Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of employee fraud, focusing on the banking industry in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A major bank was selected for the case study analysis. The researchers used qualitative data analysis for the study. Content analysis of investigation reports and interviews of employees from different functional areas were used as the main data collection tools. Findings This study found that loans contracted by bank employees with huge repayment amounts put financial pressure on them to commit fraud. The study also found that inadequate controls in some areas of the bank can fuel the commission of fraud. In addition, aggrieved employees have a high propensity of committing fraud. Huge punitive consequences were noted to exist for employees who perpetrate fraud, and shareholders are also affected by the fraudulent behaviour of employees. Research limitations/implications Findings shown in the study confirm the hypotheses of the fraud triangle theory on the causes of fraud despite its criticisms. The findings are also consistent with extant studies on the antecedents and consequences of fraud. The use of one bank for the case study analysis as well as the three-year analysis period impose a limitation on the study. Future studies can explore fraud using other different theoretical lenses. Gathering data from more than one bank and for a longer period of analysis may provide more accurate results. Practical implications This study provides some recommendations for fraud prevention in the banking industry in Ghana. The major one is the need for the central bank to collaborate with financial institutions to set up an effective creditworthiness system that will aid the monitoring of activities of the banks. Banks should also ensure that systems of controls are reviewed regularly to identify and deal with fraud. Originality/value This study is original, as it focuses on an industry that is highly susceptible to fraud due to issues of confidentiality with data and with scanty literature on fraud.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that constrain or enable process virtualization in a government-to-citizen engagement process. Past research has established that most e-government projects, especially in developing countries, are regarded as total failure or partial failure. Citizens' unwillingness to use government electronic services and lack of awareness are among some of the reasons why these electronic services fail. Using the process virtualization theory (PVT) as theoretical lens, the authors investigated the various activities within the driver license acquisition process at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. The PVT helped in identifying factors which enable or inhibit the virtualization of the driver license acquisition process in Ghana. Based on a survey data of 317 participants, we report that process characteristics in the form of relationship requirements affect citizens' willingness toward the use of government virtualized processes. Situating the PVT within a developing country context, our findings reveal that some cultural and behavioral attributes such as socialization hinder the virtualization of some activities within the driver licensing process. Such electronic services prove governments' willingness to provide services to their citizenry in an efficient and effective manner. The popularity of government online services is still influencing most governments to move their services from the traditional platforms (face to face) to the virtual platforms. In lieu with the benefits of virtual platforms, it has become inconceivable to envisage life without online processes (Balci, 2014). This notwithstanding, studies have shown that not all processes qualify to be virtualized (Overby, 2008).Research has shown that both online and offline processes have had some challenges with various government-sponsored initiatives (Bruns & Swift, 2011). This has given room for the rise in the failure of most online citizen-centric initiatives that governments introduce. Alshawi and Alalwany (2009) explained that poor exploitation of e-government initiatives is prevalent in most developing countries. Problems associated with implementation and unwillingness of citizens to use the online system are some of the predominant challenges that confront such initiatives (Chan et al., 2010). Schwester (2009) also attributed resistance and failure of government online services to the perception that technology will replace people in the workplace. That is to say, once people feel threatened they will be replaced, they intend sabotaging the online system.Despite the role IT plays in virtualized processes, studies have shown that it costs governments a fortune to put their services online. It is estimated that a big portion of IT investment in e-government are wasted because between 60% and 80% of all e-government projects fail (Heeks & Stanforth, 2007). These failed e-government projects are rated as either a total failure (35%), partial failure (50%), or successful (15%) (Heeks, 2003)....

This study covers factors influencing the adoption of electronic health (eHealth) technologies in Ghana. The study was designed as a quantitative survey with questionnaire as the main method of data gathering. A total of 1640 questionnaires were administered to users and potential users of eHealth technologies in both public and private healthcare centres in Ghana. The study concludes that institutional characteristics and healthcare manager characteristics have a high influence on eHealth adoption. However, factors related to performance expectancy and effort expectancy only have low influence on the adoption of eHealth devices and systems. Accordingly, the study makes recommendations to policymakers for improving eHealth adoption in the health sector.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and consequences of employee fraud, focusing on the banking industry in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A major bank was selected for the case study analysis. The researchers employed qualitative data analysis for the study. Content analysis of investigation reports and interviews of employees from different functional areas were used as the main data collection tools. Findings This study found that loans contracted by bank employees with huge repayment amounts put financial pressure on them to commit fraud. The study also found that inadequate controls in some areas of the bank can fuel the commission of fraud. In addition, aggrieved employees have highly chances of committing fraud. Huge punitive consequences were noted to exist for the employee who perpetrates the fraud and shareholders are also affected by the fraudulent behaviour of employees. Research limitations/implications Findings shown in the study confirm the hypotheses of the fraud triangle theory on the causes of fraud in spite of its criticisms. The findings are also consistent with extant studies on the antecedents and consequences of fraud. The use of one bank for the case study analysis as well as the three-year analysis period imposes a limitation on the study. Future studies can explore fraud using other different theoretical lenses. Gathering data from more than one bank and for a longer period of analysis may provide more accurate results. Practical implications This study provides some recommendations for fraud prevention in the banking industry in Ghana. The major one is the need for the central bank to collaborate with financial institutions to set up an effective credit worthiness system that will aid the monitoring of activities of the banks. Banks should also ensure that systems of controls are reviewed regularly to identify and deal with fraud. Originality/value This study is original, as it focuses on an industry that is highly susceptible to fraud because of issues of confidentiality with data and with the scanty literature on fraud.

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This study seeks to answer the question, what is the right configuration of IT Governance mechanisms that will improve performance? Although few studies have addressed how governance mechanisms improve performance, these studies have adopted a linear approach in assessing the relationships among governance mechanisms. The nature of the linear relationships has not answered the lingering question making this study crucial. The study follows the configurational theories that for IT governance to improve performance, all the governance mechanisms much be implemented coherently. We used Cluster analysis to assess the nature of the configuration in the Ghanaian Financial Services Sector using 7 companies. Our findings confirm our theory that to improve performance, IT Governance mechanisms must be implemented coherently. However, in a fast-changing environment, there is the need to increase focus on technological mechanisms to provide timely information for decision making, collaboration and reduce information asymmetry. As a contribution to practice, this study recommends that policy makers in the financial space should emphasize the need for adequate IT Governance implementations with the right configuration. Companies in the pension and savings and loan sectors should be encouraged to adopt more technological mechanisms.

PurposeThis study investigates the determinants of digital census for population and housing census (PHC) program through the lens of performance expectancy, technology readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation for the upliftment of a national data collection exercise and development of human resource management.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative and qualitative research method was used to survey enumerators' responses from the PHC exercise during the COVID-19 period in Ghana. Based on the four determinants, a conceptual framework was developed consisting of eight proposed hypotheses tested through a structural equation model.FindingsThe findings of the study indicate that technological readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation significantly influence behavioural intention to adopt digital technologies for PHC training and data collection. Importantly, the authors identified four key themes relating to digital technologies in PHC – personal enablers, general enablers, inherent affordances (inherent possibilities by the user in relation to what the technology offers in context) and personal inhibitors.Originality/valueFor research, this work systematizes antecedents from diverse research streams and validates their relative impact on government digital transformation for accurate data, thus providing a cohesive theoretical explanation of digital technologies in PHC. Due to the study's infancy in a developing country context, the findings provide a preliminary foundation and constructive insight for a digitalization plan conducive to people’s personality and technological readiness.

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