Christian Harrison

The study critically examined the effect of the pandemic and lockdown on the performance and operations of farmers' markets in Southwest, Nigeria. Primary data were used and the information was sourced using questionnaires. A multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select farmers for the study. Descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and two-stage least squares regression were used for the analysis. The results showed that age, revenue, perceived COVID-19 effect, household size, experience, market space acquisition, and frequent visits to farmers markets were the significant factors that influenced the performance of the farmers in the study area. Challenges faced by the farmers after lockdown on farmers markets were increased price, high cost of farm input, reduced quantity of farm products and high transportation cost. Therefore, there should be more government intervention/assistance programs as a way of assisting the farmers to boost food production and alleviate poverty in the area.

Africa needs sustainable leadership to confront its unique challenges and capitalise on its potential. Thus, this chapter presents African leadership instances from diverse fields. This study aims to analyse the need for sustainable leadership in Africa using a systematic literature review. The PRISMA approach was adopted to perform the literature review. This was accomplished by looking through peer-reviewed databases, such as JSTOR, ProQuest and African Journals Online (AJOL), for manuscripts to find relevant data unique to the African context. After a thorough search, studies that did not meet the study’s objective were removed from consideration throughout the review phase. In light of this, the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist was used to ensure that the publications chosen for this review were evaluated for quality assessment and bias minimisation. The systematic literature review identified grey areas from previous studies on socioeconomic development through infrastructure projects, inclusive governance, entrepreneurship, inequality reduction, human development and terms of employment for sustainable leadership in Africa.

While the past decade has witnessed the emergence of more studies dedicated to Africa and an emphasis on the significance of paying attention to issues across the continent, the search for more answers demands extending the reach of contemporary scholarly work. The Emerald Handbook of African Studies works to ‘break down’ hinges on the issues limiting Africa’s development. In fact, more dialogue and debates across subject areas will help refine our knowledge towards investigating pertinent and analogous issues.

Filling this gap in existing scholarship, Omeihe and Harrison distinctly and carefully curated an exploration of thematic areas, (general concerns, entrepreneurship and Economic Institutions, intersections of culture and society, politics and systems of behaviour), which generations of scholars, practitioners and policy makers can resonate with and apply in their work.

The Emerald Handbook of African Studies forces one to rethink the very nature of African research, serving as a catalyst for new fresh thought and acuminating our understanding of the social world.

Facing escalating volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), new paradigms that embrace systemic dynamism are needed to address leadership perspectives. This paper posits Complex Adaptive Leadership (CAL) as a viable theoretical framework to address the dynamism which the VUCA environment demands. Tracing its evolution from complexity theory to contemporary applications. the study argues that CAL’s emphasis on flexibility, decentralized decision-making, and emergent innovation equips organisations to thrive in chaos. Alternative perspectives, including critiques of competing models, are examined to present a balanced discourse. The study concludes with implications for practice and future research, advocating for CAL’s integration into modern leadership perspectives.

This developmental paper sets out the rationale and design for a study exploring the challenges of authentic leadership within Nigeria’s oil sector, a key driver of Africa’s largest economy. While authentic leadership has gained prominence as a corrective to ethical failings and declining trust in leadership, the construct remains conceptually fragmented, normatively framed, and predominantly shaped by Western contexts. Such framing risks overlooking the lived realities of leaders in developing economies, where socio political, regulatory uncertainty, and ethical tensions influence leadership practice.
The study proposes a phenomenological approach underpinned by interpretivism to capture leaders lived experiences in this complex setting. Authentic leaders will be identified through follower nominations, ensuring that authenticity reflects recognition by subordinates rather than self-assertion. Semi structured interviews will provide rich qualitative data, with analysis following a systematic coding process to surface both explicit accounts and underlying meanings. Reflexivity, member checking, and peer debriefing are planned to enhance transparency and rigour.

This study examines the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on leadership in organisations and spotlights the emerging notion of automated leadership. Conventionally, leadership has been noted as human-focused, and thrives on human abilities like empathy, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. However, with an unprecedented rise in computer processing power and automation, AI is revolutionising leadership roles, with artificially intelligent agents now performing strategic-level functions hitherto conducted by human-leaders. However, despite the promised potentials and benefits, concerns have surfaced regarding the impacts of AI-automated leadership on team outcomes, particularly conflict management. Therefore, using phenomenology and case study design and focusing on UK organisations in the logistics and warehouse sector-where adoption of AI-powered automated leadership systems has surged-we examine the influence of AI-automated leadership agents on conflicts within working teams. After theoretically examining traditional leadership and team conflict models vis-à-vis AI-automated leadership, the study proceeded to hypothesise and operationalise efficient conflict management approaches for this emerging paradigm.

Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria has been widely analysed for its authoritarian control, coercive governance, and psychological manipulation. This study critically examines dark leadership characteristics within Assad's rule, mainly through narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. It explores how Assad's leadership has manipulated political institutions, repressed opposition, and weaponised propaganda to maintain power, alongside the psychological and social consequences on Syrian society. This research uses qualitative research to incorporate political discourse analysis, thematic analysis of testimonies, and comparative studies of authoritarian regimes. The findings suggest that Assad's leadership has eroded political institutions, instilled long-term psychological trauma, and fragmented Syrian civil society. Additionally, the international community's response to Assad's rule has been inconsistent, reflecting broader challenges in addressing authoritarian leadership and human rights violations. This study contributes to political psychology, governance studies, and international relations, offering insights into the mechanisms of dark leadership and the challenges of dismantling authoritarian structures. The findings provide policy recommendations for rebuilding governance structures, addressing collective trauma, and mitigating the effects of autocratic rule in post-Assad Syria.

This developmental paper presents initial findings from a narrative literature study on the digital ecosystem, gig workers, and the gig economy. Our analysis is based on 24 articles included in the narrative literature review. As a result, we propose a conceptual framework for the digital labour ecosystem, drawing on evidence from current digital ecosystems through a labour perspective. Furthermore, we identify seven key personal resources of gig workers. This paper provides a broader perspective on the digital ecosystem by examining workers' mechanisms. Our findings also highlight how these seven personal resources, specific to gig workers, differ from those of traditional employees.

Startups are often exhilarating, akin to an outdoor adventure, but challenges can quickly arise, exacerbating stressors. This study investigates the underexplored potential of how exposure to nature can impact early-stage startup co-founder teams. It explores how a nature-based retreat influences shared leadership development particularly in the areas of trust and cohesion. Using a hybrid methodology integrating phenomenology and case study approaches, the study is guided by Tuckman's Group Development Model,