A Message From The Director Of Research, Innovation And Consultancies (DRIC)

I take this opportunity to express gratitude of the Organising Committee to all who presented papers (completed papers or works-in-progress) at the maiden SDD-UBIDS Research Conference, especially external presenters. We sincerely appreciate your support as we take steps to inculcate a culture of research by creating a conducive environment for research, collaboration and knowledge sharing. The papers were of reasonably high quality. I encourage authors to use the feedback received to improve them for publication.

I wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you at the SDD-UBIDS 2022 Research Conference.

Professor Maurice Oscar Dassah
(Director)

Editorial Note

The SDD-UBIDS maiden research conference held in Wa, on November 10 and 11, 2021, marked a successful milestone as part of the efforts to make the new University a research-intensive university and an epitome of Third Generation Universities. The conference focused on how research and scholarship can create impact through the transformation of societies, businesses and livelihoods, especially in developing economies. Consequently, the conference served as a platform for presenting innovative research findings and ignited debates across various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The presentations covered information communication and technologies, environmental sustainability, development planning and governance, financial management and enterprise development, conflict management, among others. All the 30 extended abstracts listed here went through a double-blind review process. Parallel oral presentation sessions were organised for authors whose abstracts were accepted based on the blind review process. Each session was chaired and moderated by a senior academic expert. Authors were required to revise their abstracts based on the comments from the reviewers and the participants during presentations before the abstracts were accepted for inclusion in this book of abstracts. The abstracts are of good quality and worthy of reading. The editorial team is thankful to the authors for their submissions and also to the reviewers for the constructive comments that added quality to the abstracts.

Editors:
Frederick Dayour (Ph.D), School of Business, SDD-UBIDS
Raymond Aabeyir (Ph.D), Faculty of Social Science and Arts, SDD-UBIDS

Institutional Representation

The submissions and participation in the conference covered sixteen (16) institutions from six (6) countries as presented below:

1. SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa, Ghana
2. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
3. University of Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger
4. Ghana Communication Technology University, Accra, Ghana
5. University of Ghana
6. University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana
7. University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
8. University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana
9. Kyoto University, Japan
10. Kagawa University, Japan
11. Grasscutter Initiative for Rural Transformation (GIfT), Wa, Ghana
12. Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh
13. Ghana Health Service, Ghana
14. Family Health International, Ghana
15. Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra, Ghana
16. Michael Adedotun Oke Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria

List Of Conference 2021 Organising Committee Members

The conference was organised under the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancies (DRIC) on behalf of the University. The committee that spearheaded the organisation comprises:

• Maurice Oscar Dassah (Chairperson)
• Frederick Dayour
• Elijah Yendaw
• Stanley Kojo Dary
• Manacia Sefakor Asamoah
• Ophelius Mhaaneeh Yinyeh
• Raymond Aabeyir
• Felicia Esinam Pufaa
• Kannyiri Thadious Banyen
• Moomin Abubakari (Secretary)
• Grace Yirmaalu Dassah