Browsing by Author "Ibidunni, Ayodotun Stephen"

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Environmental Responsibility, Network Ties, and Business Model Innovation: Contextualization in Developing Economy SMEs
(Business Strategy and the Environment Early View, 2026-07-07) Ibidunni, Ayodotun Stephen; Adegbite, Emmanuel; Nwazota, Triumph; Edewor, Ogheneofejiro; Adu, Douglas A.
Although the environmental responsibility literature remains an emerging field, there have been limited explanations of its connection to market-level constructs in developing economies, such as business model innovation and intra- and extra-cluster network ties. Thus, this research adopted the social network theory to investigate the direct and indirect effects of network ties on the relationship between environmental responsibility and business model innovation. Our study relied on questionnaire data gathered from 204 SMEs operating in the informal market of a developing economy—Nigeria. The study adopted the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLSSEM) to capture the direct and indirect relationships between environmental responsibility and business model innovation. We found that while eco-design and waste disposal and management do not have a direct effect on business model innovation, resource management does. Also, while ecodesign and waste disposal and management are directly related to intra-cluster network ties, resource management is not. Our analysis showed a direct relationship between all three environmental responsibility dimensions and extra-cluster network ties. Both intra-cluster network ties and extra-cluster network ties are directly related to business model innovation. The mediating role of extra-cluster network ties on environmental responsibility dimensions and business model innovation was confirmed. However, we did not find a mediating role for intra-cluster network ties in this relationship. By demonstrating the impact of environmental responsibility on business model innovation, we provide a deeper understanding of the need for firms to enhance their business orientation in a broader perspective that connects firm-level sustainability orientation with marketlevel sustainable initiatives.
Informal Markets Responsiveness to Sub-Saharan Africa’s Production Economy: Complementarity of the Institutional Theory and a Self-Reliance View
(Economic Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Volume II, 2026-05-01) Ibidunni, Ayodotun Stephen; Falana, Ranti; Oyewo, Obaloluwa Obed; Edewor, Ogheneofejiro
The informal market in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) varies in size across SSA countries ranging from 20% to 65% across countries. Yet, these countries commonly agree to the huge impact of the informal market on their respective national economies. Despite the massive contribution of the sector to employment and economic development of the region, especially in terms of GDP contribution and business opportunities for the bottom line, there is an undisputable institutional void of SSA’s informal market. Our study focused on discussing institutional theorization and the self-reliance view as complementary perspectives to explain the responsiveness of informal markets to the production economy in SSA. Drawing from a systematic review of 42 studies sourced from the Scopus database, our study highlights critical channels in which the informal economy is advancing a production economy in SSA. We reported that the informal markets are noted to facilitate the SSA economy through the internationalization of business operations and collaborations, creating decent work (SDG 8) through the platform economy, supporting the living conditions of women and youths whose contribution to family livelihood is increasing across the region (SDG 10), strengthening cultural ties, and projecting the advancement of ICT adoption across the region’s economy, especially for enhancing the regional innovation and industrialization (SDG 9). We establish that the informal economy should be sustained for the period where SSA governments have not fully identified sustainable measures for absorbing almost 70% of the SSA population that earn their livelihood from the informal economy. Our study establishes critical theoretical, practical, and policy implications.