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This study seeks to examine the determinants of capital structure of banks in Sub-Sahara Africa. Keywords: Capital structure, Return on asset, Total debt ratio, Long term debt ratio, Short term debt ratio, Asset tangibility. This study has employed the use of panel data techniques to analyze the determinants of capital structure of banks in sub-Sahara Africa The dependent variables used in the study were short-term debt ratio (STDR), long-term debt ratio (LTDR) and the total debt ratio (TDAR Contribution/ OriginalityMost empirical studies that examine the determinants of capital structure have been done for developed or specific country and there is little evidence in Sub-Sahara Africa. This study 625variables as determinants of capital structure of banks. This study is one of very few studies which have investigated the determinants of capital structure of banks in Sub-Sahara Africa. This study contributes by determining the significant variables that determines banks capital structure in Africa.

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The impact of international remittances on various social, economic and political phenomena has been studied by scholars. A limited number of these studies have examined whether international remittances influence household food security. However, most of these studies are country-specific. Other studies explore specific regions or towns within a country. Cross-country studies on the topic are lacking. We attempt to fill this gap by examining data for over 48,000 people in 32 Sub-Saharan African countries. Our results reveal two facts: First, we find that receiving international remittances is positively associated with more household food security. Second, and more remarkably, the frequency of receiving remittances matters more for this relationship. Accordingly, we conclude that while international remittances are important for improving household food security, the frequency with which they are received is more important.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic link between financial inclusion and financial sector development (FSD) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs a panel vector autoregressive framework to examine the dynamic link between financial inclusion and FSD in Sub-Saharan Africa. Findings The findings indicate that there is a reverse causality between FSD and financial inclusion in both the Sub-Saharan Africa countries sample and the full sample. It is evident that financial inclusion is a driver of FSD and vice versa. Practical implications The practical implication of this study is that financial inclusion should not only be pursued as a policy objective but it could also be an outcome variable of FSD and vice versa. This implies that African economies and governments in their effort to enhance financial inclusion, FSD can serve as a policy tool. This means that policies aimed at promoting financial inclusion will not impede FSD because the two are complementary. This suggests that we can achieve financial inclusion without sacrificing FSD and vice versa. Originality/value This paper provides first empirical evidence of the link between financial inclusion and FSD from the Sub-Saharan Africa perspective using data sourced from World Development Indicators spanning from 1990 to 2014 for 48 Sub-Saharan African economies and 217 economies in the world for the full sample.

This paper investigates the impact of financial inclusion on banks' profitability in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper employed the system generalized method of moments (GMM) dynamic pooled estimator for the computation of the parameters using data spanning from 1990 to 2017. The results show that there is an affirmative relationship between financial inclusion index (FINDEX) and bank profitability in Sub-Saharan Africa. This suggests that financial inclusion is a significant driver of banks' profitability in Sub-Saharan Africa. The policy implication of this study is that for banks in Sub-Saharan African countries to increase their profitability and get optimum results from financial inclusion they must formulate policies aimed at promoting financial inclusion. This suggests that banks in Sub-Saharan African countries must be creative and innovative in pursuing financial inclusion policies. Such policies should be targeted at increasing the number of bank branches and ATMs. Banks should also make effort at finding ways of making opening of bank accounts much easier for the vulnerable and marginalized in society by relaxing the requirements for customer identification in specific situations where they may hamper financial inclusion goals and efforts.

PurposeThe study investigates the effect of autocratic, democratic and transformational leadership styles on employees' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The study further examines the moderating role of leaders' emotional intelligence between leadership styles and OCB.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were used to collect data from 618 small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) employees in Ghana. For this study, both simple random and convenient sampling were adopted in selecting respondents. Regression was used to test the hypotheses in the research model using IBM–Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).FindingsThe results show that democratic and transformational leadership styles both positively predicted the OCB of SME employees, although transformational leadership has a more significant influence. On the contrary, autocratic leadership style was found to have an insignificant relationship with OCB of SME employees when the interactive effect of the various leadership styles and emotional intelligence were introduced into the model. The results also show that whereas leaders' emotional intelligence positively moderate the relationship between autocratic leadership style and OCB, the relationships between democratic leadership style and OCB and between transformational leadership style and OCB are not significantly moderated by leaders' emotional intelligence.Research limitations/implicationsAn examination of other prominent leadership styles (for example, the transactional leadership style and the laissez faire leadership style) could be key areas for future research as it is a potential limitation of this study. Similarly, the use of a Western leadership instrument could also be a potential limitation in the Ghanaian context, although these instruments and scales may be applicable. Future studies could also consider a longitudinal approach to give a more holistic picture of the effect of the leadership styles on OCB.Practical implicationsIn general, the findings of the study support the idea that the autocratic leadership style affects SME employees' OCB both directly and indirectly through leaders' emotional intelligence. This study recommends that leaders of SMEs should focus on leadership styles that combine both result-oriented and people-centric behaviors to encourage SMEs' employees to engage in OCB.Originality/valueThis study provides firsthand information on the impact of autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and transformational leadership style on an employee's OCB from the Ghanaian SME perspective.

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