Background: This study examines online shopping in different cultures and technologies in relation to customer satisfaction in Stockholm and Accra; a developed city with a developing city respectively. In recent times, the use of the internet has rapidly increased around the globe and with it emerged online shopping as a means employed by which business organizations and individual sellers and service providers to maximize growth. Customer satisfaction is an essential element for attaining stability and growth in the business world and online shopping is no exception. Even though customer satisfaction is a universal phenomenon, it can be controlled by culture and technology.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to compare a developed city with a developing one and the interplay of culture and technology in achieving customer satisfaction in online shopping. This thesis therefore seeks to investigate the different cultures and technologies on satisfaction by ascertaining the degree to which factors relating to culture and technology affect customer satisfaction in online shopping. Methodology: Quantitative research method is employed to conduct this thesis. By the use of the snowball sampling method, residents of both Stockholm and Accra were sampled and data collection was done by administering survey questionnaire. SPSS software package was used to analyse research data. The Spearman rank correlation and Mann-Whitney U test were performed using the SPSS software package to arrive at the research results and draw conclusions. Results & Conclusions: This research demonstrates the existence of differences in the culture and technology of Stockholm and Accra. It also demonstrates the impact of selected factors for independent variables (culture and technology) on customer satisfaction in online by showing their inter-relationship. It also reveals the factors which most affected customer satisfaction in online shopping in this thesis. In general, the correlations demonstrated that culture had more impacts on customer satisfaction in online shopping as compared to technology. A good relationship was found between customer satisfaction and culture, and technology provided by the participants from Accra. For Stockholm participants, customer satisfaction in online shopping had a relationship with cultural factors. It was shown in the findings that all four factors measuring culture such as trust, moral, law, and knowledge, and only two factors measuring technology such as internet speed and tools affected customer satisfaction in online shopping in Accra with the most affected factors being trust and moral. In the case of Stockholm, only two factors measuring culture, such as moral and trust affected customer satisfaction in online shopping and moral most affected customer satisfaction. None of the four factors measuring technology affected customer satisfaction. All in all, considering both independent variables, we argued that culture (factors) affected most customer satisfaction in online shopping. Recommendations for future research: Further research can be done by employing both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques to know how these factors affect customer satisfaction in online shopping. In addition, to better generalize the results, further research could be done with the same concepts but with more factors used to measure the independent and dependent variables. Moreover, similar research could also be done by considering only one group of products or items bought online. Furthermore, the same or similar research can be done using more than one question to describe the factors or sub-variables. Last but not least, further research can deploy a larger sample size to facilitate generalization.

Osu, a district in central Accra, Ghana, is known for its busy commercial enterprises, countless restaurants and vibrant nightlife. Osu remains prominent in Ghana and also globally for a variety of reasons. One of such reasons is that it is arguably Ghana's most contemporary setting; second to no other location in the entire country. Osu is also the site of Ghana's seat of government- The Colonial era Christiansburg Castle which houses the president’s office and official residence. The town also plays host to several western diplomatic missions and embassies including the American Embassy. In addition to its 5 star hotels, nightclubs and multiple drive-through restaurants, what really makes Osu prominent in Ghana and elsewhere is its multiple establishments for children, such as the Osu Children's Home, and its continued philanthropy towards the betterment of the plight of displaced and underprivileged children. This thesis proposes and showcases the design of a children’s event and cultural center in Osu; to celebrate and enhance its legacy of child philanthropy. Planning and vi generative design aspects of the built artifact such as programming, site studies, and the collection of potentials for form generation, will be exhaustively addressed in this thesis.

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The thesis is a qualitative case study which examines how International Organizations promote democracy and the Ghanaians views and experiences of the process. The case study is a Minor Field Study conducted in Accra, Ghana during two months through semi-structured interviews and the collection of secondary sources such as literature, UN documents, journal articles and internet sources. The theoretical discussion has its starting point in a theoretical framework of democracy. The aim of the case study is to make visible the Ghanaians perceptions of IOs democracy promotion and the issues that are included in it. This study concludes that IOs need to revise their methods of democracy promotion and determination of democracies through more focus on the time between elections. Furthermore it highlights the importance to separate economic and democratic development and investigate the time between elections in the process.

Bibliography: pages 170-189 / Relational discipleship is found to hold a great potential for church growth. The Methodist Church Ghana uses Small Groups, referred to in the Methodist tradition as the Bible Class as effective tool for relational discipleship for church growth. Bible Class has been used from the inception of the church for exponential growth of the church. However, the rate of growth in recent years have been below targets. This study explored the factors affecting the positive outcomes of the utilization of the Bible Class meetings as effective tool for relational discipleship and for church growth. This study explored the participants’ knowledge and use of the structural arrangements put in place to help pastors and leaders to foster relational discipleship towards church growth (the numerical and spiritual growth and commitment of the church members); and the leadership and discipleship styles employed by the pastors and class leaders in pursuance of the goal of the church. Five (5) Societies in the Accra Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana located in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, were involved in the study. Mixed Method Research that combined both qualitative (in-depth interviews and Focus Groups) and quantitative (structured questionnaires) research methodologies were used to explore the perspectives about the structural arrangements put in place to help pastors and leaders to foster relational discipleship, leadership/discipleship styles of the leaders; the benefit and usefulness of the Bible Class as a relational discipleship tool; their participation in church programmes and activities and the challenges they faced. The qualitative research consisted of 20 in-depth interviews and eight (8) focus groups with some church members, ministers and church leaders. The focus group discussions revealed that church members knew about the structural arrangements put in place to assist leadership of the church to foster closer relationship with their members in pursuance of discipleship. The study also revealed there were many challenges associated with the participation in the Bible Class Meetings and other church programmes and activities. The Bible Class meeting was cited as having been put in place for discipleship making and could be used to strengthen relationship between the church leadership and members. The findings from the qualitative phase were tested at the quantitative stage. The quantitative research method employed structured questionnaires administered to 650 church members, ministers and church leaders. The participants comprised 419 (64%) females and 231 (36%) males. Their ages ranged between 18 and 79 years with the majority (55%) between 18 and 40 years. The participants completed the questionnaires by themselves at the premises of their churches. The response rate was 100%. Three hypotheses were tested. The findings of the research suggest that the extent to which pastors and church leadership directly get involved in the affairs of their members with the view to making disciples and monitoring their spiritual growth influences church members’ interest in church activities and commitment to the church. It was also noted that leadership’s participation in church activities encourages members’ participation in church activities and programmes. Similarly, pastors and lay leaders who utilized the Bible Class or Small Group to build relationships with their members had greater numbers of members attending small group meetings and that pastors’ involvement makes the church members perceive class meeting as beneficial. However, only Interpersonal Leadership Style of Discipleship was positively associated with knowledge about church activities and participation in church activities and programmes. The more members know about Church activities, the greater their participation in those activities. There was no association between the other discipleship styles (e.g. serving, testimonial, intellectual) employed by leaders to foster relational discipleship. The discussions and conclusion of this study were based on these three studies (In-depth Interview, Focus Groups Discussions and the Structured Questionnaire Survey). / Practical Theology / D. Phil. (Theology)

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Land information management in Ghana, as in many developing countries, remains a practice monopolised by public sector land administration agencies, which are known for being inefficient in delivering services that satisfy the needs of citizens. Under this monopolised regime, landed property related data gathering, processing through land registration, storage and dissemination of the information as final product for public use is entirely based on expert knowledge. Meanwhile, reliance on this kind of knowledge for land information management has continuously failed to promote smooth flow and a broad based access to reliable information for decision making by citizens. This failure has created a huge land information gap between market participants’ especially genuine and fraudulent landed property owners on one hand and potential buyers, lenders, and investors on the other hand. Thus, there is information asymmetry, which this study identifies as a major contributory factor to the challenges of uncertainties and high transaction costs that characterise dealings in urban real estate markets in Ghana. In order to verify how the information gap can be closed, this research adopts quantitative research methodology. The research mainly explores multinomial logistic regression model to test Economic Theory of Knowledge propounded by Hayek (1945) using Ghana as the context of study. Primary data was collected from potential land information suppliers within the private sector and existing users of land information as likely beneficiaries of an efficient land information management regime. Interrater agreement index and Pearson’s bivariate correlation analysis were used to analyse primary data gathered from users of land information in relation to land information needs and competition in land information harnessing. Following verification of the relationship between competition and economic knowledge, the key research finding is that there are two kinds of land information management knowledge and these are expert and entrepreneurial land information management knowledge. Thus, the research presents empirical evidence that out of four types of entrepreneurial knowledge verified, two types namely adaptive and cost-efficient knowledge are most likely to influence competition in land information supply. Also, competition is likely to deliver land information services that satisfy the needs of users of land information. Altogether, the research findings converge with the theory verified. The research outcome suggests that deregulation of state monopoly of land information harnessing for competition among private economic actors in Ghana is due. Removing this barrier is likely to promote dynamic competition in which licensed land information suppliers can use adaptive and cost efficient knowledge in gathering and disseminating land information at competitive prices. The study also provides evidence that all-in-one land information, which is broadly accessible at competitive prices is likely to be required to help address the problem of information asymmetry in the context of Ghana. For purposes of practice in the context of urban real estate markets in Ghana, a framework based on the research findings is developed and validated. The framework is proposed to inform policy decision on deregulation for competition in land information harnessing to enable the real estate sector function well. To kick start the process, deregulation in land data gathering and dissemination of land information is suggested.

Accra’s central bus station is a hub of travel and of turmoil. On its grounds, a great many people interact with each other in a great many ways. While this plenitude of actions and transactions is framed by an eclectic array of involutionary-evolved organizational structures, in the combined thrust of activities, confusion and unpredictability abound. For the transient traveller, the experience of the station’s turmoil translates into feelings of threat and anxiety. For those who inhabit the station, it is the very unpredictability inscribed into its space that provides opportunities and shelter. These contrastive local perceptions of the station echo the diverging academic discourses on the states of disorder that rule many spheres of everyday life in African cities, in which scenarios of unruly chaos are contrasted with visions of the self-regulating powers of social ingenuity. In this article, I explore urban disorder’s ambivalent potency as it becomes manifest, writ large, in the organization and the everyday life of a West African travel hub.