A portrait of Oxford Street, Accra’s most globalised high street – part 3

This is the third in a series of guest posts from Ato Quayson, Professor of English and the Director of the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. In this post, he examines the theatre which adorns Accra’s Oxford Street

An investigation of key determinants of customer loyalty : evidence from Ghana’s mobile telecommunication industry

In a fiercely competitive business environment such as the mobile network services setting, it is a marketplace reality that the ability of firms to attract and retain customers ultimately determines their growth and survival prospects. This study, therefore, investigates how customer satisfaction, perceived service quality, perceived value, corporate image and switching cost determine customer loyalty in the mobile network services setting of Ghana. A total of 140 respondents completed an online survey via emails and social media platforms in Ghana. The results of the empirical study reveal that customer satisfaction had the greatest impact on loyalty. Service quality and perceived value are both directly and indirectly related to loyalty through satisfaction. The results also show that corporate image is a direct antecedent of customer loyalty. The role of image as a key factor in mobile network services marketing is thus confirmed. However, the influence of switching costs on customer loyalty was not corroborated in this study. We suggest that managers should emphasize service quality and perceived value as core elements for building satisfaction and loyalty. In regard to Mobile Number Portability (MNP) intentions, the study found that there were as many customers who were likely to port their numbers as there were those who might not. Notwithstanding, those with porting intent were fairly larger. Some customers also reported indecisiveness with MNP. As such, brand managers should design unique marketing strategies aimed at each of these consumer groups

Transition regimes and security sector reforms in Sierra Leone and Liberia

Why are some countries more successful at carrying out post-conflict reconstruction programmes than others? Why has Sierra Leone been more successful in the reform of its armed forces than Liberia has after the end of the Mano River Basin wars? This paper argues that the diverging outcomes are explained by the extent to which post-conflict regimes reflected the distribution of power on the ground in the two countries. Sierra Leone's transition regime reflected the distribution of power between forces on the ground and led to a consultative process that resulted in a moderate reform programme. But the earlier input of key local actors made implementation less difficult. In Liberia the transition regime was built on a repudiation of local power realities. This led to a non-consultative process that resulted in a very radical reform programme. But this lack of consultation has severely compromised the implementation of the reforms

Classical and causal inference approaches to statistical mediation analysis

Antecedentes: aunque existe un amplio consenso en el uso de los procedimientos estadísticos para el análisis de la mediación en la investigación psicológica, la interpretación del efecto de mediación resulta muy controvertida debido al potencial incumplimiento de los supuestos que requiere su aplicación, la mayoría de los cuales son ignorados en la práctica. Método: se resumen los procedimientos actualmente vigentes para el análisis de mediación desde los enfoques clásico y de la inferencia causal, junto con los supuestos estadísticos para estimar efectos de mediación no sesgados, en particular la existencia de variables omitidas o confundidores, y se utiliza un estudio de simulación para determinar si la violación de los supuestos puede cambiar la estimación del efecto de mediación. Resultados: el estudio de simulación mostró una sobreestimación importante del efecto de mediación en presencia de confundidores latentes. Conclusiones: se recomienda complementar el enfoque clásico con el enfoque de la inferencia causal, que generaliza los resultados del primer enfoque al análisis de la mediación e incorpora nuevas herramientas para evaluar sus supuestos estadísticos. Para alcanzar tal objetivo se comparan las características distintivas de los programas de software recientemente desarrollados en R, SAS, SPSS y Mplus.Although there is a broad consensus on the use of statistical procedures for mediation analysis in psychological research, the interpretation of the effect of mediation is highly controversial because of the potential violation of the assumptions required in application, most of which are ignored in practice. Method: This paper summarises two currently independent procedures for mediation analysis, the classical/ SEM and causal inference/CI approaches, together with the statistical assumptions required to estimate unbiased mediation effects, in particular the existence of omitted variables or confounders. A simulation study was run to test whether violating the assumptions changes the estimation of mediating effects. Results: The simulation study showed a signifi cant overestimation of mediation effects with latent confounders. Conclusions: We recommend expanding the classical with the causal inference approach, which generalises the results of the fi rst approach to mediation using a common estimation method and incorporates new tools to evaluate the statistical assumptions. To achieve this goal, we compare the distinguishing features of recently developed software programs in R, SAS, SPSS, STATA and Mplu

Impact of Mueusems in Cultural Scoiety - A Case Study

Museums with strong brands or those that inhabit iconic buildings are increasingly used as cultural motifs in the destination-marketing strategies of public tourist bodies. Recent examples include the use of the British Museum in Visit Britain's Culture is Great campaign, or the Turner Contemporary as a symbol of Margate's brand enhancement. The latest figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) once again underlined the importance of museums to the visitor economy. Meanwhile, the new Arts Council England and Visit England partnership, which aims to help destinations develop their cultural tourism, provides an opportunity for museums to take a strategic lead in this area. But could it also result in greater reliance on marketing-orientated approaches that might not benefit the entire museum sector

Alexithymia – State or Trait?

La alexitimia describe un trastorno en el procesamiento emocional, manifestado mediante una marcada dificultad para identificar y expresar afectos, así como una tendencia a amplificar las sensaciones somáticas ligadas a la activación emocional. La alexitimia es conceptualizada tanto como un trastorno en la regulación afectiva, como una variable de personalidad. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es investigar la estabilidad temporal de los niveles de alexitimia en relación a los cambios experimentados en el malestar emocional causado por los exámenes universitarios. Evaluamos 20 universitarios en cuatro ocasiones diferentes, antes y después de los exámenes. Se evaluaron los niveles de alexitimia y de malestar emocional (ansiedad y sintomatología somática). Los resultados mostraron que mientras que las medidas de malestar emocional cambiaron significativamente durante las diversas fases, el grado de alexitimia permaneció inalterable. Se concluye afirmando que la alexitimia constituye un rasgo estable de personalidad.Alexithymia refers to a specific disturbance in emotional processing that is manifestad by difficulties in identifying and verbalizing feelings and a tendency to focus on and amplify the somatic sensations that accompany emotional arousal. Alexithymia is conceptualized both as an affect-deficit disorder and a continuous personality variable. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the stability levels of alexithymia with regard to changes in emotional distress levels caused by university exams. We tested 20 university students at four different times, before and after the exams. Alexithymic features and self-reported emotional distress (trait anxiety and physical symptoms) were measured. Whereas emotional distress measures changed significantly during the diverse phases, the level of alexithymia remained unchanged. We therefore conclude that alexithymia represents a constant trai

Technology adoption in small-scale agriculture

This study sets out to explore one of the most important questions for alleviating poverty in sub-Saharan Africa namely: why are advancements in agricultural technology not taking root in this region? Using data from deep interviews of 42 smallscale farmers in Ghana and Cameroon, a conceptual analysis of drivers and factors of agricultural technology adoption in this region is made and represented as causal loop diagrams. Interviews also provide a basis for weighting factors that farmers consider before adopting a new technology. These weights are then used to run a systems dynamics model with a hypothetical population of 10.000 farmers to see the effects of different drivers of technology adoption on the adoption rate and number of adopters over a 25 year period. Results show that most farmers have a bethedging strategy as they try to minimize risks of production failures. While certain factors like scale of production, long-term considerations, the history of success of past technologies, and the endorsement of technologies by opinion leaders may be important, many other factors do influence decisions to adopt new technologies. This limits any silver bullet strategy towards solving the problem of limited diffusion of agricultural technologies in this region. Addressing such a problem therefore calls for a much more holistic approach

Glibenclamide impairs responses of neutrophils against Burkholderia pseudomallei by reduction of intracellular glutathione.

The major risk factor for melioidosis, an infectious disease caused by B. pseudomallei, is diabetes mellitus. More than half of diabetic melioidosis patients in Thailand were prescribed glibenclamide. Recent evidence demonstrates that glibenclamide reduces pro-inflammatory cytokine production by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) of diabetic individuals in response to this bacterial infection. However, the mechanisms by which glibenclamide affects cytokine production are unknown. We found that PMNs from glibenclamide-treated diabetic individuals infected with live B. pseudomallei in vitro showed lower free glutathione (GSH) levels compared with those of healthy individuals. Glibenclamide decreased GSH levels and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) of PMNs after exposed to live B. pseudomallei. Moreover, glibenclamide reduced cytokine production and migration capacity of infected PMNs, whereas GSH could restore these functions. Taken together, our data show a link between the effect of glibenclamide on GSH and PMN functions in response to B. pseudomallei that may contribute to the susceptibility of diabetic individuals to B. pseudomallei infection