Justice Nyigmah Bawole

University of Ghana | Legon · Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management

This article focused on the informal settlements and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable populations using a data set that covers many countries. We sample 47 cross-country data and employ political ecology and economic contagion to empirically respond to two related questions: What is the impact of pandemics on informal settlement dw...

This article focused on the preferred partnership arrangement in undertaking local economic development (LED) initiatives and the constraints to the effective participation of the private sector in LED initiatives in Ghana using the experience of the Kwahu South Municipal Assembly. With the help of a qualitative case study, key informants were purp...

The uncertainty surrounding the possibility of generating sufficient funds from international donors and other public financial resources to support climate action calls for the identification of alternative sources of climate finance options. Ensuring a reliable stream of funds to drive climate action requires the identification of diverse funding...

This paper concentrated on the ethical dilemma of natural resource management in Africa. The paper draws on relevant literature on natural resources in Africa, ethical issues in natural resource management as well as the concept of ethical dilemma. The African continent is rich with natural resources which range from oil, natural gas, minerals, for...

Purpose In the space of slums are many stakeholders; the extent to which their assistance contributes to slum administration is sparsely studied. The study aims to examine how external stakeholders contribute to slum administration within the Ghanaian context. Design/methodology/approach Using the stakeholder theory, the study used an exploratory...

Since 1992, Ghana has implemented several initiatives and reforms such as the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACAP), Right to Information (RTI) Act, Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with the goal of improving accountability while reducing corruption. These policies provide researchers with a...

This chapter surveys the literature on the political economy of oil and gas governance by focusing on the exploration, production, and sharing of revenues in the hydrocarbon sector. Emphasis is placed on the extent to which oil and gas governance is shaped by geopolitics and inter-party politics. We argue that the interests and ideas of key actors...

Purpose The study examined the influence of slums on policies affecting the slums' lives in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews (IDIs) was used to select 24 respondents using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Findings The findings show that slum dwellers have an adequate un...

At a time when uneven power dynamics are high on development actors agenda, this book will be an important contribution to researchers and practitioners working on innovation in development and civil society. While there is much discussion of localization, decolonization and shifting power in civil society collaborations in development, the debate...

This concluding chapter returns to the questions posed in the introductory chapter, reflects on the answers to these provided by the individual chapters, and reviews the main insights emerging from the five sections of the book. It also discusses an agenda for further exploration, research, design, and experimentation concerning reimagining civil s...

This chapter introduces current debate on civil society collaborations in development and summarizes the contributions of this book to that debate. It relates these contributions to identified needs for transformation in the collaborations between civil society organizations from Global South and those from the Global North and reviews initiatives...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to public service delivery but heightened citizens demand for services. We examined public sector reforms implemented in the Ghanian public sector to ensure public service continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using content analysis and key informant interviews we found that reforms such as fl...

Ghana has experimented with two social protection programmes: the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, and the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) pilot project aimed at reducing extreme poverty and enhancing the standard of living of beneficiaries. This study comparatively assessed how the LEAP programme and the JSDF-LEAP proj...

Purpose Slum discourse has attracted significant research interest among scholars. The study examined the policy framework for slum governance in Ghana with the goal of offering recommendations to structure slum management. Design/methodology/approach Anchored on exploratory qualitative methodology, the study utilized a purposive sampling techniqu...

This chapter surveys the literature on the political-economy of oil and gas governance by focusing on the exploration, production and revenue sharing in the hydrocarbon sector. Emphasis is placed on the extent to which oil and gas governance is shaped by geopolitics and interparty-party politics. We argue that the interests and ideas relative to th...

Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine the electricity challenges confronting slums in order to understand the health implications thereof. Design/methodology/approach The study utilized purposive sampling techniques supported by the convenience sampling method within the context of qualitative research to select 30 interviewees of varyin...

Cell phone usage has increased substantially in Ghana. Yet at the same time, the doctor-patient ratio is extremely low and congestion in hospitals is very common. To help solve those and other healthcare challenges, this paper employs a qualitative approach to examine the use of telemedicine in Africa, with Ghana as a case study. The paper uses a h...

Several governments today have endeavoured to increase participation, openness and transparency in their actions. The use of ICT is considered an effective and convenient way of promoting openness and transparency to reduce corruption and resolve the wicked developmental problems in Africa. Open innovation as citizen involvement in public service d...

The paper examines how corruption-induced inhibitions influence business-related corruption from the perspectives of business leaders in Ghana. Data were collected through focus group discussion with Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of multi-national and local companies operating in Ghana. The findings show that business leaders encounter multiple r...

Initiatives to map nonprofit organizations encompass efforts to define the boundaries of the sector and understand its scope and scale. As new technologies make it possible to digitize and analyze information in new ways, further questions about mapping civil society emerge. We integrate nonprofit scholarship, critical work on computational methods...

Poverty is ubiquitously chronic in Sub-Saharan Africa. Interventions to reduce the entrenched inequality by several government regimes have received mixed results as political elites spearhead many of these programs-cum-institutions hence moderate their full manifestation. Using the political settlement theory, the study interrogates the management...

This book analyses and evaluates the accomplishments, challenges, and approaches associated with the New Public Management (NPM) in Africa towards establishing context-specific interventions for public sector institutions' performance. Taking the reader through various business and management approaches, including leadership in the public sector, d...

Managing public bureaucracies with market models under New Public Management (NPM) is gaining traction in developing countries. However, the theoretical and empirical proclivities of NPM in the context of public bureaucracies have been controversial. In recent years, several attempts have been made to implement NPM-style reforms—management contract...

The challenges associated with the Weberian model of Public Administration (PA) led to the development of New Public Management (NPM), believed to offer a better and more direct approach to public sector management that will eradicate corruption, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness—which had characterised PA. Thus, the failure of the practices of PA...

The authors’ contributions in this book suggest that the success of New Public Management (NPM) in Africa is not comprehensive, and the expected outcomes are far from being attained. A common thread of narrative that cuts across all the chapters is that NPM does not conform to the internal and external realities of the African environment, and the...

In Africa, a dual political system is what characterizes the political landscape. Chiefs and officials of the central government collaborate to bring about development. Despite the transformation of the powers and functions of chiefs, they have constantly availed themselves to partner developmental agencies. The paper examined projects chiefs and l...

Knowledge takes centre stage in Sustainable Development. It is resource prime option for any citizen, organization or company, public body, government and finally the United Nations in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Knowledge Management is intended to support SDGs by offering integrated information framework issues that directly af...

Resilience and Business Continuity Planning are bedfellows. This project aims at training over 1200 SMEs in BCP

This paper uses a critical perspective (i.e., one that is grounded in historical conditions) via the actor network theory (ANT) framing and methodological approach to explain innovation adoption process of a novel data and knowledge management system in a public sector context of Ghana, West Africa. https://aisel.aisnet.org/sais2020/30

This article synthesizes current insights about the opportunities and constraints to collaborative public management. Despite the swath of research on collaboration there has been little attempt to present the opportunities and constraints in a single article that articulates both perspectives coherently. Drawing on an extensive literature review,...

Long Lasting Insecticidal Net (LLIN) is an effective malaria prevention mechanism. However, ownership of LLIN does not imply its use among households. The availability of enough sleeping space is a natural prerequisite to install and use LLINs. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of sleeping space and other socio-demographic facto...

How do public procurement practices influence effective public financial management (PFM) in Africa? Notwithstanding the several public procurement reforms to improve PFM in Africa, outcomes have not been sustainable. Prior studies have failed to explain this phenomenon. With a descriptive case study design based on comprehensive datasets, this pap...

Governments globally are leveraging information and communication technology (ICT) growth towards improving the quality of public procurement services for socioeconomic development. However, the extent of its application differs across nations. Notwithstanding the extant theoretical and empirical literature on IT for development, knowledge on how t...

Le présent article a pour but de répondre aux récents appels pour des recherches sur les mécanismes qui permettent à la gestion des talents d’influencer les résultats des travailleurs talentueux. Dans cet article, nous nous sommes appuyés sur les théories de l’attraction-sélection-attrition et de la capacité, de la motivation et des opportunités po...

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of public procurement and PFM practices of three African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, and Central African Republic. Drawing on the principal-agency literature, the chapter argues that certain idiosyncrasies inherent in their respective public procurement environment pose agency problems or serve as an age...

Local governments in developing countries are christened as proadaptation agents. However, global research effort has virtually ignored inherent adaptation policy implementation nuances in developing countries, ostensibly assuming that narratives from existing policy implementation literature could fill the void. Drawing on qualitative data from si...

Uncertainties about the amount of resources needed to combat climate change, dwindling local resources, limited local autonomy and limited expertise constrain local governments (LGs) in their response to the effects of climate change. As a result, financing climate change remains a major nightmare for LG actors across diverse nested territorial con...

Local economic development (LED) has gained prominence as a feasible option to top–down development approaches that have generally been unsuccessful in generating significant and sustainable development at the local level. While LED has proven to be an attractive local development strategy, very little attention has been devoted to the policy and p...

Although several literature reviews have been published on public service motivation (PSM), none of them focused solely on Africa. Adopting a systematic review of the literature, we analyse articles on PSM scholarship in Africa published between 2005 and 2017. We found that authors in African PSM is consistently increasing with their research publi...

The Ghanaian economy has long been characterized by the persistence of regional income inequalities along a north‐south divide, where poverty remains disproportionately concentrated in the northern part of the country. In contrast to much of the extant literature, which explains this phenomenon in terms of the relatively unfavorable geography in th...

Many studies have confirmed the diffusion of climate change adaptation mainstreaming related policies and innovations across local governments (LGs). However, it is not clear under what conditions these policies get transferred, implemented or subsequently abandoned, especially in developing countries where LGs’ capacity to mainstream adaptation ba...

Across all the Bretton Wood institutions, decentralization has been touted as a fulcrum of good governance. This idea has had a sweeping effect across many areas of governance including climate change adaptation. However, the emerging climate change policy literature have had less focus on how decentralization can enhance adaptation governance at t...

Purpose Previous studies suggested that talent management (TM) is positively related to employee work attitudes. However, a few studies have examined the mechanisms through which TM leads to employee work attitudes. This paper examines the mediating role of person-organisation fit (P-O fit) on the relationship between TM and employee job satisfact...

In spite of growing evidence of non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) active participation in both bottom-up and top-down climate change policy negotiations and implementation, a research effort that focuses on the former barely exists. Grounded within the qualitative research approach, this paper contributes to the emerging climate policy literat...

The increasing acknowledgement of the role of SMEs in economic growth and reducing unemployment in SSA brings forth the need for research into understanding the role and impact of the SME policy and its outcomes. However, the lack of adequate critical examination of the current SME policies across SSA as well as the absence of a holistic conceptual...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current performance management system of the Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Assembly as well as the challenges faced by the Assembly in implementing its performance management system. Design/methodology/approach The specific design that was adopted is the case study approach. The primary data were...

The recruitment and selection of the requisite human resources is regarded as a linchpin for enhancing the achievement of local governments’ mandate and action plans. This novel paper discusses the impact of decentralization on local government staff recruitment and selection using the Sequential Theory of Decentralization. The study engaged key pe...

This article responds to recent calls for research examining the mechanisms through which talent management affects talented employee outcomes. Drawing insights from attraction–selection–attrition and ability, motivation and opportunity theories, the article examines one such mechanism, person–job fit, through which talent management influences tal...

The demand for accountability, transparency and efficient service delivery by citizens in many countries is pushing many governments to adopt e-government initiatives in achieving timely and efficient information dissemination. However, research shows that many public organisations in developing countries have been slow in responding to these devel...

Attempts to discuss small-scale artisanal mining (ASM) within the lenses of environment–poverty paradox have had two contending schools of thought. The first lens is the most dominant and holds that a single factor, ‘poverty’, drives people into ASM. The second lens contends that multiples of complex factors better explain who and why rural populat...

Purpose The much-trumpeted Green Climate Fund and several other official financial mechanisms for financing adaptation to climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have fallen short in meeting adaptation needs. Many poorer people are still grappling with the scourge of climate change impacts. Consequently, there has been a...

Purpose This paper is aimed at developing an in-depth understanding of the effectiveness, evolution and dynamism of the current health communication media used in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a multi-method approach which utilizes a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In-depth interviews are conducted wi...

Purpose The extant literature posits several claims about the equitable resources allocation through compliance in public procurement management. Notwithstanding, there are hardly any empirical studies that explore the link between the causes and extent of compliance on one hand and value for money (VfM) on the other hand. The purpose of this pape...

Analysis and studies of local economic development (LED) tend to be under the rubric of case studies to the neglect of their historical context and the role of international development agencies. This article attempts to fill this gap by focusing on the experiences of Ghana. Adopting a systematic review of the policy documents and existing literatu...

This study focuses on the Government of Bangladesh and the Department for International Development‐UK (DFID‐UK) public sector capacity building project under collaborative public governance. It examines the efficiency and effectiveness of foreign funded and multi‐stakeholder led public sector capacity development initiative dubbed Managing at the...

While significant research exists on why decentralization should result in poverty reduction, how this actually happens and the limitations have received little empirical research attention. Such empirical evidence is important due to the widespread adoption of decentralization in many developing and transition countries, and the consequent expecta...

Purpose Combining insights from the social exchange and signalling theories, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the relationship between talent management (TM) practices and four dimensions of talented employees’ performance; and, second, to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction and affective commitment on this rel...

This article examines the downward accountability of NGOs in community project planning in Ghana. It is based on primary data collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with NGO officials, local government officials and representatives, chiefs, women leaders, and other community members. The findings reveal that although comm...

The only remedy to manage AIDS remains ART, making adherence to ART paramount in AIDS management. Non-adherence can impede the sustainability of programmes intended at successful HIV and AIDS care. We studied individual, social and service delivery factors influencing adherence to ART. Mixed method involving 133 participants was used, data were ana...

The public sector of many African countries is notoriously corrupt; cultural inclinations and socialization processes largely have a tendency to lead public officials into actions that may amount to corrupt practices. Providing seven (7) key pointers for reflection, this study explores public sector corruption in African countries by examining the...

One of the most difficult and under-examined issues in the ethics research of developing countries is whether the establishment of codes of ethics in public service organizations leads to employees’ organizational commitment. This study investigates the link between codes of ethics and organizational commitment, as well as its three dimensions of a...

Background Health is a basic human right necessary for the exercise of other human rights. Every human being is, therefore, entitled to the highest possible standard of health necessary to living a life of dignity. Establishment of patients’ Charter is a step towards protecting the rights and responsibilities of patients, but violation of patients...

Public sector organizations, including local government (LG) entities, continue to resort to value for money (VFM) audit to enhance performance and accountability. Based on the analysis of the consolidated reports on the annual performance-based Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT)—VFM audit—in Ghana to determine the efficacy of VFM on...

This article examines the practice of performance appraisal as a critical element of administrative culture in the Ghana Civil Service (CS). It relies on three focus group discussions with senior civil servants to analyze the practice and its implications for performance of civil servants in Ghana. The article argues that: Leadership seldom gives t...

The interaction between organizational superiors and their subordinates has a practical implication on the entire organizational life cycle in terms of ethical conduct. This study explores how ethics among public leadership could trickle down on the conduct of public employees by using two empirical cases from developing African countries context....

Rural poverty in Ghana is relatively high. Adopting interpretivist approach, this study aimed at assessing the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in rural poverty reduction using the experience of the Hunger Project (THP) in selected rural communities in Ghana. Purposive and cluster sampling techniques were used to select 37 respondents,...

Based on desk study, this article adduces theoretical and empirical evidence to analyze the claims of advocates and critics of performance audit (PA). The paper establishes that the application of PA in some developed countries has led to improvement in aspects of public sector performance albeit sometimes short of the often highlighted effects of...

The extant literature on the relations between government and NGOs is limited in two respects—dominant focus on relations between central government and NGOs and a limited discussion of typologies of relations in countries in Africa. This study seeks to make a modest contribution to addressing these limitations by studying the relations between loc...

This article examines the practice of performance appraisal as a critical element of administrative culture in the Ghana Civil Service (CS). It relies on three focus group discussions with senior civil servants to analyze the practice and its implications for performance of civil servants in Ghana. The article argues that: leadership seldom gives t...

Ghana‘s decentralization concept was initiated to promote popular grassroots participation in the management and administration of local governance institutions for improved conditions of life. This is believed to be an important means to improving the effectiveness of service delivery and empower the local people to participate in the development...

This article investigates the involvement of local stakeholders in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes of Ghana's first off-shore oil fields (the Jubilee fields). Adopting key informants interviews and documentary reviews, the article argues that the public hearings and the other stakeholder engagement processes were cosmetic and rh...