Although job stress has become an issue of great concern over the last decades both internationally and nationally, there still remains a paucity of research in the Ghanaian insurance industry. This study therefore examined the relationship between antecedent variables (work overload, role conflict and role ambiguity) and employee job stress in the insurance industry in Ghana. Using a descriptive cross-sectional design with a survey questionnaire, 212 employees were selected to participate in the study. Pearson correlation and a two-step hierarchical regression were used to test the proposed hypotheses. Results of the analysis revealed that work overload and role conflict rather than role ambiguity were positively related to job stress. Implications for theory and practice are later discussed in the study.

Green environmental issues have been of topical interest to both researchers and industrialists for some time now. Research on green brands is relatively limited, especially in developing countries, such as Ghana. This study is therefore designed to determine the relationship between customer awareness of green brand issues and their everyday purchase intentions. Using quantitative techniques, the study interviewed 316 people, conveniently selected from various shopping points in Accra. The study found that, the overwhelming majority of respondents though familiar with green issues did not concern themselves with green issues in their everyday purchase decisions. Again, majority of respondents (54%) familiar with environmental issues confirmed they would not switch from their preferred brands to less fancied brands even if the less fancied brands were more environmentally friendly. It was also confirmed in the study that price, brand name and convenience, performed better than customer concerns for green issues, in influencing respondents’ purchase decisions. It would therefore be strategically significance if advocates, policy makers and business leaders reduce the cost of green products to the final consumer, intensive public education campaigns, coupled with strategic brand building efforts to enhance the level of green brand consumption.

As there is still only limited research on students brand choice of mobile phones, the focus of this study was to ascertain drivers of tertiary students’ mobile phone brand choice in Ghana. Using a structured questionnaire, data was collected from a random sample of 840 students from three tertiary institutions in Ghana. The study revealed that the most significant determinant of the students brand choice of mobile phones was perceived quality (p & LT; 0.05). Although price, prestige, and promotion also influenced their choice of mobile phone these were not significant at the 0.05 level. The study further revealed that availability and mobile phones as gift items also influenced the brand of phone used by the students (p & GT; 0.05). The study concludes that in spite of their economic handicaps, students brand choice was driven most by perceived quality and not price. Recommendations on how information technology manufacturers’ particularly mobile phone companies and marketers can exploit these drivers to sustain and improve their brand equity among students have been made.

The growing interest in mutual funds in Ghana has been tremendous over the last decade as evidenced by the continuous increases in number and total funds under management. However, no empirical work has been done on the selectivity and timing ability of the mutual fund managers. Using monthly returns data hand-collected from the reports of the mutual fund managers for the period January 2007-December 2012, this paper examines the market timing and selectivity ability of mutual fund managers in Ghana using the classic Treynor-Mazuy (1966) model and Henriksson- Merton (1981) model. The results suggest that, in general mutual fund managers in Ghana are not able to effectively select stocks and also are not able to predict both the magnitude and direction of future market returns. More specifically, all of the sample mutual fund managers attain significant negative selectivity coefficients and also most of them attain insignificant negative timing coefficients.

Banks are principally in the interest earning business. The interest earning nature of banks comes with the amount of loans that banks are able to advance to their customers. To ensure that the stream of interest is not treacherous, banks must put in place stringent credit risk management practices. In this study, we investigate credit risk and default among Ghanaian banks and how these banks are coping with such pressures. Using a survey method, we found that though varied in nature, all the banks have some form of credit management procedures put in place to manage their loan portfolios. We found loan application processes to be bank specific. However, there are some common requirements that banks usually demand from customers in the process of assessing their suitability for a loan. We also found most of the credit management practices of banks to be consistent with the CAMPARI model. We recommend that the Central Bank facilitate in the establishment of a vibrant credit-referencing bureau in order to provide credit history of customers of the banks.

The Indigenous Ghanaian woman entrepreneur, this study found exhibits many similarities with their counterparts in other countries in terms of their personality traits. However, they differed in other aspects such as their educational backgrounds and modes of entrepreneurial skills acquisition. Through their entrepreneurial activities the women have made substantial contributions to the economic growth of Ghana in terms of innovation, job creation, and reduction in poverty and unemployment. Using a survey methodology, this study concludes that to succeed as a female entrepreneur in Ghana, one requires some specific knowledge, skills and attitudes.

The study examined the market entry strategies of multinational services companies into Ghana’s service sector and the linkages to firm level performance after entry. Literature was reviewed on market entry strategies, internationalisation, globalisation of service firms and resource-based theory. The study adopted a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in this study. The qualitative approach was for deeper enquiry and quantitative for empirical testing. The study found that firm specific factors affect the market entry strategy while the entry strategy also affects performance after it enters the market. Home country factors and the features of services are also seen to moderate on the effects mentioned. Respondents also indicated that the features of services were an industry wide issue not so much consideration is given to it.

Accountability is instrumental for ensuring that a trusting relationship exists between shareholders and management of corporations in order that there will be enhanced investor confidence. Towards this end, corporate governance measures are instituted to make the executives or management of business organizations accountable for their stewardships of the organizational resources or shareholders’ investments. It is against that backdrop that the Securities and Exchange Commission in Ghana has also developed a code on best practices on corporate governance. However, the extent to which the provisions in the code are consistent with the theoretical and empirical literature is unknown. This paper, therefore, sought to explore whether or not gaps exist between the corporate governance policy and practices in Ghana and extant literature. This paper achieves this by examining characteristics of the board as they exist in Ghana in relations to the literature. The characteristics examined in this paper include responsibilities, optimal size, independence, board composition, and audit and compensation committees of boards. Recommendations are made based on the literature to address gaps that exist.