An innovative approach to the regulation of equipment authorisation in developing countries: a grounded theory study of South Africa
Date
2017
Authors
Ruplal, Praneel Haricharan
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Abstract
The current theoretical approach to equipment authorisation (EA) regulation has proven
problematic to resource-poor countries. EA is the technical and administrative process that all
electronic communications equipment are subject to before sale and use. EA involves checking
the technical characteristics of equipment, by dedicated test facilities, to national or international
standards which are enforced by the regulatory authority. Initial research in the South African EA
environment has revealed several real-world trends that show that the current approach to EA
regulation has limitations when faced with a changing electronic communications (EC) landscape.
The general theories of public interest and the economic theory of regulation only broadly form
the theoretical basis for EA regulation. The narrow focus of the thesis in developing an innovative
approach to EA regulation, in the context of a developing country, required seeing beyond the
existing theory surveyed in the literature. Using a Straussian approach to grounded theory, the
epistemology of the EA environment is studied inductively via a post-modernistic interpretative
framework. The research finds that the EA framework, applicable to efficiency driven and
transitional countries with a relatively rich EA testing infrastructure, is predicated on a calculated
concept of trust. The regulatory authority employs a tacit computational mechanism to
determine the level of trust when dealing with EA applications. The rationale for such an
approach is largely driven by sub-optimal decision heuristics available to the regulator, as a result
of an inability to corroborate technical data associated with the EA process. The regulator thus
applies a differential trust paradigm based on determining factors such as salience.
A future knowledge-based approach to EA regulation is theorised, in which technology
innovation assimilated from other EA environments, is applied to the EA process to improve
ii
institutional efficiency. The goal of applying technology and innovation to the EA process is
ultimately centred around increasing the trust value proposition.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Digital Knowledge Economy Studies
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Citation
Ruplal, Praneel Haricharan (2018) An innovative approach to the regulation of equipment authorisation in developing countries : a grounded theory study of South Africa, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26278