1,720,960 research outputs found
THE ROLE OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES IN ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN EMERGING BANKING SECTORS: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIA
Get PDFThis study investigates the impact of digital marketing strategies on the productivity of United Bank for Africa (UBA), focusing on social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). Using a cross-sectional survey design and quantitative analysis, the research explores the correlation between digital marketing variables and organizational productivity. The findings reveal that social media marketing and content marketing have significant positive effects on productivity, while SEO shows a moderate but meaningful contribution. Conversely, email marketing demonstrates no significant effect, reflecting changing consumer preferences toward more interactive platforms. The study reinforces the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, emphasizing digital capabilities as critical drivers of competitive advantage. Policy implications highlight the role of digital marketing in advancing financial inclusion, reducing transaction costs, and enhancing customer engagement in Nigeria’s banking sector. Overall, the study concludes that strategic deployment of digital marketing not only enhances firm performance but also contributes to broader economic growth in emerging economies
GREEN FINANCE INTEGRATION AND SOVEREIGN EUROBOND YIELDS IN KENYA: A CLIMATE RISK PREMIUM PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFKenya's exposure to climate risks and fiscal volatility has raised concerns about the pricing of its sovereign Eurobonds in global markets. This study investigates the impact of green finance announcements, ESG risk scores, and inflation on Kenya’s sovereign Eurobond yield spreads over U.S. Treasuries from 2015 to 2024. Employing a quantitative explanatory research design, the study analyzed secondary monthly data on yield spreads, macroeconomic indicators, and ESG metrics using multiple linear regression. Descriptive statistics and diagnostic tests confirmed data suitability, while correlation analysis revealed expected directional relationships. Findings show that green finance announcements significantly reduce Kenya’s sovereign risk premium, aligning with signaling theory that credible sustainability communication enhances investor confidence. ESG risk scores were also found to have a statistically significant negative effect on yield spreads, underscoring the importance of non-financial performance in sovereign debt pricing. Conversely, inflation had a significant positive effect, reflecting heightened risk aversion toward macroeconomic instability. The study concludes that climate and ESG signals now influence investor pricing behavior in African debt markets. It recommends that the Kenyan government institutionalize green finance disclosures, improve ESG reporting systems, and enforce effective inflation-targeting policies to reduce borrowing costs and enhance debt sustainability. The findings offer vital information for policymakers and investors in understanding the evolving dynamics of climate-adjusted sovereign risk
BRICS MEMBERSHIP AND CURRENCY INTERNATIONALIZATION: SOUTH AFRICA'S RAND IN INTRA-BRICS SETTLEMENTS
Get PDFThe marginal use of the South African Rand (ZAR) in intra-BRICS trade settlements presents a critical gap in the broader agenda of de-dollarization. This study investigates the influence of bilateral trade volume, exchange rate volatility, and BRICS trade policy coordination on the share of ZAR used in settlements among BRICS countries. Using a quantitative panel data design, the study covers Brazil, Russia, India, and China over the period 2018 to 2023. Data were sourced from UN COMTRADE, SARB, IMF, and BRICS communiqués, with ZAR share proxied from SWIFT and SARB reports. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, diagnostic tests, and fixed effects regression were employed for empirical validation. The results reveal that higher bilateral trade volumes significantly increase the likelihood of ZAR being used in settlements. Exchange rate volatility has a negative impact, discouraging ZAR adoption, while stronger BRICS trade policy coordination positively influences local currency usage. The findings align with the Optimum Currency Area (OCA) theory, emphasizing trade integration and policy alignment. The study recommends that South Africa strengthen trade relations, stabilize its currency, and play a proactive role in BRICS policy harmonization to enhance ZAR internationalization
SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING AND BRAND LOYALTY IN SOUTH AFRICA’S RETAIL SECTOR: THE MODERATING ROLE OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
Get PDFResearch Problem: Brand loyalty in South Africa’s retail sector is increasingly threatened by the fragmented attention and fluid preferences of digital consumers. Although social media advertising has become a dominant marketing tool, limited research has examined how advertising spend influences brand loyalty within this sector, particularly when moderated by customer engagement. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for retailers seeking to retain customers in a competitive digital landscape.
Methods/Theory: Guided by Engagement Theory, this study adopts a quantitative research design to analyse the relationship between social media advertising spend, customer engagement, and brand loyalty. Data were obtained from 120 retail firms actively advertising on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Secondary data on advertising expenditure, platform engagement metrics, and customer loyalty indicators were analysed using hierarchical regression models, supported by diagnostic validity tests.
Results: Findings show that social media advertising spend exerts a significant positive effect on brand loyalty. Customer engagement also demonstrates a strong positive influence on loyalty outcomes. Moreover, the moderating analysis reveals that customer engagement significantly strengthens the relationship between advertising spend and brand loyalty, indicating that advertising is more effective when audiences interact actively with brand content.
Conclusion: Social media advertising contributes to enhanced brand loyalty in South Africa’s retail sector; however, its effectiveness is dependent on the level of customer engagement. Paid advertising alone cannot secure loyalty without meaningful user interaction.
Key Contribution to Knowledge: This study enriches digital marketing scholarship by empirically demonstrating the moderating role of customer engagement in the advertising–loyalty relationship, offering evidence from a sub-Saharan African retail context where such insights remain limited.
Recommendation: Retail firms should prioritise budget allocation for engagement-driven content, foster real-time brand–user interactions, and optimise advertising formats for interactivity. Further research should explore platform-specific engagement dynamics and cross-industry comparisons to deepen understanding of digital loyalty formation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
Get PDFManagement control system (MCS) constitutes one of the critical functions of management in organizations. However, little or no attention has been given to design and use of this very important function of management. Many mechanisms or techniques acknowledged to be in use to carry out management control function are limited to accounting-based control techniques which have been criticized to have behavioral dysfunctional consequences such as lack of direction, efforts aversion and other self-interested behaviors. In response to the limitations of accounting control system, the need to broaden the scope of MCS and humanize its role becomes imperative. In view of the foregoing, the study investigated how Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises engage in the practice of MCS and its effect on performance. The study employs quantitative method to obtain survey data from randomly selected 262 of small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises in Lagos State respectively. The obtained quantitative data was subjected Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) analysis. The findings of the study revealed that variation in performance of Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises (SMMEs) was attributed to four management control mechanisms: compensation (β=0.225,P<0.05) and Planning (β=0.332,P<0.05) significantly impact on performance while Policies and procedures(β=0.206,P<0.05) and socio-cultural control(β=0.436,P<0.05)also have significant effect on performance. The study concluded that managers of Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises employ some accounting and non-accounting control mechanisms to achieve goal congruence among their subordinates and to a greater extent, the practices impact positively on performance. Therefore, the study recommended that SMMEs should integrate both accounting and non-accounting control mechanisms into the design of their control system architecture
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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