WIReDSpace
Welcome to WIReDSpace(Wits Institutional Repository on DSpace)
For queries relating to content and technical issues, please contact IR specialists via this email address : openscholarship.library@wits.ac.za, Tel: 011 717 4652 or 011 717 1954
Communities in WIReDSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
- This community is for all faculties and schools' theses and dissertations by masters and doctoral students.
Recent Submissions
Effectiveness of Xenowatch’s monitoring of xenophobic violence in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Charuma, Tinevimbo; Pophiwa, Nedson
With increasing occurrence of xenophobic violence incidents in South Africa it becomes imperative to come up with solutions that are more effective. Key to reducing and preventing the incidents is monitoring of xenophobic violence for better evidence-informed anti-xenophobic policy interventions. In South Africa at present there is no state institution that focuses on tracking and tracing the patterns and trends of xenophobic violence attacks which means that decisions to act or ignore are not based on any factual information. A growing point of literature suggests that societal issues do not have optimal solutions, hence they need to be data driven to effectively deal with problem communities are facing. However, in Africa and in South Africa data driven and evidence- based decision making is limited in both public and private sectors. This study aimed at exploring how monitoring of xenophobic violence is used for policy making and advocacy work. A case study approach was used which focused on the monitoring of xenophobic violence by Xenowatch an independent institution. Within the case study key informant interviews were conducted with ten participants which comprised of three from Xenowatch staff and the remaining from Xenowatch partner organizations who are also users of the data. All the participants were purposively selected due to their experience and expertise with migration issues which are greatly connected to xenophobic violence and also working for and working with Xenowatch. There is limited evidence of use of the Xenowatch monitoring data by government or state institutions. The data showed its strength in advocacy as the findings revealed several uses by civil society organizations which include lobbying, influencing policy change, used in court cases among others. The study also showed the challenges in both gathering and using monitoring data such as underreporting, definition of xenophobic violence for the former, and capacity (knowledge and resources which affects both civil society and government) for the latter. From the interviews different suggestions were given by both respondents from Xenowatch staff and their stakeholders on how to improve the use of monitoring results for advocacy and policy making
Exploring the digital maturity of a global engineering firm in the South African mining industry
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Chaila, Benedict; Ochara, Muganda
The mining sector has long been perceived as a conservative innovation industry which is labor-intensive, However, this notion is rapidly changing, based on the sector`s level of innovation and digital disruption. Studies show that digital technologies increase a firm`s profits by 20%to 45%. Given this digital shift, most companies i the mining sector are investing heavily in digital transformation to drive growth and increase efficiencies.
The behavioural intention to adopt Digital Financial Services in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Bodlani, Olwethu Vuyo Nkosi; Gatara, Maradona
South Africa has made significant progress towards expanding financial services by using digital technologies, with 81% of the population above sixteen years of age having formal bank accounts. Despite this significant increase, it still remains a cash-dependent country. The owners of these bank accounts use them as
mailboxes, with 40% found dormant for low-income households. This phenomenon indicates that the adoption of the Digital Financial Services (DFS)
tools (bank cards) is low. Social grant recipients are found to follow this trend, with 58% using their accounts as mailboxes, while 2% are considered dormant. This study set forth to examine a set of factors (enablers and inhibitors) that were likely to predict DFS tool adoption intention behaviour, using the Unified Theory of Use and Acceptance of Technology (UTAUT), Technology Readiness Index, and the Resistance Theory of Innovation to underpin a conceptual model
comprising seven “facilitators” and three “barriers” as identified potential determinants.
Quantitative analysis methods were used to test the conceptual model by surveying social grant recipients (n = 215) from the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Findings showed that five enabling factors, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived value, price benefit, and trust, were significant predictors of behavioural intention to adopt DFS. Contrary to observations from the existing literature on DFS adoption, all three inhibiting factors, namely perceived cost, unavailability of facilitating conditions and perceived risk, were not found to be
significant predictors of behavioural intention to adopt DFS.
The study found that among study participants, facilitating factors significantly influenced behavioural intention to adopt DFS barring facilitating conditions and network externalities. The barriers were all found not to have any significant effect on the behavioural intention to adopt DFS. These findings aligned with existing literature on DFS and “fintech” adoption in emerging economies. The study also highlighted the importance of trust and communication between service providers and consumers to drive DFS adoption in South Africa
Barriers to the effective implementation of the performance management system in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Bham-Azam, Najma; Chikane, Rekgotsofetse
The goal of this research paper was to pinpoint the barriers preventing the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality from successfully implementing the performance management system.
The data acquired from the semi-structured interviews with 5 important performance management stakeholders from the City of Johannesburg underwent a themed content analysis. A deeper understanding of the challenges resulted from the themes and shared characteristics found among all responders. This led to the creation of a list of prioritised barriers that the performance management stakeholders considered were to blame for the City of Johannesburg's performance management system's ineffective implementation.
The research findings indicate that “inaccurate measures” is the barrier preventing the City from effectively implementing its performance management system. The second and third most significant barriers are "lack of executive and leadership support" and "lack of rewards. The findings on the Balanced-Scorecard tied to the problems that were uncovered under the “inaccurate measures” barriers.
The main takeaway from this research study is that line managers must actively participate in the implementation of the performance management system at the City of Johannesburg and increase their efforts to reduce the obstacles that prevent the successful implementation of the performance management system at the City of Johannesburg
The influence of organisational learning on the digital maturity of South African banks
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Benjamin, Angelique
Due to technological advances influencing the financial services business, South African banks are investing billions of rands in learning. As a result of the fourth industrial revolution, the current unstable knowledge environment is reconfiguring the banking industry as we know it. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact of organisational learning on the outcomes of digital maturity by investigating the relationship between internal and external knowledge acquisition tactics and digital maturity. Furthermore, the study analysed absorptive capacity's ability to moderate the influence of knowledge acquisition on digital maturity. According to the results of the study, South African banks are not yet reaping the benefits of their investment in knowledge acquisition because the new knowledge has not yet been incorporated at the organisational level. The study concluded that new knowledge that is not
incorporated and combined with existing knowledge cannot positively influence digital maturity, nor can it increase potential absorptive capacity skills or moderate new knowledge that is not entrenched