Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

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    Effect of dynamic workforce capabilities on firm level innovation in the South African metals industry
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mabhali, Luyolo Andrew Baxolise; Mzyece, Mjumo
    Increasing employee diversity in gender, age, ethnicity generally has a positive impact on the firm level innovation due to diversification of views and experiences. Employee education is an important factor for innovation since education stimulates the capacity of employees to comprehend, create and process information due to better understating of the theoretical concepts of their trade. On the other hand, employee tenure is associated with experience and employees with a long organisational tenure are more familiar with the processes of the organisation and its strategy. Accumulated work experience, inside and outside the organisation, is also important as experienced employees have developed skills that are relevant and specific to their domain, thereby, tackling problems in a more focused and relevant way. The research outlined in this document proposes to combine attributes such as gender, age and ethnicity into a demographic background factor. The current research investigates the effect of this demographic background factor, together with education qualification and tenure, on firm-level innovation in the South African metals industry. The hypothesis is that these three factors (education qualification, tenure, and demographic background) are dynamic workforce capabilities that influence firm- level innovation in the South African metals industry and warrant consideration in the dynamic capabilities’ literature. The South African metals and engineering sector consists of approximately 10,000 companies that employ over 220,000 blue-collar workers and contributes around 3% of the country’s GDP or R900 billion. It has been facing challenges including production fluctuations and external economic pressures since 2008 but remains a key player in South Africa's industrial landscape. The dynamic capabilities framework is typically applied in environment of rapid change and the organisations in the metal South African metals industry are characterised by legacy machinery and equipment that make up a substantial part of their infrastructure. While the technological changes in other industries are fast-paced, the metals industry is moving at a slower pace. Due to the high numbers of blue- collar workers in this sector, understating the impact of factors such as the three under investigation in this paper could be significant for the industry. iii A positive correlation was found across all three tested factors (education qualification, tenure and demographic attributes) and firm-level innovation. The positive value of the correlation coefficient also showed that a positive change in these three factors results in a positive change in the firm level innovation in the South African metals industry. The conclusions were that dynamic workforce capabilities, which is a combination of education qualification, tenure, and demographic background factors, warrant further consideration to the literature on dynamic capabilities in the context of firm level innovation.
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    Activating Concentrated Curiosity in Problem Construction to enhance Creative Problem Solving
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Greenblatt, Jennifer; Lee, Gregory
    As the first stage in the creative problem solving process, problem construction plays a pivotal role in facilitating the creativity of solutions generated. This thesis develops a theory that proposes an approach to optimise two sub-stages of problem construction, namely, the information search and problem framing, and subsequently builds a normative framework based on this theory to provide practical, evidence-based guidelines to improve the effectiveness of creative problem solving in organisations. To date, research into approaches to search for information about the problem has received little attention, and approaches to effectively frame a problem prior to generating solutions are still debated. Furthermore, research findings have not been leveraged to inform an evidence-based normative framework. This thesis comprises four papers. In paper one, the theory is developed based on literature research. In paper two, the theory is tested experimentally by exposing four groups of senior managers in a large financial services company to different experimental conditions and then comparing the creativity of solutions generated using two different approaches to the information search and two different approaches to problem framing. The development of a normative framework in paper three draws on both the theory and experimental findings. In this paper, in-depth interviews are also conducted with problem solvers from various disciplines to test the applicability and relevance of the framework developed to address the information search. The effectiveness of this normative framework is tested in an action research study in paper four, and findings are used to refine the framework and implementation guidelines. This study also serves as a second field test of the theoretical model.
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    Entrepreneurial Orientation and Performance within the South African Minibus Taxi Industry
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Kier, Jessica; Urban, Boris
    The primary purpose of this research is to understand the relationship between the three dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation within the South African minibus taxi industry. This industry is pivotal to the South African economic structure and landscape as a whole. The taxi industry serves as the main mode of public transport in South Africa. A survey was used to conduct an empirical research study. A sample size of 120 participants was originally selected; however, of those 120, only 95 surveys were valid and used due to missing values in the data provided in the others. This sample size is representative of the population concerning the taxi industry. The research instrument included a 7-point Likert scale. Further, the instrument included demographic coverage and sections covering the three entrepreneurial orientations’ dimensions. The aim of this study is to understand the extent to which entrepreneurial orientation enables small- to medium-enterprise growth performance within the South African taxi industry. Empirical data to support research suppositions is difficult to access within the public domain, but this research identified and provided an analysis extracted from private enterprise which fills the gap in the current research literature space. The results indicated a weak positive influence between the three dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and growth performance within the industry. Due to the significance of the findings, the results are not strong enough for generalising the same findings for the entire South African minibus taxi population. This industry is the main source of public transport within the country and needs to increase its literature in order to grow and further improve. Further findings can contribute to the understanding of the complexity that surrounds the industry’s atmosphere. The value of working to formulate constructive information on the taxi industry will allow for further engagement within the field
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    Antecedents of Social Networks and their Influence on the Propensity of Academic Entrepreneurs to Develop Successful Spin-Off Ventures
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Seely, Derek; Urban, Boris
    There is an ongoing discussion about potentially commercialisable academic research not resulting in effective commercialisation in South Africa. This research adds to the body of knowledge by considering the role that an individual academic entrepreneur's social network plays in the spin-off process. The purpose of research is to improve our understanding of the social networks used by academic researchers that enable them to identify and commercialise their innovative research and commercialise it within the university context through the formation of an entrepreneurial spin-off. The study followed a quantitative methodological approach to establish the role of these networks in spin-off development and was actualised using a cross-sectional survey. Respondents were self-identified academic entrepreneurs, drawn from South African academic institutions. The research considered assumptions that research mobilisation, collaboration, unconventionality, university support, bureaucracy and the aspirations of the academic entrepreneur impact spin-off success. The study results provided a conceptual framework that integrates and enhances spin-off success using the academic entrepreneur's social network while enhancing entrepreneurial spin-off theory. The research showed that the existence of a triple helix is insufficient on its own to create a successful spin-off by providing insight on the networks needed for success. Further, the study clarified the importance of individual-level characteristics that are important for academic entrepreneurship to succeed. The outcomes highlighted that research mobilisation, collaboration, risk taking activities, bureaucracy and academic aspirations have significant implications for successful academic entrepreneurship. These findings are noteworthy as the research has been conducted across disciplines and universities with vastly different resource availabilities
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    Essays on innovations, national culture, and banking system stability
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Marfo-Yiadom, Edward; TWENEBOAH, GEORGE
    One of the crucial imperatives to safeguard the stability of macroeconomic frameworks of nations is the financial architecture. The financial system guarantees the flow of financial resources to economic agents and empowers governments to undertake investments, infrastructural development, and sustainable economic development. Nations that have advanced the culture of harnessing financial resources into productivity growth are the known to be experiencing economic affluence. It is incontrovertibly evidenced that the growth in financial resources can augment the capability of nations to promote technological innovation and eventually engender national development. However, banks have become universally susceptible to competition and demonstrate reckless intermediation behaviour. The possibility of high risk taking in the wake of a boost in liquidity can increase the level of instability in the banking infrastructure. Notwithstanding that, the culture of the societies within which banks operate can function as a catalyst for the evolution of credit into sustainable and innovative projects, which can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of banks and strengthen them to weather liquidity shocks. This thesis was setup to examine whether the culture of 107 nations can ignite the innovative tendencies of firms due to the recent intensification of credit to the private sector, advancement in technological innovations, and the amplified transparency of the financial system. The thesis employed the system Generalised Method of Moments to develop three objectives into self-contained empirical chapters. The first chapter examined whether the income level of nations, which is also a measure of technological advancement, can propel nations to use explosions in financial resources to improve the soundness of the banking system. Even though income clubs were found to be crucial in the relationship between financial innovations and economic growth, the chapter did not establish how the informal institutions that define the values, norms, aspirations, and attitudes of the territories where banks operate can affect the channels through which financial innovations affect the soundness of the banking system. The second objective, therefore, examined the role of the six dimensions of Hofstede’s national culture in the nexus of financial innovation and stability of banks. The last objective analysed the role of national culture in banking system stability. This study considered how information sharing systems, which are avenues for financial transparency and institutional innovation, can feature in the financial intermediation role of banks. The results show that financial innovation has a strong positive impact on bank stability for the 107 countries covered in this study. The positive effect of financial innovation on bank stability is even stronger from upper middle-income countries. The study did not establish any relationship between financial innovation and bank stability in high-income countries and lower-middle income countries. In terms of technological innovation, ATM coverage has positive effect on bank stability in high-income countries and upper-middle income countries. The results for financial innovation were robust even after the inclusion of period dummies. In the second chapter, the study found that the national cultural dimensions influence the relationship between financial innovation and bank stability. Indulgence, long-term orientation, and power distance were found to have strong substitution effect on the relationship between financial innovation and bank stability. This connotes that countries with high level of the three cultural tendencies can achieve banking system stability in the wake of financial expansion. Similarly, countries with above average level of uncertainty avoidance can complement the proliferation of finance into banking sector soundness. In the third chapter, it was discovered that countries with high levels of indulgence and masculinity can nurture financial transparency into banking system stability. These findings highlight the imperative for intermediation strategies of banks in host countries to incorporate the cultural orientations and technological advancement of the communities within which they operate, to guarantee the effectiveness and efficiency in directing financial resources to productivity and induce the soundness or stability of the banking system as well as strengthen the overall macroeconomic