ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Effects of outsourcing on organizational performance, the case of selected financial institutions in Kumasi

The research examined the effects of outsourcing on the performance of organizations. Substantial uncertainties remain as to how outsourcing practices affect organizational outcomes, whether some practices have stronger effects than others, and whether complementary or synergies among such practices can further enhance organizational performance. The objectives of the study were to find out the types of activities outsourced by the organizations, the reasons for outsourcing and to evaluate the effects of the outsourced activities on the organizations performance. The methodology was based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of the financial data of the selected institutions for a period of four years and the use of other moderating factors to help evaluate the organizations performance. The research employed the use of questionnaires which included the dichotomous and the rating scale which was easier to administer to the respondents and also saved time. The main function or personnel being outsourced that emerged from the study was security and then cleaning activity. These outsourced functions cut across all the institutions selected for the study. It also emerged that, the key factors that influenced the choice to outsource a function/activity by management was to reduce cost and also to allow staff to concentrate on the core activities of the institutions. The activities outsourced were peripheral activities that could easily be peeled off without much disorientation to the whole organizational set up. Security was found to be the most outsourced function and interestingly there is a spring up of many security companies. Government is therefore entreated to formulate policies to enhance the operations of these companies to enable them create job opportunities to our teeming unemployed youth to help develop Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Effects of Ownership Structure on the Performance of Listed Companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange

Every business organisation has an important decision of making returns. This decision also affects its capital base and the decision of either going for equity financing or debt financing. The stock markets are widely viewed as important, if not essential, for the functioning of modern capitalist economies. In Ghana, a huge gap exists in literature on the impact of ownership structure and a firm performance as well as the measure of ownership structure and whether or not the endogeneity of ownership structure affect performances of firms. This study therefore sought to determine the relationship between the ownership structure of listed firms and performance on Stock Market. The study made used of secondary data and the data were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation and Logistic Regression. The first finding indicates that there is a significant negative relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance. The second finding shows a positive relationship between insider ownership and firm performance. The study recommends that there is dire need to reasonably diversify shareholding as a way of attracting more skills and competencies among the shareholders that can be tapped to improve firm performance. At the same time, the managers should be protected from unnecessary direct interference by the shareholders.

Source: KNUST
Effects of Per-household treatments on chlorpyrifos residues in Lettuce (Lactuce sativa)

The study was organized to evaluate the extent of accumulation of chlorpyrifos on Lactuca sativa during cultivation and also examine the effect some pre-household treatment procedure on residue levels. Concentrations of Chlorpyrifos applied at different stages of growth of lettuce were examined using GC equipped with LCD. at different time intervals of 1 h 24 h and 7 days after pesticide application. The results showed that residue levels detected at 1 h and 24 h after application were all above the MRL of 0.05 mgkg-1 and can pose health risk to consumers while that recorded 7 days after application were far below the MRL. Accumulation of chlorpyrifos on crop during cultivation was not observed since no significant differences were observed 7 days after application at all the different stages. There is therefore the need for farmers to allowed 7 days’ re-entry intervals before harvesting. All the pre-household treatment procedures caused significant reduction in residues levels. Treatment T3 was most effective in removing residues. Hence to reduce the risk associated with intake of chlorpyrifos through lettuce, T3 procedure should be followed before consumption.

Source: KNUST
The effects of performance appraisal on employee attitude: A case study of First Allied Savings and Loans Ltd.

The research was intended to determine how performance appraisal affect employees’ attitude and at the long run work performance. The study assessed the performance appraisal process of FASL and whether the process is a fair one. Questionnaires were designed using structured questions to collect primary data from employees of FASL. Population for the research was drawn from management, senior and junior staff from Obuasi and Kumasi Branches (Adum, Roman Hill, Suame, and Asafo). The entire population was used for the research. Personal interview was also conducted with the Head of Human Resource Department and questionnaires were used to collect data. The results indicated that FASL’s employees were not given enough feedback concerning their work performance and viewed the system to be bias. Most of the respondents were of the view that the main shortcoming to performance appraisal was favoritism. It was discovered that, Performance appraisal had an impact on employees’ performance, thus, when appraisal is fairly done, employees tend to be pleased and it reflects in their work output on the other side, when it’s poorly done employees become bitter and it affects their performance. Effective and fair performance appraisal process would enhance employees’ performance. The studies also revealed that majority of the respondents were not counseled after performance appraisal. It is recommended among other things, that the processes involved in performance appraisal should be duly followed; FASL should make sure that feedback is given so as to help employees know how they are faring on the job.

Source: KNUST
Effects of personal loans on teachers’ household welfare: a focus on Senior high School teachers in the Tamale Metropolis

Ghana’s banking sector witnessed a significant surge in the number of banks and other financial institutions following the liberalisation of the financial sector in the country. This has led to an intense competition among financial institutions as they all strive to remain profitable. As part of their efforts to increase their profitability, banks and other financial institutions have constantly been engaged in strategies to mobilise more savings in order to give loans to borrowers. Personal loans have been used as a key strategy by many banks to increase their profitability. Banks have mostly given personal loans to government employees because of the low level of risk associated with that. Teachers particularly have been targeted largely due to the fact that they represent a higher proportion of government employees. This research therefore examined the effects of personal loans on the household welfare of teachers with a focus on Senior High School Teachers in the Tamale Metropolis. Thirty (30) teachers each were selected from ten (10) public Senior High Schools in the Metropolis making the sample size 300. In all 282 teachers responded giving a response rate of 94%. The study used non-probability sampling technique to survey the views of teachers on personal loans effects on teachers’ households’ consumption of food, non-food items, ability to meet their housing expenditures, and on the acquisition of consumer durables. The study found that there is no positive effect of personal loans on the consumption of food and non-food items except on education, implying that personal loans are not borrowed for the purposes of daily expenditures. It was also found that personal loans do not have any positive effect on the household ability to meet their housing expenditure although a marginal positive effect was observed for maintenance expenditure. For consumer durables the study found somehow significant positive effect. The study implies that personal loans are not taken for routine expenditures such as food consumption but for onetime expenditures such as school fees and assets acquisitions. The overall conclusion is that personal loans do not have any significant positive effect on the welfare of teachers. Consequently, the study recommends that teachers should develop saving habits as an alternative to personal loans.

Source: KNUST
Effects of Performance Appraisal on the Achievement of Organizational Objectives: a Case Study of Manhyia District Hospital, Kumasi

The study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the Staff Performance Appraisal System of Ghana Health Service, a case study of Manhyia District Hospital. Specific objectives of the study cover measurement of employees understanding of the objectives of the appraisal system, its process and procedures. Also, the study measures employees perception of the appraisal system, how it has been able to identify employees strengths and weakness and finally finds out whether all set objectives are achieved. The study population was the entire staff of Manhyia District Hospital totaling 221. The researcher used sample size of 52% and obtained data using a eleven-sectioned self completed questionnaire and interviews. Data presentation and discussions were supported with bar and line graphs, pie chart and tables to make the whole work easy to read and understand by all and sundry. The study revealed that the Staff Performance Appraisal exercise was not given the seriousness it deserves. Again, majority of the staff have knowledge of the performance appraisal system in the hospital and agreed that the system establishes key objectives, so the researcher recommended improvement in communication and introduction of training programmes highlighting the relevance of performance appraisal and its structures.

Source: KNUST
Effects of performance management on Organizational objectives: a case study at Sekyere East District Assembly (SEDA)

Globally, government organizations have increased their focus on performance management, in response to pressure from both citizens and elected officials. The performance management is poorly conducted in most District Assemblies in Ghana and this has led to apathy, low morale among personnel, and has made it difficult to identify hardworking staff. The study tried to find out whether the entire performance management process is followed at the assembly, whether the objectives of the assembly are being achieved yearly and then tried to unearth the challenges and possible recommendations for the smooth implementation of performance management. Apart from the documentary data that was used in the study, questionnaire and interview were used to obtain data from about 98% of all the departments thus making the sample very representative. But for the reluctance of staff to respond to the questionnaire promptly, insufficient time and financial resources, the study would have been devoid of limitations. It was proven from the study that, the district assembly achieved about 90% of its objectives, the entire performance management process as identified by "The Performance Management & Incentive Awards Division of Workforce Compensation & Performance Service of the United States of America for Measuring Employee Performance" was implemented at the district assembly. Some challenges and recommendations to address these challenges were identified. As a matter of fact, it was clear from the study that, full implementation of performance management is not as smooth in governmental organizations as it is with private corporate entities.

Source: KNUST
The effects of phosphorus fertilizer application and plant population on the growth, yield and seed quality of soyabean (Glycine max. L)

Pot and field experiments were conducted at the Arable Crop Farm at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (16° 43’N 1° 36’W) in the 1994 and 1995 growing seasons to study the effects of phosphorus fertilizer application and plant population on the growth, yield and seed quality of two soyabean cultivars, Anidaso and Bengbie, both early maturing types. The cultivars differed in growth characteristics. Bengbie flowered, formed pods and matured earlier than Anidaso. However, Anidaso produced higher leaf area indices, higher crop growth rates and higher dry matter yield than Bengbie. Bengbie produced greater number of pods per plant and per unit area than Anidaso while Anidaso produced larger seeds than Bengbie. The differences in seed yield between the cultivars were narrowed by the compensatory ability of other yield components mainly the number of pods per unit area and mean seed size. Anidaso produced better seed quality than Bengbie and again produced higher protein content but not oil content than Bengbie. Phosphorus fertilizer application generally increased dry matter yield, leaf area indices and crop growth rate. Seed yield increased, mainly due to greater number of pods per plant and per unit area with rate of phosphorus application. Seed protein content increased with phosphorus application with a concomitant decrease in oil content in the field trials. However, the pot trials showed reverse situation. Planting at higher density (44.4 plants/m2) produced higher dry matter and other growth components than at lower density (33.3 plants/m2). Seed yield was higher for both cultivars at higher density. Plant population did not influence seed protein and oil contents.

Source: KNUST
The effects of plant density and planting date on the growth, yield, storability and viability of two soyabean varieties

Experiments were conducted at the Arable Crop Farm at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (6° 43’N, 1°36’W) in 1990 and 1991 to study the effects of plant population density and planting date on the growth, yield, storability and viability of two soyabean varieties TGX 539-5E, an early-maturing and TGX 297-1OF, a medium-maturing variety. The two varieties differed in their growth characteristics. While TGX 539-5E formed pods earlier reached maturity earlier and produced more seed protein, TGX 297-1OF produced more shoot dry matter owing to higher growth rates, had a longer pod / filling period and so gave a higher seed yield, and produced more seed oil as well. The densest stand of 13.5 plants/m2 produced the greatest shoot dry matter and gave the highest seed yield. The planting which was done in April produced more dry matter, higher leaf area indices, higher seed yield and more seed oil than the later planting treatments. Late plantings in August and September, however, produced seeds with higher percent emergence and higher seed protein content. The major season (April to June) plantings produced seeds with higher moisture content which appeared to have led to a more rapid loss of viability during storage. Refrigeration at about 15°C maintained the viability of the seeds for a longer period than storage at ambient temperature averaging at 30°C. Reduction in percent emergence was associated more with declining seed protein content and higher seed moisture content than seed oil content.

Source: KNUST
The effects of Porter’s generic strategies on performance of hotels in Kumasi: moderation role of managerial capabilities

It was reported in 2013 that the total contribution of the industry to the global economy was 6,990.3 billion dollars accounting for 9.5% of the world’s GDP. While the global economy grew by 2% in 2013, the tourism industry grew by 3% creating about 4.7 million jobs (World tourism and travel council, 2014) . The euro monitor international considers the Tourism industry as the world’s largest industry, which contributes to 11.5% of the world’s GDP and also employs 12.5% of the labour in the world. Within the past few years there have been massive changes in the hotel industry in Kumasi and Ghana as a whole. New hotels are being established and the already existing ones are being renovated and upgraded to higher ranks. Competition has also intensified to the extent that hoteliers are doing everything possible to outperform others such as poaching the employee of competitors. As a result this particular topic; the effects of porter’s generic strategies on performance of hotels in Kumasi: moderation role of managerial capabilities was chosen to help understand the motivation behind this rapidly changing trend. The objectives of the study were to; examine the effects of cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy and Managerial Capabilities on performance of hotels in Kumasi. The Data was collected from a sample size of hundred respondents from Hotels in Kumasi through questionnaires. The primary data was then analysed with SPSS. The study adopted quantitative approach to reveal that cost leadership and differentiation strategies had positive impacts on the performance of hotels in the Kumasi even though differentiation strategy was most significant and that, managerial capabilities greatly moderated the relation between the independent variables and performance. These recommendations are as follows; first subsequent studies should include many other relevant hotels to widen the sample size, hotels should adopt the best strategies that best fit their company to enhance performance, lastly managers must ensure that employees are satisfied so as to give out their best to satisfy customers.

Source: KNUST
Effects of poultry droppings, compost & natural rubber sludge on bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil

This study aimed at using bioremediation, as the primary method of decontamination for a soil contaminated with waste petroleum oil in a mining area. The soil was obtained from Adamus Resources Ltd (ADL), a mining company located in the Western Region of Ghana. The experiment was carried out in the Laboratory using three levels of nitrogen concentrations of 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.6% from three different organic nutrient supplements namely: Compost(C), Poultry droppings (PD), and natural Rubber processing sludge (RS). A baseline study was carried out on the soil as well as the three organic nutrient supplements and the result of the baseline study shows that the soil contains only 0.03% nitrogen and 0.12% phosphorus with a C: N ratio of 80:3 indicating that the soil lacks the required level of nitrogen for optimum bioremediation to take place. Approximately 1kg composite samples of the oil contaminated soil were placed in plastic containers and were then treated with 0.2%N C, 0.2%N PD, 0.2%N RS, 0.4%N C, 0.4%N PD, 0.4%N RS, 0.6%N C, 0.6%N PD, 0.6%N RS and the one without nutrient supplement serving as the control. During the eight weeks incubation period, the pH, microbial counts, TPH, as well as nutrient levels were monitored periodically. At the end of the eight weeks of incubation, 95.41%, 99.06%, 93.53%, 91.82%, 92.13%, 90.92%, 83.17%, 81.33%, 86.55 % of the 1009.12 mg/kg initial TPH concentration in the contaminated soil, were degraded in the soil samples treated with 0.2%N C, 0.2%N PD, 0.2%N RS, 0.4%N C, 0.4%N PD, 0.4%N RS, 0.6%N C, 0.6%N PD, 0.6%N RS respectively and these were significantly higher at p ˂ 0.05 relative to the 50.20% recorded by the control soil. It was evident that the addition of the organic nutrient supplements positively aided the biodegradation of the petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil. Among the different N concentrations, the 0.2 % N concentrations recorded the best results in all the three organic nutrient supplements and the poultry droppings was the best among the other amendment materials.

Source: KNUST
The effects of poultry manure and NPK fertilizer on hydrological and physical properties, growth and yield of garden eggs (Solanum melongena) in a sandy soil

Field experiment was conducted during the rainy season at the experimental field of the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Collage of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources, KNUST to test the effects of poultry manure and NPK fertilizer on the hydrophysical properties of a sandy soil, growth and yield of garden eggs. There were five treatments with five replications. The experiment was laid in Randomized Complete Block Design. Data were collected on the following soil physical and hydraulic properties: bulk density, total porosity, aeration porosity, gravimetric water content, volumetric water content, infiltration amount, sorptivity, aggregate stability, steady state infiltrability and hydraulic conductivity. Plant height, leaf area index and yield were the plant parameters collected on the garden eggs. The poultry manure decreased the dry bulk density, increased the total porosity, increased the moisture content, decreased infiltration amount and hydraulic conductivity. On the other hand plant height, leaf area index and yield increased with increase poultry manure application. However, there were no significant improvement in aggregate stability and aeration porosity. The mineral fertilizer did not show any significant improvement in any of the parameters. Poultry manure was therefore found to improve the hydrophysical properties of the sandy soil, growth and yield of garden eggs. The significant decreases in water entry and movement suggest that poultry manure application can minimize excessive leaching of plant nutrients in sandy soil.

Source: KNUST
Effects of pre-germination treatments and storage periods on germination, vigour, chemical and health composition of seeds of three cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) cultivars

Seeds of three cultivars of cassava were collected from the CSIR-Crops Research Institute at Fumesua in the Ashanti Region to determine the effect of storage periods and seed pregermination treatments on the germination percentage, physicochemical and health properties of seeds from the three varieties of cassava. The experiment was conducted under laboratory conditions and a 3 x 3 x 7 factorial in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications was used. The first factor was cultivar at three levels (Ahwengyanka-1, Ahwengyanka-2 and Aworowa-3); the second factor was pre-germination treatments at seven levels (hot water, cold water, mechanical scarification, three concentrations of acid scarification and no treatment as the control); the third factor was storage period at three levels (no storage, three months storage and six months storage). The study revealed that seeds of cassava stored for up to three months produced about 40% germination after undergoing the various pre-germination treatments. Seeds of the Aworowa-3 cultivar stored for six months produced the highest germination percentage of 61.0%. Seeds mechanically scarified with sand paper produced the highest germination percentage of 48.9% whereas seeds with no treatment recorded the least percentage of 34.8%. Seven fungi pathogens were identified on the three cultivars of cassava seeds irrespective of the cultivar and period of storage. The study concluded that Aworowa-3 seeds without storage produced a higher germination percentage than Ahwengyanka-1 and Ahwengyanka-2 seeds without storage but all the seeds of the three varieties had the highest germination percentage when stored for six months.

Source: KNUST