China-Ghana Cocoa Trade Cooperation:Effects Of Cooperation Perception And Local Activities Of Foreign Migrants

China has opened its doors to foreign trade and market internationalization through direct foreign investments and economic initiatives focused on mutual benefits.Ghana has embraced it and has several existing partnership deals with Chinese firms already.However,the cocoa sector in Ghana has great potentials but yet to see such cooperation.China-Ghana cocoa partnership is expected to grow but could be influenced by some external factors.This study,therefore,investigates the perception of Ghanaian cocoa firms on foreign ones and the extent to which this knowledge and perception about foreign firms may influence the willingness of Ghanaian firms to corporate with Chinese firms in the cocoa trade sector which has great potentials.The study adopted quantitative methods of research to collate and analyze its data.Also,the quantitative research method was an important tool for describing the relationship between the independent variables(cooperation perception,CP),mediating variable(knowledge on foreigners’ activities,KFA),moderating variable(KFA),and the dependent variable(willingness to cooperate,WTC)to explain into details the relationship they all share.The study employed a structured questionnaire as the main instrument in collecting responses from the respondents.Mediation analysis was done using the Process-Macro extension in SPSS and a hierarchical regression was used to ascertain the moderation role of KFA,respectively,on the relationship between CP and WTC.The findings indicate that:(1)KFA played a partial mediation role and was also a significant moderator.Thus,although CP significantly influences WTC,care must be taken to address and control the type of information circulated and the activities of foreign business owners in Ghanaian communities,which influence the knowledge developed(KFA);(2)Cocoa firms in Ghana highly rated Chinese firms positively inquest for partnership;(3)This study,therefore,recommends that Ghanaian authorities implement flexible polices to open up to Chinese firms and establish a good relationship with Chinese companies and other foreign investors.This will open more doors for Ghana’s cocoa trade cooperation.