What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

The purpose of the study is to examine the existence of causality between macroeconomic variables and stock returns in Ghana. The study employs monthly time series data spanning the period January 1995 to December 2010. Unit root test is performed using ADF, PP and KPSS tests. Then, Vector Error Correction (VECM) model is used to establish long-run and short-run relationship between stock performance and macroeconomic variables. In order to determine the existence or otherwise of causality, the Granger Causality tests is performed. Impulse response functions and forecast error variance decomposition are used to assess the stability of the relationship between stock returns and macroeconomic variables over time. The study reveals that a significant long run relationship exists between stock returns and inflation, money supply and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In the short-run, a significant relationship exists between stock returns and macroeconomic variables such as interest rate, inflation and money supply. In the short-run the relationship between stock returns and FDI is only imaginary. Our VECM coefficient shows that it takes approximately 20 months for the stock market to fully adjust to equilibrium position in case a macroeconomic shock occurs. Lastly, a causal relationship running from inflation and exchange rate to stock returns has been established. Then also, a causal relationship running from stock returns to money supply, interest rate and FDI has also been revealed. The findings imply that arbitrage profit opportunities exist in the Ghana stock market contrary to the dictates of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). In terms of original value,among the studies

http://www.aessweb.com/pdf-files/aefr%203(8),%201044-1062.pdf

Macroeconomic variables and stock market returns in ghana: any causal link?

Financial Management for Decision Making

Technology-enhanced auditing: Improving veracity and timeliness in social and environmental audits of supply chains

By testing a moderated mediation model, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of credit card self-efficacy in the relationship between credit card literacy and financial well-being. The authors further examine if credit card number moderates this effect.,Data for the study were collected from 427 college students. The PROCESS macros in IBM SPSS Statistics 23 was used to assess the hypothesized relationships.,Credit card literacy positively influences financial well-being through self-efficacy. However, this effect is stronger when college students own fewer credit cards.,Banks and credit card issuers, policymakers and colleges and universities should place a greater emphasis on credit card literacy programs that enhance students’ general understanding of credit card terms and conditions and confidence in their ability to effectively use and manage their credit cards.,To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between credit card literacy, self-efficacy and financial well-being.

Credit card literacy and financial well-being of college students: A moderated mediation model of self-efficacy and credit card number

This study investigated the impact of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on prices of maize, sorghum, imported rice and local rice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We estimated dynamic panel data models with controls for macroeconomic setting using general method of moments estimation. The study found that the COVID-19 outbreak led to increases in food prices of the sampled countries. Restrictions on movements or lockdowns in the wake of COVID-19 was associated with an increase in the price of maize only. We also found that exchange rate, inflation and crude oil prices exerted a detrimental effect on food prices. We recommend that governments of SSA countries invest in infrastructure that improves efficiencies in the food supply chain during pandemics. Providing adequate support to industries in the value chain will also improve food availability and food price stability post-COVID-19.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-8268.12525

COVID-19 and food prices in sub-Saharan Africa.

The paper examines the effect of exchange rate changes on consumer prices in Ghana using vector autoregression (VAR) models. Using a data set covering the periodn1990M01–2009M02, we find that the exchange rate pass-through to inflation is ‘incomplete’ and decreasing in Ghana. Our empirical results indicate a low but significant pass-through in the short run. We argue that the findings reflect the impact of increased openness and tighter monetary policy pursue by the central bank over the period

/pdf/exchange-rate-pass-through-in-ghana-4kzx693ku8.pdf

Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Ghana

This study examines how financial literacy, financial behaviour, family support (as another source of income), number of dependents, and retirement planning influence on the financial well-being of retirees in Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. A cross-sectional survey strategy was employed on 400 respondents randomly selected from 1500 members of the association to analyze the effect of financial literacy, financial behaviour, family support, number of dependents and retirement planning on financial wellbeing. It then tests their hypothesized relationships with the use of Partial Least Squares (PLS), a structural equation modelling technique. The results reveal that financial literacy, retirement planning and family support significantly impact the financial well-being of retirees. More importantly, the effect of family support and retirement planning on retirees’ financial well-being is stronger than the one of financial literacy. The findings imply that finance literacy and retirement planning should be promoted. In addition to policies aimed at bridging social cohesion and promoting family values should not be ignored the maximizing of financial well-being of retirees. The study contributes to the extant literature on financial literacy and provides evidence on the effect of financial literacy and financial planning on the financial well-being of retirees in a developing country. It has also provided support for the need of social cohesion.

/pdf/financial-literacy-and-financial-planning-implication-for-13jx7un6ao.pdf

Financial literacy and financial planning: Implication for financial well-being of retirees

This study explores how global economic policy uncertainty (EPU) shocks comove with stock returns (SR) of eight African countries—Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. The study employed daily data from December 2010 to December 2019 using wavelet coherence analysis. The results showed that global EPU comoves with most of the SR of African markets and was concentrated in the longer term, especially during the period between 2011 and 2019, although not substantially. The findings indicate that short-term investments in African stocks are less susceptible to global economic policy uncertainty. It is recommended that foreign investors could hedge agaist policy uncertainties by investing in stock listed in African Stock exchanges while appropriate country-level policies are deployed to manage long-term effect of EPU.

/pdf/economic-policy-uncertainty-and-stock-returns-of-africa-a-21h9yzomkw.pdf

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Returns of Africa: A Wavelet Coherence Analysis

This study provides an analysis of chaotic information transmission from the COVID-19 pandemic to global equity markets in a novel denoised frequency domain entropy framework. The current length of the pandemic data offers the opportunity to examine its role in the asymmetric behaviour patterns of investors according to time horizons and the diversification potentials available to them. We employ the total daily global confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 27 equity indices from December 31, 2019, to April 18, 2021. Our results corroborate the idea that diversification potentials are stronger in the short to medium term. The Global Index (higher risk) and Canada and New Zealand (lower risk) remain at both ends to pair some other equities to offer diversification prospects because of the transmission of information from COVID-19 to the selected equity markets. In addition, we provide the source of these diversification prospects as information flow rather than transmission of shocks, which is common in the literature. Furthermore, our results suggest detailed levels of risk (lower vis-a-vis higher) in the situation where they have been stripped of the noise in the market. The findings allow both investors and policymakers to make informed decisions based on the time horizons since the pandemic communicates different chaotic information with the lapse of time. This is imperative to avoid the negative consequences of the increasing infection rate on global stock markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Mathematical Problems in Engineering is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

/pdf/covid-19-as-information-transmitter-to-global-equity-markets-10eg5w8zbn.pdf

Siaw Frimpong

Papers

COVID-19 and food prices in sub-Saharan Africa.

Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Ghana

Financial literacy and financial planning: Implication for financial well-being of retirees

Economic Policy Uncertainty and Stock Returns of Africa: A Wavelet Coherence Analysis

COVID-19 as Information Transmitter to Global Equity Markets: Evidence from CEEMDAN-Based Transfer Entropy Approach