Journal of Economics, Management and Trade

Struggles and Strengths: Socio-economic Challenges and Prospects of Women Street Vendors in Guwahati, India

Rajani Das — 2026-04-25

The street vending business forms a major part of the informal sector. Though a lot of challenges prevail yet there are also opportunities for those engaged in this sector. Women play a crucial role in the street vending business. This research work is carried out across 16 markets dominated or where is the significant presence of the women's population. The sample size of the population is 544. The methodology used for this is purely based on a quantitative method using SPSS. A structured questionnaire was used for the survey. The key challenges for the women street vendors are the availability of credit, infrastructure bottleneck, harassment by authorities and social stigma. Taking advantage of the opportunities -legal, digital, financial and policy-driven, women street vendors can improve their living standards. The study investigates the socio-economic constraints encountered by women street vendors in Guwahati, highlighting issues such as financial insecurity, poor infrastructure, harassment, and limited availability of formal support services. It underscores the necessity for more robust legal protection, enhanced infrastructure, economic inclusion, and empowerment programs to improve their economic well-being and social protection.

Foreign Aid and Human Development in Sub-Saharan African Countries: Evidence from Quantile Regression

Mohamed Hamdan Idrisa — 2026-04-27

This paper examines the impact of foreign aid on human development as measured by the human development index (HDI) in in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The study applied quantile regression approach (QR) to find out the effects of foreign aid on human development. The study used panel data for the time range 1997 to 2024 for 30 SSA countries. According to the study, foreign aid and the human development index are often positively linked. Both nations with lower and higher levels of human development are significantly more impacted. In nations with a moderate level of human development, the impact is minimal. The study also discovered that aid had a statistically significant positive effect on the HDI income, health, and education indices. The findings suggest that when foreign aid and HDI have a positive relationship, foreign aid can play a major role in advancing human wellbeing considering HDI as a quantifiable indicator of human progress.

Beyond Technology: Why Social Readiness Matters More Than Digital Infrastructure in Procurement and Supply Chain Efficiency in Ghana

Eunice Smart Kwainoe — 2026-05-07

Digital procurement is widely promoted as a mechanism for improving transparency, compliance, accountability, and efficiency in public sector supply chains. However, the assumption that digital infrastructure alone can deliver these outcomes remains insufficiently examined in institutionally complex environments such as Ghana. This article investigates whether social readiness exerts a stronger influence on procurement and supply chain efficiency than digital infrastructure. Drawing on data from a broader doctoral study, the article uses an explanatory sequential mixed methods design that integrates quantitative survey evidence with qualitative interview insights. The findings reveal a clear socio technical mismatch within Ghanaian procurement institutions. Although digital systems have created a moderate technical foundation, the supporting social environment remains weak, particularly in relation to structured training, interdepartmental coordination, and organisational support. The study further finds that the Socio Technical Development Process explains 58.4% of the variance in procurement and supply chain efficiency, with social readiness exerting a stronger predictive effect than technical infrastructure. While digital systems improved tracking, accountability, compliance, and data quality, overall productivity gains remained moderate because hierarchy, political interference, and cultural resistance continued to constrain system performance. The article concludes that procurement reform in Ghana must move beyond technology and prioritise training, user buy in, institutional alignment, and context sensitive change management. Sustainable efficiency depends on the joint optimisation of social and technical subsystems rather than on digital deployment alone.

Determinants of Fuel Consumption in Nigeria: Evidence from an ARDL Approach

O. Atoyebi Kehinde — 2026-05-08

Fuel subsidy reforms have remained a central policy issue in many oil-dependent economies due to their implications for energy consumption, fiscal sustainability, and economic efficiency. This study examines the effect of fuel subsidy reforms on fuel consumption using annual time-series data from 1990 to 2024. This study adopts a quantitative time-series research design to examine the effect of crude oil price volatility on fuel consumption in Nigeria. The study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling approach to investigate both the short-run and long-run relationships between fuel consumption and selected macroeconomic variables, including crude oil price, real gross domestic product, population, industrial output, and energy efficiency. The empirical results confirm the existence of a long-run relationship among the variables. The long-run estimates reveal that real GDP and industrial output exert positive and significant effects on fuel consumption, indicating that economic expansion and increased industrial activities drive higher demand for fuel. Energy efficiency also shows a positive relationship with fuel consumption, reflecting the expansion of energy-using activities within the economy. Population exhibits a negative effect on fuel consumption, while crude oil price demonstrates a negative but statistically insignificant influence. The short-run dynamics further confirm that deviations from long-run equilibrium are corrected over time through a significant error correction mechanism. Diagnostic and stability tests indicate that the model is statistically robust and stable. The findings suggest that while subsidy reforms and fuel price adjustments may influence consumption patterns, broader structural factors such as economic growth, industrial activity, and energy use efficiency play a more significant role in determining fuel demand.

Determinants of Return on Capital in the Indian Industrial Sector: An Empirical State-Level Analysis

Gaganpreet Kaur Kaushal — 2026-05-11

Given the Indian population's overreliance on agriculture, the industrial sector is expected to play a substantial role in India’s economic growth. Industry shares a very deep interface with the primary and tertiary sectors of an economy through its input-output linkages. Therefore, it becomes extremely important for the industry to keep growing in terms of return on capital and profitability. High returns on capital and profitability sustain the investors’ momentum, leading to higher investment, employment and income growth in the economy. The present study examines the role of technological advancement, labour efficiency and capital productivity in determining the return on capital in the Indian industry. To achieve the set objectives, state-level data for 21 states, published in the Annual Survey of Industries 2023-24, has been analysed using multiple linear regression. T-statistic and p-value have been used to test the significance of regression coefficients. Adjusted R-squared has been used to assess the role of capital deepening, labour productivity and capital productivity in determining the return on capital in Indian industry. The F-statistic has been used to test the significance of the overall regression model. The results reveal that capital deepening, labour productivity and capital productivity together explain 87.38% (p < 0.05) of the variation in the industry's return on capital across Indian states.

Trust Certification and Food Safety as Determinants of Consumer Acceptability and Attitude toward Organic Food Consumption

S. Varshini — 2026-05-13

Background and Objectives: Organic food consumption is increasingly shaped by consumer trust in certification systems that verify authenticity, safety, and sustainability claims beyond health considerations. The study explores the impact of trust certification and perceived food safety on consumer attitude and acceptability of organic food. It views trust certification as an institutional guarantee that assures organic claims and perceived food safety as a cognitive risk-assessment dimension that influences consumer trust in organic food products.

Methodology: This research employed an empirical and analytical approach based on consumer behaviour theory. A primary data survey was conducted with 231 organic food consumers from Salem City using a structured questionnaire. The research participants were chosen through purposive sampling with organic food awareness or experience. The data were analysed using simple linear regression, Pearson correlation, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mediation analysis using hierarchical regression to verify the hypothesised relationships between trust certification, perceived food safety, consumer attitude and consumer acceptability.

Findings and Conclusion: The findings show that trust certification has a strong positive effect on consumer attitude towards organic food consumption (β = 0.612, t = 14.29, p < 0.001) and an explanatory power of 37.40 per cent (R² = 0.374). Perceived food safety had a strong positive correlation with consumer acceptability (r = 0.681, p < 0.01). The ANOVA also showed that there are significant differences in perceived food safety between low, moderate and high levels of trust certification (F = 31.87, p < 0.001). The mediation analysis showed that consumer attitude partially mediates the effect of trust certification on consumer acceptability, with the direct effect of trust certification dropping from β = 0.482 to β = 0.218 after controlling for consumer attitude. The model accounted for 51.20 per cent variation in consumer acceptability. The results reveal that reliable certification and effective safety assurance practices are important for enhancing trust and promoting the acceptance of organic foods.

Ethical HR Governance and Employee Engagement in Diverse Workforces: The Roles of Inclusion and Cross-Cultural Leadership

Adevally Soujanya — 2026-05-14

Background: Rapid workforce diversification across sectors in Telangana has increased the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), cross-cultural leadership, and ethical HR governance in shaping employee engagement within organizations.

Aims: This study examines the influence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Cross-Cultural Leadership, and Ethical Human Resource Governance on employee engagement in organizations operating in Telangana, India. While prior studies have explored these factors independently, limited research has examined their combined influence within regional organizational contexts, particularly in emerging economies such as India.

Study Design: The study adopts a quantitative, cross-sectional research design.

Place and Duration of Study: The research was conducted across organizations in Telangana, India, covering the information technology, pharmaceutical, education, and service sectors.

Methodology: Data were collected from 320 employees using a structured questionnaire, and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationships.

Results: The findings indicate that all three variables significantly influence employee engagement. Ethical HR Governance emerged as the strongest predictor (β = 0.41, p < 0.001), followed by DEI (β = 0.34, p < 0.001) and Cross-Cultural Leadership (β = 0.26, p < 0.001). The model demonstrated good fit and explained a substantial proportion of variance in employee engagement (R² = 0.62).

Conclusion: The study highlights that employee engagement is strengthened through the integration of ethical governance, inclusive organizational practices, and culturally responsive leadership. It contributes to the literature by offering a unified structural model that explains engagement within a regional and sectorally diverse Indian context. The findings provide practical insights for organizations to design ethically grounded and inclusive HR systems to sustain workforce engagement.

The Structural Metamorphosis of USD-INR Fluctuations (2006–2026): An Empirical Investigation of Macroeconomic Determinants Using ARDL and VAR Frameworks

Rupak Kumar Tung — 2026-05-16

The USD–INR exchange rate in India from (2006–2026), focusing on the shift from domestic inflation-driven dynamics to increasing sensitivity to external sector risks and global capital flow movements. This study investigates the macroeconomic determinants of the USD-INR exchange rate fluctuations over a twenty-year period (2006–2026), tracking India’s transition from internal inflationary volatility to external sector vulnerability. Utilizing ARDL and VAR methodologies to analyze a dataset encompassing Crude Oil, Gold Prices, CPI Inflation, and Interest Rate Differentials, the empirical results reveal that the Trade Deficit (r = 0.87) and Gold Prices (r= 0.86) are the most dominant structural drivers of Rupee depreciation. Notably, while India successfully anchored domestic inflation—reducing CPI from 11.99% in 2010 to 3.21% in 2026—the currency remains highly sensitive to the narrowing interest rate gap between India and the US (β = 3.429), which triggered a record $115.1 billion capital outflow in early 2026. The findings conclude that the Rupee's stability is now dictated more by global "risk-off" sentiments and safe-haven asset demand than by domestic price growth. The study recommends a policy shift toward Gold import rationalization and the maintenance of a strategic interest rate buffer to insulate the economy from global monetary tightening and sudden capital flight.