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The purpose of this study is to explore the interplay among self-organization, networks and sustainable innovations within microfinance institutions (MFIs) and to examine the extent to which organizational resilience plays a significant role in shaping these dynamics as a mediator.

This paper adopted a cross-sectional research design combined with analytical and descriptive approach to collect the data. Smart partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to construct the measurement model and structural equation model to test the mediating effect under this study.

The results revealed that organizational resilience is a significant mediator in the relationship between self-organization, networks and sustainable innovations among microfinance institutions in Uganda.

The data for this study were collected only from microfinance institutions in Uganda. Future studies may collect data from other formal financial institutions like commercial banks and credit institutions to test the mediating effect of organizational resilience. More still, the study adopted only a single approach of using a questionnaire. However, future research through interviews may be desirable. Likewise this study was cross-sectional in nature. Therefore, a longitudinal study may be useful in future while investigating the mediating role of organizational resilience traversing over a long time frame.

A possible implication is that microfinance institutions which desire to have sustainable innovative solutions for their business operations in disruptive circumstances may need to scrutinize their capacity to be resilient and self-organize.

Microfinance institutions play a great role to the underserved clients. Thus, for each to re-organize to be able to provide services that meet users’ needs, without physical products so as to ensure long-term financial and social welfare combined with the ability to bounce back and adapt in times of economic downturn to avoid mission adrift.

While most studies have been carried out on organizational resilience, this paper takes center stage and is the first to test the mediating role of organizational resilience in the relationship between self-organization, networks and sustainable innovations, especially in microfinance institutions in Uganda. This paper generates strong evidence and contributes to the powerful influence of organizational resilience in enhancing the level of sustainable innovations based on self-organization and networks.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the relationship between institutional pressures and risk governance in financial institutions (FIs) in Uganda and to establish mediational role of collectivist orientation in the relationship between institutional pressures and risk governance in financial institutions in Uganda.

The study adopts a cross-sectional and quantitative research design. The authors employed Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (SmartPLS 3.3.0 for professionals) to test hypotheses.

The results indicate that institutional pressures is significantly associated with risk governance in FIs. The study also finds collectivist orientation partially mediates the relationship between institutional pressures and risk governance in FIs in Uganda.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides initial empirical evidence on the relationship between institutional pressures, collectivist orientation and risk governance using evidence from a developing African country – Uganda. Additionally, this study provides an initial evidence of the mediating role of collectivist orientation in the relationship between institutional pressures and risk governance in FIs.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the pivotal role of environmental innovations in driving sustainability practices within medium and large manufacturing firms operating in Uganda.

Using a cross-sectional and quantitative methodology, data were collected through a questionnaire survey involving 208 manufacturing companies. The smart partial least squares path modelling technique was used for the analysis.

The analysis unveils significant and positive associations. Specifically, product innovation exhibits a robust and affirmative relationship with sustainability practices. Similarly, the correlation between process innovation and sustainability practices emerges as statistically significant. Moreover, the findings underscore the noteworthy and constructive predictive influence of environmental innovation on sustainability practices.

These empirical results present substantial implications for theoretical frameworks and practical applications. From a policy perspective, the findings emphasise the importance of incentivising eco product and eco process innovations as potential drivers of eco-friendly practices. On the managerial front, strategic resource allocation and the adoption of integrated environmental innovation strategies are advocated, with the ultimate goal of enhancing sustainable business approaches within Uganda’s manufacturing subsector.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study represents the inaugural attempt to investigate the role of environmental innovations in elucidating sustainability practices within a least developed country. Notably, while all dimensions demonstrate significance, it is noteworthy that product innovation emerges as the more substantial contributor to the promotion of sustainability practices.

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the association between the dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) and sustainability practices (SP) within the context of manufacturing medium and large (ML) firms in Uganda. The study aims to shed light on whether and how different dimensions of IC contribute to the adoption and implementation of SP by these firms.

This study utilized a cross-sectional and quantitative approach, collecting data through a questionnaire survey from a sample of manufacturing ML firms. The collected data underwent analysis to identify patterns and relationships using the SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.

The findings demonstrated that the three categories of IC (human, structural and relational capital) influence the SP of ML manufacturing enterprises in Uganda. This suggests that IC is a critical component of SP.

Manufacturing enterprises should use their IC to create strategies for sustainable solutions, such as creating new, ecologically and socially responsible products and services and improving current ones to lessen their environmental effect.

This research advances knowledge of SP by revealing if all aspects of IC are significant for the SP of manufacturing enterprises in Uganda.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between top management commitment and energy management in small and medium manufacturing firms in a developing country context.

This study was executed through a survey of 66 manufacturing firms in Kampala, Uganda. The data collected were analysed using SPSS v.26.

The results show that top management commitment influences energy management. A further probe of its three dimensions of top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs reveals that all of them positively and significantly predict energy management in manufacturing firms.

The current study results were obtained from manufacturing small and medium firms in Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, caution should be taken prior to generalization. Furthermore, this study only focuses on top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs as the dimensions of top management commitment. This study thus provides the foundation for future studies to test other dimensions of top management commitment, particularly in other sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the contribution of top management commitment dimensions top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs to energy management in a developing country context. Although all dimensions are significant, top management beliefs contribute more to energy management.

The paper examines individual contribution of intellectual capital elements to competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to explore the weight of individual intellectual capital elements in explaining competitive advantage in Uganda’s microfinance industry.

Hierarchical regression was used because of its capacity to indicate precisely what happens to the model as different predictor variables are introduced.

This study confirms that the three intellectual capital elements are the strong predictors of competitive advantage and they account for 44 percent of variance in competitive advantage. However, the order of importance of these variables in explaining the variance in competitive advantage in the microfinance industry (basing on their standardized β values) is relational capital, structural capital and human capital.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate the data. Furthermore, the findings from the present study are cross-sectional; future research should be undertaken to examine the longitudinal effects of intellectual capital elements.

The findings can help the management to intensify initiatives to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of the concept of intellectual capital that boosts competitive edge in the industry.

This is the first study that focuses on testing the individual contribution of intellectual capital dimensions to competitive advantage in Uganda’s microfinance institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of bank specific factors on interest rate in banking financial institutions (BFIs) of Uganda.

To analyze the effect, an OLS random effects regression estimate on a data set of 24 banks from 2008 to 2016 from Bank of Uganda Depository Corporation survey was carried out. Studied bank specific factors including liquidity, operational efficiency, credit risk, capitalization and lending ratio are considered.

The results indicate that liquidity, operational efficiency, capitalization and lending out ratio affect the interest rate while credit risk does not.

The study has confirmed that bank specific factors influence interest rate and other factors such as industry-level and indirect macroeconomic indicators need to be explored. The differences in categories of banks on interest rate would be of importance. Finally, this study concentrated on banks in Uganda, future study would focus on the comparison of Ugandan banks with those of other countries in the East African Region.

Bank managers should invest in up-to-date technology to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency. Managers of bank should take interest on equity mobilization, because it constitutes a cheaper source of capital to finance asset used in operations and long-term needs of borrowers financing. Government should consider a legislation that provides incentives toward savings and reduction in tax for bank inputs.

This is the first study that investigates the effect of bank specific factors on interest rate in Uganda’s BFIs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of interest rate in emerging markets, focusing on banking financial institutions in Uganda.

Using the net interest margin model, interest rate was estimated by applying a panel random effects regression method on 24 banks, while controlling for bank-specific factors, industry and macroeconomic indicators. Data were drawn from annual reports provided by Bank of Uganda Depository Corporation survey from 2008 to 2016.

The results indicate that liquidity, equity capital, market power and reserve requirement have a positive effect on interest rate. The study further finds that operational efficiency, lending out ratio, concentration, public sector borrowing and private sector credit have a negative effect on interest rate. However, credit risk does not influence interest rate.

Studied banks are grouped in one panel data set; future studies would focus on the differences in banks and establish how these differences affect interest rate. Future study would also focus on how the determinants of interest rate in Uganda are compared with those of other banks in other emerging market countries.

Bank managers need to take interest in equity mobilization because it is a reliable and cheaper source of funding bank operations. Banks should emphasize efficient operations to reduce on the cost of doing business. Government should utilize funds borrowed from banks in efficient ways to improve economic growth. The central bank should minimize the use of reserve requirement as a means of controlling money in circulation.

This is the first paper that uses annual report data from several banks and periods to investigate the determinants of interest rate in an emerging country.

The purpose of this paper is to test empirically a variety of hypotheses related to business process management (BPM) and service delivery within public entities and contracting companies in Uganda.

A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey on 20 government ministries, ten government departments and 13 service providers (contractors) who are representative of the 40 government entities and 25 service providers in Uganda. Correlation and regression analysis were conducted to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses.

Statistical support was found for eight out of the nine hypotheses tested.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed, future research through interviews could be undertaken. Multiple respondents in public entities and service providers were studied, neglecting other key stakeholders like service users. Finally, BPM was studied and by the virtual of the results, there are other elements that contribute to service delivery that were not part of this study.

There is need to intensify initiatives to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of BPM, employ a viable BPM strategy that includes risk management, building high-level innovation, strong human resource capacity, providers expertise in order to provide optimal service to both service buyers and users.

This is the first paper in sub-Saharan Africa to tests empirically the relationship between BPM and service delivery in the Ugandan context of service buyers and providers and provides support for the relationship and process management.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective cost borrowing model of qualitative factors that are relevant to micro and small enterprises (SMEs) better performance.

A valid research instrument was utilized to conduct a survey on 359 SMEs (131 retail businesses, 125 service businesses, 48 farming businesses and 55 other businesses) and 897 respondents that are representative of 397 SMEs and 1,087 respondents. Correlation and regression analysis were conducted to ascertain the validity of the hypotheses.

It was established that cost of borrowing elements (interest rate and loan processing costs) are associated with SME performance. Furthermore, cost of borrowing as a whole accounts for 31.1 percent of the variation in performance Uganda’s SMEs.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed, future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate. Multiple respondents in SMEs (owner, manager and cashier) were studied neglecting others. Furthermore, the study used the cross-sectional approach – a longitudinal approach should be employed to study the trend over years. Finally, cost of borrowing was studied and by the virtual of the results, there are other factors that contribute to SME performance that were not part of this study.

There is need to intensify initiatives to encourage greater understanding and acceptance of cost of borrowing, select appropriate elements that includes interest rate and loan processing costs in order to have affordable source of financing to establish and grow SMEs, provide employment, competitive and contribute to countries GDP.

This is the first paper in Sub-Saharan Africa to test empirically the relationship between cost of borrowing and performance of SMEs in the Ugandan context.