Advanced Research in Economics and Business Strategy Journal

The Rigidity Trap: Commodity Booms, Administrative Decoupling, and Exchange Rate Collapse in Ethiopia

2026-07-05T13:49:58+00:00

This study investigates why Ethiopia’s currency remained stable during a global coffee price boom only to undergo a sharp devaluation in 2024. It examines how governance structures disrupt the transmission of commodity terms-of-trade shocks to the exchange rate. Employing a comparative econometric framework with daily data (2020-2025), we contrast Ethiopia with a market-determined control case (Brazil) using Granger Causality tests and Recursive Residual Analysis. The results reveal a statistically insignificant transmission for Ethiopia, confirming a policy-induced decoupling absent in Brazil. Critically, we identify a structural break on August 1, 2024, which quantitatively marks the rupture of the managed regime and the turbulent onset of liberalization. This indicates that prior stability was an artifact of administrative management that accumulated severe imbalances. The study concludes that rigid exchange rate management in weak institutional settings creates a “rigidity trap,” where suppressing volatility stores systemic risk and precipitates an abrupt and costly transition. These findings advance the political economy of exchange rates by linking governance to crisis dynamics and warn policymakers that administratively maintained stability without building institutional resilience risks severe adjustment episodes.

Role of Regulations on the Performance and Sustainability of Microfinance institutions: Special Focus on Savings and Credit Cooperative societies

2026-08-10T18:23:00+00:00

This critical review paper explored the role of regulations in the performance and sustainability of microfinance institutions, with particular focus on savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS). The poor performance and lack of sustainability of SACCOS motivated this assessment. This paper employed 94 articles retrieved from Google Scholar and Scopus. The analysis included the articles published from 1980 to 2025. The article employed a critical review, using inclusion and exclusion criteria to select relevant articles. The findings showed negative and positive impacts of the regulations on MFIs and SACCOS. The findings demonstrated that rules have not overcome the challenges that jeopardize the performance and sustainability of SACCOS, including a lack of integrity among leaders and staff, low staff and board member skill levels, poor management, and embezzlement of funds. The paper is unique in focusing on the SACCOS, which operates on financial and cooperative principles, a nature that poses challenges for the practical application of regulations aimed at enhancing the performance and sustainability of SACCOS.

Strategic Navigation in the Eye of the Storm: A Resilience Framework for Nigerian SMEs post-reform

2026-08-10T18:40:02+00:00

This qualitative study investigates the lived experiences and strategic adaptations of SME owners navigating the turbulent landscape of the 2023 dual macroeconomic shocks in Nigeria caused by the sudden elimination of the gasoline subsidy and the consolidation of foreign exchange (FX) rates, which constitute a significant structural disruption. Although intended to enhance long-term budgetary stability and market efficiency, these reforms have triggered a severe crisis for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are fundamental to the national economy. Analysis of twenty-five comprehensive interviews with SME proprietors in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt reveals a multifaceted shock characterized by escalating operational expenses, disrupted supply chains, and diminished consumer demand. A tripartite resilience framework is proposed: (1) Internal Fortification through cost optimization, local sourcing, and renewable energy; (2) Market and Financial Agility via dynamic pricing, revenue diversification, and digitalization; and (3) the essential, yet predominantly lacking, layer of Supportive External Enablers from government and financial institutions. The study concludes that the changes, although a driver for essential SME restructuring, present an existential threat in the absence of coordinated, accessible, and coherent policy assistance. The research proposes a context-specific paradigm, built on empirical evidence, that connects internal strategic actions with external institutional demands for the survival and growth of SMEs in unstable emerging economies.

Group Willingness to Repay Credit under the Village Revolving Fund in the Refugee Communities in Uganda

2026-07-05T13:49:56+00:00

Willingness of borrowers to repay credit remains an enigmatic challenge in the tropics. Despite the efforts to improve financial inclusion among marginalized populations, loan repayment performance remains a major problem. This study attempted to assess the ability of refugees to manage and sustain group funds and examine their willingness to repay (WTP) the revolving loan fund in Uganda's refugee communities. Descriptive statistics showed that the average age of group members, the proportion of female members, group funding experience, weekly savings, and asset acquisition varied by region. Only 34.4% of the groups were willing to repay the total loan. The group's mean WTP price was statistically and significantly lower than the expected pay price for both traditional and non-traditional enterprises. The logistic regression results showed that the group registration and investment in farming positively and significantly influenced the groups' WTP credit. In contrast, the age of group members, funding experience, female group leader, number of audits per loan cycle, participation in social responsibilities, and number of group meetings negatively affected it. The study therefore recommends strengthening external social ties through group registration, support for group investments in farming enterprises, expenditure control for welfare activities, and balancing group meeting frequency to enhance loan repayment performance.

Intellectual Landscape of Digital Human Resource Management Research: A Bibliometric Mapping Analysis

2026-08-10T18:43:39+00:00

Digital human resource management embraces digital systems to boost effective performance as a strategic path to enhance efficiency. This research aims to analyse the trend of scientific publication, its direction, and the future path of digital human resource management to assess the gravity of the research. The bibliometric analysis and VOS viewer analyzed the Scopus data. A total of 327 Scopus data, including the research articles published in the English language, which covers the study period from 2010 to 2024. This research analyzed annual scientific production, average citations, three-field plots, most relevant sources, core sources by Bradford’s Law, most relevant authors, most globally cited documents, most locally cited documents, most relevant affiliations, sources’ local impact by H index, countries’ scientific production, trend topics, most frequent words, co-occurrence network, bibliographic coupling of authors, and bibliographic coupling of the country. The findings of the study reveal a rising trend of the study theme, digital human resource management, globally adopting the keywords human resource management” and “digital transformation.” The findings of this research offer evidence of growing interest of research scholars, which provides a path for future study, and practitioners can adopt a digitalization system in human resource management.

Knowledge Capital and Financial Transformation in Africa

2026-08-10T18:56:28+00:00

Financial transformation in Africa has largely been assessed through the expansion of access to financial services, particularly the growth of mobile money and digital payment systems. While these developments have significantly increased account ownership and transactional participation, they have not consistently translated into deeper outcomes such as sustained usage, financial resilience, enterprise growth, or inclusive economic empowerment. This paper argues that the missing link is knowledge capital - the set of cognitive, institutional, infrastructural, and ecosystem capabilities that enable financial systems to function effectively and inclusively. Drawing on the knowledge-based view, information asymmetry theory, institutional theory, and digital financial literacy scholarship, the study reconceptualizes finance as a system of structured knowledge coordination rather than merely a mechanism for allocating capital. It develops a Knowledge-Finance Transformation Framework (KFTF) comprising four interrelated domains: individual knowledge capital, institutional knowledge systems, market knowledge infrastructure, and innovation and learning ecosystems. The framework explains how gaps in capability, institutional learning, information systems, and ecosystem coordination contribute to uneven financial inclusion outcomes across African countries. The paper contributes to financial inclusion debates by demonstrating that access expansion alone is insufficient for meaningful transformation. It shows that digitalization may even widen inequality where knowledge gaps persist. The study concludes that sustainable financial transformation in Africa depends on building robust knowledge architectures that align human capability, adaptive governance, information infrastructure, and collaborative innovation systems.

Re-examining the Impact of Human Capital on Employee Performance: Evidence from ODL Institution

2026-08-10T19:34:38+00:00

This study investigates the role of human capital capabilities in the context of an Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institution (where teaching and support services are offered via digital platforms) on employee performance. Based on Human Capital Theory, human capital was defined using three proxies: digital pedagogy, virtual communication capability, and adaptive capability. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted using Google Forms among teaching and non-teaching staff of the National Open University of Nigeria, and 201 valid responses were collected from a population of 5,008. The results of multiple regression analysis show that digital pedagogy (B = 0.142, p = 0.004), virtual communication capability (B = 0.566, p = 0.001), and adaptive capability (B = 0.168, p = 0.023) have significant positive effects on employee performance, with virtual communication capability having the strongest positive effect. The model accounted for a large proportion of the variance in employee performance (R² = 0.579; F = 90.516, p < 0.01). This research has implications for ODL managers to focus on developing staff capabilities in digital pedagogy, enhance virtual communication practices and tools, and establish continuous adaptation processes. Theoretically, the findings support the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory that capability-rich employees are strategic performance assets in turbulent digital environments. This research contributes to ODL knowledge by decomposing human capital into ODL-specific capability sets and exploring their relationships with employee performance in a technology-driven distance learning environment.

Prudential Calibration and Regulatory Infrastructure in Emerging Islamic Banking Systems: Evidence and Policy Implications from Sub-Saharan Africa

2026-07-05T13:49:48+00:00

This study addresses the prudential calibration challenge in emerging Islamic banking systems by examining whether prevailing capital, liquidity, and governance thresholds are proportionately aligned with operational productivity. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), it reframes financial soundness indicators as regulatory design variables rather than isolated performance determinants.

The study employs a bias-corrected two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) on a balanced panel of 35 fully fledged Islamic banks in SSA over the period 2010–2024. Efficiency scores are estimated under variable returns to scale and subsequently analysed using truncated regression against CAMELS-based prudential indicators. The findings are interpreted through a regulatory calibration framework grounded in efficiency–stability trade-off theory.

Results reveal persistent inefficiencies primarily driven by scale constraints rather than managerial deficiencies. Capital adequacy does not exhibit proportional efficiency gains, liquidity strength shows only modest productivity alignment, and asset quality demonstrates a more consistent association with operational performance. The evidence suggests that mechanical prudential reinforcement in structurally shallow markets may yield diminishing productivity returns.

The study proposes a proportional prudential calibration approach integrating capital design, liquidity infrastructure development, and governance strengthening to align stability objectives with productive intermediation better.

This paper advances Islamic banking research by positioning operational efficiency as a regulatory diagnostic tool and introducing an empirically grounded prudential calibration framework for emerging financial systems.

Economic Freedom-Growth Nexus in South Asian Countries

2026-07-05T13:49:47+00:00

Previous studies pay less attention to how economic freedom (EFI) affects economic growth, especially in the context of South Asian countries. Therefore, this study primarily examines the effect of EFI on economic growth in the context of five South Asian countries—Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka— over the period 1995-2024. The multicollinearity issues are checked by Pearson's correlation and VIF. As a pre-estimation analysis, we performed the CD-test, unit root test, and cointegration test. We used Panel-corrected Standard Error (PCSE) for baseline regression results, the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), and Random-effect (RE) estimators for the sensitivity analysis. The outcome demonstrated that the EFI stimulates growth in South Asian countries. The results also revealed that Gross Capital Formation (GCF), Labor Force Participation (LFP), Access to Electricity (ATE), and Inflation have a favorable impact on growth. However, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has a negligible impact on growth in South Asian countries. Policymakers can use findings to achieve desired economic growth in this region.

The Impact of Bank ESG Initiatives on Loan Portfolio Quality: Evidence from Zimbabwean Commercial Banks

2026-08-11T12:11:02+00:00

This study examines the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance on the loan portfolio quality of Zimbabwean commercial banks. The paper employs the fixed effects (FE) model, pearson multilinear correlation, and boxplot visualisations on data extracted from published bank financial statements. The findings reveal that robust governance significantly reduces non-performing loans (NPLs), with each percentage-point increase in independent directors correlating with a 0.15% decline in NPLs. Gender diversity shows non-linear benefits, becoming impactful only when female representation exceeds 30%. CSR spending alone does not improve loan quality; instead, targeted programs aligned with borrower risks, such as agricultural training, yield measurable default reductions. Green loans for climate-resilient projects demonstrate the strongest risk-mitigation effects, with default rates 4.9% lower than conventional loans, and have a negative effect on NPLs. The results imply that environmental and governance initiatives are useful tools in managing loan portfolios for banks. Therefore, banks should strive to enhance board diversity and independence, increase green loans, and focus CSR initiatives on activities that promote customer loyalty and build repayment capacity.

The Productivity Effects of Technological Globalisation in South Africa: Evidence from Dynamic ARDL Modelling

2026-08-11T13:06:59+00:00

Globalization has profoundly shaped modern economic and social life. On the one hand, it has promoted innovation and knowledge transfers. On the other hand, it has presented challenges within the labor market, exacerbating high levels of inequality and signs of job displacement. Despite growing interest in the socio-economic consequences of technological globalisation, its effect on labor productivity in emerging market contexts remains insufficiently understood. Examines the impact of technological globalisation on labor productivity in South Africa from 1990 to 2022. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL), Error Correction models (ECM), and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR) are employed to examine both long and short run relationships. By disaggregating technological globalisation between its de facto and de jure components, evidence shows that tangled technological cross-border flows drive persistent labour efficiency gains. Though de jure impulses exhibit only short-term gains in productivity levels, with equilibrium adjustment taking approximately 24 years. Causality analysis further revealed that policy responses have been reactive rather than proactive. The findings underscore the need for a more forward-looking industrial and digital infrastructure policy. Likewise, a more responsive education sector that is oriented towards technological skill development, as well as labor market reforms that enable firms to capitalise on the productivity-enhancing opportunities offered through global technological integration.

Economic Efficiency Analysis of Community-Based Forest Management in Northern Benin: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

2026-08-11T22:36:22+00:00

This study analyzes the economic efficiency of community-based forest management (CBFM) in northern Benin, focusing on the Tchaourou–Toui–Kilibo classified forest. Using data from 140 rural households, both participants and non-participants, a Cobb–Douglas stochastic production frontier model was estimated.

The results show that households involved in CBFM achieve significantly higher technical efficiency and income levels than non-participants. The average efficiency score is 0.74, indicating that production could increase by about 26% without additional inputs. Participation in co-management, education, and access to training significantly reduce inefficiency, emphasizing the role of institutional and human capital factors.

However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the impact of participatory forest management in Benin and offers relevant policy insights for improving economic performance and sustainable resource management.

Geopolitical Risk and State-Dependent Crude Oil Volatility Forecasting: Evidence from Rolling Out-of-Sample Prediction

2026-08-11T22:37:51+00:00

This study examines whether geopolitical risk contains incremental predictive information for crude oil market volatility in a rolling out-of-sample forecasting framework. Rather than focusing only on in-sample associations, the analysis evaluates whether the geopolitical risk index improves real-time prediction relative to a benchmark autoregressive model, denoted AR p. The study begins with return forecasting, where the evidence is limited and does not support a stable full-sample predictive role for geopolitical risk. Motivated by this result, the analysis shifts to volatility forecasting and considers two alternative proxies, namely absolute returns and squared returns. These measures capture different aspects of market risk, as absolute returns are more robust to extreme observations, whereas squared returns place greater weight on tail events. The empirical design compares a benchmark ARp model with an augmented ARp+GPR specification under both full-sample and regime-dependent evaluation. High-risk periods are identified from the upper tail of the geopolitical risk distribution. The results show that geopolitical risk does not generate uniform forecasting gains across the full sample. However, its predictive contribution becomes more relevant during high-risk periods, where state-dependent improvements emerge in volatility forecasting, although the strength and form of these gains vary across volatility proxies. Overall, geopolitical risk is better interpreted as a stress-state risk indicator than as a general-purpose predictor of crude oil market movements.

The Effects of Agricultural Credit Financing and Foreign Investments on Nigeria’s Non-Oil Exports

2026-08-11T22:39:29+00:00

Low-income countries with single export commodities usually have weak currencies, poor economic growth, and high inflation rates due to consistent balance of payment deficits. The situation is especially worsened by the fact that these low-income countries usually neglect the development of other sectors of their economies when there is an abundant mineral resource. Focusing on the Nigerian economy, I investigated the link between both investments and lending to Nigeria’s agricultural sector and the volume of its non-oil exports. My objective was to investigate how the development of the country’s agricultural sector could boost its net non-oil exports and subsequently increase growth, stabilize the exchange rate, and reduce inflation. Using time-series data obtained from the Nigerian Central Bank and the FAO, I observed a strong positive relationship between foreign investments into the country’s agricultural sector and its non-oil exports.

Factors Influencing Entrepreneurial Implementation Intentions among University Students in Eastern Uganda

2026-08-11T22:40:44+00:00

This paper investigates the entrepreneurial intention-action gap among university students in Eastern Uganda using an integrated framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, Resource-Based Theory, and Implementation Intention Theory. The study examines how personal attitudes, perceived behavioral control, contextual constraints, social support, and resource-related factors influence the transition from entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial action among university students.

Data were collected from 417 university students in Eastern Uganda using convenience and snowball sampling methods. Quantitative data were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The findings identified several factors influencing entrepreneurial action, including the role of peer and colleague support, perceived behavioral control, and contextual limitations. Although respondents demonstrated relatively high entrepreneurial intentions, personal attitudes, social desirability concerns, and resource constraints were found to hinder the entrepreneurial implementation process.

The study contributes to the entrepreneurial implementation intention literature by extending the application of established entrepreneurial implementation intention theories to the underexplored context of Eastern Uganda. While these theories have received considerable attention individually in entrepreneurship research, their combined application to examining the entrepreneurial intention-action gap among university students in developing economies remains limited. The findings provide contextual insights into the socio-economic, institutional, educational, and cultural factors shaping entrepreneurial behavior among youth in resource-constrained contexts. The study offers practical implications for policymakers, universities, and entrepreneurial support institutions by highlighting the need for targeted interventions that strengthen the ecosystem, improve access to resources, and address contextual and cultural barriers limiting the translation of entrepreneurial intentions into entrepreneurial action..

Liquidity Management and Financial Performance: Evidence from Kigoma Region Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS)

2026-08-11T22:43:15+00:00

This study empirically examines the liquidity management and financial performance evidence from Kigoma Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOS). This research utilized the quantitative research design and panel data regression analysis. From a population of 36 licensed SACCOS operating in Kigoma Region, 20 institutions were purposively selected for analysis using data covering the period from 2010 to 2024. The secondary data was collected, and the fixed effects panel regression analysis was employed. The study reveals that net cash flow, investment in non-core business activities, and lending rate have a statistically significant positive effect on the financial performance of SACCOS in the Kigoma region.

On the other hand, non-performing loans (NPLs) have a statistically significant negative effect on financial performance, while capital adequacy does not significantly affect financial performance in Kigoma’s SACCOS. The study recommends that SACCOS pay close attention to their cash flow, carefully undertake non-core investments, set lending rates appropriately, and manage credit risk effectively to minimize non-performing loans and improve financial performance. The current research makes a valuable and fresh contribution since it analyzes several variables concerning financial decision-making: net cash flow, non-core investments, non-performing loans, lending rates, and capital adequacy.

Do Fraud Pentagon Factors Explain Financial Statement Fraud? Evidence from Indonesian Manufacturing Firms

2026-08-11T22:44:30+00:00

This study aims to analyze the influence of factors in the fraud pentagon theory, namely financial targets, financial stability, external pressure, ineffective monitoring, change in auditor, change in director, and the frequency of CEO pictures, on financial statement fraud in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the 2020–2023 period. This study employs a quantitative method using secondary data in the form of companies’ annual financial statements obtained from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Sampling was conducted using purposive sampling, while data analysis utilized logistic regression with the assistance of SPSS version 26 software. The results indicate that financial targets have a positive effect on financial statement fraud, whereas financial stability has a negative effect on financial statement fraud. Meanwhile, external pressure, ineffective monitoring, change in auditor, change in director, and a frequent number of CEO pictures do not affect financial statement fraud. These findings underscore the importance of setting realistic financial targets, maintaining corporate financial stability, and upholding integrity, honesty, and transparency in corporate management to minimize the occurrence of financial statement fraud.

Fish Value Addition and Livelihood Outcomes of Fishing Communities:Evidence from Mkinga District, Tanzania

2026-08-11T22:45:42+00:00

Fish value addition is widely promoted as a strategy for improving livelihoods in sub-Saharan African fishing communities, yet evidence from Tanzania's coastal districts remains limited. This study examined the association between fish value addition and livelihood outcomes in Mkinga District, Tanga Region, an under-researched coastal area, focusing on income generation and household welfare among fishery actors. A cross-sectional design involving 338 randomly selected registered fishermen was used, with data gathered through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and documentary review. The study was grounded in the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, operationalised across human, social, financial, physical, and natural capital. Value chain mapping, descriptive statistics, comparative price analysis, and multiple linear regression assessed value chain structure, perceptions, and economic performance. Eight major value chain strands were identified, linking fishers, processors, wholesalers, retailers, vendors, and consumers. Notably, 99.1% of respondents sold only fresh fish and were not engaged in value addition, despite recognising its potential benefits. Adoption was constrained by limited processing equipment (8.7%), high startup costs (98.3%), and market barriers (93.0%). Regression analysis showed no significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics or perceived barriers and daily revenue (R² = 0.028, p = 0.220), suggesting revenue is driven mainly by trading volume and price rather than individual endowments. Processed fish commanded higher prices, yet many households still faced poor housing, food insecurity, and unsafe water access. The study concludes that value addition could improve livelihoods if supported by stronger cooperatives, affordable technologies, infrastructure, and market systems, offering new community-level evidence from Mkinga District.

Punishing Participation: Behavioral Repercussions of Pakistan's Net Billing Reform for Its Decentralized Green Transition

2026-08-11T22:46:50+00:00

Pakistan's citizen-led solar expansion, importing 17 GW of panels in 2024, was driven by high retail tariffs and a net metering regime that compensated exported electricity at near-retail rates. In March 2025, regulators moved to replace net metering with net billing, reducing the export buyback rate from roughly Rs 27/kWh to Rs 10–13/kWh, citing cross-subsidies from solar adopters to non-solar consumers. This paper analyzes the reform not as a neutral tariff adjustment but as a behavioral intervention, applying insights from loss aversion, the endowment effect, psychological reactance, mental accounting, and institutional trust. It predicts that consumers will perceive the sharp rate reduction as a confiscated entitlement, triggering battery-led partial grid defection, slower new adoption, intensified self-consumption at system cost, and erosion of regulatory credibility. While the cross-subsidy concern is legitimate, a blunt net billing regime penalizes solar adoption itself rather than its unequal access. The paper proposes an equity-sensitive alternative: a graduated five-year export-rate phase-out, income-tiered buyback rates, grid-connected storage incentives, community solar, and a transparent value-of-solar tariff. This package corrects distributional inequities, preserves investor confidence, and sustains Pakistan’s decentralized clean-energy trajectory without a behavioral backlash.