In Memoriam: Prof Seth Oppong

by | Feb 19, 2024 | Uncategorized

22 May 1982-19 Feb 2024

Click here for the Union’s statement: Demise Notice_Prof Seth Oppong

In his own words:

How a scholar wants to be remembered when no more: A mini autobiography

Seth Oppong, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

University of Botswana

Background

My name is Seth Yaw Asante Oppong, PhD, a Ghanaian and African scholar born May 27, 1982 to Mr. Samuel Kwadwo Oppong and Madam Mercy Frimpong in Sekondi at Auntie Lily’s Maternity Home along the Maxwell Road; it was closer to the home of the late Ghanaian wife of President Robert Mugabe of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Others call my father “Teacher Oppong”, and we call my mother “Auntie Amma”. At the time of my birth, my father was in the Ghana Armed Forces stationed at the Sekondi Naval Base within the Supplies Unit and my mother who had minimal formal education was a trader at the time. Both are still alive. I have two sisters, Joyce Oppong and Vida Oppong. I am married to Mary Otoo Awuakye (aka Eno) with a son (Yaw Nkunim Akyeampong Oppong), two daughters (Yaa Anuonyam Ago Oppong [older one] and Kankoh Maame Akua Asantewaa Oppong). Yaw is named after my paternal grandfather, Yaa after my mother, and Akua after myself.

I started my early childhood education at Sekondi AME Zion School where my parents were both congregants. I continued my education at Akyease Presbyterian School from Primary 3 to Junior Secondary School when my father retired from the Army relocated to our hometown, Akyem Akyease. I was inspired by pieces of stories my father told me about Prof. Francis Allotey, a renowned Ghanaian Physicist to the extent that I learnt and loved mathematics. I recall sometimes giving myself mathematical problems that were quite real-life situations to solve at that age. I should also add my father is himself a “mathematics genius”. I remember him helping me do all my mathematics homework; he is my first great teacher of mathematics. My father used to teach me mathematics with Senior Secondary School Mathematics Book One while I was only in Junior Secondary School. Even at the Senior Secondary School, he taught me mathematics. My greatest achievement is an unpublished story book I wrote while in JSS 3, making it my first “publication”. Unfortunately, I cannot find the manuscripts.

I continued my senior secondary education at Akyease (Achiase) Senior Secondary School (aka ACHISEC); readers should note that I prefer the Ghanaian version (Akyease) to the anglicized version (Achiase). It was during this period of my life that the mathematics genius in me was awoken. I mostly used mathematics books published in the 1950s and 1960s; my belief was that the current books at the time did not tell me “why” but only “how”. I was read several minibiographies of famous mathematicians. My greatest desire was also to develop some mathematical formulas. It all started with my quest to develop a formula to compute the sum of arithmetic series. I independently derived the formula using all the tricks I have learnt in mathematics including techniques in calculus, geometry, trigonometry and the basic operations I know.  Unfortunately, I found out later that the formula had been derived and known a long time ago. I was sad but it assured me that an African mind is also capable of great inventions. Later, I was able to do two important things not yet known to mathematicians because that has not been published (Remember I was in the secondary school with no understanding scholarly publications). I chanced upon a concept Archimedes had started but remained unfinished which dealt with estimating the area of a circle locked in two squares (See Figure 1).

Figure 1: Archimedes’ Mathematical Problem

My second was derivation of an alternative formula for determining the circumference of a triangle based on Heron’s Formula. Indeed, these were my greatest achievements in mathematics when I was in the secondary school. There were three others things that changed my life and deepened my interest in scholarly work. First, it was a national service teacher who taught us the Agriculture component of the then Integrated Science. He introduced my class to university teaching while we were in the second year. He presented topics and allowed the class to present their views and I loved those sessions. Second factor was my Economics teacher, another national service personnel, who gave me his Level 300 Econometrics notes. It was because at the time I had learnt calculus to the extent that he taught I could understand his notes and I did largely. And third was the debate organized by Hon. Osafo Mafo, then the Member of Parliament for Akyem Oda Constituency (he was once the Minister of Finance, Minister of Education and now the Senior Minister under the Akuffo Addo government). As the lead debater for my school, it gave me the opportunity to prepare interesting arguments in favour of the debating topic “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword”. I need to see “thank you” to late Mr. Dzah who was my English teacher. My school came third after Oda Secondary School (ODASCO) and Akyem Swedru Secondary School (AKISS). At the end of the debate which was a two-day contest, Hon. Osafo Mafo remarked them he could foresee some of the debaters making wonderful arguments on the floor of parliament in the future.

I completed my Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination with Aggregate 09 with As in Core Mathematics, English Language, and Geography and with Bs in Ghanaian Language (Akuapem Twi), Integrated Science, Economics, and Social Studies. My performance at the secondary school was better than my performance during the Basic Education Certificate Examination where I obtained Aggregate 10 with a Grade of “3” in English. My improvement in English at secondary school was facilitated by the foundational work done by late Mr. Asomaning who taught me English Language in JSS 3 in respect of conjugation of verbs in English Language, subject-verb agreement and propositions. This was later built upon by the studies in Akuampem Twi and French. Well, I was also the school Boys’ Prefect but I think I got that because they thought I was academically good not because of any leadership qualities they saw in me.

Ever since I have had a burning desire to demonstrate that the African mind is equally capable of original thought.  During the first year of my undergraduate education at the University of Ghana, Legon, I sought to develop two theories: (1) societal progression from capitalism to socialism to communism to a new system that combines capitalism with socialism, perhaps something we can call social capitalism and (2) structural theory of war which was supposed to analyse war in terms of clash of interests of the elites of the conflicting factions and ethnocentric sentiments or rhetoric used by the elite to draw the masses into a never-ending war. Well, these were not published and neither do I even remember where the original manuscripts are; I was only a first year university student who had not heard about publishing.  I went through the rest of my university education uneventful except for four events: (1) that I was named among the top ten humanities students who participated in BAT Career programme that was organized at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), (2) I chanced upon the Research Methods examination paper while in my third year undergraduate and was able to solve all the questions, and (3) , I was praised by my first semester Russian lecturer for being very original and for that matter asked me to read my assignment in class. It was about character in the “Bronze Horseman” whose personality changed after a flood or so (I wrote this from memory). I decided to discuss the character before and after the flood while all my class mates provided a summary of the prose.  That also reinforced my belief of being original in thought. And fourth, I knew a bit about goal-setting so always set for myself “Operation all As” but succeeded on two occasions where I obtained As in subjects I took for the semester.

I did my national service as teaching assistant at the Department of Psychology of the University of Ghana after completing my Bachelor’s education with a CGPA of 3.86 of 4 in Psychology with Political Science. Something to note is that I studied Linguistics, Russian Civilization, Political Science, and Psychology but eventually majored in Psychology with Political Science as a minor. I was not permitted to study mathematics nor economics because I did not officially study Advanced Mathematics at the secondary school; as a general arts student, my elective subjects were Geography, Economics, Ghanaian Language, and French. I had to stop studying French because our teacher left the school. Nothing eventful happened except that I continued with my master’s degree at the same department in industrial and organizational psychology. Well, I think that is not quite correct. I set up a consulting firm I called “RESTAT” coined from Research and Statistics during my national service days.

It was during master’s programme that eventful things happened. I was sometimes asked by the Advanced Data Analysis and Statistics lecturer, late Prof. Joseph Yaw Opoku, to teach his class in his absence. Indeed, he awarded me the best students in his subject with a can of chocolate at the end of the semester. I enjoyed Prof. Charity Sylvia Akotia’s class where students researched and presented in class the topics assigned. Two other lecturers wowed me, namely: (1) Dr Robert Akuamoah-Boateng who made us read only research articles from the “International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology” and (2) Prof. Bill B. Pulpulampu who wowed me not only by his knowledge in organization theory and organizational behaviour but also by his confidence. And the major boost was when I was awarded a scholarship to study year abroad as an International Visiting Research Scholar at North Carolina State University (NC State), Raleigh, NC. It changed my life and the experiences there shaped by view about theorizing and knowledge production. While there, I had to supervise myself to write most chapters of my master’s thesis because the supervisor assigned to me was no useful. At NC State, I loved the classes organized by Prof. Mark Wilson and Prof. Samuel Pond II because they were all of the conference or discussion style. I had to also join PhD class though I was a master’s student because at NC State there was no master’s degree at the Psychology Department at the time for Industrial and Organizational Psychology; one earned the master’s en route.  My first attempt at publication was I wrote a number of articles for Ghanaweb.com.  They were not scholarly but two of them on corruption earned me the right to review a manuscript on corruption submitted to “International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation” (a journal of the American Psychological Association), though I had no PhD.

I taught psychology at the Department of Psychology at Regent University College of Science and Technology after the master’s degree. It was during this period that my initiation into scholarly publication began. I had two lovely colleagues who were at the time both master’s degree holders, Dr. Paul Doku and Dr. Kwaku Oppong Asante. They were publishing! My first scholarly contributions were to VDM Publishing based in Germany but my real scholarly contribution began with the publication “Psychology in Ghana” with Dr. Kwaku Oppong Asante, then a doctoral student in South Africa. Ever since, the burning desire continues to burn in me for original thought.

For my PhD research work, I have developed a new set of road signs for testing based on the worldview of Ghanaian commercial vehicle drivers. Overall, the participants in the study performed better on the newly developed signs relative to the existing equivalents in terms of their comprehension. I am a Certified Human Resource Management Professional (American Certification Institute). I have facilitated management development workshops on management, organization development and human resource management for participants from 16 countries both in Accra and Dubai; the participants are from countries such as Ghana, Eritrea, The Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, Lesotho, Rwanda, Sudan, Niger, and Afghanistan. I have worked with Bank of Africa Ghana Limited as Unit Head for Training and Performance Management, BJ Global Limited as a career consultant, Capital Group Limited in Recruitment and Training roles, Gamey and Gamey in research role, and Regent University College as a lecturer as well. I have also had a number of appearances on GTV Breakfast Show, TV3 Network (interviewed as an expert in a documentary on managing post-election shock that was aired for some days before the 2016 general elections), as well as on the Takoradi-based Sky Fm discussing some national issues including labour unrest issues, industrial accidents, entrepreneurship and leadership. 

My key concepts and ideas are as follows:

  • An African theory of intelligence (Towards a model of valued human cognitive abilities: An African perspective based on a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:538072. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.538072)
  • Psychological Theoretics as a new subfield of psychology (see Oppong, S. (2022). On mainstreaming philosophy of science in psychology through “psychological theoretics”. Annals of Psychology/Roczniki Psychologiczne, XXV. First Online. https://doi.org/10.18290/rpsych2022.0002)
  • Risk Chain Process Model (see Oppong, S. (2015). Risk Chain Process Model: Linking Risk Perception to Occupational Accidents. SIGURNOST (SAFETY), 57 (1), 25-34.).
  • Sekyi Puzzle of Modernity (see Oppong, S. (2016). The Journey towards Africanising Psychology in Ghana. Psychological Thought, 9(1), 1-14. doi:10.5964/psyct.v9i1.128)
  • The idea that psychology in Ghana can be traced to before AD 989 and to even Egyptian Philosophy (see Oppong, S. (2017). History of Psychology in Ghana since 989AD. Psychological Thought,10(1), 7 – 48. doi:10.5964/psyct.v10i1.195 )
  • The idea that Prof. Anton W. Amo, an 18th Ghanaian philosopher who taught in Germany should be canonized in both philosophy and psychology (see Oppong, S. (2017). History of Psychology in Ghana since 989AD. Psychological Thought, 10(1), 7 – 48. doi:10.5964/psyct.v10i1.195 )
  • The idea of critical African historiography (see Oppong, S. (2017). History of Psychology in Ghana since 989AD. Psychological Thought, 10(1), 7 – 48. doi:10.5964/psyct.v10i1.195 )
  • Integrated Model of Human Actions and Conditions (see Oppong, S. (2014). Between Bandura and Giddens: Structuration Theory in Social Psychological Research? Psychological Thought, 7(2), 111-123.   doi:10.5964/psyct.v7i2.104)
  • AIU model of explanation in Upper Echelons Theory (see Oppong, S. (2014). Upper Echelons Theory Revisited: The Need for a Change from Causal Description to Casual Explanation. Management, 19 (2), 169-183.)
  • The idea of Stereotype Boost as opposed to Stereotype Threat and Vicious cycle linking stereotype to developmental capacity (see Oppong, S. (2015). Racial Stereotyping of the Homo Sapiens Africanus: A Review of its Myth and Impact on Developmental Capacity. Africanus: Journal of Development Studies, 45(2), 49-71.)
  • Intellectualization of Pull-Him Down Syndrome and Development-Psychology Trap presented in Conceptual links among the Pull-Him/Her-Down (PHD) syndrome, poverty, locus of control, learned helplessness, inertia, and intervention implementation (see Oppong, S. (2014). Psychology, Economic Policy Design, and Implementation: Contributing to the Understanding of Economic Policy Failures in Africa. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2 (1), 183-196. doi:10.5964/jspp.v2i1.306)
  • Representative Voice Approach developed in my master’s thesis as an approach to collecting group-level data from an individual
  • Employee Resourcing Mix
  • Fruit-Picking Analogy of Staffing/Employee Resourcing

PUBLICATIONS

Public Policy Documents/Technical or Project Reports

      1. Oppong, S. & Strader, S. (2022). Interventions that matter start with local cultures: Issues and strategies in early childhood care and education interventions in Africa. An ECCE Project Supported by Spencer Foundation/Boston College. https://www.academia.edu/75190579/Interventions_that_Matter_Start_with_Local_Cultures_Issues_and_Strategies_in_Early_Childhood_Care_and_Education_Interventions_in_Africa The Core Working Group consisted of the following scholars: Seth Oppong, Associate Professor, University of Botswana (Project lead); Heidi Keller, Professor Emerita, Osnabrück University, Germany; Godfrey Ejuu, Associate Professor Kyambogo University, Uganda; Robert Serpell, Professor Emeritus, University of Zambia; Zewelanji Serpell, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA; Paul Oburu, Associate Professor, Maseno University, Kenya; Tom Weisner, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles, USA; and Sarah Strader, Executive Director, Two Rabbits, USA (Project co-lead).
      2. Oppong, S. (2017). On the matter of compulsory towing service fee: Evidence for policy planning. Policy Brief.  https://www.academia.edu/33697468/On_the_matter_of_compulsory_towing_service_fee_Evidence_for_policy_planning. This policy brief was a key tool in the national debate in June/July of 2017 in Ghana about a policy on compulsory towing levy. This brief influenced the Government of Ghana to rescind its decision to implement the national compulsory towing levy in the country. This was my first attempt at influencing national policy of any significance.

Book Chapters

  1. Oppong, S., Oppong Asante, K., & Anum, A. (2022, in press). Psychological assessment in West Africa. In S. Laher (Ed.), International Histories of Psychological Assessment. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Pheko, M., Oppong, S., & Mfolwe, L. (2021). Substance use in organizations: Antecedents and interventions. In M. M. Mutepfa (Ed.), Substance Use and Misuse in sub-Saharan Africa: Trends, Intervention, and Policy (pp.113 – 128). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85732-5_8
  3. Oppong, S., Brune, K.R., & Mpofu, E. (2020). Indigenous Community Health. In E. Mpofu (Ed.), Sustainable Community Health: Systems and Practices in Diverse Settings (pp. 579-610). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59687-3_17
  4. Oppong, S. (2016). Corporate social responsibility in the Ghanaian context. In S. O. Idowu (Ed.), Key initiatives in corporate social responsibility: Global dimension of CSR in corporate entities (pp. 419 – 442). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21641-6_20 (indexed in Web of Science)
  5. Oppong, S., Oppong Asante, K., & Kumaku, S. K. (2014). History, development and current status of psychology in Ghana. In C. S. Akotia & C.C. Mate-Kole (Eds). Contemporary psychology: Readings from Ghana (pp. 1 – 17). Digibooks Ghana Ltd.

Articles in Refereed Journals (Indexed across Scopus, IBSS and Web of Science)

  1. Oppong, S. (In press). The significance of the ‘Significant Others’ in an African child’s life. Current Anthropology.
  2. Oppong, S. (2023, in press). Risk perception and its correlates in the road transport industry: Implications for practice and research. Sigurnost.
  3. Oppong, S. (2022, in press). Indigenous psychology in Africa: Centrality of culture, misunderstandings, and global positioning. Theory & Psychology.
  4. Oppong, S. (2022, in press). Industrial and organizational psychology in Ghana: Recent developments in the training and practice. Agathos: An International Review of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
  5. Oppong, S. (2022, in press). On the issue of cultural influence on risk perception: An empirical counterargument to Sjöberg’s conclusion. Sigurnost.
  6. Oppong, S. (2022). On mainstreaming philosophy of science in psychology through “psychological theoretics”. Annals of Psychology/Roczniki Psychologiczne, XXV. First Online. https://doi.org/10.18290/rpsych2022.0002
  7. Oppong, S. (2022). Locus of control and the misreading of culture of poverty: An appraisal of Lawrence M. Mead’s ideas in ‘Culture and Poverty’. Academicus, 13 (25), 226 – 234. https://dx.medra.org/10.7336/academicus.2022.25.14 (Prof. Lawrence M. Mead of New York University has sent me a copy of his 2019 book titled “Burdens of Freedom” after reading this article and debated with him via email).
  8. Scheidecker, G., Oppong, S., Chaudhary, N., & Keller, H. (2021). How overstated scientific claims undermine ethical principles in parenting interventions. BMJ Global Health, 6 (9). http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007323
  9. Oppong, S. (2021). From risk perception to accident: An empirical test of the risk chain process model. Sigurnost, 63 (2), 125-142. https://doi.org/10.31306/s.63.2.1
  10. Oppong, S. (2021). On Simpson’s paradox: To remain or not to remain a population-based science. Theory & Psychology, 31(3), 460-464. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543211011525
  11. Osei-Tutu, A., Cowden, R., Kwakye-Nuako, C. O., Gadze, J., Oppong, S., & Worthington, Jr., E. L. (2021). Self-forgiveness among incarcerated individuals in Ghana: relations with shame- and guilt-proneness. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 65(5), 558–570. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20914496
  12. Oppong, S. (2021). Development and testing of culturally adapted road hazard communication designs. International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics, 27(1), 290–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2019.1573942 
  13. Oppong, S. (2020). Raising a new generation in a postcolonial era through decolonised early childhood development and care services. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 1 – 16. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949120970238
  14. Oppong, S. (2020). Towards a model of valued human cognitive abilities: An African perspective based on a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:538072. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.538072
  15. Oppong, S. (2020). When something dehumanizes, it is violent but when it elevates, it is not violent. Theory & Psychology, 30(3), 468–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354320920942
  16. Oppong, S. (2019). Overcoming obstacles to a truly global psychological theory, research and praxis in Africa. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 29 (4), 292–300, https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2019.1647497  (Festschrift in honour of late Professor Augustine Bame Nsamenang for his contributions to African Psychology).
  17. Oppong, S. (2019). When the ethical is unethical and the unethical is ethical: Cultural Relativism in Ethical Decision-Making. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 50(1), 18–28. https://doi.org/10.24425/ppb.2019.126014
  18. Oppong, S. (2018). Examining attitudes and the law on homosexuality in non-Western Societies: The example of Ghana in West Africa. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 49(4), 416–423. https://doi.org/10.24425/119510
  19. Oppong, S. (2017). History of psychology in Ghana since 989AD. Psychological Thought, 10 (1), 7–48. https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v10i1.195
  20. Oppong, S. (2016). The Journey towards Africanizing psychology in Ghana. Psychological Thought, 9(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v9i1.128 
  21. Oppong, S. (2015). Risk chain process model: Linking risk perception to occupational accidents. Sigurnost, 57 (1), 25 – 34. https://hrcak.srce.hr/137603.
  22. Oppong, S., & Sachs, P. R. (2015). Managing graduate unemployment in emerging economies: Critical analysis of the skills mismatch and oversupply theses. Business Excellence, 9 (1), 125 – 137. https://hrcak.srce.hr/139871.
  23. Oppong, S., Dickson, E., & Asumeng, M. (2015). Implementation of the single spine pay policy in the public sector of Ghana: Analysis and recommendations from organisational development perspective. Business Excellence, 9 (2), 83 – 99. https://hrcak.srce.hr/150943
  24. Oppong, S. (2014). Upper echelons theory revisited: The need for a change from causal description to casual explanation. Management, 19 (2), 169 – 183. https://hrcak.srce.hr/133229.
  25. Oppong, S. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and corporate performance: A study of the top 100 performing firms in Ghana. Journal of Contemporary Research in Management, 9 (2), 23 – 33.
  26. Oppong, S. (2014). Common health, safety and environmental concerns in upstream oil and gas sector: Implications for HSE Management in Ghana. Academicus, 5 (9), 92 – 105. https://doi.org/10.7336/academicus.2014.09.07. 
  27. Oppong, S. (2014). Psychology, economic policy design, and implementation: Contributing to the understanding of economic policy failures in Africa.  Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2 (1), 183 – 196. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v2i1.306
  28. Oppong, S. (2014). Between Bandura and Giddens: Structuration theory in social psychological research? Psychological Thought, 7(2), 111 – 123.   https://doi.org/10.5964/psyct.v7i2.104. 
  29. Oppong, S. (2014). A critique of the philosophical underpinnings of mainstream social science research. Academicus, 5 (10), 242 – 254. https://doi.org/10.7336/academicus.2014.10.17.
  30. Oppong Asante, K. & Oppong, S. (2012). Psychology in Ghana. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 22(3), 473 – 478. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2012.1082055.

Other Journal Articles (Not indexed in Scopus, IBSS and Web of Science)

  1. Oppong, S. (2017). Contextualizing psychological testing in Ghana. Psychologie a její kontexty/Psychology & its Contexts, 8 (1), 3 – 17.
  2. Oppong, S. (2015). Psychology in the service of public policy and development planning: The case of Ghana. Africanus, 45 (1), 42 – 61. https://doi.org/10.25159/0304-615X/254
  3. Oppong, S., Arora, R., Sachs, P. R., & Seidu, M. T. (2016). Appraisal of corporate governance in a lower middle-income country: The case of Ghana. Accounting, 2 (1), 37 – 44. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ac.2015.12.005
  4. Oppong, S. (2015). Racial stereotyping of the Homo Sapiens Africanus: A review of its myth and impact on developmental capacity. Africanus, 45(2), 49 – 71. https://doi.org/10.25159/0304-615X/619
  5. Oppong, S. (2015). A critique of early childhood development research and practice in Africa. Africanus, 45 (1), 23 – 41. https://doi.org/10.25159/0304-615X/252. This article launched me into the indigenous child development research domain and cemented my place in African child development research and practice from an indigenous/cultural psychological perspective.
  6. Oppong, S. (2013). Indigenizing knowledge for development: Epistemological and pedagogical approaches. Africanus, 4 (2), 34 – 50.  https://doi.org/10.25159/0304-615X/2300

Papers published in refereed conference proceedings

  1. Vandyck, E., Fianu, D., Papoe, M., & Oppong, S. (2015). Safety management systems, ergonomic features and accident causation among garment workers. The Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Applied Ergonomics in Developing Countries (pp. 109 – 114), October 26 – 27, 2015, Hotel El-Riadh, Algiers, Algeria.

Peer-reviewed Research Methods Case Studies

  1. Thutoemang, T., & Oppong, S. (2021). Utilizing cross-sectional study design, multi-site sampling, and multiple data collection platforms to investigate the influence of paternal involvement on female reproductive strategies. Sage Research Methods Cases. London: Sage Publications Ltd. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529761429
  2. Oppong, S. (2018). Investigating comprehension of road hazard communication designs and safety climate as correlates of risk perception and road traffic accident using mixed methods design. Sage Research Methods Cases. Sage Publications Ltd. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526439079

Articles Published in Professional Journals/Newsletters (editorial review)

  1. Darkwah, E., Oppong, S., Dickson, E. D., & Banibensu, A. A. (2021, April 27). Seeking creative psychological solutions to addressing witchcraft accusations: Inspiring hope in ‘witch camps’ in Ghana. Global Insights Newsletter of American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/international/global-insights/witchcraft-accusations-ghana
  2. Oppong, S. (2019, May). Doing ‘History of Psychology’ in Ghana: A long, frustrating, lonely journey without directional signs but rewarding. HAP: Newsletter of History of Applied Psychology, 10, 4 – 8.  (Newsletter of Division 18 of International Association of Applied Psychology).
  3. Oppong, S. (2013). Industrial and organizational psychology in Ghana. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 50 (3), 79 – 83. Cited in an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) book, “Behavioural Insights and Organisations: Fostering Safety Culture”.

Tools Developed

  1. Oppong, S. (2019). Characterological interpersonal coping styles diagnostics (CICS-D). William V. S. Tubman University, Liberia. https://www.academia.edu/38857571/Characterological_Interpersonal_Coping_Styles_Diagnostics_CICS_D_

Ongoing Research 

Edited Book(s)

        • Oppong, S., Badu, C. A., Dickson, E. D., & Dzirwonu, E. (Eds.). (In preparation). Handbook of Psychosocial Dimensions of Crisis and Disaster Management. Sub-Saharan Publishers.

Book Chapter

  1. Oppong, S. (Under Review). An indigenous representation of personhood for citizenship behaviours. In J. Osafo & C. S. Akotia (Eds.), Representations of personhood from two Ghanaian ethnic oral traditions: Implications for research and policy. Sub-Saharan Publishers. (A psychology textbook on personality from an African perspective)

Journal Articles

  1. Moodley, J. K. & Oppong, S. (In preparation). Vaccines and Conspiracy Theories: Reflecting on Medical Racism and Medical Mistrust in South Africa.
  2. Oppong, S., Mate-Kole, C. C., Nyarko, K., & Asumeng, M. (Under Review). Analysis of road traffic accidents and implications for road safety: Evidence from public transportation system in a non-Western Setting.  Ghana Social Science Journal.
  3. Oppong, S., & Lartey, J. (Under Review). Towards a Psychology of Corporate Governance: Theoretical Insights on Non-Executive Director and CEO Performance.  Business Perspective and Research.
  4. Oppong, S. (In preparation). Democratising the power to name in psychology. Annual Review of Critical Psychology, under the theme “(Critical) Psychology as politics by other means – or: human action/agency is always political” (participation is by invitation only). 
  5. Dziwornu, E., & Oppong, S. (In preparation). The COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: The opportunities for the growth of psychology.
  6. Thutoemang, T., & Oppong, S. (In preparation). Fathers’ parental involvement and accessibility as predictors of daughters’ age of menarche: Testing Life History Theory in a non-WEIRD context.