Africa exhibits the stylised characteristics such as volatility clustering, leptokurtosis and asymmetry effects. These findings may be very useful to the industry and scholars who wish to apply models that capture heteroscedastic and non-linear errors. The findings may also benefit policy makers and may be referred to when embarking on strategies in-line with inflation rate.
Relationship Between Stock Market Returns and Macroeconomic Variables: Evidence from Turkey
Authors: Cankal Erhan
Published: February 2020

Financial sector is considered to be important in signaling about economic development. It is a common belief that stock market returns contain significant information on economic well-being and act as a good source of market indicator in a country. This common belief is tested for a number of countries using various methods in literature. Whether stock market returns are affected by changes in primary macroeconomic variables have been tested for different time periods in many countries. The findings of the previous studies proved that the results may vary depending on country specific characteristics. The directions and magnitudes of the examined relationships seemed to be different for various economies. However, the mainstream of the findings is consistent with theoretical expectations. This study attempts to bring a light to the relationship between stock market returns and basic macroeconomic variables using monthly data between 2003 and 2015 and employing structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model for the Turkish economy. Turkey is considered as one of the most vulnerable five countries whose stock prices are most responsive to, exchange rate shocks. This study concludes that the stock prices in Turkey responsive to the shocks in exchange rate, interest rate, and inflation in order. The results of the analyses are in accordance with theoretical expectations as well as with the findings of the vast majority in the literature.
Working Capital Management Effect on the Performance of Wholesale and Property Industry in Malaysia
Authors: Shan Lee Hui , . Yow Taw Onn , . Lee Sin Yee , . Sim Kee Chuan
Published: February 2020

This paper provides the influence of working capital management (WCM) on the performance of public listed wholesale & retail industry and property industry in Malaysia from 2002 to 2011. Regression model is employed by using two measures of companiesâ€™ performance namely Return on Assets, ROA (proxy to gauge the firmâ€™s profitability) and Tobinâ€™s Q, TQ (proxy to gauge the firmâ€™s market value) as the dependant variables. WCM components include Current Liabilities to Total Assets Ratio and Current Assets to Total Assets Ratio with three control variables which include of Firm Size (SIZE), Sales Growth (SLGR) and Financial Leverage (LEV) as the independent variables. The results to a very large extent indicate that CATAR and SIZE have significant positive effect on the performance of firm. It suggests that wholesale & retail industry and property industry in Malaysia should pursue unadventurous investment strategy by implementing high altitude of short term investment in order to make profit and create value for their shareholders. It also reveals that the larger the firms are, the more profitable they are; recommending the firms shall expand their business to achieve higher profit and accomplish shareholder wealth maximisation.