Journal of Business and Professional Studies (JBPS)
Established in 2007, the Journal of Business and Professional Studies (JBPS) (ISSN: 2676-2870), formerly known as the Journal of Business Research (JBR) (ISSN: 0855-0806), is an International journal published by the University of Professional Studies in collaboration with several universities and professional institutions. The journal publishes high quality original research relating to Business and Professional Studies, including but not limited to accounting, marketing, banking, law, information technology, and communication, which are refereed by Specialists and Experts in the fields of Business Management and the related fields.
Communicating Economic Relief Interventions in President Akufo-Addo’s COVID-19 Crisis Communication Updates 2–8: A Critical Discourse Analysis
This study examines how economic relief interventions were discursively constructed in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s COVID-19 Updates 2–8 and how the discourse represented confidence and resilience amid economic disruption. Drawing on Fairclough’s (1992, 1995, 2015) Critical Discourse Analysis, the study adopted a qualitative design to analyse transcripts of seven presidential updates delivered between March and April 2020. The analysis focused on economic-relief segments concerning the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, business support, tax relief, utility subsidies, food assistance, and financial support. Five discourse strategies emerged: policy specification, problem–solution framing, quantification/evidentialisation, beneficiary orientation, and legitimation. Quantification/evidentialisation was most frequent (37 occurrences), followed by policy specification and beneficiary orientation (28 each), legitimation (20), and problem–solution framing (16). These strategies represented government as capable, responsive, and committed, constructing confidence around governmental capacity and responsiveness. Resilience was constructed through problem–solution framing and policy specification, portraying economic disruption as serious but manageable through coordinated intervention and recovery pathways. Beneficiary orientation positioned vulnerable citizens, households, informal workers, and businesses as legitimate recipients of state protection. The study argues that economic-relief discourse functioned not merely to communicate policy but also as a form of crisis governance through which responsibility, institutional capacity, vulnerability, confidence, and resilience were constructed, contributing to scholarship on economic intervention and recovery in Ghana and crisis communication more broadly.
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Business and Professional Studies (JBPS)
Navigating Care: Behavioural Determinants of Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Delivery in Healthcare Organisations in the Greater Accra Region
Over the years, Ghana’s growing cultural and patient diversity has become increasingly evident in healthcare facilities, raising important concerns about how provider behaviours shape service delivery and health outcomes. However, little is known about how healthcare professionals’ behaviours influence service delivery within multicultural healthcare settings. This study explored the behavioural determinants shaping healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) delivery of adolescent sexual and reproductive health services (ASRHs) within healthcare organisations in the Greater Accra Region. The study employed a qualitative descriptive design, using two complementary theoretical frameworks; COM-B and Campinha-Bacote’s models to understand the behaviours of the service providers. The study focused on HCPs delivering adolescent sexual and reproductive health services (ASRHs) to migrant adolescents in selected facilities in Greater Accra Region. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 10 HCPs after saturation was reached. Data were collected through (4) in-depth interviews (IDIs), (4) key informant interviews (KIIs), and 6 in the FGD, some HCPs participated in more than one data collection method. The study found that HCPs had limited confidence and cultural competence to effectively address cultural and communication barriers during service delivery. These challenges hindered discussions on sensitive topics such as family planning and safe abortion, resulting in reliance on untrained interpreters and inadequate community outreach services. The study concludes that limited confidence and capability among HCPs led to sub-optimal care, undermining ASRH service delivery within multicultural healthcare organisations. The study informs organisational policies and workforce practices that strengthen behavioural competencies among HCPs and enhance the quality of care in culturally diverse...
adolescent sexual and reproductive health
Mobile Application Affordances and Perceived Strategic Competitiveness in an Emerging Market: The Mediating Role of Customer Digital Engagement
Mobile applications are important digital touchpoints between telecommunications operators and subscribers in emerging markets, yet less is known about how user-perceived application affordances relate to perceptions of operator competitiveness. This study applies Technology Affordances and Constraints Theory (TACT) because it focuses on the relational action possibilities that arise between technology features and users' goals, rather than only adoption intention or service-quality evaluation. Drawing additionally on the resource-based view (RBV), the study examines the association between mobile application affordances and subscriber-perceived strategic competitiveness in Ghana, with customer digital engagement as an intervening variable. A quantitative cross-sectional survey produced 256 usable responses from subscribers of the major mobile network operators in Ghana, and the proposed relationships were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show positive and statistically significant path relationships from mobile application affordances to perceived strategic competitiveness and customer digital engagement, and from customer digital engagement to perceived strategic competitiveness. The indirect path through customer digital engagement is also statistically significant, indicating partial indirect association. The study contributes by integrating a user-level affordance explanation with a strategic resource perspective and by identifying customer digital engagement as a pathway linking perceived application affordances with perceived competitive positioning. The findings are interpreted cautiously because the design is cross-sectional and because convergent-validity weaknesses remain for the MAA and CDE measures.
technology affordances and constraints theory
Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Marketing Skills that drive SMEs average annual sales performance within the context of Ghana
This study examines the dimensions of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) skills that drive average annual sales. Anchored in the Resource-Based View and entrepreneurial marketing theory, it investigates how specific EM skill dimensions (surveying skills, marketing communication skills, technology savviness, marketing planning skills, and collaborative skills) contribute to average annual sales performance. The study adopts a cross-sectional explanatory quantitative research design. Using simple random sampling technique, data were collected from 370 SMEs operating in the Greater Accra Metropolis using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were employed to examine the data. The study examined five hypotheses on entrepreneurial marketing skills' impact on SME sales. The strongest positive predictor was Technology Savvy followed by Surveying Skills which had a small but significant effect, supporting H1 and H3 respectively. Marketing Planning Skills had significant negative correlation with the response variable, which was not in line with H4. Marketing Communication Skills and Collaborative Skills were non-significant, rejecting H2 and H5 respectively. The study partially confirms RBV as Technology Savvy and Surveying Skills have positive impacts on SME sales, and Marketing Planning Skills have a negative impact. Marketing Communication and Collaborative Skills are non-significant and challenge some of the universal assumptions and point to the fact that contextual factors may have an impact on competency-performance relationships in Ghanaian SMEs. SME owners and managers should prioritize digital capabilities, real-time market intelligence, and opportunity-driven decision-making to enhance average annual sales. Emphasis should be placed on flexible and adaptive marketing practices rather than rigid planning structures.
The Student-As-Customer Debate Towards a Transformational Higher Education: Quality, TQM, and Stakeholder Perspectives
This study analyses the student-as-customer metaphor in HE, interrogating its origins in Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, managerialism, and marketisation, and its implications for pedagogical practices and HE missions, as well as the fragmented debates surrounding its adoption. This study systematically reviewed the literature and synthesised scholarly perspectives across conceptions of quality, TQM implementation, and conceptualisations of the student role. The student-as-customer metaphor foregrounds a fundamental tension between academic autonomy and market accountability. While proponents of the metaphor cite enhanced institutional responsiveness and student empowerment, critics argue that it threatens pedagogical integrity, commodifies knowledge, and erodes the transformational agenda of HE. The study indicates that recontextualising the metaphor in HE from a public good to a private commodity may affect educational outcomes, calling for a balance in stakeholders’ perspectives.
Entrepreneurship Education and Student Venture Creation: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy among University Students in Ghana
Ghanaian universities increasingly use entrepreneurship education to prepare students for self-employment and venture creation, yet most existing evidence evaluates entrepreneurial intention rather than actual entrepreneurial behaviour. This study examines whether entrepreneurship education is associated with student venture creation and whether entrepreneurial self-efficacy explains this relationship. Guided by Social Cognitive Theory, the study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional design and draws on survey responses from university students in Ghana who had prior exposure to entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial self-efficacy were assessed with multi-item measures, while venture creation was captured through behavioural indicators reflecting business start-up, revenue generation, and active time invested in a venture. The measurement model was assessed for reliability and construct validity, and the hypothesised relationships were examined using structural equation modelling with bootstrap mediation analysis. The findings show that entrepreneurship education is strongly associated with entrepreneurial self-efficacy, whereas its direct relationship with venture creation is weak. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is positively associated with venture creation and carries the effect of entrepreneurship education to behaviour, indicating that education operates primarily through a psychological capability pathway. However, the modest translation of self-efficacy into venture activity highlights the continuing importance of structural conditions, including access to entrepreneurial networks, family business exposure, capital, and post-course support. The study contributes by shifting Ghanaian entrepreneurship education research from intention to behaviour, clarifying self-efficacy as a mediating mechanism, and identifying practical limits to education-only approaches to student entrepreneurship. The findings support stronger integration of experiential learning, incubation, mentorship, and resource access within university entrepreneurship programmes.
Human Resource Strategies for an Ageing Workforce and Knowledge Transfer in Ghanaian Public Sector Organisations: Evidence from CSIR-FRI
Population ageing is reshaping public-sector workforces and increasing the risk that organisations lose knowledge when experienced employees retire. This study examines how human resource strategies support an ageing workforce and institutional knowledge continuity at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research–Food Research Institute (CSIR–FRI), Ghana. Guided by Nonaka and Takeuchi’s SECI knowledge-creation model and Human Capital Theory, the study addresses three objectives: assessing the contribution of knowledge-transfer mechanisms to institutional knowledge preservation, identifying HR strategies used to support an ageing workforce, and examining the workforce-ageing challenges confronting the institute. A quantitative descriptive case-study design was employed. From a population of 71 employees, 60 were randomly selected and 43 questionnaires were returned, representing a 71.7% response rate. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the Relative Importance Index. Knowledge-transfer mechanisms were perceived to preserve institutional knowledge to a moderate extent by 53.5% of respondents. Training and development were the highest-ranked HR strategy (RII = 0.781), followed by succession planning (RII = 0.771), whereas health and wellness programmes received the lowest emphasis (RII = 0.702). Ageism and skills gaps were the highest-ranked challenges (RII = 0.762 each). The study shows that HR practices and knowledge-transfer arrangements exist but are not yet sufficiently integrated to secure knowledge continuity. It contributes context-specific evidence from a Ghanaian public research institution and demonstrates the value of combining age-inclusive HR practices with knowledge-conversion processes before experienced employees exit the organisation. The findings identify priorities for policy, succession planning, intergenerational learning, and knowledge repositories in Ghana.
Digitalisation of Healthcare Services in Ghana: From EMR Adoption to Routinised Use and Governance
Electronic medical records (EMRs) are widely positioned as foundational infrastructure for digital health transformation, yet adoption and routinised use remain uneven across hospitals in many low- and middle-income settings. This qualitative study examines how interacting technological, organisational, and environmental constraints shape EMR use in five Ghanaian health facilities in the Greater Accra Region, comprising three public hospitals and two private clinics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 stakeholders, including doctors, nurses, administrators, IT and health information personnel, and policy or oversight actors between January and March 2025 and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis guided by the Technology-Organisation-Environment framework. Findings reveal a stable hybrid documentation equilibrium in which downtime, device scarcity, and system performance limitations trigger paper-first workarounds followed by delayed data entry, resulting in duplicated effort, incomplete records, and declining confidence in EMRs as authoritative clinical records. Interoperability deficits further contributed to repeated registration and testing, while governance weaknesses, including poor identity control and limited auditability, reduced trust and documentation completeness. The study contributes by modelling adoption as a routinisation process driven by interacting constraints and by operationalising Ghana’s Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843), and Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), into actionable governance requirements for scalable and trustworthy EMR implementation.
Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework
Intervention Analysis of COVID-19: Implications for Fuel Prices in Ghana
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected health systems and economies worldwide, particularly the energy industry. As in many other countries, the energy industry in Ghana suffered major fallout as increasing uncertainty and dramatic swings in global fuel demand became key drivers. Fuel was an essential input that enabled economic activities to continue operating during the period of mobility restrictions. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fuel prices in Ghana from January 2016 to April 2023. An autoregressive integrated moving average model under the Box–Tiao intervention framework is used, with January 2021 taken as an intervention point corresponding to the structural change related to the loosening of pandemic-related mobility restrictions. Data from the pre-intervention period (2016–2020) are utilised to assess the fundamental dynamics of fuel prices and to produce counterfactual projections for the post-intervention phase. The COVID-19 effect is identified as the deviation between observed fuel prices and the predicted counterfactual path implied by the pre-pandemic ARIMA structure. The results suggest a statistically significant increase in the mean fuel price after the intervention. The estimated average causal effect is GH¢4.36 per litre. This means a relative increase of about 87% compared to the counterfactual scenario. The findings provide empirical evidence that the dynamics of fuel prices in Ghana underwent a structural change due to pandemic-related mobility restrictions and their subsequent relaxation. The research demonstrates the efficacy of intervention time-series models to identify the economic consequences of significant external shocks in emerging energy markets.
TikTok as a Digital Literacy Pathway for SMEs in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Ghana
TikTok is one of the world's fastest-growing social media applications, and it has moved beyond entertainment into a marketing and branding channel for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially in emerging markets where digital literacy is often low. Its role in building literacy remains unclear, so this study examines how entrepreneurs and their SMEs use TikTok to develop digital skills, drawing on Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. We conducted a multiple-case study of eight SMEs in Ghana and interviewed nine owners and managers. We analyzed the interviews with Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis, and six connected themes describe how TikTok use supports digital literacy: electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) as an adoption catalyst, learning through observation, demand-driven engagement, creative content development, user satisfaction, and business growth. These themes map onto DOI's attributes of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability, thereby extending the theory to social media skill development. The findings are exploratory, since they come from a small purposive sample, and they show how informal TikTok use can open a pathway to platform-specific skills and broader digital literacy in resource-limited SMEs. The study offers insights for policymakers, digital skills educators, and platform designers working on SME digital transformation in developing economies.
Countering Media Bias: The Role of Social Media Influencers in Reframing African Realities: A Content Analysis of Wode Maya’s Videos
This study aims to examine how Ghanaian YouTuber Wode Maya counters mainstream media bias by reframing African realities through digital storytelling, thereby contributing to media democratization and the decolonization of African narratives. Anchored in Agenda-Setting and Framing Theories, the study employed qualitative content analysis of nine videos published between 2017 and 2025. The analysis focused on identifying dominant themes, framing techniques, and counter narratives within Wode Maya’s content. The findings revealed three overarching themes: heritage and identity, everyday innovations, and natural assets, collectively framed as "Reclaiming African Pride and Potential." Wode Maya’s use of cinematic visuals, affirming language, and participatory storytelling reorients Africa’s image from dependency to agency. His framing techniques such as visual grandeur, dialogic framing, and participatory tasting challenge deficit-based portrayals, foreground local voices, and foster Pan-African consciousness. The study’s originality lies in its integration of Agenda-Setting and Framing Theories within a digital influencer context. It demonstrates how social media creators function as alternative media actors and presents an innovative framework for understanding how digital storytelling enables cultural reclamation, promotes authentic African representation, and supports the democratization of global media discourse.
Economic Impact of Judicial Digitalisation in Ghana: Institutional Alignment and Economic Governance
Judicial digitalisation has become a central component of contemporary governance reform. Although existing scholarship highlights the administrative and procedural benefits of electronic courts, limited attention has been given to how institutional conditions shape the economic returns of such reforms in lower-middle-income contexts. This study examines how judicial digitalisation in Ghana influences administrative efficiency and transaction costs and how institutional alignment mediates these effects. A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed using document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions with judicial administrators, legal practitioners, business representatives, and court users. Findings indicate that electronic filing systems, digital scheduling, and virtual hearings reduce clerical workload, improve procedural predictability, and lower selected travel and opportunity costs. However, these gains are uneven and depend on infrastructural adequacy, regulatory coherence, execution capacity, cybersecurity safeguards, and digital literacy. Comparative insights from Rwanda and South Africa further show that sustained economic returns from digital justice reforms require coordinated governance and long-term institutional commitment. The study refines institutional implementation and transaction-cost perspectives by demonstrating that digitalisation does not automatically generate economic benefits; rather, institutional alignment determines whether potential efficiency gains are realised and sustained. These findings contribute to digital governance scholarship and inform policy debates on sustainable judicial reform in developing economies.
Sustainable Ethical Leadership Practices on Managing Public Hospitals in Ghana: Insight from the University of Ghana Health Services
Sustainable ethical leadership promotes the influence of professionalism, and hospital reputations towards compliance, integrity, values, and confidentiality. The purpose of the study was to examined sustainable ethical leadership practices on managing public hospitals in Ghana, using the University of Ghana Health Services as a case study. The study used a qualitative approach to seek information about the participants opinions on sustainable ethical leadership. Thematic analysis was used to analyze participant views on the study. A total of 25 participants were comprised of 5 doctors, 5 nurses, 5 pharmacists, 5 lab technicians, and 5 patients, respectively. The participants understanding sustainable ethical leadership practices revealed the importance of addressing ethical dilemmas. The results of the study revealed that continue and sustainable culture that adhered to ethics, and code of conduct concreted into the promotion of quality healthcare delivery. Also, participants uphold ethical leadership to ensure that stakeholders have confidence in hospital management practices and healthcare worker commitment to patients’ satisfaction. The study provides leaders or hospital administrator insight on how to strengthen the mechanism and policy to transform the hospital in world class reputation. Furthermore, provision of qualified professionals, logistics and motivation will encourage professional from considering leaving the public hospital to another sector.
Municipal Solid Waste Management in Ghana: An Unmitigated Challenge to Environmental Sustainability?
This study examines solid waste management practices in selected municipalities in Accra, Ghana, where waste management remains a major challenge with significant environmental and household impacts. Guided by functionalism theory, the study investigates how current waste management practices affect environmental sustainability in a developing country context. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 54 participants, including 42 household representatives across seven municipalities, five garbage collectors, and one key municipal official from each municipality. Documentary evidence was also reviewed to complement the interview data. The findings reveal that waste management practices in the municipalities largely deviate from local by-laws and internationally accepted standards. Although some households rely on private waste collection contractors, many still engage in indiscriminate dumping and burning of waste. Factors such as weak monitoring of contractors, inadequate public education on waste management, and the perceived high cost of waste collection contribute to ineffective waste management. Overall, the study provides empirical evidence that poor municipal waste management undermines environmental sustainability and poses risks to public health and property.
Unregistered Vehicles and Insurance Exposure: Implications for Risk Management Among Adult Road Users
Unregistered vehicles present a growing challenge to road safety, regulatory compliance, and the effectiveness of compulsory motor insurance systems in developing economies. This study examines insurance coverage among unregistered vehicles in Ghana and analyses its implications for risk management among adult road users. Guided by risk management, stakeholder, and behavioural theories, the study adopted a qualitative research design to explore lived experiences and institutional perspectives. Data were collected through purposive, face-to-face interviews with twenty-three key stakeholders, including registered and unregistered vehicle owners, insurance underwriters, garage managers, and officers of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department. Thematic analysis supported by NVivo software revealed four interrelated themes: insurance compliance behaviour, perceived risks associated with unregistered vehicles, enforcement challenges, and stakeholder-specific risk management strategies. The findings show that insurance compliance among unregistered vehicle owners is irregular and largely enforcement-driven, while unregistered vehicles significantly increase financial, legal, and underwriting risks. Weak and inconsistent enforcement further undermines the effectiveness of insurance as a risk transfer mechanism, exacerbating moral hazard and adverse selection. The study concludes that unregistered vehicles weaken Ghana’s compulsory motor insurance framework and expose multiple stakeholders to avoidable losses.
Sector-Specific Analysis of Corporate Governance in Ghana: Implications of Board Size, and Female Board Chair Leadership for Board Independence and Gender Diversity
This study provides a sector-sensitive examination of corporate governance in Ghana, focusing on how board size and female board chair leadership shape board independence and gender diversity among firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. Using a firm-level panel dataset spanning 2011–2022, the analysis employs a Panel Seemingly Unrelated Regression (PSUR) framework to model the interdependent nature of governance outcomes and to isolate structural differences between financial and non-financial institutions. The results reveal that internal board architecture is a decisive determinant of governance quality. Across sectors, larger boards significantly enhance both board independence and gender diversity, reflecting their role in expanding the pool of monitoring and representational expertise. Female board chair leadership emerges as the most influential governance catalyst, strengthening board inclusiveness and autonomy, particularly within non-financial firms where regulatory oversight is less stringent. In contrast, ownership concentration, especially government and foreign ownership, tends to constrain gender diversity while promoting formal board independence, highlighting a persistent governance trade-off between control and inclusion. The study advances governance theory by demonstrating that leadership diversity and board configuration, rather than ownership structure alone, are the primary drivers of inclusive and effective boards in emerging markets. Practically, the findings suggest that firms can strategically strengthen governance by increasing board size and elevating women into board chair roles, while regulators should complement independence mandates with explicit diversity requirements to achieve balanced governance reform. Overall, the paper offers a rigorous and actionable framework for promoting both independent and gender-diverse boards within developing corporate environments.
Consumers’ Biospheric Values and Purchasing Intentions of Organic Products
Generally, firm-focused business strategy and sustainability issues may not be successful without the conscious effort to create responsible consumers who would embrace the idea of sustainable consumption. This is mainly because the consumer is believed to be at the end of all production processes. The motivation of this paper was to contribute to bridging the gap between firm-oriented strategies and measures against consumer-based measures that are meant to lead to a holistic fight against sustainable development or environmental sustainability. The study sought to understand how desirable goals guide consumers' lives (Schwartz, 1992) toward the environment. Thus, the biospheric values of consumers affect their purchasing intentions for organic products. A questionnaire was designed, and a quantitative method was employed for the study. This survey used valid data from 408 student participants in Ghana, administered through social media, specifically WhatsApp platforms. The study used the structural equation modelling analytical tool using the computer software Mplus version 8.2. The key finding was that the Ghanaian student consumer had strong biospheric values which contributed to the indirect influence of perceived inconvenience towards buying intentions of organic products. This finding has several implications for marketing practitioners, prospective investors or strategic marketers, policymakers and academic researchers. It contributes to the seemingly limited literature on green consumption which is seen as a gap between developed and developing countries.
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