Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10539/37946

Browse

Browsing Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs) by SDG "SDG-17: Partnerships for the goals"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Mixed Methods Sequential Explanatory Study of the Determinants of the Insurance Purchase Decision-Making in Zambia
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020-03) Haamukwanza, Chimuka Leo; Masie, Desné
    Zambia has low insurance consumption and penetration. The particularities around the insurance purchase decision-making have not been researched. Financial decision-making has been a topic of interest as increased financial services uptake is one method of increasing financial inclusion. This thesis defines and compares the Insurance Purchase Decision-making (IPD) of the Workers in the Pensions and Insurance Industry (WPII) and the Urban Poor (UP) using a mixed methods sequential explanatory design. In the quantitative phase, data was collected using a questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS and IBM AMOS for Structural Equation Modelling. Significant differences emerged in the two populations regarding their IPD: the risk coping mechanisms, the extent of loss aversion, and education attained. The qualitative phase delved into detail on the areas that were not clear in the quantitative phase and used structured interviews to collect data. The thesis has confirmed that the decision-making of the two populations and their perceptions on insurance differ. The thematic analysis in the qualitative phase of the thesis highlight three major themes from both populations that insurance practice and management and the government need to undertake to enhance insurance consumption: financial literacy, service quality and regulation. This thesis has contributed to the literature on the IPD in Zambia; towards a detailed understanding of the IPD in Zambia through the integration of an interdisciplinary mixed methods approach; and highlights how the WPII and the UP make their IPD. The thesis highlights the potential consumers’ needs and inclination towards insurance and how insurance practice could take advantage of the consumers’ needs in undertaking market segmentation and penetration. The thesis optimises the insurance needs of the two populations: their expectations, their experiences, their understanding of and perceptions on insurance. The activities that insurance practice and management should do to enhance insurance consumption in Zambia have been highlighted.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Complexities of the professionalisation process and ethics of community development in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Ditlhake, Kefilwe Johanna; Pillay, Pundy
    This thesis examined the professionalisation process complexities and ethics of community development in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to examine the current move to professionalise the community development sector to explain professionalisation process complexities, the tensions, challenges, and the values of community development in South Africa. The quest for professionalisation calls for the standardisation of knowledge, certifications, the establishment of occupational membership associations, and a system of self-regulation for community development practitioners and community workers into a formalised profession and be committed to serving the public interest. The professionalisation process of the community development sector was explicitly acknowledged in the White Paper on Social Welfare in 1997. In October 2011, the national Department of Social Development (DSD) organised a three-day Inaugural Summit held at the Vulindlela Village in Coega, Eastern Cape, which paved the way for the professionalisation process, and consulted stakeholders within the community development sector to plan the professionalisation process in this field. This summit was the first step undertaken towards the professionalisation process. The national DSD was mandated to lead, oversee and coordinate the professionalisation of community development. The Steering Committee, the South African Council of Social Service Profession (SACSSP), and the Task Team to professionalise community development in the planning and implementation process. The study adopted multiple case study designs to explore and explain how the community development practitioners, social workers, and community development workers view the professionalisation process complexities and the values of community development. This case study research took place in Gauteng at the local, provincial, and national levels of government. The four cases underpinning the study include the practitioners from non-governmental organisations (NGO), community development workers (CDWs) from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the provincial and national Department of Social Development (DSD), and the higher education institutions (HEI). The case study analysis focused first on each case separately (within-case analysis), including the connection of each case to the phenomenon underpinning the study. Understanding each case (within-case analysis) was essential to understanding the case context. By adopting multiple case study research designs, contributions to existing research on community development and the professionalisation process are made. The research questions underpinning the phenomenon under study are answered by accumulating findings from all four cases (cross-case analysis findings). Interviews and secondary data analysis were used to collect data. The interviews are the primary data source, and documentary analysis was used to corroborate the findings of the interviews. Non-probability purposive sampling and theoretical sampling were employed in this study. The empirics consist of seventy-four interviews with community development workers, social workers, and community development practitioners. The data analysis process followed the constructivist grounded theory constant comparison iterative and coding process, including two cycles of initial and focused coding. The theoretical codes developed in the study represent the foundation of the theory developed. Given the plethora of research in this field of study, the constructivist grounded theory data analysis process was applicable in generating the nascent theory that suits the nature of this inquiry. This study found that the professionalisation process was motivated by the need for status recognition and that the process is evolving as state regulation. Professionalisation process complexities are connected to the complex context of the history of the multidisciplinary nature of community development practice, lack of engagement and broader consultative processes, the qualification versus the occupational wider set of professionalisation processes, a crisis of status recognition, professional identity issues, the unclear scope of practice, and a lack of regulatory framework. Against this backdrop, challenges, tensions, turf issues, and contestations are identified. Including the ethical issues of conflict of interest, professional misconduct, and malpractice are raised as the major challenge of the evolving profession of community development practice. A substantive theory developed in this study is inductively theorised from data and contributes to existing research on community development professional practice. Based on the study findings, recommendations for policy and practice and further research are suggested