Towards a Framework for Understanding the Outcomes of Economic Engagements with Africa: A Human Capital Development Perspective

Abstract

In the last few decades, the world has experienced significant economic and political transformation, which has led to adjustments in economic interaction between countries. However, this new pattern of economic engagement has not attracted adequate investigation from management researchers. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by advancing a conceptual framework that can guide researchers towards investigating new patterns of economic engagement across countries. Chinese economic engagement in Africa is used to exemplify how the conceptual framework can be used. The paper concludes by providing directions for research.

China in Africa’s telecom sector: opportunities for human capital development? A case of Huawei in Nigeria

“…Additionally, these findings support the argument while Chinese engagement in Africa offers opportunities for HCD, government policy and strategy play a key role in reaching these opportunities to the respective African countries (e.g. Odoom 2015, Sautmann and Yan 2015, Chen et al 2016, Agbebi et al 2017. Additionally, these findings reveal that the Nigerian government is keen to leverage the engagement of multinational companies to develop the economy, particularly to enhance local capacity and technology transfer.…”