Unveiling Ubuntu With Evidence From Ghana: A Resource-Based View of African Culture's Impact On Firm Capability and Firm Performance

Authors:

Keywords: Ubuntu, Resource Based View, Organizational culture, Dynamic capability

Abstract: The extant literature has established that firm culture is an integral factor for organizational success namely learning, and collaboration. Nevertheless, there is a lack of literature explaining the role of Traditional African cultures and values on firm outcomes. Therefore we engage in this empirical study to explore the relationship between traditional African culture, firm capability, and performance. Traditional culture on the African continent is diverse, heterogeneous, and rich in nature. Additionally, this cultural concept of ‘humanness’ or ‘oneness’ is traditional to African culture and is manifested in the overarching Ubuntu philosophy and Biakoye concept local to Ghana. After reviewing the literature, and building a theoretical model, we examine these salient constructs and posit a theoretical framework ready for empirical testing. Quantitative data was collected via Qualtrics survey from managers of small to medium sized enterprises in Ghana to investigate how leadership implement these cultural values in pursuit of success in the oil and gas industry. Our empirical findings were interesting and robust and help to extend theory in the discourse on small business growth in Sub Saharan Africa. The contributions of our findings to theory and research, practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.