Even though community-based organizations programs have been introduced in order to empower women economically in Montserrado County, there are still worries as far as the role of regulation in the management of the said programs is concerned. This study focuses on the role of regulatory authorities in empowerment of women. Descriptive-correlational mixed-method approach was used. The population of interest was made up of 42,990 beneficiary women from CBO projects. A total of 384 sample size was established through the use of Kothari formula and out of which 310 responses were collected giving a total of 80.7% response rate. A total of 12 key informant interviews were conducted purposively from both government and CBO organizations. Findings reveal that local regulatory governance was fairly effective (Mean = 2.37 - 2.52; SD = 1.29 - 1.34) and was positively associated with the economic empowerment of women. Among the different factors of regulatory governance, accountability (r = 0.55; β = 0.28) and compliance enforcement (r = 0.49; β = 0.25) were found to have the strongest positive association with access to finances and income of women. The qualitative analysis has shown that the effective regulatory governance helped in program accountability, access to financial aid and training, and economic empowerment of women. The study finds that regulatory governance is positively related to the economic empowerment of women.
Cite this paper
Jr., T. T. J. (2026). Role of Regulatory Authorities in Women’s Economic Empowerment through Community-Based Organization Programs in Montserrado County, Liberia. Open Access Library Journal, 13, e15633. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1115633.
Amalia, A.M., Rahmawati, F. and Putri, I.N.D. (2023) The Influence of Women’s Development and Empowerment on Inclusive Economic Growth. <i>Journal</i> <i>of</i> <i>Applied</i> <i>Business</i>, <i>Taxation</i> <i>and</i> <i>Economics</i> <i>Research</i>, 2, 546-559. <br>https://doi.org/10.54408/jabter.v2i5.198
Mukhopadhyay, U. (2023) Disparities in Female Labour Force Participation in South Asia and Latin America: A Review. <i>Review of Economics</i>, 74, 265-288. <br>https://doi.org/10.1515/roe-2022-0061
Shin, K.M., Lee, Y. and Oh, J. (2022) Women’s Empowerment Matters: Evidence from the Health and Education Sectors in Developing Worlds. <i>Journal of Global South Studies</i>, 39, 160-182. <br>https://doi.org/10.1353/gss.2022.0007
Gupta, I. and Roy, A. (2023) What Really Empowers Women? Taking Another Look at Economic Empowerment. <i>Journal of Social and Economic Development</i>, 25, 17-31. <br>https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-022-00215-y
Chhabra, M., Dana, L.P., Ramadani, V. and Jain, P. (2024) Emerging Institutional Paradigms and Capacity Building of Entrepreneurs: An Analysis of Women-Owned Business Enterprises in Contemporary India. In: Dana, L.P. and Chhabra, M., <i>Women Entrepreneurship Policy</i>: <i>Context</i>,<i> Theory</i>, <i>and Practice</i>, Springer, 2-30. <br>https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3607-2_1
Umar, H.M., Seraj, M. and Ozdeser, H. (2025) Female Labour Participation in Sub-Saharan African: The Role of Institutional Quality. <i>Journal of the Knowledge Economy</i>, 16, 18583-18611. <br>https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-025-02633-9
Gautam, A. (2020) Role of Coordination in Effective Public Service Delivery System. <i>Journal of Public Administration and Governance</i>, 10, 158-171. <br>https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v10i3.17205
Nosheen, M., Amen, U. and Malik, M. (2024) Enhancing Public Goods Delivery in Developing Countries: Governance, Decentralization, and Social Protection. <i>Policy Journal of Social Science Review</i>, 2, 863-875.
Ramanadhan, S., Aronstein, D., Martinez-Dominguez, V., Xuan, Z. and Viswanath, K. (2020) Designing Capacity-Building Supports to Promote Evidence-Based Programs in Community-Based Organizations Working with Underserved Populations. <i>Progress</i> <i>in</i> <i>Community</i> <i>Health</i> <i>Partnerships</i>: <i>Research</i>, <i>Education</i>, <i>and</i> <i>Action</i>, 14, 149-160. <br>https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2020.0027
Rappaport, J. (1984) Studies in Empowerment: Introduction to the Issue. <i>Prevention in Human Services</i>, 3, 1-7. <br>https://doi.org/10.1300/j293v03n02_02
Zimmerman, M.A. (2000) Empowerment Theory: Psychological, Organizational, and Community Levels of Analysis. In: Rappaport, J. and Seidman, E., <i>Handbook of Community Psychology</i>, Springer, 43-63. <br>https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4193-6_2
Meyer, J.W. and Rowan, B. (1977) Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. <i>American Journal of Sociology</i>, 83, 340-363. <br>https://doi.org/10.1086/226550
DiMaggio, P.J. and Powell, W.W. (1983) The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. <i>American Sociological Review</i>, 48, 147-160. <br>https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101
Kauppi, K. (2022) Institutional Theory. In: Tate, W.L., Ellram, L.M. and Bals, L., <i>Handbook of Theories for Purchasing</i>, <i>Supply Chain and Management Research</i>, Edward Elgar Publishing, 320-334.
Butkeviciene, J. and Sekliuckiene, J. (2022) Exploring the Institutional Pressures That Affect International New Ventures. <i>Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review</i>, 10, 97-112. <br>https://doi.org/10.15678/eber.2022.100107
Bremner, J., Vial, F., Fooks, A., Higman, W., Avant, J. and Stentiford, G. (2023) Operationalizing “One Health” for Food Systems. <i>One Earth</i>, 6, 1618-1622. <br>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.10.010
Bose, S. and Khan, H.Z. (2022) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Reporting and the Role of Country-Level Institutional Factors: An International Evidence. <i>Journal of Cleaner Production</i>, 335, Article 130290. <br>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.130290
Prodip, M.A. (2022) Cultural Obstacles to Women’s Political Empowerment in India and Bangladesh: A Comparative Perspective. <i>Asian Journal of Comparative Politics</i>, 7, 449-465. <br>https://doi.org/10.1177/2057891121990742
Mamokhere, J. (2023) Understanding the Complex Interplay of Governance, Systematic, and Structural Factors Affecting Service Delivery in South African Municipalities. <i>Commonwealth Youth and Development</i>, 20, 28. <br>https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/12230
Links, R. and Draai, E. (2023) Institutional Capacity for Improved Local Government Performance. <i>Journal of Public Administration</i>, 58, 1078-1091. <br>https://doi.org/10.53973/jopa.2023.58.4.a13
Ochieng, C.A., Muchoki, F. and Moindi, K. (2022) The Effects of Legal and Institutional Framework on the Participation of Women in Political Leadership in Nyanza Region (2010–2017). <i>African Journal of Emerging Issues</i>, 4, 64-77.
Bailey, U.G., Nwogwugwu, N. and Nwaodike, C.A. (2026) Strengthening Transparency and Accountability through E-Procurement: Empirical Evidence from Government Agencies in Liberia. <i>African</i> <i>Journal</i> <i>of</i> <i>Stability</i> <i>and</i> <i>Development</i> (<i>AJSD</i>), 18, 370-391. <br>https://doi.org/10.53982/ajsd.2026.1801.18-j
Ajileye, B. and Anyanwu, S.O. (2024) Does Institutional Quality Drive Economic Growth in the West African Monetary Zone? <i>Applied Journal of Economics</i>,<i> Management and Social Sciences</i>, 5, 44-53.
Creswell, J.W. and Plano Clark, V.L. (2023) Revisiting Mixed Methods Research Designs Twenty Years Later. In: Poth, C.N., <i>The</i><i> Sage Handbook of Mixed Methods Research Design</i>, Sage Publications Ltd, 21-36.
Fetters, M.D. and Molina-Azorin, J.F. (2021) Guidance on Using Mixed Methods from Diverse International Organizations in the Behavioral, Social, Fundamental, and Health Sciences. <i>Journal</i> <i>of</i> <i>Mixed</i> <i>Methods</i> <i>Research</i>, 15, 470-484. <br>https://doi.org/10.1177/15586898211049629
Forero, C.G. (2023) Cronbach’s Alpha. In: Maggino, F., <i>Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well</i>-<i>Being Research</i>, Springer, 1505-1507. <br>https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17299-1_622
Osemeke, R.F., Igabari, J.N. and Christian, N. (2024) Model Violation and Multicollinearity: A Preliminary Study. <i>Journal of Mathematical Sciences & Computational Mathematics</i>, 5, 233-250.
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2023) Toward Good Practice in Thematic Analysis: Avoiding Common Problems and Becoming a Knowing Researcher. 24, 1-6. <br>https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2022.2129597