ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Institutional Effects on National Health Insurance Digital Platform Development and Use: The Case of Ghana

The purpose of this study is to understand institutional effects on digital platform development and use for national health insurance in a developing country. Information systems research on digital platforms for the health sector has focused more on healthcare. Less research exists on health insurance. This study, therefore, addresses the research gap by focusing on digital platform for national health insurance service in a developing country. The study employs qualitative, interpretive case study as methodology and institutional theory as analytical lens to investigate regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional effects on digital platform development and use for national health insurance in Ghana. The findings show the institutional enablers as: (1) health-seeking culture; (2) mobile network penetration and use; and (3) appropriate laws and regulations. Conversely, the constraints are (1) Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) functionality; and (2) extended family system.

Source: UG
Institutional factors and farmers’ adoption of conventional, organic and genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso

Organic farming and genetically modified (GM) crops technologies are currently being promoted as alternatives to conventional farming that is seen as unsustainable. However, institutional constraints can impede the adoption of even the most sustainable technology. This paper analysed the effect of institutional factors on farmers’ adoption of conventional, organic and GM cotton in Burkina Faso. Building on the expected utility model and institutional theory, a multinomial logistic regression was performed using farmers’ survey data from the 2014–2015 production season. The results showed that subsidies on fertiliser and credit for cereals production, the power of farmers’ association and that of the cotton company favoured the adoption of conventional and GM cotton at the expense of organic cotton. In order to succeed, organic cotton projects need to include components that help farmers to access organic fertilisers for cereals production. They also need to involve the cotton companies that are the most powerful stakeholders of the cotton sector. Extension services are necessary for both organic and GM cotton adoption. Other important factors to consider include farmers’ education, the potentials of the technologies, the good agro-ecological conditions, the continued involvement of women, the availability of virgin lands and the closeness of farmers to their farms.

Source: UG
Institutional governance and management systems in Sub-Saharan Africa higher education: developments and challenges in a Ghanaian Research University

This article examines the developments and challenges of higher education in developing countries. Using a thorough qualitative interview of deans, directors and heads of Department of the University of Ghana, this paper draws on their analysis to discover unexplored issues that affect the universities in developing countries. The study identifies weakness in institutional policies and infrastructure deficiency of higher education in Ghana as key challenging factors. Findings also show congestion of students in academic facilities of learning, teaching overloads and lack of research facilities as key factors hampering academic development in higher education. Therefore, the work advocates for the development of policies that take into account the institutional realities in the field of higher education. Governmental policies aimed at enhancing higher education in developing economies must first improve the existing institutional set up for their chance of success.

Source: UG
Institutional mortality rate and cause of death at health facilities in Ghana between 2014 and 2018

The epidemiological transition, touted as occurring in Ghana, requires research that tracks the changing patterns of diseases in order to capture the trend and improve healthcare delivery. This study examines national trends in mortality rate and cause of death at health facilities in Ghana between 2014 and 2018. Institutional mortality data and cause of death from 2014–2018 were sourced from the Ghana Health Service’s District Health Information Management System. The latter collates healthcare service data routinely from government and non-governmental health institutions in Ghana yearly. The institutional mortality rate was estimated using guidelines from the Ghana Health Service. Percent change in mortality was examined for 2014 and 2018. In addition, cause of death data were available for 2017 and 2018. The World Health Organisation’s 11th International Classification for Diseases (ICD-11) was used to group the cause of death. Institutional mortality decreased by 7% nationally over the study period. However, four out of ten regions (Greater Accra, Volta, Upper East, and Upper West) recorded increases in institutional mortality. The Upper East (17%) and Volta regions (13%) recorded the highest increase. Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were the leading cause of death in 2017 (25%) and 2018 (20%). This was followed by certain infectious and parasitic diseases (15% for both years) and respiratory infections (10% in 2017 and 13% in 2018). Among the NCDs, hypertension was the leading cause of death with 2,243 and 2,472 cases in 2017 and 2018. Other (non-ischemic) heart diseases and diabetes were the second and third leading NCDs. Septicaemia, tuberculosis and pneumonia were the predominant infectious diseases. Regional variations existed in the cause of death. NCDs showed more urbanregion bias while infectious diseases presented more rural-region bias. Conclusions This study examined national trends in mortality rate and cause of death at health facilities in Ghana. Ghana recorded a decrease in institutional mortality throughout the study. NCDs and infections were the leading causes of death, giving a double-burden of diseases. There is a need to enhance efforts towards healthcare and health promotion programmes for NCDs and infectious diseases at facility and community levels as outlined in the 2020 National Health Policy of Ghana.

Source: UG
An institutional perspective on application programming interface development and integration

Purpose – Digital platforms increase their function and scope by leveraging boundary resources and complementary add-on products from third-party developers to interact with external entities and producers. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are essential boundary resources developers use to connect applications, systems and platforms. This notwithstanding, previous API studies tend to focus more on the technical dimensions, with little on the social and cultural contexts underpinning API innovations. This study relies on the new (neo) institutional theory (focusing on regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars) as an analytical lens to understand the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative case study methodology and relies on phone calls and a semi-structured in-depth interview approach of a Ghanaian digital music platform to uncover the institutional forces affecting API integration. Findings – The findings reveal that regulative institutions such as excessive tax regimes mostly constrained API development and integration initiatives. However, other regulative institutions like the government digitalization agenda enabled API integration. Normative institutions, such as the growing use of e-payment options, enabled API integration in digital music platforms. Cultural-cognitive institutions like employee ego constrained the API integration process in music digital platforms. Originality/value – This study primarily contributes to deepening understanding of the relevant literature by exploring the institutional forces that affect API integration among digital firms in a developing economy. The study also uncovered a new form of an institution known as motivational institution as an enabler for API development and integration in digital music platforms.

Source: UG
Institutional perspectives of climate-smart agriculture: A systematic literature review

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is increasingly seen as a promising approach to feed the growing world population under climate change. The review explored how institutional perspectives are reflected in the CSA literature. In total, 137 publications were analyzed using institutional analysis framework, of which 55.5% make specific reference to institutional dimensions. While the CSA concept encompasses three pillars (productivity, adaptation, and mitigation), the literature has hardly addressed them in an integrated way. The development status of study sites also seems to influence which pillars are promoted. Mitigation was predominantly addressed in high-income countries, while productivity and adaptation were priorities for middle and low-income countries. Interest in institutional aspects has been gradual in the CSA literature. It has largely focused on knowledge infrastructure, market structure, and hard institutional aspects. There has been less attention to understand whether investments in physical infrastructure and actors' interaction, or how historical, political, and social context may influence the uptake of CSA options. Rethinking the approach to promoting CSA technologies by integrating technology packages and institutional enabling factors can provide potential opportunities for effective scaling of CSA options. © 2018 by the authors.

Source: UG
Institutional pressures and accountability processes in pursuit of sustainable development goals: Insights from Ghanaian indigenous oil companies

This paper aims at exploring the institutional pressures and accountability processes in pursuit of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in indigenous oil companies in Ghana. Applying a qualitative research strategy, semi-structured interviews with 20 company managers and other industry stakeholders were used to collect in-depth and rich empirical data. In pursuit of the SDG agenda, the indigenous oil companies appear to be sensitive to both internal and external stakeholder pressure. However, the coercive pressures from regulators did not always result in the companies imple menting actual change. Instead, coercive pressures from non-governmental actors have taken on the role of ‘regulator’ of organisational practices. Also, internal forces of change were mainly the foreign partner's audit pressure and management commit ment to enhance company reputation. Beyond the institutional pressures to incorpo rate SDGs into business practices, the finding adds fresh perspectives to the three logical steps of SDG accountability processes used by the companies to track their contribution to SDG implementation and reporting, namely: data collection, SDG per formance measurement, and communication of SDG outcomes. Finally, the study dis covers that the companies are making little progress towards the achievement of the SDGs because of financial limitations, rigid organisational environments that prevent change, and a lack of a standardised institutional framework. The findings suggest that in order for an organisation to gain legitimacy, its SDG agenda must incorporate the concerns of non-governmental actors and local communities into its corporate decision-making. Failure to meet the needs of these essential stakeholders may jeopardise the legitimacy of organisation which will threaten its survival.

Source: UG
Institutional pressures, green supply chain management practices on environmental and economic performance: A two theory view

The adoption of green practices within and outside organizational boundaries is imperative to ascertain environmental and economic performance goals. This article examined whether internal and external green supply chain management (GSCM) practices have the same or different kinds of regulatory, market, or competitive pressures. We employed institutional theory to identify different kinds of pressures, and resource dependence theory to explore the impact of internal and external GSCM practices on performance. An empirical study was conducted by collecting data through a structured questionnaire administered in Pakistan to the executives in the manufacturing industry. A total of 207 responses were used for data analysis by employing the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Normative pressures were found to be the most significant in both internal and external GSCM practices, while coercive and mimetic pressures positively affected internal and external GSCM practices, respectively. Internal GSCM practices proved to be more significant in improving environmental performance, and also had a substantial impact on external GSCM practices. In contrast, External GSCM practices had a significant positive effect on economic performance, while environmental performance also contributed to improving economic performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed for academics, policymakers, and industry practitioners. © 2018 by the authors.

Source: UG
Institutional quality and social cost of intermediation in Africa: Does the level of financial market development matter?

This article examines the effect of institutional quality on social cost of intermediation in high and low-developed financial markets across 29 African countries between 2006 and 2013. Employing bootstrap-quantile and two-step system generalized methods of moments models with bank-level data of about 330 banks, the results provide interesting and new insights. The results show that improvement in institutional quality in high- or low-developed financial markets translates into reduced social cost of intermediation for society. However, it is evident from the results that improvement in institutional quality is more robust, persistent and weightier in reducing the social cost of intermediation in low-developed financial markets, which are often characterized by with weak regulatory regimes and enforcement. Hence, improvement in institutional quality shores up regulatory supervision, monitoring and enforcement which translates into heavier dampening of social cost of financial intervention in less developed financial markets. Moreover, bank size, credit shocks, return on equity and liquidity are key drivers of social cost of intermediation both in low- and high-developed financial markets. These findings have policy implications and recommendations for policymakers and regulators of financial institutions. Policymakers and regulators, especially those in less developed financial markets, must endeavour to create, implement and advanced mechanisms and enabling environment that enhances the quality of institutions since improved institutional quality reduces social cost of interaction to the benefit of society

Source: UG
Institutional roles in enhancing assets adaptation of urban poor

Population growth has increased the number of informal settlements and unplanned structures within the urban areas. Most often, the urban poor suffer since they are found within urban slums with poor facilities. Even though government institutions are expected to develop assets within the urban areas, other institutions such as the Civil Society Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations, and traditional authorities can play certain roles to comple ment government efforts in this direction. However, studies into the roles of these institutions in enhancing the assets of the urban poor such as human, social, physical, financial, and natural have received less attention. To address this literature gap, this study employed the explanatory mixed-method approach to investigate the topic in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, and Sagnerigu Municipality in Ghana. The study reveals that the roles played by the government and other institutions are inadequate and target different assets whilst the urban poor are interested in other assets. The urban poor believe that they are vulnerable and need support from various institutions to enhance their assets. Traditional authorities’ roles are by mere consultation which can impede the development of assets for the urban poor. The study recommends that these institutions increase their commitment and collaborate with urban residents to enhance the assets adaptation to achieve the sustainable cities agenda. The study provides guidelines for policymakers, public and private institutions towards assets enhancement and adds to the limited literature on assets adaptation for the urban poor.

Source: UG
Institutionalizing citizen participation and community representation in natural resource management: Lessons from the social responsibility agreement negotiation in Ghana

Many attempts to institutionalize community-based natural resource management have focused on mechanisms to secure accountable representation through participation. Within the framework of co-management, negotiation has become a prominent strategy for dealing with conflict. Using a case study of the negotiation of the social responsibility agreement for acquisition of timber rights in Ghana, the paper explores citizen expectations of participation compared with reality and the factors influencing citizen preference. Specific lessons learned were the need to be sensitive to opening social and political spaces for citizen participation, flexibility to allow dynamic interplay between the influencing factors and the representation process, and some empowerment interventions to create civil consciousness to ensure demand for downward accountability. © Oxford University Press and Community Development Journal. 2007 All rights reserved.

Source: UG
Institutions and African Economies: An Overview

This article presents an overview of the current special issue ‘Institutions and African Economies’. The findings include: (1) greater prevalence of democratic regimes improved both agricultural productivity and the overall growth of African economies, consistent with ‘new institutionalism’; (2) higher institutional quality involving more binding constraints on the executive branch of government would raise economic growth via increased prevalence of ‘syndrome- free’ regimes; (3) in more democratic regimes, there is less corruption, but greater risk of conflict, from resource rents; (4) Nigeria represents a good illustrative case of the potentially corrosive nature of resource rents with the policy implication that distributing the rents to the public might provide a solution to the resource-curse problem; and (5) while employment protection regulation does not appear consequential, greater difficulty in doing business results in less job growth in African manufacturing in the long term.

Source: UG
Institutions and African Economies: An Overview

This article presents an overview of the current special issue Institutions and African Economies. The findings include: (1) greater prevalence of democratic regimes improved both agricultural productivity and the overall growth of African economies, consistent with "new institutionalism"; (2) higher institutional quality involving more binding constraints on the executive branch of government would raise economic growth via increased prevalence of "syndrome-free" regimes; (3) in more democratic regimes, there is less corruption, but greater risk of conflict, from resource rents; (4) Nigeria represents a good illustrative case of the potentially corrosive nature of resource rents, with the policy implication that distributing the rents to the public might provide a solution to the resource-curse problem; and (5) while employment protection regulation does not appear consequential, greater difficulty in doing business results in less job growth in African manufacturing in the long term.

Source: UG
Instructional practices in physical education setting: Teachers’ utilization of instructional cues, supervision and frequency of pre-service teachers’ participation in netball activities

Instructional cues (IC) regularly occur in physical education (PE) practical lessons. However, not much research has been conducted into the effectiveness of these cues in teaching and learning environment. It is also noted that students generally exhibit low interest in netball activities, not only in the colleges of education but across all levels of education in Ghana. The study was based on pedagogical research in PE setting where we investigated teacher’s utilization of instructional cues in teaching shooting skill in netball. We also investigated issues relating to supervision and the frequency of pre-service teachers’ participation in netball activities. A total of 81 participants were randomly sampled for the study. They were composed of four PE teachers and 77 pre-service teachers from the first-year group of three selected Colleges of Education (CoE) in the Volta Region, Ghana. The study was descriptive in nature. A Senior University Lecturer with vast experience in research inspected self-developed data collection instrument and approved its capability of collecting data for the study. Frequency and percentage analyses of data were performed and presented in tables, graphs and charts. Major findings of the work revealed low level of supervision of pre-service teachers in netball activities. Participation level in netball activities and knowledge of basic netball skills were also found to be low among pre-service teachers. However, in the 60 minutes video-taped lesson, the rate per minute of constructive instructional cues (CIC) were higher than the rate per minute of destructive instructional cues (DIC), indicating that PE teachers were largely able to control destructions during utilization of instructional cues (IC) in teaching practical lessons involving netball shooting skill.

Source: UG
Instructional Practices, Barriers to Quality Teaching and Status of Physical Education in Public Primary Schools

The study examined 1) instructional practices of teachers and regularity of teaching PE 2) adequacy of teacher education for teaching PE 3) status of PE as a school subject and 4) barriers to effective teaching of PE in the public primary schools of Volta Region, Ghana. The study design was cross-sectional descriptive survey. Multistage sampling technique yielded a sample of 636 subjects out of estimated population of 9,165 from six randomly sampled districts in the Volta Region of Ghana. Validated and reliable self-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Pre-data analyses were performed to clean data from probable errors during data entering. All data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, Version 17). The study found that a large number of teachers do not follow prescriptions of lesson time table for teaching PE in the public primary schools, neither do they regularly teach PE, write lesson notes, attend workshops nor get supervised. According to the study, most teachers of public primary schools received inadequate knowledge in PE before starting professional carrier as teachers of PE. In comparison with other curricular subjects such english, maths and science, most teachers rated PE as having lower status as a school subject. From the study, an increase in the quality of teacher education programme in PE was associated with a corresponding increase in the frequency at which PE lessons were taught while a decrease in the quality of teacher education programme in PE was associated with an increase in teacher-related barriers to effective teaching of PE in public primary schools. It was recommended that Ghana Education Service (GES) and schools should liaise to supply and improvise teaching resources, create opportunities for workshops/professional development for teachers in public primary schools.

Source: UG