ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
COVID-19 Pandemic and Teachers� Classroom Safety Perception, Anxiety and Coping Strategies during Instructional Delivery

Several professionals, including teachers, have been engrossed in fear of the worst happening due to COVID-19 and the rapidly evolving nature of the virus affecting the perception of safety in any working environment. This study examined teachers� perception of classroom safety, anxiety, and coping strategies during instructional delivery in senior high schools in Ghana. Adopting the cross-sectional survey design with a quantitative approach, a convenient sample of 174 senior high school teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis completed a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. The findings showed that teachers perceived their classroom environment as unsafe during instructional delivery amidst COVID-19 and reported modest to extreme levels of anxiety. Further, teachers with a high level of COVID-19 anxiety were found to utilize active coping strategies to manage stressful situations. The reported unsafe working environment in schools during pandemic times highlights the critical role of supportive working environments for teachers� mental and psychological wellness. School counseling psychologists, school welfare officers, and school health coordinators should collaborate to implement interventions (e.g., social emotional learning; resilience strategies) that promote the wellbeing of teachers and a safe working environment. � 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Source: UEW
COVID?19?Related Knowledge and Anxiety Response among Physical Education Teachers during Practical In?Person Lessons: Effects of Potential Moderators

The COVID?19 pandemic has resulted in heightened anxiety levels among teachers, especially regarding PE teachers who are required to engage students in practical in?person or contact teaching lessons. Previous research showed that these levels of anxiety among PE teachers appeared to be explained by the interplay between COVID?19 knowledge, workplace safety perception, and educational qualification. This study assessed the relationship between COVID?19?related knowledge and anxiety response among PE teachers during such practical lessons while moderating the effects of workplace safety perception and educational qualification within the relationship. The study conveniently recruited 160 PE teachers to solicit responses through both online and printed questionnaires. Using correlation and linear regression analyses, the study revealed a significant negative relationship between COVID?19?related knowledge and anxiety response among PE teachers. The educational qualification of PE teachers did not significantly moderate the association between COVID?19?related knowledge and anxiety response. Workplace safety perception significantly moderated the association between COVID?19?related knowledge and anxiety response among PE teachers. The findings remind educational authorities about the essence of creating a positive and safe working environment conducive to academic work. Achieving this goal requires the provision of adequate COVID?19 management logistics (e.g., personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers) by educational authorities for PE teachers to maintain safety practices and optimal learning conditions. � 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Source: UEW
Craftsmen’s view on motivation to increase productivity at the construction industry in Ledzokuku Krowor municipality in Ghana

Productivity in the Ghanaian construction industry is largely unmeasured due to the inaccessibility of data for its determination. This has been a result of the difficulties in stressing the positive side of worker motivation. The low motivation of construction workers has contributed significantly to the declining productivity that cannot be determined in the construction industry. The aim of the study is to explore factors affecting the motivation of construction operatives in the construction industry of Ghana using Ledzokuku Krowor Municipality as a case study. The study adopted a quantitative research approach involving the administration of survey questionnaires to a purposive sample of 109 artisans. Data analysis was carried out using principal component analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings revealed eight key critical factors that affect motivation on craftsmen productivity in the construction industry in Ghana. The said factors included; supervision based on leadership by example, orientation for new employee, worker participation in decision making, communication, promotion, teamwork, equity and bonus at the end of project or year. Based on the findings, the study recommends management should; given workers opportunity to undertake challenging task under close supervision, not compromising quality, precision and timely delivery and be made to the consequence when these requirements are not met, give workers clear line of communication between management and workers, ensure that good teamwork is established through collaborations, both on and off site by assigning task to groups of workforces with qualified and competent supervisors, institute bonus and incentive packages for the workers at end of a project or year, deal with the workers with equity, fairness and respect. There is assertion that people will be better motivated if they are treated equitably and demotivated if treated inequitably. Inequity feeling causes unpleasant University of Education, Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh 2 tension which motivates the person to remove or reduce the level of tension and perceived inequity, ensure that workers due for promotion are promoted in order for the workers to give of their best to increase productivity, ensure that workers are part of the decision making process and as such their views are welcomed in the company, give orientation to newly employ or recruit in the construction industry.

Source: UEW
Credit rationing of small and medium enterprises effect on the growth of SMES and its consequences on employment in Ghana

The study provides a comprehensive discussion on Credit Ration of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), its effect on the growth of SMEs and subsequent effect on employment in Ghana. Access to finance has been noted as one of the major challenges impeding the survival and growth of the SME sector in Ghana. The problems of access to finance, gaps and the reasons for the gaps in SME financing in Ghana are discussed. Gaps in SME financing were discussed in relation to credit rationing theory which advocates that agency problems and asymmetric information are the main reasons for the credit rationing behaviors of credit providers to SMEs. This paper is a study to identify gaps in literature regarding the financing of SMEs in Ghana using primary data to gather information. Out of 200 questionnaires administered, 175 were responded to and used for the study. Descriptive analysis was used to arrive at the major findings in this thesis. From the study, the major factor that influenced loan application by firms in Ghana were inflation rate and external business environment while the major factor that influenced credit rationing were lack of securable collateral. The effects of credit rationing on the growth of SMEs is that credit is needed to expand business. Therefore it is recommended that policy recommendations aimed at solving access to finance challenges and must be empirically tested on a regular basis and progress in that regard must be constantly monitored and revised to eradicate the problems.

Source: UEW
Credit rationing of small and medium enterprises, effects on the growth of SMEs and its consequences on employment in Ghana

The study provides a comprehensive discussion on credit ration of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), its effect on the growth of SMEs and subsequent effect on employment in Ghana. Access to finance has been noted as one of the major challenges upending the survival and growth of the SMEs sector in Ghana. The problems of access to finance, gaps and the reasons for the gaps in SMEs financing in Ghana are discussed. Gaps in SMEs financing were discussed in relation to credit rationing theory which advocates that agency problems and asymmetric information are the main reasons for the credit rationing behaviours of credit providers to SMEs. This paper is a study to identify gaps in literature regarding the financing of SMEs in Ghana using primary data to gather information. Out of 200 questionnaires administered, 175 were responded to and used for the study. Descriptive analysis was used to arrive at the major findings in this thesis. From the study, the findings were that, major factor that influenced loan application by firms in Ghana were inflation rate and external business environment while the major factor that influenced credit rationing was lack of securable collateral. The effect of credit rationing on the growth of SMEs is that credit is needed to expand business. Therefore, it is recommended that policy recommendations aimed at solving access to finance challenges and must be empirically tested on a regular basis and progress in that regard must be constantly monitored and revised to eradicate the problems.

Source: UEW
Credit risk and operational risk on financial performance of universal banks in Ghana: A partial least squared structural equation model (PLS SEM) approach

In recent years, financial institutions especially universal/commercial banks across Africa have been faced with forceful mergers and acquisitions. These occurrences impede the level of financial inclusion and reduces public confidence in the financial system as a whole. This study assessed the effect of credit and operational risk on the financial performance of universal banks in the context of the structural equation model (SEM). Data were collected from all the 24 universal banks in Ghana without missing variables and using the PLS-SEM, the results showed that credit risk influences financial performance negatively contrary to the empirical study but in line with the information asymmetry tenant of the lemon theory. It was also found that operational risk influences the financial performance of the universal banks in Ghana negatively. Furthermore, the study indicated that bank specific variables measured by (asset quality, bank leverage, cost to income ratio and liquidity) significantly influence credit risk, operational risk as well as the financial performance of the universal banks positively. We recommend that banks be encouraged to cut-down their lending rates in other to decrease credit risk and subsequently boost profitability. Regarding operational risk, banks should reduce leverage and have their portfolio more concentrated on liquid investment income so as to boost profitability. � 2019, � 2019 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Source: UEW
Credit risk management in rural banks a case of some selected rural banks institutions within the Ashanti region of Ghana

Credit risk has shown to be one of the main forms of risks financial institutions are exposed to due to the very nature of their business operations. The study investigated how rural and community banks managed their credit risk in Ghana. Accordingly, the main objectives of the study were to determine the main sources of credit risks rural and community banks are exposed to in Ghana, to identify the credit risk management practices of rural and community banks in Ghana, to assess the rural and community banks credit risk management policies as against Bank of Ghana credit risk policy and finally to analyze the constraints to managing risks by rural banks. The target population for the study constituted all the rural and community banks in Ghana and specifically the study sample came from rural banks who operated in the Ashanti region; Amensie-West Rural Bank, Atwima Mponua Rural Bank, Sekyere Rural and Atwima Kwanwoma Rural Bank. Since the study was employed cross sectional research design, the study used questionnaires as the data collection instrument. The questionnaire had three parts. The first part of the questionnaires dealt with the demographic characteristics of the study respondents. The second section dealt with the main sources of credit risk that rural banks were exposed to. The third and final section looked at the credit management practices the credit management, credit risk management policy and the constraints to credit risk management. It became evident that the key credit risk sources that most rural were exposed to in their operations were corporate, individual and SMEs commercial loans. Also it was established that most of these banks did not used or have in place independent bodies to review their organization credit decisions and policies. On this score it was recommended that management of these banks should employ the services of external bodies who will have the capacity and competencies to assess their organization’s credit decision and policies to ascertain how robust it is in mitigating their organization operations against potential credit risk sources.

Source: UEW
Credit risk management practices and its impact on loan repayment at St Peter’s cooperative credit union, Kumasi.

The study of credit risk has become even more important in the wake of the recent near bankruptcy of two indigenous banks (UT Bank and Capital Bank), more especially among Credit Cooperatives where studies are limit in Ghana. A Credit Cooperative is a financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purposes of promoting thrift, providing credit at low interest rates and providing other financial services to its members. The primary objective of the study was to examine credit risk management practices and its impact on loan performance at St. Peter’s Cooperative Credit Union. The research was a case study, and adopted a quantitative technique. The population comprised of staff, management and members of the credit union. The study sampled 30 staff and management, and 140 members using convenience sampling technique. Mean scores, standard deviations, frequencies, percentages, line graphs and simple linear regression were used in the analysis of the primary and secondary data. The study concluded that, St. Peter’s had an effective credit risk management policy, which reflected in their loan performance. The study found a moderate correlation between credit risk management practices and the loan performance of the union. Holding all other things constant, a 100% improvement in the credit risk management practices, will lead to an increase in the loan performance (repayment) of St. Peters by 33.1%, and vice versa. This was statistically significant at 0.05. The union faced less challenge in the implementation of their credit risk management policy, and members also faced less challenge in the repayment of loan facility. It was recommended that, the union’s management must consider assessing the cost and benefits of their risk management approaches, and how to maximize returns for members (owners). Secondly, management must therefore invest in staff training to get them more equipped for their tasks.

Source: UEW
Crisis communication in the Ghana Prisons Service a case study of the Kumasi central prison riots

The 2-day riot at the Kumasi Central Prison which took place on February 4, 2015 was considered one of the biggest riots recorded in the Ghana Prison Service history. This study sought to examine how communication during and after the riot was handled. The objectives of the study were to identify the role communication plays during the various stages of crisis management at the Ghana Prison Service (GPS) and also examine the factors that affected the implementation of effective communication in crisis management at the Ghana Prison Services. Using the Situational Crisis Communication Theory as the framework for this qualitative case study, the findings revealed that during the riots, officers were given certain guidelines to follow in terms of communicating with the media and their publics. The study found that during and after crisis at the GPS, the T.A.P (Truth, Assessment and Poise) method was employed in dealing with the situation especially when dealing with the media. Again, it was found that during the riot, measures such as facility shut down, intelligence briefing, press releases, setting up investigative committee were some of the mechanisms employed by the crisis management team. The study concluded that fear and uncertainty, contradicting messages and inadequate resources were crucial challenges in crisis communication in the Ghana Prison Service. The study recommended that management of the Ghana Prisons Service should communicate and sensitize its stakeholders on matters related to crisis management and also develop a communication manual for the Service and the bureaucratic nature of top-to down communication channels be critically examined to avoid media speculations.

Source: UEW
Crisis communication in the Ghana Prisons Service a case study of the Kumasi central prison riots

The 2-day riot at the Kumasi Central Prison which took place on February 4, 2015 was considered one of the biggest riots recorded in the Ghana Prison Service history. This study sought to examine how communication during and after the riot was handled. The objectives of the study were to identify the role communication plays during the various stages of crisis management at the Ghana Prison Service (GPS) and also examine the factors that affected the implementation of effective communication in crisis management at the Ghana Prison Services. Using the Situational Crisis Communication Theory as the framework for this qualitative case study, the findings revealed that during the riots, officers were given certain guidelines to follow in terms of communicating with the media and their publics. The study found that during and after crisis at the GPS, the T.A.P (Truth, Assessment and Poise) method was employed in dealing with the situation especially when dealing with the media. Again, it was found that during the riot, measures such as facility shut down, intelligence briefing, press releases, setting up investigative committee were some of the mechanisms employed by the crisis management team. The study concluded that fear and uncertainty, contradicting messages and inadequate resources were crucial challenges in crisis communication in the Ghana Prison Service. The study recommended that management of the Ghana Prisons Service should communicate and sensitize its stakeholders on matters related to crisis management and also develop a communication manual for the Service and the bureaucratic nature of top-to down communication channels be critically examined to avoid media speculations

Source: UEW
Crisis communication in the pharmaceutical industry a case study of Tobinco pharmaceutical limited

This qualitative study examined crisis communication strategies in the pharmaceutical industry. Crisis communication is one of the relevant issues which has become area of interest to many PR scholars but most of their studies focused on crisis communication in the financial sectors. This points out a gap in the literature on the peculiar strategies and approaches employed Pharmaceutical industries in Ghana during crisis event. The study specifically focused on the 2013 crisis of Tobinco Pharmaceutical Limited (TPL). This case study draws on Coombs’ situational crisis communication theory and William Benoit’s image restoration theory to assess the nature of crisis in TPL, the response strategies employed by the company and how those response strategies were communicated by TPL. Interview and content analysis were used for the study and the data collected were thematically analysed to get the key issues raised by participants for the purpose of the study. The study revealed three nature of crises: organisational, financial and natural crises. The study also discovered denial, diminish and rebuilding response strategies used by TPL. Findings from the study confirmed that TPL communicated the response strategies through open communication, media engagement and apology to deal with the 2013 crisis events. The study highlights the importance of rebuilding strategy during the events of crises and the need to engage stakeholders and communicate the truth during crisis. The study recommends that pharmaceutical industries should prioritise stakeholders’ engagement and make their institutions easily accessible to national crisis management institutions.

Source: UEW
Crisis in microfinance institutions in Ghana a case study of selected microfinance institutions in the Ga East Municipality

Effective management guaranteed the robustness of the banking sector and helped to ensure the financial stability of an economy. Microfinance has over the years, been identified as one of the channels to empower women economically. Qualitative research methodology was employed to attain the research objectives which are to identify the causes of crisis in microfinance institutions in Ghana and examine how they responded to the crisis. The participants of the study were ten (10) from 5 institutions in the municipality using the purposive sampling procedure. Qualitative data were collected using audiotaping of interviews and using the semi structured interviews from the 10 participants. Results obtained from the analysis of the data transcripts indicated that there were high default rate, high interest rate and lack of supervision amongst the institutions. The finding also showed that the microfinance institutions indicated that they had to call the clients to verbally renegotiate and give the customers additional months to be able to pay back the loan facility when it comes to inability to pay back loans on time. It was further revealed that the microfinance institutions had to cut a lot of loans that were given out and further reduce the amount per loan that was to be sent to customers. Also, the study found that concerning the response to excessive repayment terms, microfinance institutions had to stop loan payment that lasted for more than six months. It was therefore recommended that the government and the non-government organizations should support private Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to set up special units for only Small and medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) which will tax interest rate and provide extensive support for them.

Source: UEW
A critical assessment of operational risk management in Nwabiagya and Amansie rural banks

The primary objective of the study was to critically assess the operational risk management in Nwabiagya and Amansie Rural Banks. The study was descriptive and explanatory in nature. Structured questionnaire was used in soliciting for primary data from staff of the selected banks. Convenient sampling technique was used in selecting 90 staff in all. Data analysis was conducted using frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and simple linear regression model. The study concluded that, operational risk management practices had a moderate correlation with the performance of rural banks. Holding all other things constant, an improvement in the effectiveness of the risk mitigation measures, will lead to an increase in the rural banks’ performance by 44.7%, and vice versa. The risk mitigation measures used by the banks were establishing credit standards, deposit collections, staff supervision and training on risk management, adoption of advanced technology, contingency plans, collateral arrangement, security deposits, on-balance-sheet netting, diversifying operations to reduce the impact of any single risk, and risk reporting. It was recommended that, rural banks and even the entire banking industry should invest in advance technologies that could be used to simulate decisions and know the potential outcome, and how that could affect banking operations. For example, there could be software that would determine the level of credit risk based on some well-defined client characteristics.

Source: UEW