GPH-International Journal of Business Management

SOLUTIONS TO PROMOTE GREEN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: A CASE STUDY OF BAGASSE BASED BIOPRODUCTS IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY MODEL IN VIETNAM

Thi Van Anh Nguyen — 2025-09-11

This study examines green consumer behavior in Vietnam, focusing on bagasse-based bioproducts - a category of products gaining increasing popularity but still facing barriers such as high costs and limited market penetration. The research indicates that short-term solutions (raising awareness, economic support, and information transparency) combined with long-term strategies (developing a circular economy model for the sugarcane industry) play a crucial role in fostering this behavior. The coordinated implementation of these measures not only encourages green consumption to become mainstream behavior but also contributes to shaping a circular and sustainable economy in Vietnam.

Economic Analysis of Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) in Nigeria

Keniyinboh Adimiegha Bob — 2025-09-12

This study focused on the economic analysis of Direct Foreign Investments (FDI) in Nigeria exploring its trends through, job creation, transfer of technology and ultimately economic growth. The study identified eight (8) methods of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in line with their corresponding theories. Different growth theories support the fact that FDI is either directly or indirectly beneficial to economic growth of any nation. The study went on to analyze the relationship between economic growth and FDI and the flow of FDI in Nigeria over the years 1981-2021 revealing that Nigeria ranks third in Africa for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), behind Egypt and Ethiopia. After a comprehensive analysis of existing literatures, it reveals that FDI can have both positive and negative effects on the host economy depending on factors such as the type of investment, industry and the regulatory environment.

TECHNICAL INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE OF MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN BAYELSA STATE NIGERIA

GODWIN, Barivure Godspower — 2025-09-15

The study examined the relationship between technical innovation and performance of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Specifically, the objectives sought to examine how the dimensions of technical innovation (product, process and market innovation) relate to SMEs performance. The research design adopted in this study was survey research approach and the sample size for the study consists of 218 registered small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). However, stratified sampling procedure was used to select these SMEs from the target population to participate in the study and the collected data was analyzed using multiple regression. The result of the bivariate relationship revealed that product innovation is a strong predictor of MSMEs performance in Bayelsa State. This significant correlation stems from the fact that product innovation gives credence to customer satisfaction, increased market share, higher sales, and improved competitiveness among SMEs in Bayelsa State. Furthermore, process innovation was found to negatively correlate SMEs performance in Bayelsa State. Though, negative but the correlation was significant thus, implies that implementing cutting edge technologies alone can actually undermine sales performance, possibly due to high setup of SMEs in Bayelsa State. The paper concluded that technical innovation is a predictor of performance. It recommended that SMEs should conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis before investing in technical innovation as it will generate better and viable inducement for innovation activities on in their firms.

EXTERNAL AUDITORS’ ATTRIBUTES AND CORPORATE INCOME SMOOTHING PRACTICES AMONG LISTED NON-FINANCIAL FIRMS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Eshiet, Udeme Enobong — 2025-09-18

This study evaluated the relationship between external auditors’ attributes and corporate income smoothing practices among listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan African countries. The study employed the ex-post facto and descriptive research designs. The sources of the data were secondary sources generated from audited financial reports and accounts of selected non-financial firms listed on the Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe Stock Exchanges and the Nigerian Exchange Group between 2013 and 2022. Using the homogenous purposive sampling technique, two hundred and ninety-nine (299) listed non-financial firms were selected from Stock Exchanges of Ghana; Kenya; Nigerian Exchange Group; South Africa; Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The independent variables employed for the study were External Auditors’ Firm Type, External Auditors’ Audit Report Lag, External Auditors’ Fees, External Auditors’ Tenure and Joint Audit. The dependent variable was proxied by Eckel 1981 corporate income smoothing Model while Firm Size and Return on Total Assets were employed as control variables. The panel data were analyzed with the aid of Pooled OLS techniques using version 14 of Stata statistical software to conduct the descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyses. The study found that: Audit Firm Type (XATYPE, coef. 1.572 {0.028}) has a statistically significant and positive effect on corporate income smoothing practices among listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. External Audit Report Lag (XARLAG, coef. -0.0009{0.815}) did not show any statistically significant effect on corporate income smoothing practices of listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. External Audit Fee (XAFEE, coef. -0.523 {0.000}) indicated a statistically significant but negative effect on corporate income smoothing practices among listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan African. External Audit Tenure (XATEN, coef. -4.117 {0.048}) has a statistically significant and negative effect on corporate income smoothing practices among listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Joint Audit Practices (JAUDIT, coef. -3.113 {0.197}) has no statistically significant effect on corporate income smoothing practices among listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the above findings, the study concluded that external audit methodologies and procedures may not be designed to effectively detect corporate income smoothing in the six economies under study, especially if external audit firms are not keeping up evolving accounting practices and financial engineering techniques prevalent in the region under study. Hence the theory of audit quality in mitigating earnings smoothing may not always be valid especially in the six selected Sub-Saharan African economies. Hence, this study recommended that: Regulators of the audit market should reduce the over concentration of Big Four audit firms in Sub-Saharan African economies by enacting policies that will encourage second tier audit firms in the African Stock Exchanges to step up the quality of their audit services to compete favorably with their Big Four counterparts. Also, external audit tenure system can be an effective strategy for improving external audit quality and curbing corporate income smoothing practices among the selected six economies under study in line with the Economic Consequences Theory which sternly cautions managers of listed non-financial firms in Sub-Saharan African economies against the negative consequences of corporate income smoothing practices such as loss of investor trust and confidence, higher borrowing costs, regulatory scrutiny and damage to firm’s reputation.

Management of Public and Private Institutions in the Face of Social Relations, Norms, and Organizational Cultures

Tiamba TRAORE — 2025-09-20

This article examines the role of management in public and private organizations through the lens of social relations, norms, and organizational cultures, particularly in the context of increasing bureaucracy. Management, as the art of organizing, planning, and directing while controlling both human and financial resources, can it truly operate without tension when bureaucracy is essentially the implementation of decisions based on impersonal rules and the competence of agents ? This question led us to explore the writings of various authors who have addressed this issue. Through our readings and by distinguishing between public and private institutions according to principles of coherence and rationality, we identified key sociological challenges that underlie the prominence of management in contemporary settings.

DETERMINANTS OF ADOPTION OF LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS (LPG) IN NIGERIA

Joseph Dada Obele — 2025-09-22

This study examines the determinants of adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Nigeria. The global transition towards sustainable and clean energy sources has spurred significant interest in utilizing Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as a versatile and environmentally friendly energy carrier. The population of this study comprises top management of ninety-nine (99) registered oil and gas firms in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The study employed Taro Yamen formula to select 79 Gas and Oil firms in Rivers State as the accessible sample size. Given the above fact, the method of sampling techniques adopted is convenience sampling. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question. Our findings suggest that socioeconomic characteristics influencing the adoption of LNG in Nigeria, the factors determining the adoption of LPG in Nigeria and the challenges of adoption of cooking gas as household energy were all agreed and significant. We recommend that the government implement policies to increase access to LPG, particularly in rural areas, and promote awareness about the benefits of using LPG.