Economics and Business
Quarterly Reviews
ISSN 2775-9237 (Online)
Published: 05 October 2020
The Mediatory Role of Working Hours and Technology in the Relationship between Income and Social Cohesion in Ghana
Prince Donkor, Francis Azure, Gideon Adu-Boateng
Kumasi Technical University (Ghana), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), Prempeh College (Ghana)
Download Full-Text Pdf
10.31014/aior.1992.03.04.277
Pages: 1241-1250
Keywords: Social Cohesion, Trust; Income, Access to Technology, Working Hours, Political Participation, SEM
Abstract
This study aims at establishing the mechanism through which income/wage influences social cohesion using access to technology and working hours as mediating variables. There is a need for this exposition because indicators of social cohesion such as trust and political participation have experienced a downward trend following Ghana elevation to a middle-income country. The study used dataset from the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 6) which is a nationally representative survey and the data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The key findings are that income positively affects engagement in politics both directly and indirectly. The effects of income on trust, however, is negative. Another key information the study revealed is the crucial role technology plays in social cohesion. Access to technology was found to influence both trust (negatively) and political participation (positively).
References
Acock, A. C. (2013). Discovering Structural Equation Modeling Using Stata. Revised. College Station, Texas: A Stata Press Publication. Available at: https://www.crcpress.com/Discovering-Structural-Equation-Modeling-Using-Stata-Revised-Edition/Acock/p/book/9781597181396.
Adikari, A. M. P. (2013). Determinants of mobile phone demand among university students. Global Journal of Human Social Science (Economics), 13(5), pp. 1–8.
Antonakis, J., Bendahan, S., Jacquart, P., & Lalive, R. (2010). On making causal claims: A review and recommendations. Leadership Quarterly. Elsevier Inc., 21(6), pp. 1086–1120. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.10.010.
Avogo, W. A. (2013) ‘Social capital, civic engagement, and self-rated health in Ghana’, African Population Studies, 27(2), pp. 188–202. doi: 10.11564/27-2-440.
Bhattarai, K. (2017). Determinants of wages and labor supply in the UK. Chinese Business Review, 16(3), pp. 126–140. doi: 10.17265/1537-1506/2017.03.002.
Campante, F., Durante, R., & Sobbrio, F. (2017). The multifaceted effect of broadband internet on political participation. Journal of the European Economic Association, 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvx044
Celma, D., Martinez-Garcia, E. & Raya, J. M. (2018). Socially responsible HR practices and their effects on employees’ wellbeing: Empirical evidence from Catalonia, Spain. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 24(2), pp. 82–89. doi: 10.1016/j.iedeen.2017.12.001.
Couch, K. & Wittenburg, D. (2001). The response of hours of work to increases in the minimum wage. Southern Economics Journal, 68(1), pp. 171–177.
Ghatak, A. & Madheswaran, S. (2014). Impact of health on labor supply and wages: A case of agricultural workers in West Bengal. Journal of Health Management, 16(3), pp. 441–457. doi: 10.1177/0972063414539617.
Gorodetsky, M. (2015) Determinants of demand for cable TV services in the era of internet communication technologies. (Masters thesis, Pace University, New York, USA). Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses%5Cnhttp://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/152.
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S. & Katz, J. E. (2017). We face, I tweet: How different social media influence political participation through collective and internal efficacy. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22, pp. 320–336. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12198.
Hertlein, K. M. & Ancheta, K. (2014). Advantages and disadvantages of technology in relationships: Findings from an open-ended survey. The Qualitative Report, 19(22), pp. 1–11. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2011.604748.
Ismail, Z. & Kaleem, J. (2013). Television viewing and consumer behavior: The effect of personality traits and demographic variables on children’s consumer socialization. Journal of Sociological Research, 4(2), pp. 20–27. doi: 10.5296/jsr.v4i2.3795.
Jarvis, S. E., Montoya, L. & Mulvoy, E. (2005) The political participation of working youth and college students, Circle Working Paper Series. Working Paper 36.
Kabeya, P. K., Sam, O. & Lufuke, M. (2015). The effect of minimum wage on employment and working hours in the Western Europe: A Case of the UK, France and Netherland. British Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, 10(1), pp. 121–138.
Kallis, G., Kalush, M., O'Flynn, H., Rossiter, J. & Ashford, N. (2013). Friday off: Reducing working hours in Europe. Sustainability, 5, pp. 1545–1567. doi: 10.3390/su5041545.
Langer, A., Stewart, F., Smedts, K. & Demarest, L. (2017). Conceptualising and measuring social cohesion in Africa: Towards a perceptions-based index’, Social Indicators Research. Springer Netherlands, 131(1), pp. 321–343. doi: 10.1007/s11205-016-1250-4.
Lenzi, M., Vieno, A., Altoe, G., Scacchi, L., Perkins, D. D., Zukauskiene, R. & Santinello, M. (2015). Can Facebook informational use foster adolescent civic engagement? American Journal of Community Psychology, 55(3–4), pp. 444–454. doi: 10.1007/s10464-015-9723-1.
Lewicka, D. & Krot, K. (2012). The significance and measurement of trust in the organization in the light of the empirical studies. International Proceedings of Economics Development and Research, 41(115), pp. 202–207.
Madden, G. & Coble-Neal, G. (2003). Internet use in rural and remote Western Australia. Telecommunications Policy, 27(3–4), pp. 253–266. doi: 10.1016/S0308-5961(02)00101-5.
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & and Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust’, Academy of Management Review, 20, pp. 709–734.
Mcbride, A. M. & Sherraden, M. S. (2004). Civic Engagement among Low-Income and Low-Wealth Families: In Their Words. Center for Social Development Working Paper No. 04-14, Washington DC, USA.
Nishijima, M., Ivanauskas, T. M. and Sarti, F. M. (2017). Evolution and determinants of digital divide in Brazil (2005–2013). Telecommunications Policy, 41(1), pp. 12–24. doi: 10.1016/j.telpol.2016.10.004.
Park, H. M. & Perry, J. L. (2008). Does internet use really facilitate engagement? Enprical evidence from the American national elections studies. Civic Engagement in a Network Society, pp. 237–269.
Pastore, F. & Verashchagina, A. (2008). The determinants of female labor supply in Belarus. The Institute for the Study of Labor, IZA Discussion Paper No. 3457, Bonn, Germany.
Przybylski, A. K. and Weinstein, N. (2013) ‘Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality’, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(3), pp. 237–246. doi: 10.1177/0265407512453827.
Quintelier, E. (2007). Differences in political participation between young and old people. Contemporary Politics, 13(2), pp. 165–180.
Rice, N. (2005). The labor supply of nurses in the UK: Evidence from the British household panel survey. Health, Econometrics and Data Group Working Paper 05/10. Heslington, U.K. Available at: http://www.york.ac.uk/media/economics/documents/herc/wp/05_10.pdf.
Róbert, P., Oross, D. & Szabó, A. (2016). Youth, inequality and political participation in Hungary. The 3rd International ESS Conference: The sociology of political activities, Lausanne, Switzerland, pp. 1–18.
Schreiber, J. B., Stage, F. K., King, J., Nora, A. & Barlow, E. A. (2006). Modeling and confirmatory factor analysis results : A review. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(6), pp. 323–337.
Skedinger, P. (2011) Effects of increasing minimum wages on employment and hours: Evidence from Sweden’s retail sector, WP Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN). IFN Working Paper No. 869. Stockholm, Sweden.
Solt, F. (2008). Economic inequality and democratic political engagement. American Journal of Political Science, 52(1), pp. 48–60.
Stanley, J. W. and Weare, C. (2004). The effects of internet use on political participation. Administration & Society, 36(5), pp. 503–527. doi: 10.1177/0095399704268503.
Suárez, D. & García-Mariñoso, B. (2013). Which are the drivers of fixed to mobile telephone access substitution? An empirical study of the Spanish residential market. Telecommunications Policy, 37(4–5), pp. 282–291. doi: 10.1016/j.telpol.2012.08.003.
Valenzuela, S., Park, N. & Kee, K. F. (2009). Is There social capital in a social network site?: Facebook use and college student’s life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(4), pp. 875–901. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01474.x.
Ye, Y., Xu, P. & Zhang, M. (2017). Social media, public discourse and civic engagement in modern China. Telematics and Informatics, 34, pp. 705–714. doi: 10.1016/j.tele.2016.05.021.
Yoon, J. & Kang, M. (2016). The crossover effect of spouses ’ long working hours on depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Industrial Health, 54, pp. 410–420.
Zavodny, M. (2000). The effect of the minimum wage on employment and hours. Labour Economics, pp. 729–750.