ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Factors Contributing To Succession Planning And Performance Of Small Businesses: Evidence From The Builsa North Municipality, Ghana

This study examined the Factors Contributing to Succession Planning and Performance of Small Businesses: Evidence from the Builsa North Municipality, Ghana. Specifically, the study evaluates the factors influencing succession planning in family businesses within the Builsa North Municipality, assesses the barriers to succession planning in family businesses and examines the effect of succession planning on the performance of family businesses within the Municipality. To achieve the purpose of the research enumerated above, the researcher utilized the quantitative methodology and a descriptive research design to address the study objectives. The collected data was processed using IBM SPSS Statistics software and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential analytical tools. The findings revealed that succession planning, capital structure, and firm age had a positive impact on performance, while firm size and family firm governance had a negative impact. Succession planning was found to be a significant factor in the smooth running of family-owned businesses, as it reduced conflicts and ensured future survival and performance. With the ever-increasing desire to have more sustainable family businesses, succession planning within the Builsa North Municipality must be given priority. The heads of businesses who intend to impose a succession plan should ensure that they carry out more research on the impact and implications of succession planning. This will go a long way in helping them to know the needs of the successor to help them be in a suitable and sustainable position.

Source: UCC
Factors contributing to the academic achievement of junior high school in Aboom circuit,Cape Coast

The present study investigated of factors contributing to the academic achievements of students in the Aboom Circuit of the Cape Coast Metropolis during 2015-2016 academic years. The study employed descriptive, cross-sectional survey design, using questionnaires for data collection. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 350 JHS students and a census method was conducted on 30 teachers. The data was analysed and discussed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that both teachers and students had positive views concerning school-related factors, teacher-related factors, and home-related factors and those student-related factors were seen as significantly contributing to students’ academic achievement. The study further found that teacher-related factors and home-related factors were positively correlated with students’ academic achievement while school-related factors and student-related factors had negative association with students’ academic achievement. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education/Ghana Education Service in partnership with school administration should provide adequate teaching and learning resources and a conducive school atmosphere to enhance effective teaching and learning in school. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education/Ghana Education Service should continually organise seminars, short courses, trainings and workshops for all the teachers on teaching strategies, classroom management and motivation. It is recommended that school administrators should involve parents on every educational issue and implement school involvement activities that are specifically geared toward parents from the lower socio-economic group.

Source: UCC
Factors contributing to the disparities of academic performance in public and private basic schools in the New Juaben municipality

Educational policies made in Ghana have always had quality as their hallmark. Even though quality has been the main aims of many reforms and policies, the desired quality has not yet been achieved. In this study, an attempt was made to establish the many reasons why private basic schools were doing considerably better than public counterparts. The descriptive research design was used in this study. The stratified and simple random samplings were use in selecting the sample. In all 280 respondents made up of 20 headteachers, 60 teachers and 200 students were used. Six research questions were formulated. Questionnaire was the main tool used for the research. Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, and mean scores. Results of the study revealed that private schools were better resourced, had parents of pupils whose socio-economic status was higher and hence were more involved in their children’s education. Private schools were more frequently supervised internally, had teachers who were better motivated, and managed the use of instruction time better than public schools. Public schools had more professionally qualified teachers than the private schools. It was recommended that during P.T. A meetings, parents would be made to sit in the classes their wards are in, this would afford them and the teachers, actual time to look at their wards` performance individually. Also teachers should improvise the teaching and learning resources which were not available in the schools in order to enhance the quality of education in both private and public basic schools in the country

Source: UCC
Factors determining enterprise shift behaviour among smallholder cocoa farmers in the Mpohor-wassa east district in the western region of Ghana

Recent cutting of cocoa trees and the shifting of farm resources to only rubber cultivation among smallholder cocoa farmers particularly in the Western Region of Ghana has raised great concern. It is important to examine factors influencing enterprise-shift behavior among smallholder cocoa farmers. Interview schedules were administered to all smallholders of rubber plantation famers registered under the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL)’s out-grower scheme at Mpohor. 150 smallholder cocoa farmers (except 35 absent) were interviewed for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression. About 73% of smallholder cocoa farmers were found to be shifting from cocoa to only rubber cultivation while the remaining 27% engage in both cocoa and rubber cultivation. The logit model reveals that family size and perception of investment outcome of their cocoa farms have a significant effect on their enterprise-shift behavior and decisions (P<0.01). It is recommended that government should address specific issues such as inadequate credit supply and low producer prices that affect the investment outcome of cocoa farm enterprise.

Source: UCC
Factors determining genitive alternation in English: The role of register variation and iconicity

Much research on genitive alternation has been dedicated to investigating the factors that influence the choice between the -s genitive and the of-genitive. The focus of most of these studies has been on the role iconicity plays to motivate these factors that influence the choice between the -s genitive and the of-genitive. This thesis examines how the combination of iconicity and register variation motivate the factors that influence genitive choice using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as a theoretical framework. The main source of data for the study is the British National Corpus (BNC). The analysis reveals that six factors influence the choice between the -s genitive and the of-genitive: animacy, alienability, concreteness, structural weight, topicality and definiteness. The analysis again reveals that register variation can mediate some of these factors in determining the choice between the -s genitive and the of-genitive. Quantitative analysis of the data further shows that some of the factors significantly inhibit others when they interact. Animacy is identified to be one such factor that greatly affects others when it interacts with them. Another key finding from the analysis of the data is that three out of the six factors (animacy, alienability and concreteness) are motivated by iconicity through the iconicity principle of conceptual distance. The findings of this research have implication for the existing scholarship on genitive alternation and iconicity, pedagogy and further research.

Source: UCC
Factors determining maternal health care services in three selected districts of the Eastern Region, Ghana

Worldwide, it is estimated that 1600 women die every day as result of problems they encounter during pregnancy and or child birth. This thesis therefore sought to examine factors that determine the utilization of safe-motherhood services in three districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Specifically, it attempted to contribute to the policy debate to enhance public decision making in prioritizing the different components of safe motherhood programmes in resource-scarce locales. Using the survey research design, interview schedules and or questionnaires, the research solicited data from 598 respondents, comprising women in their reproductive age, married men and healthcare providers residing in the selected districts. The data was supplemented with nine (9) focus group discussions. The study revealed that the proportion of women who had the recommended four or more care visits during pregnancy in the intervention areas had increased significantly, from 18 to 80 percent. However, rural-urban disparity in terms of access to healthcare facilities accounted for the low utilization of maternal healthcare services in both rural and urban areas. It is recommended that central and local governments, non-governmental organisations and Ghana Health Service should partner with communities to empower women in their health-care decision making as this would enhance better maternal and child health outcomes. Additionally, there is the need to build the capacities of Traditional Birth Attendants and healthcare providers as a measure to address the oscillating maternal deaths in the Eastern Region.

Source: UCC
Factors determining the utilization of healthcare facilities in a semi-urban setting in Kwara State Nigeria

Objectives. The presence of healthcare facilities alone is not a requisite for the utilization of such facilities, but a function of factors predisposed to end users. This study examined the factors determining the choice of healthcare facility utilization among residents of Eyenkorin in Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State Nigeria. The objective was to identify the most utilized healthcare facility in the studied area and the reasons for choosing to utilize certain health facilities among the participants. Material and methods. Data was retrieved through self and interviewer-administered questionnaire, involving 358 consenting participants that were selected through a two-stage sampling method implying convenience and random sampling techniques. Results: General hospital was mostly utilized by the studied population, representing the option of over one-fourth of the participants (28.5%). This was closely followed by Private hospital (24.6%), Health centers (18.4%), Teaching hospital (10.1%), Spiritual homes (7.8%), Traditional homes (4.5%), Patent medicine sellers (3.9%), and Maternity homes (2.2%). The choice of health facility utilized was informed by effective treatment, quality service, cost, attitude of health workers, professional competence, waiting time, and distance, in that order. Conclusion and recommendations: The study concluded that distance is not essentially a barrier to healthcare facility utilization. It also concluded that there is a growing trend towards private healthcare facilities utilization among Nigerians when this result is juxtaposed with previous studies conducted in other locations in the country. The study recommended improved healthcare capacity building for government hospitals and provision of health insurance scheme for the people.

Source: UCC
Factors Influencing Academic Achievement of Medical Students in the University of Cape Coast

This study was to examine factors influencing the academic achievement of undergraduate medical students in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Cape Coast (UCC). The specific objectives that guided the study were to; determine the socio-demographic characteristics that influence the academic achievement; identify school related factors that influence high academic achievement; evaluate student’s personal factors that influence high academic achievement. A mixed method approach was employed for the study. The sample size was 129 for the study. For quantitative dimension the researcher used stratified and systematic sampling techniques, 123 questionnaires out of 254 were retrieved from undergraduate medical students. Using the qualitative dimension of the study, 6 key informants were purposively selected to participate in the study because of their number. With respect to the first objective, the result showed that socio-demographic characteristics had a positive influence on the academic achievement of the students. The second research objective showed that school related factors had a positive effect on academic achievement of the students. The third objective also showed that personal factors had a positive influence on academic achievement of the students comparatively; the results showed that school related factors had a positive influence on academic achievement of students larger than the two other determinants. The results also showed that age, marital status, family income and level of students were not statistically significant in relation to academic achievement of students. This study recommends that University of Cape Coast should build more facilities, introduce creative methods of teaching, and provide accommodation for those off campus to facilitate medical teaching and learning.

Source: UCC
Factors influencing academic performance of senior high school students in the Cape Coast Metropolis

The purpose of the study was to find out factors that influence academic performance of students in Cape Coast senior high schools. A total of 354 respondents were selected using the stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire comprising 42 close-ended items was used for the data collection. The questionnaire used a four-point Likert scale to measure the independent variables. The average scores of teacher-made test-scores of students in Mathematics, Integrated Science, and English Language were used to measure students’ academic performance. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and multiple regression were used to analyze the statistical data. It was found out that parents’ education, teacher-student relationship, study skills, academic self-concept, academic counselling, cocurricular activities, ICT skills, and personal effort relate to students’ academic performance and can also influence their academic performance.However, these variables do not directly predict students’ academic performance. They do so only when students are able to exert some level of effort in learning what they have been taught during their private studies. It is therefore recommended that parents and teachers should inculcate the habit of hard work (effort) in students. They can motivate students to cultivate the habit of hard work by praising them anytime they exhibit effort in their academic work. Teachers in particular can also set high but attainable goals for students. Teachers need to encourage their students to do more than the bare minimum because most students won’t encourage themselves on their own. Students mostly like to be challenged and will work to achieve high expectations so long as they believe those goals are within their reach.

Source: UCC
Factors Influencing Anaemia Among Pregnant Women in The Nkwanta North and Adaklu Districts, Ghana

The study sought to investigate the factors influencing anaemia among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in the Nkwanta North and Adaklu Districts. The conceptual framework was deduced from Pender Health Promotion Model. A longitudinal retrospective and prospective study was conducted involving 300 pregnant women from the two districts. A questionnaire was used to collect the data and the data were analysed using frequencies, percentages and logistic regression. Findings revealed that the prevalence of maternal anaemia in the Nkwanta North and Adaklu Districts were 68% and 78% respectively. On knowledge, 91% of the pregnant women had excellent knowledge on anaemia in pregnancy. Long distance to the healthcare facilities was a barrier. In the Nkwanta North District, mature pregnant women, divorced pregnant women, pregnant women with obstetric history of 2 to 3 pregnancies, those with no formal education, monthly income higher than GHS500.00 were significant predictors of the anaemic status during pregnancy. In Adaklu District, mature pregnant woman, divorced pregnant women, pregnant women with obstetric history of 2 to 3 pregnancies, those without formal education, monthly income higher than GHS500.00 were significant predictors of the anaemic status during pregnancy. It is recommended that the health authorities in the two districts must go beyond education to advocate and monitor pregnant women to help translate knowledge into practice. Also, educated and relatively rich pregnant women must be counselled on the need to adhere to instructions given at ANCs so as to reduce their anaemic prevalence.

Source: UCC
Factors Influencing Audit Quality of Audit Firms in Ghana: The Role of Audit Automation Adoption, Corporate Culture, and Technological Training

The study examined the factors influencing audit quality, the role of audit automation adoption, corporate culture and technological training among audit firms in Ghana. The study employed a positivist paradigm, a quantitative research approach and an explanatory research design. Using simple random sampling, data was obtained from 190 audit firms in good standing with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG). Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data by employing the concept of higher-order constructs. The study revealed that corporate culture weakened the effect of technological factors on audit quality. Furthermore, technological training strengthened the effect of individual factors and technological factors on audit automation adoption but weakened the effect of environmental factors on audit automation adoption. The study recommends that by addressing cultural barriers and promoting a harmonious integration of technology and audit quality goals, audit firms can create an environment where technology becomes an enabler rather than an obstacle. The study further recommends that training programmes should be designed and tailored to address specific individual and technological factors that enhance successful audit automation adoption. The study contributes significantly to the auditing literature. It extends prior research on the factors influencing audit quality and the roles of audit automation adoption, corporate culture and technological training. The study is one of the first studies to investigate the predictors of audit automation adoption and audit quality within external audits using the TOE and UTAUT frameworks which few studies have attempted to explore.

Source: UCC
Factors Influencing Career and Programme Choices Among Senior High School Students in Ashanti Mampong Municipality, Ghana

The study examined factors that influenced career and programme choices among senior high school students in the Ashanti Mampong municipality. The population for the study was students from the public Senior High Schools in the Ashanti Mampong Municipality. A sample of 2,642 students was selected for the study. A multistage sampling procedures were used in the sampling process namely, purposive, proportional and simple random sampling. A descriptive survey was the research design adopted for the study. The instrument used to collect data was the questionnaire. The data were analysed using means and standard deviation while the hypotheses was tested using independent sample t-test. Results revealed that environmental factors, institutional factors, and personal characteristics influenced students career choice and choice of programmes at the tertiary institution. The study further revealed that male and female students considered environmental factors, institutional factors and personal characteristics when making decisions about their careers and programme to study at the tertiary institution. Based on these findings, it is recommended that educators and school counsellors should focus on parents’ socio-economic status when counselling students on career choices and pursuit of higher education. Again, the school management and counsellors should ensure that students get accurate and reliable information about the tertiary institutions they are interested in, especially reliable information on the programme of which they wish to pursue.

Source: UCC
Factors influencing career choice among second cycle students in the Tema metropolis of Ghana

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence career choice and aspiration among second cycle students in Tema Metropolis of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was chosen for the study. A sample of 313 students was used for the study. Purposive, proportional and simple random sampling procedures were used in selecting the sample of students from three second cycle schools in Tema Metropolis. Data were collected using questionnaires. The data collected were analysed descriptively and inferentially. The study found that intrinsic factors such as intellectual ability, feeling of importance, and opportunity to be original and creative influenced the career choices of students. The study further revealed that good salary, attractive work conditions and improved social status (prestige) were extrinsic factors that influence the career choices of students. Further, the study revealed that relatives, teachers and friends were influential in the career choices of students. Again, it was found that the career choices and aspirations of students are affected by some problems including unavailability of jobs, unawareness of jobs and job discrimination. It was recommended that teachers and school authorities encourage students to give consideration to their intellectual ability and interest as they choose their subjects of study which can lead to specific careers.

Source: UCC
Factors Influencing Choice of Future Careers Among Senior High School Students

The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors influencing choice of future career among senior high school students. The study employed the descriptive survey design involving the quantitative approach. The target population of the study was all public senior high school students in the Ga South Municipality in Greater Accra Region. The accessible population was made up of only first and second year students. A sample of 356 students was selected for the study using stratified proportional sampling procedure. The study adapted an instrument developed by Asantewaa (2020) for the data collection. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics specifically means and standard deviations. The study established that family, peers, teachers and career guidance and counselling services influenced career choice among senior high school students in Ga South Municipality. It was recommended that more career guidance seminars should be organised for students in the senior high school by counsellors so as to help the students in the Municipality to make informed career decision.

Source: UCC