International Journal of Social Sciences and English Literature

Politics of Environmental Protection: Investigating Socioeconomic Problems South Sudan has Experienced Arising from Ownership of Trans-boundary Natural Resources

Jacob Dut Chol Riak — 2025-05-06

The availability of trans-boundary natural resources has been a curse to South Sudanese. In South Sudan, these trans-boundary natural resources include air, water, wildlife, livestock, fisheries, pests, forest, lands, petroleum, and minerals among others. During their exploitations, they have led to socio-economic problems such as flooding, environmental pollution, diseases, conflicts, poverty and politicization of environmental legal regimes. Intervention from Government of South Sudan to resolve these socio-economic problems has been through high level meetings with countries sharing trans-boundary natural resources such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, DR Congo, Kenya, Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Eritrea. Other interventions include technical engagements, signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) on cooperation agreements, signed protocols, signed treaties and depoliticization of environmental legal regimes. The study used multi case studies and comparative method in understanding trans-boundary natural resources. The study’s finding reveals that trans-boundary natural resources are enormous in South Sudan and must be nurtured for the benefits of South Sudanese. Environmental protection must be prioritized to ensure that environmental degradation is avoided. There is an urgent need to enact Environment Act that should establish National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) that should implement the Act in later and spirit. The study concludes that while trans-boundary natural resources need to be exploited, attention should be particularly paid to the environment to prevent degradation as well as conflicts arising from competition over these trans-boundary resources. Further research is hereby recommended to trans-boundary natural resources’ scholars to investigate the positive impacts of the trans-boundary resources on the people of South Sudan.

Leadership, Strategic Quality Management, and SMEs Sustainability: The Mediating effect of Employee Empowerment and Engagement

Ofori Issah — 2025-05-06

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are key drivers of economic growth, employment, and innovation globally. However, their sustainability is increasingly challenged by resource limitations, heightened competition, and rapidly evolving market dynamics. To remain competitive and achieve long-term sustainability, SMEs must adopt effective leadership and strategic quality management (SQM) practices that enhance organizational performance and adaptability. Despite the proven importance of leadership and SQM in improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, their impact on SMEs' sustainability often remains limited due to a lack of employee empowerment and engagement. This disconnect highlights a critical research gap in understanding how employee empowerment and engagement mediate the relationship between leadership, SQM, and SMEs' sustainability. Leadership plays a pivotal role in driving strategic initiatives and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Explanatory research design is employed to understand the causal relationships between variables and how one variable influences. The explanatory approach is ideal for this study as it allows for the assessment of the direction and strength of relationships between leadership, SQM, and SME sustainability. In this study, a purposive sampling technique was appropriate because the researchers targeted specific SMEs whose leadership and SQM practices are aligned with the study's objectives. A sample size of 335 is appropriate for this study, as it strikes a balance between providing sufficient statistical power and being feasible in terms of data collection. The choice of this sample size ensures that the data are robust enough to perform advanced statistical analysis, such as structural equation modeling (SEM), which is suitable for testing complex causal relationships. A sample size of 335 also allows for meaningful subgroup analysis, enabling comparisons between different industries, company sizes, and geographical locations. The findings of the study reveal that effective leadership positively influences the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Strategic quality management positively influences the sustainability of small and medium enterprises. Leadership has a profound impact on employee empowerment and engagement. Strategic Quality Management (SQM) plays a critical role in shaping employee empowerment and engagement. Employee empowerment and engagement are key mediators in the relationship between leadership and the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Employee empowerment and engagement play crucial roles in mediating the relationship between strategic quality management (SQM) and the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study enriches the theoretical understanding of SQM by positioning it as a key enabler of employee empowerment. SMEs should prioritize embedding SQM practices in their operations to enhance employee empowerment and engagement. SMEs should invest in developing transformational leadership skills at all organizational levels. Leaders who demonstrate high levels of transformational leadership (e.g., providing inspiration, motivation, and individualized attention) empower employees and foster engagement.

Unveiling the Determinants of Book Renewals: An Interdisciplinary Exploration using Factor and Regression Analysis

Jiexuan Liu — 2025-05-28

This paper aims to comprehensively analyze readers' borrowing and renewal behaviors, explore the influencing factors, and provide data-driven support for library resource allocation and borrowing policy formulation. Focusing on readers' borrowing data, the study first classifies the data based on whether there is a book renewal behavior and segments it into three periods (2016-2018, 2019-2021, 2022-2024). Then, various statistical methods, such as Logarithmic Transformation, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Z-score, Binary Logistic Regression, Quantile Regression, and moderation effect analysis using the PROCESS macro for SPSS, are applied. The research reveals that the distribution of total book borrowings and renewals shows that most data cluster around lower volumes with some high-value outliers, and the median values remain relatively stable over time. Different factors have diverse impacts on book renewal and borrowing behaviors; for instance, in different periods, variables like reader types and gender have varying influences on renewal behavior, and in the quantile regression analysis of LogTotal, different variables exhibit different significance levels at different quantiles. This study provides a detailed and systematic multi-perspective analysis using multiple statistical methods, offering new insights into understanding reader behavior patterns and guiding libraries to optimize resource management and formulate more targeted borrowing policies.