PurposeThis paper assesses the inclusive leadership and employee engagement nexus in the hospitality industry, using psychological safety as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachThe study conveniently sampled 247 employees from the hospitality industry in Zimbabwe. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire with the aid of trained research assistants. Descriptive and inferential statistics were generated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Regression analysis was used.FindingsThe findings of this study indicate that the predictor variable (inclusive leadership) directly affects the outcome variable (employee engagement) in the presence of the mediator. In addition, these findings depict that the indirect coefficient was partially significant, which shows that psychological safety partially affects employee engagement in the presence of inclusive leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThe study came up with essential conclusions on the link between inclusive leadership and employee engagement in the hospitality industry. However, there is a need to exercise caution when generalising the findings to a different setting. The results represent the opinions of a sample drawn from Zimbabwe, a developing country in Southern Africa. Future research can carry out a comparative study on the same variables in the context of developed and developing countries. Further, future research can execute a longitudinal analysis to better understand if inclusive leadership directly affects employee engagement in the presence of psychological safety. This would help hospitality management to employ relevant leadership strategies that enhance employee engagement.Practical implicationsThis research has pertinent implications for both academics and human resource practitioners. The study results revealed that there is a direct effect on inclusive leadership and employee engagement. Practically, if leaders avail themselves to work with employees and discuss business operations and social issues affecting them, employees will be committed to exerting more energy towards their work and productivity will be improved. Moreover, it is understandable that mistakes always happen, but errors will be minimised and controlled in such an environment. The results also revealed that the connection between inclusive leadership on employee engagement is partly enhanced by the moderator. This may be taken as a good strategy that can be employed by human resources practitioners in the hospitality industry.Originality/valueThe study significantly contributes to researchers and practitioners because it develops strategies for enhancing employee engagement in the hospitality sector. In addition, there is scant research that explores the mediating relationship of psychological safety between inclusive leadership and employee engagement in developing countries, particularly in the hospitality sector.

The continued failure of small to medium enterprises and lack of growth of those that survive, continue to pose some challenges to the Zimbabwean economy. Lack of experience and education by ownermanagers of SMEs, is one of the major challenges impeding their survival and growth. The study sought to establish the influence of experience and owner-managers education on SME performance specifically focusing on motor spares SMEs at Kelvin Light Industries in Bulawayo.  The objective of this study, therefore, was to analyse the relationship between experience and owner-managers education and the performance of SMEs. The descriptive research design was employed in this study. The researcher adopted stratified sampling technique supported by simple random technique to select participants from the population. Closed-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from owner-managers operating at Kelvin Light Industries. SPSS version 20 was used to analyse and present the data. The results of the study showed that there was a strong relationship between both education and experience of owner-managers on SME performance. The researcher recommends that owner-managers should continuously receive training on how to run and manage their SMEs. Owner-managers should employ human capital on merit which would give them a competitive advantage in business.

Abstract

The majority of the Zimbabwean retail companies were in the collapsing mode over the past ten years. This miserable predicament necessitated the government to craft locally-driven remedies, and one of them was the Buy Zimbabwe campaign. This prompted the researcher to assess the impact of the “Buy Zimbabwe” campaign on the performance of the Zimbabwean firms. The study objectives were to establish the impact of “buy Zimbabwe” campaign on demand for local products and factors affecting demand for local products. Furthermore to establish if a company participating in the “buy Zimbabwe” campaign performs better than non-participating firms, earnings per Share was used in the inter-firm performance comparison. The descriptive research design was employed, although the research was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The classical linear multiple regression analysis was used to establish and explain the relationship between company performances. The results indicated a positive linear relationship between “buy Zimbabwe” campaign and company performance in case of those that adopted Buy Zimbabwe, whereas in case of those that did not adopt Buy Zimbabwe there was a negative linear relationship. The results also discloses that quality and affordability of the product are the most influential factors affect demand for local products and buy Zimbabwe campaign was regarded as the least factor to be considered by consumers. Results from this study point towards the need to put in place supportive policies for the “buy Zimbabwe” campaign to be effective. Keywords: Buy Zimbabwe, retail sector, local products, competitiveness, customer loyalty

The purpose of this chapter is to advance the knowledge about vulnerable consumers, especially in the context of developing countries. The chapter, therefore, maps out the various forms of vulnerabilities in financial markets in developing countries. Thereafter, a conceptual framework defining consumer vulnerability is presented. In conclusion, the chapter proposes some strategies to alleviate the challenges of consumer vulnerability. To advance these arguments, the chapter discusses the question of consumer vulnerability in the financial services markets in developing countries using South Africa as a case study.