This study employed hedonic pricing model to investigate the impact of noise and dust spewed from a cement factory on a sample of 126 tenements from 11 residential settlements within Ewekoro local housing market in Nigeria. Market-wide hedonic model for all the 126 tenements within 5.5km of the cement factory) was estimated. In addition, two separate unrestricted hedonic models were also estimated (the first consisting of 38 tenements within 2.5km of the factory and the other comprising 88 tenements located between 2.5km to 5.5km of the factory). The hedonic models which take the doublelog functional form were estimated with house rent (a proxy for house price) as the dependent variable. Generally, the results of the market-wide model revealed that, dust level and noise, which are negative externalities from the cement factory dampen rent by 21.90% (N 13815) and 1.49% (N 24.80) respectively within the study area. Findings from the unrestricted models further signify that tenement rents tend to decrease with increasing distance to Lafarge cement factory due to severity of dust and noise. As panacea to this problem it is recommended that government should provide policy response-the introduction of effluent fees which would force the cement and other manufacturing companies to internalize their externalities by paying for noise and dust pollution. The basic objective of such policy response is for manufacturing companies to move to the use of energy efficient and eco-friendly plants that generate less noise and dust in their production operations. On the other, the cement company should also imbibe Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as part of its efforts in providing a sustainable living environment for the residents in Ewekoro town.
There is a growing concern about city livability around the world and of particular concern is the aspects of the person-environment relationship which encompasses many characteristics suffice to make a place livable. Extant literature provides livability dimensions such as housing unit characteristics, neighborhood facilities, economic vitality and safety environment. These livability dimensions as well as their attributes found in the extant literature have been reported to have high reliability measurement level. Although, various methods have been applied to examine relationships among the variables however structural equation modeling (SEM) has been found more holistic as a modeling technique to understand and explain the relationships that may exist among variable measurements. Structural equation modeling simultaneously performs multivariate analysis including multiple regression, path and factor analysis in the cause-effect relationships between latent constructs. Therefore, this study investigates the key factors of livability of planned residential neighborhoods in Minna, Nigeria with the research objectives of – (a) to study the livability level of the selected residential neighborhoods, (b) to determine the dimensions and indicators which most influence the level of livability in the selected residential neighborhoods, and (c) to reliably test the efficacy of structural equation modeling (SEM) in the assessment of livability. The methodology adopted in this study includes- Data collection with the aid of structured questionnaire survey administered to the residents of the study area based on stratified random sampling. The data collected was analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 software for structural equation modeling (a second-order factor). The study revealed that livability as a second-order factor is indicated by economic vitality, safety environment, neighborhood facilities and housing unit characteristics first-order factors. The result shows that economic vitality (income, mobility and mobility cost) most significantly measures neighborhood livability. Also, results of the model achieved good fit indices such as CFI of 0.907 and the RMSEA value of 0.096. Thus, SEM analyses in this study offer a methodological guide on the efficacy of CFA second-order factor.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the academic outcome of real estate students in a specialized Federal University in Nigeria. Furthermore, this paper investigates the phenomenon of publication bias in the extant literature as such evidence poses severe threats to the validity of empirical findings on factors affecting the degree outcome of undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach The standard statistical approach adopted was to examine whether the reported coefficient estimates from ten empirical studies (105 observations) are independent of their standard errors by employing both ordinary least squares (OLS) and weighted least squares (WLS). In this paper, this approach enabled evidence of publication bias in the cited literature to be refuted. In addition, data were also collected on the academic measure and demographic information of 449 students who graduated between 2005 and 2011. For the purpose of analysis, the study utilized a stepwise logistic regression technique to examine the factors impacting on the degree outcome of real estate students. Findings The results of the OLS and WLS regression indicate that there is no significant evidence of any empirical effect of publication bias in the extant literature. The results of the logistic regression also revealed that grade point average, gender differences, prior knowledge of real estate discipline and potential difference in year of enrollment impact on students’ academic performance in terms of their ability to graduate at first attempt. In addition, factors such as age, marital status, high school grade and geopolitical/ethnic background of undergraduate real estate students do not influence their opportunities to graduate at first attempt from the university. Research limitations/implications This paper focuses only on one specialized university of technology offering a bachelor’s program in real estate in Nigeria, so as to remove any extraneous factor(s) that could be present in the other institutional settings where students have completed such program. Extending similar study to tertiary institutions in Nigeria that share similar geographical characteristics and institutional settings can produce far-reaching generalization. Originality/value This paper contributes to the scanty literature on factors affecting the academic performance of students in an undergraduate real estate program in Nigeria. A scientific element of novelty in this paper is the evidence of the absence of the underlying effect of publication bias in the extant literature on students’ academic outcome in tertiary institutions. Findings from this study serve as the basis for university officers to monitor significant transitions in real estate students’ academic progress, so as to identify those who are unlikely to graduate at first attempt early at the entrant level. Generally, the outcome of this research could provide faculty and admission officers in tertiary institutions with complementary information in arriving at an informed decision in a non-discriminatory admission process.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.