School-wide publications
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://dspace.njala.edu.sl/handle/20.500.144402/177
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Item TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACTS OF AI ON DIGITAL MEDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC TRENDS, ECONOMIC OUTCOMES, AND CONSUMER TRUST (2020-2025)(2025-09-30) Makieu, PeterThe rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the digital media landscape, prompting critical inquiries into its industry-specific impacts and implications for economic outcomes and consumer trust. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of AI adoption trends from 2020 to 2025, leveraging a mixed-methods approach that incorporates a Kaggle-sourced dataset with 1,240 industry-year observations.Our findings indicate substantial disparities in AI adoption rates, with the U.S. automotive sector leading at 81.06, while South Korean healthcare remains at a mere 10.53. High-adoption sectors experience remarkable revenue growth of 45.6–57.86, despite concurrent job losses ranging from 10.66 to 27.62. Employing sophisticated regression analyses, we identify infrastructure investment as a significant predictor of AI adoption (0.58, p < 0.01), contrasting with the detrimental effects of regulatory strictness (0.34, p < 0.05).A novel contribution of this research is the exploration of consumer trust dynamics, which inversely correlates with AI adoption rates (-0.12). This study reveals that trust levels vary significantly across sectors, with marketing achieving a trust rate of 81.58% compared to only 41.77 in gaming, largely driven by transparency tool adoption.In conclusion, we propose an innovative policy framework that aims to align AI-driven growth with ethical considerations, emphasizing the role of transparency and sector-specific governance. Our research enriches the understanding of technology adoption models and offers actionable insights for policymakers and industry leaders, facilitating sustainable innovation in the digital media sector. This study not only fills critical gaps in existing literature but also sets the stage for future research on the intersection of AI and digital media.Item Foreign Direct Investment and Private Sector Development in Sierra Leone: Examining the Moderating Roles of Financial Development and Institutional Quality(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026-09-21) Makieu, PeterThis study examines the long-run and short-run relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and private sector development in Sierra Leone for the period 1996–2023. The dependent variable is domestic credit to the private sector as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), which is considered as a proxy for private sector development. The study examines the moderating effect of institutional quality, proxied by a composite index of World Governance Indicators. This index is on the effect of FDI on private sector development. Annual data from the World Bank World Development Indicators and World Governance Indicators are used to conduct the analysis using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing framework. Robustness estimators are fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and short run dynamics are captured by an error correction model (ECM). The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds F-statistic of 18.82 confirms the cointegration. Long-run estimates indicate that foreign direct investment (FDI) has a positive and significant impact on private sector development across all estimators. The interaction term between foreign direct investment (FDI) and institutional quality is positive and significant in all specifications. This suggests that improvements in governance enhance foreign direct investment's contribution to private sector development. The error correction term of − 0.346 (P = 0.01) implies that deviations from long-run equilibrium are corrected at 34.6% per annum. Results are robust to the exclusion of the Ebola shock period and to the decomposition of the governance index into its individual governance pillars. The results suggest that investment promotion and institutional reform are complementary policy priorities in post-conflict economies.Item Financial Development, Foreign Direct Investment, and Private Sector Development in Sierra Leone: Evidence from ARDL and Granger Causality Analysis (1996–2024)(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2026-07-30) Makieu, PeterThis study examines the relationships among financial development, foreign direct investment (FDI), and private sector development in Sierra Leone over the period 1996–2024, using annual data from the World Bank, World Development Indicators (WDI) and the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework is employed alongside moderation analysis and Granger causality tests to investigate long-run and short-run dynamics. The analysis finds that financial development and institutional quality — measured by government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and rule of law — are positively and significantly associated with private sector development in the long run. Foreign direct investment(FDI) exhibits a positive and significant association in the model incorporating government effectiveness, though results are mixed across institutional specifications. The moderation analysis indicates that institutional quality conditions the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and private sector outcomes, with government effectiveness exerting the strongest moderating effect. The error-correction term is negative and significant at the 10% level, consistent with long-run equilibrium adjustment. Granger causality results reveal a unidirectional causal flow from foreign direct investment(FDI) to private sector development but bidirectional causality between financial development and private sector outcomes. The findings contribute to the literature on the foreign direct investment(FDI) –finance–institution nexus in sub-Saharan Africa and carry implications for financial sector deepening and institutional reform in Sierra Leone.