Browsing by Author "Njenge, Yandisa Lusapho"

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    Influence of external funders on social enterprise business models: a causation-effectuation exploratory study
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Njenge, Yandisa Lusapho; Myres, Kerrin; Terri Carmichael
    Social entrepreneurship research is a growing research field, growth that can also be seen in the practice of social entrepreneurship. Dominant literature in the field focuses on the definition of social entrepreneurship and the traits of the social entrepreneur and does not look deeply at social entrepreneurship practices and interactions with other institutions. To address these shortcomings in research, this study systematically analyses the dominant definitions of social entrepreneurship and proposes an all-encompassing definition. The study also focuses on the interaction between social enterprises and external funders, exploring how social enterprises implement business models and the influence that external funders have on the business model implementation. A qualitative study was used to answer the research questions by exploring the business model implementation in ten case studies. A total of 26 respondents were interviewed as founding social entrepreneurs, internal staff members or external funders. The study relied on theoretical propositions from the literature review to analyse the data inductively and this process resulted in within-case themes. Further analysis of the within-case themes resulted in five cross-case themes. What was of interest was how operating in a resource-constrained environment impacts business model implementation. The ten case studies interviewed displayed structured or causal mechanisms in implementing their business models, which differs from the view that social entrepreneurs are effectual in behaviour. A theoretical framework with five propositions is put forward by this study. The theoretical framework propositions are: Social enterprises operate in resource-constrained environments and rely on external funding from inception. Social enterprises in resource-constrained environments approach external funders that do not expect a financial return. Social enterprises in resource-constrained environments implement business model dimensions that will lead to the achievement of the social mission. Externally funded social enterprises implement their business models in a causal manner. External funders not expecting financial returns apply limited influence on the business models of the social enterprises they fund. In accordance with the findings of this study, some suggestions for future research are put forward.
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    Information technology governance implementation in a South African public sector agency: institutional influences and outcomes
    (2015) Njenge, Yandisa Lusapho
    Information technology (IT) governance, which embodies how organisations arrange and manage their IT assets, continues to be of interest to those involved in the research and practice of information systems (IS). Most of the interest is because of the positive relationship between IT governance and organisational performance. Organisations are increasing their IT expenditure, which results in increased expectations by stakeholders. Public sector organisations have also gradually recognised the importance of IT governance to successful implementation of mandates, but the research conducted globally to understand how IT governance is actually implemented in the public sector has been limited. A case study of ENTDEV (a public sector agency) was used to explore how IT governance implementation takes in a public sector organisation. The case study sought to understand how institutional influences (e.g. regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive) play a role in IT governance adoption and the selection of IT governance mechanisms, how IT governance implementation actually takes place and what IT outcomes are achieved as a result of the implementation - using institutional theory, IT governance mechanisms framework, and the IT outcomes framework, as lenses. The case study identified regulatory influences as playing a role in IT governance adoption, and also uncovered the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as important. Normative and culture cognitive influences were seen as not playing a role at the IT governance adoption stage. Regulatory and normative influences and the CIO have an influence in the implementation of IT governance mechanisms. The skills and capacity of people involved in implementing IT governance mechanisms, together with the positioning and organisation’s perception of IT are some of the issues that impact on IT governance implementation. The study recognised cost effective use of IT and improved compliance as the immediate IT outcomes as a result of IT governance implementation. Strategy enablement outcomes are recognised over time. Informed by the empirical evidence and literature, a framework for IT governance implementation in public sector organisations is conceptualised as a contribution to theory. It is envisaged that the framework may be used by public sector institutions to improve their understanding of IT governance and subsequently improve how they implement IT governance.