Jean D. Kabongo

Entrepreneurship education in sub‐Saharan African universities

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate entrepreneurship course offerings in business administration/management curricula in sub‐Saharan higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a survey of online course catalogs to analyze entrepreneurship course offerings.Findings – The results of the study demonstrate that most higher education institutions in the sample offer courses in entrepreneurship and/or small business management but few offer specialization in the area. Newly created institutions are more likely to offer entrepreneurship courses and specializations than traditional ones while a few operate university‐based entrepreneurship centers. The study findings are consistent with the environmental school of entrepreneurial thought.Research limitations/implications – The study depended exclusively on online data. Several institutions were excluded from the sample because their web sites were unavailable. Future research should use a larger sample.Practical implica...

The Impact of Operational Diversity on Corporate Philanthropy: An Empirical Study of U.S. Companies

This paper investigates the impact of diversity on corporate philanthropy. Compared to previous studies that have considered the influence of board diversity and CEO gender on corporate philanthropy, this study introduces the concept of operational diversity, which is the implementation of diversity programs at management, employee, and supply chain levels, and further, it explains why operational diversity influences corporate philanthropy, by using the premises of resource dependence theory. Second, this study also investigates the influence of board diversity on corporate philanthropy. Third, this study uses a large sample of U.S. firms over the period of 1991–2009 and tries to mitigate possible omitted variables and endogeneity problems that are often overlooked in previous research. We demonstrate that firms with operational diversity programs are likely more dependent on a broad variety of resources and give more to community as a strategic maneuver; hence, operational diversity is a better indicator for predicting future corporate giving than board diversity alone. However, having a woman or a member of a minority as a company’s chief executive officer is not sufficient to impact its charitable giving. A battery of robustness tests support our conclusion and confirm that our results are not driven by a firm’s general corporate social responsibility (CSR) score, gender or independence of board members, or firm ownership. This paper will assist researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders in deepening their understanding of the predictors of corporate giving.

An examination of entrepreneurship educator profiles in business programs in the United States

Purpose – This study aims to assess the profiles of faculty teaching entrepreneurship courses in a sample of entrepreneurship programs in the USA for the years 2007‐2008.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was developed and mailed to entrepreneurship programs directors to provide information for answering questions concerning the following: educational backgrounds, primary teaching focus, research interests, publications in academic journals, and entrepreneurial experience brought into the classroom.Findings – The results of the study demonstrate that only one‐fifth of the faculty members in the sample held a PhD in entrepreneurship or in combination with another field in a business discipline. Three out of four faculty members concentrated their teaching in the field of entrepreneurship. More than one‐third of the faculty members had a research interest in the field of entrepreneurship. One‐fourth of faculty sampled had published in entrepreneurship journals. The majority of the faculty brought...

ICT possession among Congolese SMEs: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possession of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the developing economy of the Democratic Republic (DR) of the Congo. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of Congolese SMEs in two major cities was conducted. Findings – The results of the study demonstrate that nearly 51 percent of SMEs in the sample reported a cell phone number, making this tool the most popular among SMEs studied. In total, 31 percent of SMEs reported an e-mail address while only 3 percent of them reported having a firm web site. Far <1 percent reported a fax number, while none of the SMEs in the sample used a fixed telephone line. The telecommunications sector demonstrated the highest rate of ICT usage. The findings give consistency to what the body of research has concluded relative to the use of mobile telephone by SMEs in developing economies. Originality/value – This study fills a gap in the research into IC...

The effect of cross-cultural training on expatriates’ adjustment: Evidence from an emerging African economy

Purpose One of the most important issues multinational corporations (MNCs) face in their global operations is expatriate failure. It is estimated that between 10 and 80 percent of expatriates sent on overseas assignments return home early. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of cross-cultural training (CCT) on different facets of expatriate managers’ adjustment in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 212 western expatriate managers working in Nigeria was surveyed. Respondents were selected from four cities where they had been working for at least one year. Findings The main finding of this study was that expatriates’ adjustment could be predicted from different types of CCT. The findings of this research confirm the view expressed by researchers over the last two decades that both conventional and specific experimental CCT have positive effect on the facets of cross-cultural adjustment. Research limitations/implications Given that the authors did not collect their data over time, the cross-sectional nature of the design limits them from making definitive causal statements. In the future, more resources and efforts could be applied to safeguard larger samples of respondents, thus potentially resulting in better statistical power. A longitudinal approach could be used; such an approach may have generated a richer data source, where different patterns of adjustment could have been identified and compared over time. Data for the study were collected through questionnaire, thus any observed relations might be due in part to common method effects. Since the data were collected from four cities, there may be some concern as to the generalizability of the findings to expatriates working in other cities in Nigeria. Practical implications MNCs should pay more attention to CCT and management development. Ineffective CCT and management development have an adverse impact on MNCs’ effectiveness. Developing CCT programs could add value to corporations and employees especially employees who are destined for foreign assignments. In addition, developing CCT for expatriates’ spouses and children would facilitate adjustment process and may reduce failure rate. Originality/value Once corroborated by further studies, this exploratory research may contribute to the understanding of the adjustment of western expatriates in Nigeria. Few, if any, prior studies, have examined CCT and expatriate adjustment in Nigeria.

Environmental Performance: The Impact of R&D Intensity on Firms’ Environmental Concerns

This study investigates the relationship between R&D intensity and firms’ environmental concerns conceptualized as negative environmental externalities resulting from manufacturing activities. The study uses a large sample of U.S. firms in manufacturing industries over the period of 1991–2009. Our finding, robust to a number of sensitivity analyses, is that environmental concerns tend to decrease with R&D intensity expenditures at the firm level. This finding supports previous research and fills a gap in that research linking R&D intensity to corporate environmental performance. The result strengthens the discussion about environmental performance—namely, the reduction of negative environmental externalities—and economic performance.

Corporate Leaders’ Perceptions About Corporate Social Responsibility: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper examines the perceptions about corporate social responsibility (CSR) among a sample of corporate leaders in Africa. A survey and personal interviews were the primary methods of data collection. Our findings show that respondents were able to identify a range of parameters and stakeholders pertaining to CSR; actual practice tended to revolve around the philanthropic dimension. Corporate leaders were motivated by different factors to practice CSR, which we saw as being driven by either a proactive, accommodative, or reactive approach. We also found that the lack of commitment among some leaders in evaluating CSR practices might have been because they do not have clear definition of CSR goals. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions on how to evaluate CSR activities and how different stakeholders can help promote CSR.