Although strategic management has taken root in many African organizations, much of the existing body of African management research offers little insight into the current state of knowledge and ...direction in terms of Africa finding its voice within the mainstream research. We draw on a review of the literature to develop a conceptual framework for classifying the contributions in African management research. The conceptual model captures the indigenous (intra‐Africa) and inter‐Africa dimension of macro‐strategy and organizational behavior/human resource research. The accumulated body of research indicates a sign of growing self‐confidence in African management research that must be maintained and revitalized. This article contributes to the literature by developing a unified conceptual model that captures both the indigenous and comparative dimensions of management research. A number of fruitful avenues for future research have been advanced.
This article analyses the contingent factors which influence the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and venture profit. While research on entrepreneurial passion is burgeoning, studies that ...analyse contingent factors and boundary conditions surrounding entrepreneurial passion theory are sparse. Moreover, we know very little about how the influence of entrepreneurial passion on venture outcomes might vary in emerging markets, typically characterised by higher levels of bureaucratic involvement and institutional deficiencies. We extend entrepreneurial passion theory by testing a contingent model that evaluates the influence of political connections and environmental dynamism on the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and venture profit. More specifically, we examine the role of passion on venture profit and the moderating impact of political connections and perceived environmental dynamism. Using time-lagged data from 231 small businesses in Ghana, we find that political connections amplify the potency of passion as a driver of venture profit. In addition, we find that this interaction is conditioned by environmental dynamism; specifically, the moderating effect of political connections on the relationship between entrepreneurial passion and venture profit is stronger when dynamism is high. Our fine-grained analysis increases the conceptual scope and generalisability of entrepreneurial passion to non-Western contexts.
Technology is disrupting bringing up a better innovation and strengthening the healthcare services. Telehealth is one of these services. Telehealth can help in times of emergency situations as well ...as reducing morbidity caused by other diseases other than coronavirus and also constraining its spread as well as sustaining the country's economic development. Although, telehealth is a disruptive innovation, this article aimed to point out why Africa and rest of the world need telehealth to structure out the management of the three phases of health crises (pre, during and post-crises) that must be address to help in economic sustainability, increase accessibility to healthcare and increase in quality of life which in turn reduces costs and easy access to healthcare services either incommunicable, non-communicable, or disastrous situations in the African region. In fighting an outbreak such as this, our study finds that the government of African nations should guarantee all health experts get fitting instruction and preparing; present telehealth accreditation for wellbeing experts; give subsidizing which satisfactorily takes care of the expense of giving telehealth; overhaul clinical models of care; bolster all partners with a viable correspondence; and finally, change the board technique while setting up frameworks to oversee telehealth benefits on a standard premise.
Teknolojide yaşanan gelişmelerin getirdiği inovasyon, diğer birçok sektörle birlikte sağlık sektöründe de sağlık hizmetlerinin kalitelendirilmesi konusunda kullanılmaktadır. Sağlık sektöründe uygulanan teknolojik uygulamalardan birisi de telesağlık hizmetleridir. Telesağlık hizmetleri acil durumlar başta olmak üzere diğer birçok hastalıkta ve son dönemde yaşamakta olduğumuz koronavirüs pandemisinin yayılmasını azaltmaya yönelik uygulamalar ile daha fazla gündeme gelmekte ve bu olumlu özellikleri nedeniyle de sürdürülebilir kalkınma süreçlerine önemli katkılar sağlamaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Afrika’dan başlamak üzere tüm dünyada uygulanan telesağlık hizmetlerinin pandemi öncesi, pandemi sürecinde ve pandemi sonrası dönemlerde neden telesağlık hizmetlerine etkin şekilde başvurulması gerektiğinin altını çizmektir. Gerçekten de Afrika’nın ulaşılabilen, ulaşılamayan ya da doğal afetler yaşanan birçok bölgesinde etkin, düşük maliyetli, yaşam kalitesinin yükseltilmesini hedefleyen sağlık hizmetlerine daha yüksek erişim sağlamanın yanında ekonomik sürdürülebilirliği de amaçlayan çok güçlü imkanlar sağlaması dolayısıyla telesağlık hizmetleri oldukça dikkat çekici şekilde uygulanmaktadır. Bu çerçevede bu çalışmamızda halen yaşamakta olduğumuz pandemi gibi salgınların yaşanması durumunda tüm Afrika ülkelerinden başlayarak sağlık çalışanlarının telesağlık hizmeti verme konusunda hazırlıklı olması; telesağlık hizmetlerinin tüm ülkelerde akredite olması; telesağlık hizmetlerinin etkin şekilde verilebilmesi için hükümetlerce sübvansiyonların sağlanması; klinik bakım modellerinin gözden geçirilmesi ve son olarak, standart telesağlık hizmetlerini denetlemek için tedbirler, kurallar ve regülasyonların oluşturulması süreçlerinde yönetim kurulu tekniğinin değiştirilmesi hizmetlerin kalitelenmesi açısından üzerinde durulan konular olmuştur.
The future of electrification of Africa lies within off-grid generation via renewable energy (RE). Although many RE projects have started across the Sub-Sahara, especially public projects are seldom ...successful. This study engages directly (ethnographically) with the local communities benefitting or expected to benefit from the projects, the implementing organizations and government.
Despite the differences in culture and understanding, the reasons for failure of the projects are found to be similar across the different countries: (i) political agenda, (ii) process of awarding projects, (iii) stakeholder co-operation, (iv) planning & implementation, (v) maintenance and (vi) public acceptance & inclusion.
•We investigate causes of failure of renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa based on empirical data.•We analyse 29 projects from ten different Sub-Saharan African countries.•Our approach is ethnographical in the sense that we physically observe (and interview) the stakeholders.
The study sought to identify the extent to which Advance Care Planning (ACP) is practised by palliative care health professionals providing care to patients with advanced cancer and their families in ...Uganda.
A mixed methods study design using qualitative and quantitative methods was used for the assessment. In-depth interviews with a group of nine highly experienced health professionals were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Quantitative data were retrieved and analysed from a survey administered to 124 health professionals of whom only 57 (45.9%) responded. The qualitative data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and descriptive analysis was used for the quantitative data.
Of the 57 health professionals who participated in the survey, 87% were aware of ACP and 55% reported regular practice. Fifty-five (55%) percent reported regular provision of ACP for their patients and 46% reported engaging in informal ACP practices. However, 58.5% resp. 37.5% reported that they routinely provide ACP to more than 50% resp. 75% of their patients. A group of nine highly experienced palliative care professionals had a pooled ACP prevalence of only 1.2%. There was a generally good attitude towards ACP with 98.2% acknowledging that patients should be able to determine their future care. However, 32% reported being uncomfortable withholding or withdrawing life sustaining treatment. There are a number of socio-cultural beliefs and barriers, for instance that discussing death and dying is a “taboo”, as well as witchcraft, family influence in decision-making, religious beliefs that do not agree with palliative care practices and a preference to use aggressive treatment like chemotherapy for terminally ill, etc. Institutional barriers like lack of a legal framework for ACP, limited time for health professionals to engage in ACP and other patient factors such as denial of diagnosis and collusion to withhold information from patients were reported by 78.2% resp. 84% of the respondents.
Despite the good awareness and attitude to ACP, there is a range of barriers that are affecting the implementation of ACP in Uganda. There is need for development of a legal framework for ACP, more research to understand the contextual barriers and develop appropriate education and public sensitisation programs.
Ziel der Studie war es zu ermitteln, inwieweit Palliativmedizinerinnen und -mediziner, die Patientinnen und Patienten mit fortgeschrittenen Krebserkrankungen und deren Familien in Uganda betreuen, Advance Care Planning (ACP) praktizieren.
Für die Bewertung wurde ein Mixed-Methods-Design mit qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden verwendet. Mit einer Gruppe von neun sehr erfahrenen Gesundheitsfachkräften wurden anhand eines semistrukturierten Interviewleitfadens ausführliche Interviews geführt. Aus einer Umfrage unter 124 Gesundheitsfachkräften, auf die jedoch nur 57 (45,9%) antworteten, wurden quantitative Daten gewonnen und ausgewertet. Die qualitativen Daten wurden induktiv mit der Methode der thematischen Analyse und die quantitativen Daten mittels deskriptiver Analyse ausgewertet.
Von den 57 Gesundheitsfachkräften, die an der Umfrage teilnahmen, hatten 87% Kenntnis von ACP, und 55% gaben an, ACP regelmäßig zu praktizieren. 55% gaben an, ihren Patientinnen und Patienten regelmäßig ACP anzubieten, und 46% berichteten von der Durchführung informeller ACP-Praktiken. Allerdings gaben nur 58,5% bzw. 37,5% an, mehr als 50% bzw. 75% ihrer Patientinnen und Patienten routinemäßig ein ACP-Angebot zu machen. In einer Gruppe von neun sehr erfahrenen Palliativmedizinerinnen und -medizinern fand sich jedoch eine gepoolte ACP-Prävalenz von nur 1,2%. Die Einstellung zu ACP war generell positiv, wobei 98,2% der Befragten die Meinung vertraten, dass Patientinnen und Patienten über ihre zukünftige Versorgung selbst entscheiden können sollten. 32% der Befragten gaben jedoch an, dass es ihnen schwerfiele, den Betroffenen lebenserhaltende Maßnahmen vorzuenthalten oder diese abzubrechen. Hindernisse auf soziokultureller Ebene sind zum Beispiel der Glaube, dass Gespräche über Tod und Sterben ein Tabu darstellen, Hexenglauben, der Einfluss der Familie auf die Entscheidungsfindung, religiöse Überzeugungen, die nicht mit palliativmedizinischen Maßnahmen vereinbar sind, sowie die Bevorzugung aggressiver Behandlungen wie Chemotherapie für unheilbar Kranke etc. Weiterhin benannten 78,2% bzw. 84% der Befragten institutionelle Barrieren wie das Fehlen eines gesetzlichen Rahmenwerks für ACP, die begrenzte Zeit, die Gesundheitsfachkräften zur Verfügung steht, um sich mit ACP zu befassen, und sonstige Patientenfaktoren wie die Leugnung der Diagnose und heimliche Absprachen mit dem Ziel, der erkrankten Person Informationen vorzuenthalten.
Ungeachtet der vorhandenen Kenntnisse und der positiven Einstellung gegenüber ACP gibt es eine Reihe von Hindernissen, welche die Implementierung von ACP in Uganda beeinträchtigen. Es muss ein Rechtsrahmen für ACP geschaffen werden, es muss mehr geforscht werden, um die kontextuellen Hindernisse zu verstehen, und es müssen geeignete Aufklärungsangebote und Programme zur Sensibilisierung der Öffentlichkeit entwickelt werden.
The spatial distribution and fractional cover of plant functional types (PFTs) is a key uncertainty in land surface models (LSMs) that is closely linked to uncertainties in global carbon, hydrology ...and energy budgets. Land cover is considered to be an Essential Climate Variable because changes in it can result in local, regional or global scale impacts on climate. In LSMs, land cover (LC) class maps are converted to PFT fractional maps using a cross-walking (CW) table by prescribing the fraction of each PFT that occurs within each LC class. In this study we assess the largest plausible range of PFT uncertainty derived from remotely sensed LC maps produced under the European Space Agency Land Cover Climate Change Initiative on simulations of land surface fluxes using 3 leading LSMs. We evaluate the impact of uncertainty due to both LC classification algorithms, and CW procedure, on energy, moisture and carbon fluxes in LSMs. We investigate the maximum plausible range of uncertainty deriving from both LC and CW within the context of a potential biomass scale (bare ground-grass-shrub-tree), representing a gradient from low to high biomass PFTs. More specifically, plausible alternative land cover maps and associated PFT fractional distributions were produced to prioritise low or high biomass vegetation in the LC classification (uncertainty in LC), and subsequently in the assignment of PFT fractions for each LC class (uncertainty in CW), relative to a reference PFT distribution.
We examined the impact of PFT uncertainty on 3 key variables in the carbon, water and energy cycles (gross primary production (GPP), evapo-transpiration (ET), and albedo), for 3 LSMs (JSBACH, JULES and ORCHIDEE) at global scale. Results showed a greater uncertainty in PFT fraction due to CW as opposed to LC uncertainty, for all three variables. CW uncertainty in tree fraction was found to be particularly important in the northern boreal forests for simulated LSM albedo. Uncertainty in the balance between grass and bare soil fraction in arid parts of Africa, central Asia, and central Australia was also found to influence albedo and ET in all models. The spread due to PFT uncertainty for albedo was between 30 and 105% of inter-model uncertainty, for GPP between 20 and 90%, and for ET 0–30%. Each model had a different sensitivity to PFT uncertainty, for example, GPP in JSBACH was found to have a much higher sensitivity to PFT uncertainty in the tropics than JULES and ORCHIDEE, whereas the inverse was true for ET.
These results show that inter-model uncertainty for key variables in LSMs can be reduced by more accurate representation of PFT distributions. Future efforts in land cover mapping should therefore be focused on reducing CW uncertainty through better understanding of the fractional cover of PFTs within a land cover class. Efforts to reduce LC uncertainty should particularly be focused on more accurate mapping of grass and bare soil fractions in arid areas. In the context of Land Surface Models, these results demonstrate that prescribed vegetation distribution in models is a key source of uncertainty that is comparable to the spread between models for key model state variables.
•Plant functional types (PFT) mapped using land cover (LC) and cross-walking (CW).•African & South American savannahs are key to reducing carbon cycle uncertainty.•Uncertainty in bare soil & grass PFTs drives uncertainty in Europe & N America.•Northern high latitude tree cover uncertainty impacts surface albedo.•Clear need to better constrain CW fractions of PFTs using high resolution mapping.
One of the greatest enigmas in the study of Bronze Age China is the source of highly radiogenic lead discovered in the copper-based objects of the Shang period (ca. 1500-1046 BC). Although being ...relatively rare in nature, such lead contributed over half of the lead consumed across a vast area from the Yellow River to the Yangtze. Identifying its source and supply network would significantly contribute to our understanding of how China achieved the largest metal production across Eurasia. The past thirty years of research have seen various proposals for the origin of this lead, including south-western China, the middle Yangtze River valley, the Qinling and Zhongtiao mountains, and even Africa. This paper attempts to illustrate the tempero-spatial pattern of this highly radiogenic lead using the largest possible databank. Furthermore, by going beyond the bronze data and investigating lead isotopes in non-metal objects, we confirm that multiple sources of highly radiogenic lead must have been used across Chinese history. In turn, this implies the feasibility of a multi-source model for the lead in the Shang bronzes.
Can part of Africa's current underdevelopment be explained by its slave trades? To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to ...construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa's slave trades. I find a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves exported from a country and current economic performance. To better understand if the relationship is causal, I examine the historical evidence on selection into the slave trades and use instrumental variables. Together the evidence suggests that the slave trades had an adverse effect on economic development.
We analyze the potential effect of global warming levels (GWLs) of 1.5 °C and 2 °C above pre-industrial levels (1861−1890) on mean temperature and precipitation as well as intra-seasonal ...precipitation extremes over the Greater Horn of Africa. We used a large, 25-member regional climate model ensemble from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment and show that, compared to the control period of 1971−2000, annual mean near-surface temperature is projected to increase by more than 1 °C and 1.5 °C over most parts of the Greater Horn of Africa, under GWLs of 1.5 °C and 2 °C respectively. The highest temperature increases are projected in the northern region, covering most parts of Sudan and northern parts of Ethiopia, and the lowest temperature increases are projected over the coastal belt of Tanzania. However, the projected mean surface temperature difference between 2 °C and 1. 5 °C GWLs is higher than 0.5 °C over nearly all land points, reaching 0.8 °C over Sudan and northern Ethiopia. This implies that the Greater Horn of Africa will warm faster than the global mean. While projected changes in precipitation are mostly uncertain across the Greater Horn of Africa, there is a substantial decrease over the central and northern parts of Ethiopia. Additionally, the length of dry and wet spells is projected to increase and decrease respectively. The combined effect of a reduction in rainfall and the changes in the wet and dry spells will likely impact negatively on the livelihoods of people within the coastal cities, lake regions, highlands as well as arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan. The probable impacts of these changes on key sectors such as agriculture, water, energy and health sectors, will likely call for formulation of actionable policies geared towards adaptation and mitigation of the impacts of 1.5 °C and 2 °C warming.
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