Browsing by Author "Tapas R. Dash"

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Cambodia’s Cash Transfer Program and the Laid-off Workers’ Economic Priorities in the Post-COVID-19 Context: A Labor Market Assessment
(CamEd Business School, November 15, 2024) Tapas R. Dash
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had a devasting effect on the global economy. The rapid spread of the virus led to the disruption of supply chains and freezing demand, limiting the flows of travel, trade, and investment (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2020). The lockdown measures implemented across nations to control the spread of the pandemic triggered supply and demand shocks and posed severe challenges for people with low incomes (Dash & Dash, 2021). Almost 1.6 billion informal economy workers, out of a worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, suffered massive damage to their capacity to earn a living (International Labor Organization [ILO], 2020). To mitigate the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, countries diversified their measures, and social assistance played a crucial role in rescuing targeted people. The social assistance program is short-term in general, and due to the unpredictable nature of the crisis, the extension over time was uncertain. To meet the needs of the people during the crisis, several countries expanded their social assistance programs in general and cash transfers in particular. Globally, over 2020–2021, cash transfers reached 1.36 billion people, which means one out of six people in the world received at least one cash transfer payment (Gentilini, 2022). In addition to the unprecedented scale of cash transfers, many beneficiaries’ profiles show that 203.7 million workers received unconditional cash transfers, including 184 million in the informal sector and 19.7 million in formal jobs (Gentilini et al., 2022).
Economic Conditions of the Cambodian Urban Informal Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
(CamEd Business School, November 15, 2020) Tapas R. Dash; Shruti Dash
The impetus for this study comes from a field observation on informal workers in different urban areas in the Phnom Penh city during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevailing pandemic has devasted economies around the world, and in particular, the informal workers, who are generally employed on a seasonal, casual, or temporary basis. and lack social protection, have suffered the worst. To mitigate the social and economic impacts of the pandemic on poor and vulnerable houscholds, the Royal Government of Cambodia launched a nationwide cash relief program in June 2020. It is believed that an effective mitigation program to counteract the negative impact of COVID-19 requires evidence-based research, and this has prompted us to carry out the present study. Emerging from Wuhan in December 2019, the “coronavirus disease 2019” (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically altered the world cconomy and affected every aspect of life. While the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) views that the world has faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and emerging markets and developing countries were the hardest hit (British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC], 2020), the International Labour Organization (2020a) describes the coronavirus pandemic as the worst global crisis since World War II. The World Bank (2021) has estimated —3.5 percent growth of the global economy for 2020. The rapid spread of the virus has not only led to the disruption of supply chains and freezing demand limiting the flows of travel, trade, and investment (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2020), but has also slowed down economic activities in almost all countries due to lockdown and social containment measures. While nearly half of the world’s 3.3 billion workforce were at risk of losing their livelihoods (World Health Organisation [WHO], 2020), in Southeast Asia alone, with every passing month, tens of millions of more workers become vulnerable of sliding into poverty, including many in the middle class.
Identifying Factors Influencing Knowledge Collaboration Effects in Knowledge Alliances in Cambodia: A Structural Equation Model
(CamEd Business School, Feb-23) Tapas R. Dash; Lim Siphat
Knowledge sharing between organizations helps increase the competency of employees in performing their work, but the level of knowledge collaboration might be affected by willingness to cooperate, learning abilities, knowledge attributes, and knowledge activity. To unwind this suspicion, our study used a Structural Equation Model initially composed of twenty-seven manifest or observed variables in predicting five latent or unobserved variables. The first latent variable, Willingness to Cooperate, was measured by five manifest variables. The second latent variable, Learning Ability, was measured by seven observed variables. Knowledge Attributes, Knowledge Activities, and Knowledge Collaboration Effects were measured by six, six, and three variables respectively. Based on the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, seven measurements were eliminated since their loading was less than the threshold. Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method was combined with bootstrapping technique to estimate sample parameters and establish standard errors for hypothesis testing. The empirical results of the study reveal that Learning Abilities and Knowledge Attributes have a highly significant positive impact on Knowledge Collaboration Effects. As such the empirical findings of this study have implications for both private and public sector organizations that should take initiatives to encourage members to learn better understand, and use the acquired knowledge that meets their needs, and to establish knowledge alliances with external partners. Keywords: Knowledge collaboration effects, latent variables, manifest variables, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation model