Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica

Entrepreneurs’ Emotional Intelligence and Sustainability of Livestock Businesses in Nigeria

Cosmas Anayochukwu Nwankwo — 2024-10-31

Sustainability of livestock businesses in Nigeria and beyond have attracted views of researchers, as many livestocks businesses have failed because of the inability of entrepreneurs to apply the right entrepreneurial mindset in their respective businesses. The paper examined the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) on sustainability of entrepreneur’s livestock business in Nigeria. The study utilises the quantitative research approach. The study population consist of all employers and employees of registered livestock firms in Anambra State, Nigeria, as 363 staff and employers were sampled. Multiple regression analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The research found that EI has significant effect on sustainability of livestock business. Based on the foregoing, the study recommended that to enhance the rapid attainment of organisational objectives, the organisation should establish a conducive environment that promotes the development of cognitive ability among all staff in the organisation.

An Integrative Approach to Operationalizing Strategic Leadership in Banking Institutions

Jealous Chishamba — 2024-10-31

This study aimed to operationalize strategic leadership (SL) constructs, assess strategic leaders’ alignment, and prioritize their significance in influencing strategic management practices. Building on SL theories, themes, and metrics within strategic management, the paper integrates diverse scholarly perspectives, addressing gaps in SL operationalization, measurement, and construct development. A semi-systematic and integrative literature review was complemented by empirical research conducted with 13 banks in Zimbabwe, representing at least 80% of the country’s banking sector market share. Purposive sampling yielded a 76% response rate from 380 strategic leaders, and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Six key SL constructs were identified for operationalization: determining strategic direction, leveraging core competencies, developing human and social capital, sustaining an effective corporate culture, emphasizing ethical practices, and establishing strategic controls, with determining strategic direction ranking highest in influencing strategic outcomes. The study highlights the need for a unified SL measurement tool, emphasizing the integration of SL constructs to enhance strategic management practices and improve leadership effectiveness in the banking sector. It offers a holistic, multi-theoretical measurement framework for SL, adaptable across contexts, and provides practical insights for evaluating SL’s role in driving organizational outcomes.

Conceptualizing Strategic Leadership: Theories, Themes, and Varying Perspectives

Jealous Chishamba — 2024-10-31

Objectives: This paper conceptualizes strategic leadership (SL) by exploring foundational theories, central themes, and varying perspectives, emphasizing its role in aligning vision, setting strategic direction, and developing dynamic capabilities required for sustainable competitiveness. Prior Work: Building on the intersection of strategy and leadership theories, the paper integrates diverse frameworks addressing gaps in executive leadership literature, with theories like upper echelons, managerial cognition, and the resource-based view being central to the SL discourse. Approach: Employing a semi-systematic and integrative literature review, this paper critically examines SL through relevant theories, themes, and leadership perspectives, including top-down, collaborative, and distributed models. Results: SL is best operationalized through constructs emphasizing leaders’ cognitive abilities to develop mature strategic management processes, including determining direction, adapting to dynamic environments and managing core competencies. Implications: This study refines the understanding of SL as leadership “of” organizations rather than “in” organizations, offering insights for academics and strategic leaders on integrating strategic thinking across all levels to enhance strategic outcomes linked to key performance indicators (KPIs). Value: The paper presents a multidisciplinary SL framework, bridging theoretical insights and practical gaps, positioning SL as a catalyst for translating organizational strategy into sustainable competitive advantage (SCA)

The Age of Digital Entrepreneurship and Digital Information Processing for Entrepreneurs: Are the Entrepreneurs in the Rural, Limpopo Province, South Africa Ready for This Era?

Mankolo Xaverine Lethoko — 2024-10-31

The digital divide between urban and rural areas persists as a major challenge in achieving inclusive and sustainable development in South Africa. In rural provinces like Limpopo in South Africa, communities face significant barriers in accessing and utilizing digital skills, hindering their entrepreneurial potential and limiting their ability to benefit from digital platforms that can enhance and sustain their businesses. The problem lies in the lack of digital literacy and infrastructure challenges that impede entrepreneurs and rural communities from effectively utilizing digital tools and participating in the digital economy. This is a conceptual paper based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as its framework which advocates for usage of technology by entrepreneurs. In the realm of digital entrepreneurship, TAM plays a crucial role in understanding and fostering technology adoption by entrepreneurs (Venkatesh et al., 2012; Agarwal & Prasad, 2013). Recent studies highlight its relevance for digital entrepreneurs navigating a rapidly evolving technological landscape (Sussman & Siegal, 2017; Liang et al., 2017). As digital ventures rely heavily on user acceptance, integrating TAM into the entrepreneurial process becomes strategic. However, in South Africa, the access to Information Technology Infrastructure is always a problem and entrepreneurs end up conducting their business using traditional methods of advertising such as mouth to mouth and also traditional payment methods like usage of cash. This study recommends that entrepreneurs in Limpopo should adopt the usage of technology as soon as possible in order to grow and sustain their businesses.

Bank Credit and Agricultural Growth in Zimbabwe: Analysing Effectiveness and Impact

Collin Chikwira — 2024-10-31

Objective: The study examines the efficiency and influence of bank loans on Zimbabwe's agricultural growth. The main objectives are to assess how bank lending affects agricultural output and identify the key factors affecting its effectiveness. Approach: This research uses the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) approach to examine the long-term and short-term relationships between bank credit and agricultural output. Results: Extending credit availability may help agricultural development, as the study indicates a strong long-term positive association between bank credit and agricultural production. However, the short-term study yields inconsistent findings, with variations brought on by outside forces, including shifting policies, unstable economies, and unfavourable weather patterns. This suggests that structural problems in the banking or agriculture sectors impede quick recovery. While bank credit is critical in enhancing agricultural growth in Zimbabwe, its effectiveness is contingent upon a stable economic environment and supportive policies. Implication: Therefore, to maximise the impact of bank lending, policymakers should focus on improving financial infrastructure, mitigating external risks, and creating a conducive environment for agricultural investments. Value: This study uniquely examines the impact of bank credit on agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe using a comprehensive set of economic and non-economic variables and advanced econometric methods, providing new, context-specific insights and practical policy recommendations for enhancing agricultural growth in a challenging environment.

How Does Financial Risk Management Impact Financial Performance of Microfinance Banks?

Lukman Adebayo-Oke Abdulrauf — 2024-10-31

Microfinance banks (MFBs) in Nigeria play an important role of delivering financial services to the underserved population and low-income individuals. MFBs are exposed to various financial risks, including borrower defaults and liquidity management, posing serious survival threats. We apply the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) regression, on published data from 1993 to 2022, to confirm how financial risk management of the MFBs in Nigeria impacts their financial performance. The finding from the short run of the main (ROA) estimation identifies that except for the loan-deposit magnitude, which is insignificant, the coefficients on capital adequacy strength, risk asset quality, liquidity strength and loan loss provision are significant. For the long run, capital adequacy, liquidity, risk asset quality and loan loss provision have significant coefficient while loan-deposit magnitude has an insignificant coefficient. The lag term of error correction is negative (-1.60) and significant, implying that the model would converge to equilibrium upon any perturbation. Similar results are evident when the return on equity is considered as a measure of financial performance to verify the sensitivity of the outcomes. This suggests the estimation is not sensitive to any performance measure used. The findings underscore the importance of capital adequacy and liquidity strength for improving the financial performance as well as the detrimental impact of risk asset quality and high loan loss provisions on the MFBs. To ensure enhanced financial performance, sustainability and effectiveness, we recommend offer that policy markets should different regulatory measures including recapitalization, reshaping of risk asset holdings, regulating loan loss provisions, clarifying regulations on loan-deposit ratios, and regulating liquidity levels.