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The problems with financing agriculture in Nigeria have stemmed from weak institutional arrangements required to facilitate the effective extension of finance to agricultural value chain actors, especially rural farmers. Several agricultural finance programmes have been rolled-out to bridge gaps in rural agricultural financing. However, these programmes tend to focus mainly on extending finance to more farmers, with less focus on other underlying issues with agricultural financing which this research has identified as manifestations of institutional voids. Institutional voids are often discussed as the existence of frictions in executing market transactions due to intermediation gaps between the demand and supply sides of markets (Ashwin, 2012; Droulliard, 2017; Dho et al., 2017; Heeks et al., 2021). In this thesis, I draw on the seminal work of Khanna and Palepu who conceptualise institutional voids as the absence or weakness of market intermediaries required to perform functions relating to information analysis, transaction facilitation, credibility enhancement, aggregation and distribution, regulations and public policy making, and adjudication (Khanna and Palepu, 1997, 2010). Khanna and Palepu theorise that these intermediating institutions are present in developed country markets but absent or weak in emerging and developing country markets. This research posits that the existence of institutional voids has resulted in the poor financing of Nigerian agriculture, leading to an underdeveloped sector with far-reaching economic impacts. To address the problem of weak and absent intermediaries, digital platforms have emerged to facilitate transactions between the demand and supply sides of agricultural finance markets in Nigeria. One manifestation of this digitisation is the increasing use of digital platforms to crowdsource agricultural finance to fund rural farmers, a fast-growing trend among Nigerian entrepreneurs. This research therefore seeks to identify if and how digital platforms address institutional voids in financing agriculture. The aim is to gain a better understanding of how these platforms can improve the financing of agriculture in Nigeria. The research therefore asks three questions: (i) What are the current problems in financing agriculture in Nigeria and how do they manifest as institutional voids? (ii) How are digital platforms emerging in response to institutional voids in financing agriculture? (iii) What are the implications for agricultural development, which arise due to the use of digital platforms in financing agriculture in Nigeria? To answer these questions, I conducted an in-depth case study of Thrive Agric. (an agricultural finance digital platform) to gain understanding of how the platform emerged to respond to agricultural finance needs, how it operates as a digital platform, and whether its operational activities bridge the institutional voids in financing agriculture. The methodological approach of the research is qualitative. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews - both face-to-face and virtual - participant observation, a qualitative survey, trialling the investment process through the platform, and through secondary sources. The research findings show that the digital platform, to some extent, bridges some institutional voids, especially those relating to information analysis, transaction facilitation, aggregation, distribution, credibility enhancement and monitoring. However, in some cases, the digital platform also maintains some institutional voids. This is partly due to its digital nature (digitality); and partly due to the nature of its intermediating arrangements that tends to exclude farmers and investors outside the influence of the platform. The research concludes that although digital platforms have the potential to contribute to agricultural development by bridging institutional voids, currently in Nigeria, their impact is at best on a micro level - isolated and contained within small clusters of farmers, without any significant ripple impacts/effect across the wider rural finance market. Nonetheless, partnerships with large-scale governmental finance schemes could support the scaling out/up of digital finance models to reach larger groups of farmers and thereby producing farther reaching agricultural development impacts.

In recent decades, the socio-technical transition (STT) approach has been widely adopted to analyse social and technological changes caused by radical innovations taking elements of consumer practices, policies, cultural meanings, infrastructures, and business models into consideration. The STT approach emphasises development alignments between niche-innovations, existing regimes, and exogenous landscapes. However, the role of regulation in innovation development during the transition process has been ignored in existent STT studies. Regulation is important for financial sectors but there is a lack of research on the bi-directional interactions between the regulatory regime and financial innovations. Moreover, transitions in financial sectors remain unexplored in STT literature. This research fills the above gaps by investigating Chinese individual lending transition (ILT) caused by the development of the financial innovation, Peer-to-Peer lending (P2P lending), to explore how the innovation and regulatory regime co-evolve in STTs. Based on the framework of the multi-level perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions, a multi-level and multi-dimensional analytical framework was developed to analyse both macroscopic transition processes and microscopic bi-directional niche-regime interactions in four stages of ILT. From the case study, three main findings were revealed. First, based on the trajectories of P2P lending and the corresponding regulatory regime, the generalised trajectory of the regulatory regime in STTs was identified, including lag time, circulation of enforcement and modification, and further stabilisation. Secondly, the mechanisms of niche-regime interactions highlighted the role of the cultural-cognitive institution in the regulation of radical innovations in STTs. Thirdly, enforced self-regulation with a mix of responsive, risk-based, and principles-based regulations was identified as an appropriate regulatory strategy for radical innovation development while the policy mix was substantiated as a solution to promote the coordination of the regulation and radical innovations' development in STT processes. This research is at the vanguard of exploring the role of regulation in STTs and extends the scope of STT literature by analysing the transition in the financial sector. Practical implications for both regulators and practitioners involved in STTs are given. Research limitations are illustrated, and future research agenda are proposed accordingly.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are increasingly seen as playing an important role in social development by means of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The contribution of MNCs to such development has however been contested. Moreover, little local information is available about how MNCs shape CSR activities, the nature of the resulting institutional processes, and the development outcomes. The case of Brazil merits special attention because, while MNCs engage actively in CSR activities across Latin America, they are particularly active in Brazil. The aim of this study is critically to explore the ways in which institutional factors mediate the CSR activities of MNCs targeted at disadvantaged communities. Focusing on the Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro, the study seeks to answer the following overall research question: How does the context of Rio de Janeiro influence the social development-oriented initiatives of multi-national corporations? This results in the following research objectives: (1) To identify the kind of social development-oriented CSR initiatives in which MNCs in Rio de Janeiro engage. (2) To identify the institutional factors that influence social developmentoriented CSR initiatives of MNCs in the context of Rio de Janeiro. (3) To critically examine how these institutional factors influence the formation, process and impact of the social development-oriented CSR initiatives of MNCs in Rio de Janeiro. To address these objectives, a qualitative case-study was conducted, employing face-to-face and synchronous online semistructured interviews together with secondary data and template-analysis supported by NVivo, and using the theoretical lens suggested by John L. Campbell (2007). The study finds that corporations, employer associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can indeed play a significant role in fostering initiatives oriented at social development in Brazil. It also finds that the severe marginalisation of some social groups in Brazil provides MNCs with a strong motivation to engage in social initiatives, but that macro-economic and financial stability play a less important role than might be expected. The study concludes that, whereas in Brazil MNCs do indeed contribute to social development, They are unable on their own to resolve the problems of poverty and social inequality. Overall, the research makes an empirical contribution by contextualising CSR within a local and broader national institutional framework in both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. The study has the potential to contribute to both policy and practice, raising awareness of the influence of institutions on company activities, and helping MNCs better to disseminate CSR practices and to align and plan their operational strategy regarding CSR practices more effectively. Future research might combine institutional theory with other theories to examine the internal and external factors jointly influencing CSR practices. This might be done by focusing on a specific sector in Brazil or on individual organisations. Such future research might also develop a quantifiable connection between social developmentoriented initiatives and poverty-reduction.

Engagement with the private sector to alleviate poverty has increased in prominence in the development agendas, with the current Sustainable Development Goals promoting 'inclusive and sustainable economic growth and inclusive and sustainable industrialisation'. An instrument introduced to achieve these goals is inclusive business models: those involving the base of the pyramid (BoP) under a value-chain approach for mutual value creation, which means generating profit while creating social value. Most literature around the BoP has focused on business reaching low-income communities as consumers to expand multinational corporations' (MNCs) markets, rather than as producers to generate livelihood opportunities. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine how organisations implementing inclusive business involving BoP as producers in Colombia seek to overcome barriers. This is achieved by conducting four case studies in different regions of Colombia, using the biographic narrative interpretative method to capture life stories and perceptions of the stakeholders involved in the implementation of inclusive business. The analysis of barriers is performed using the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) framework of 'primary constraints'; the foundations of Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) are used to analyse the strategies, and an exploration of underlying-reasons to overcome barriers is performed under thematic analysis. Key findings suggest that, beyond the barriers established by the UNDP framework, for the cases selected in the Colombian context, conflict barriers emerged related to the actions of armed groups, which also shaped mindset and cultural aspects of actors in those territories. In the light of RDT, adaptation and dependency were the most-used strategies to face barriers across-cases, while interaction emerges as a relevant strategy for the creation of social value. The main underlying-reasons to overcome barriers were the need to meet standards and the existence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies; while personal convictions linked to a responsive organisational culture were significant in the adoption of social approaches. One of the main contributions of this thesis is to show that not all of the barriers were overcome, suggesting the possibility of running profitable inclusive-businesses under constrained environments, which simultaneously provides the opportunity for social value creation. These findings gain further relevance in private-sector development, demonstrating the practicalities of using inclusive business to alleviate poverty, and for sustainable development, in consideration of their capacity to align aid and public-sector efforts. This result is particularly important in the Colombian context, to tackle some of the causes of conflict, and for the possibility of inclusive businesses to contribute in post-conflict scenarios to reduce the incidence of new conflicts.

The purpose of this research is to critically inquire into the appropriateness of the current human computer interaction (HCI) practices in Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) system design given the contextual constraints and challenges found in developing country contexts. Despite user participation in system design being a buzzword of HCI the form of this participation varies with the different disciplinary perspectives and paradigms and their different methods for engaging users and identifying users' needs. Moreover, a majority of these dominant HCI perspectives are not only rooted in the developed countries context they also mainly focus on organisational management information systems (MIS) and less on information systems (IS) that place emphasis on the socio-economic context of developing countries. Literature review reveal that limited studies focus on the differences brought about by the western influenced methodologies and principles when applied in different contexts and how they affect the user participation process as well as the outcome. Building on past research, this research argues that HCI for ICTD needs to develop new contextualised participatory methods and strategies that consider the broader and complex contexts of the ICTD users. However, shifting the focus to localised forms of HCI in ICTD system design requires a better appreciation of the challenges and constraints encountered when applying the traditional HCI methods and strategies. Based on this argument the research conceptually explores and reflects on the underlying contextual factors and mechanisms present in participatory ICTD system design and the presumed relationships among them. Drawing on this conceptual framework, the research conducts semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations with three mobile money system design projects in Kenya that engaged the users during the design process to highlight how current HCI practices respond to the multifaceted nature of ICTD system design which present challenges that include social, technical, cultural and infrastructural issues. Findings from this qualitative study provide significant new insights that support the call for contextualised participatory methods and strategies. The findings suggest that there is tension between the underlying assumptions inherent in western HCI methods and strategies and the local context thus justifying the call for the appropriation of the design process. Drawing on the conceptual framework it was found that bias formed from factors such as power relations, diversity in interests for participation and cross-cultural differences moderate the design process and ultimately the participatory outcome. From the knowledge perspective, this research provides an in-depth understanding of the developing country contextual factors that mediate user participation process in ICTD system design. Furthermore, the research extends the knowledge with regards to participatory interventions in the development of IS in Africa. The research also presents a theoretical framework that makes explicit the contextual assumptions and constraints embedded in participatory ICTD system design interventions and how they shape the design process and the participatory outcome. Finally, the recommendations formulated from this research provide HCI designers and practitioners actionable knowledge in regards to reflecting on their current traditional HCI tools and techniques to ensure better localised design processes.

This thesis explores the notion of social enterprise in Greece. In particular it investigates how non-profits incorporate social enterprise in an environment facing a severe financial and social crisis. The study is done through a participatory and reflective research approach that allows the emergence of enriched results. The review of the existing literature in this area revealed that despite the lack of a universal definition, the concept of social enterprise has generally been viewed positively and has raised the expectations for social and economic transformation. Policy makers expect social enterprises to become a lever out of the crisis of reducing state funding and contribute to financial and social change. Until recently, the common assumption was that social enterprises emerge bottom-up and constitute the most ethical option of social welfare services provision after the failure of the state and the markets to provide for society. Hence, non-profits were encouraged to adopt entrepreneurial techniques to support their social purpose as a way out of the financial problems they are facing. The great interest on the effect of 'social enterprise' on the traditional non-profit sector comes from the peculiarity of the Greek case with the top-down enforcement of the concept coupled with a history of corruption in civil society. Even though researchers following a more critical stance towards social enterprises challenge the underlying assumptions of this new concept and raise awareness about its negative impacts, in Greece the 'social economy' and 'social enterprise' concepts are used as 'silver bullets' by policy makers. Wishing to follow this critical tradition, I proceeded with an in-depth case study drawing upon participant observation and reflective methods. In locating my research in an active non-profit organisation in Athens, I intended that my findings could be extended to similar organisations. This thesis found that in Greece, the top-down implementation of the concept allowed non-profits to incidentally adopt this rhetoric in order to ensure their long-term survival and then in turn influence the way society makes sense of social enterprises. The institutional environment further hinders the growth of the sector as it directs the social enterprises and non-profits towards public procurement making and any other alternative seems impossible. Lastly, based on the above findings, I conclude that social economy despite its infancy faces the risk of corruption. Hence, I suggest that policy makers' support, rather than guide, social enterprises to allow them to achieve their full potential. Future research and practice need to focus on raising awareness for the social economy and assessing social impact as a way to improve transparency and gain the trust of society.

ICT4D champions are individuals who make a decisive contribution to an ICT4D initiative by actively and enthusiastically promoting its progress through critical stages in order to mobilise resources and/or active support and cooperation from all stakeholders. Mindful of the poor performance of development projects generally, and ICT4D projects in particular, the thesis argues that the seemingly important role of key individuals, such as champions, lacks research. Based on the repeated calls for research to better understand champion-type individuals and their roles in ICT4D initiatives, the thesis claims to have identified an original and significant knowledge gap towards which it contributes. Extant literature on champions of information systems innovations shows that champions can be conceptualised in terms of three core orientations: towards results, relationships and resources. This body of literature and conceptualisations has been used in the thesis as the starting point for exploring and describing the champion phenomenon in an as yet unexplored context - ICT4D initiatives. Critical realism is the assumed philosophical position for the research undertaken in the thesis. Theoretical constructs from the model of Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Social Capital Theory are combined in a conceptual framework to guide the empirical investigations and analysis. The research draws on three ICT4D champion cases in South Africa; case data was collected through the careful combination and sequencing of multiple mixed methods: in-depth interviews, a social network analysis (SNA) survey, and semi-structured interviews with the ICT4D champions and other key initiative stakeholders. A literal replication design was followed whereby the case studies explored and described the individual champion cases and subsequently synthesised findings across the three cases. The main contribution of the thesis is a knowledge contribution; the thesis contributes fifteen empirical findings to our conceptual understanding of ICT4D champions - their origins, competencies, characteristics and motivations, and their orientations towards results, relationships and resources. The analysis has shown how ICT4D champions are similar to champions of IS innovation in some ways, but has also revealed unique aspects, such as the importance they ascribe to addressing social concerns. This, in turn, led to a number of theoretical and practical contributions, as well as a methodological and a research contribution, all emanating from the three case studies. Firstly, two inductively generated theoretical contributions are offered: i) a conceptual framework for analysing and describing the origins of ICT4D champions; ii) a hybrid and contextual model of ICT4D champions that combines a complex set of factors (personal, organisational, and external) and the orientations of champions as a means to account for the complexity of these key individuals and their roles in ICT4D initiatives. The thesis contributes to ICT4D practice by suggesting ways to identify, develop, deploy and support champions; in so doing it offers actionable guidance on how to harness the potential positive contributions of these key individuals. Furthermore, a network-based approach - such as SNA used in the thesis - are rarely, if ever, followed in conducting champion research and this is offered as a methodological contribution. Finally, ICT4D champion research is in its infancy; the exploratory approach followed in the thesis draws on literature, the empirical findings and the theoretical contributions to offer an extensive agenda for future champion research in general, and ICT4D champion research in particular.

Micro-enterprises have traditionally been connected with goods vending or trading in developing countries. But, increasingly micro-enterprises are emerging which centre on information and communication technologies (ICTs) where such micro-enterprises tend to connect ICTs into low income customers. Literature suggests that these enterprises are often unstable and have elements of informality, but they undertake innovative practices which are central both to building ICT-based livelihoods, and more widely to support the adoption of ICTs by low income users. Literature analysis suggests there are also gaps in knowledge around ICT micro-enterprises, particularly in understanding the link between innovative activity of micro-enterprises, and the wider conditions in ICT sectors. This thesis looks to explore these issues with the aim to build clear policy relevant understanding to enhance ICT micro-enterprises and low income-focussed ICT sectors. Innovation system models are adopted which are well suited to analysing interactive activities around ICT innovations, but these models initially require some refinement to fit in with the low income delivery of ICTs. This is done through integrating notions of ‘inclusive innovation’ which consider innovation from the perspective of wider development outcomes, and allow integration of a more diverse range of actors and processes around innovation. These models form the basis of qualitative study on the mobile phone sector in Kenya, with findings providing significant new insights. Firstly, empirical work is used to examine inclusive innovation models and refinements to innovation systems models are suggested based upon empirical work. Innovation needs to be conceptualised in minor processes, as well as the inclusion of wider intermediary actors and a more contextual examination of relations and institutions. Secondly, drawing on this model, it is found that the innovative activities of a range of systems actors, including micro-enterprises are vital to push innovations to be more inclusive. Thus, relationships that enable interactive learning between system actors, notably between ICT producers and demand-side intermediaries can support innovation. Crucially, where ‘reverse’ flows around innovation can be enabled and supported, then innovation tends to become more inclusive. Thirdly, policy plays a role in inclusive innovation. In one sense, conventional policy approaches in systems models hold: coherent underlying policy drives competitive markets. However, evidence also suggests that specific ‘inclusive’ policies for low income market might be successful. From a wider institutional perspective it is also important to analyse policy weaknesses which can lead to problems amongst ICT micro-enterprises, and these can be detrimental to an inclusive innovation system. In sum, this thesis makes contributions in a number of areas. Conceptually, it extends system models and offers one of the few empirically grounded studies of inclusive innovation, drawing on this ICT case. Thus, these findings potentially have applicability to examine other innovations in low income markets in developing countries. For ICT sectors with a focus on low income consumers, this work highlights new policy relevant approaches to analysing such sectors and provides knowledge about how to push innovation in the ICT sector which is more inclusive, particularly by better consideration of the important role of ICT micro-enterprises.

The last half a century of Foreign Aid disbursal to Sub-Sahara Africa had been dominated by the need to address the perennial problem of its effectiveness. This has provided to a great number of stakeholders a premise for dismissal of foreign aid to be an instrument for economic growth and poverty reduction as initially thought. Drawing from recent literature, a conceptual framework was designed to capture and investigate various contextual factors that would contribute or initiate particular characteristics of the donor-recipient relationship. From a perspective of aid recipients, this study assumes that a management approach to aid would provide an understanding of mismatches between donors and recipients as a possible reason for aid effectiveness standards being unsatisfactory to many. A qualitative case study of two idiosyncratic countries: Cameroon and Tanzania was conducted utilizing a retroductive analysis approach. To provide additional internal validation, a stakeholders’ analysis and a business appraisal were also conducted. A number of explanatory mechanisms were constructed and answered positively the research preoccupation of identifying donor-recipient mismatches as well as showing that these mismatches affected to a very large extent the effective management of foreign aid. Further research is recommended chiefly in the donor-recipient relationship vis-vis foreign aid quality looking at the history, current and future international interactions. Also, researches in new and meaningful ways of assessing foreign aid impacts.

The objective of this research is to evaluate Human Resources managerial/development effectiveness (HRM/DE) of frontline managers from the perspectives of managers themselves and stakeholders in the public health sector (PHS) of Ghana. The study did this through the development of a conceptual framework which combined the use of integrated organisational and management theoretical perspectives and contextual variables. The study employed the mixed methods research methodology which combined both empiricism and post post-positivists' views with critical realism as the underpinning philosophy. A total of 18 district directors of health, from two regions were purposively sampled and interviewed utilising an in-depth open ended questionnaire through the discussion. Additionally, key policy makers were interviewed and focus group discussions held and a structured questionnaire completed by another group of employees, who assessed managers' capabilities. Discourse analysis was used for the analysis with the aid of Nvivo 7 for the qualitative material whilst quantitative data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics. Findings were triangulated using Marquart and Zercher's (2000) cross-over track analysis framework. Findings show research questions were answered. Majority of district directors lack managerial competencies; are less interested in HRM/D activities, less confident of their human resource skills and less sure of the political and representational skills required of managers. In particular, it is necessary to take account of the political structure of the PHS of Ghana; significant differences exist in power, individual or group interests, values, assumptions and expectations. However, most district directors have tried to indigenise HRM/D practices as a way of motivating and retaining staff. Core Human resources managerial competencies from the perspectives of the three sampled groups have been compiled. It is the first time such a study has been conducted in the PHS of Ghana and which has therefore made inroads in the existing literature and has contributed to HRM/D literature information in Africa particularly Ghana. It also paves the way for understanding management in the African context and perspective and specifically in health care settings. This study has gone beyond the two groups of respondents and proved that the use of multiple respondents generates rich findings and unveiled what would normally have not been possible if single respondents were used.