Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

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    The impact of artificial intelligence capabilities on organisational performance: an empirical study in the South African retail context
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Cronjé, Dylan Christo
    Developing the ability to undergo digital transformation with Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly crucial for retail organisations, given the rising occurrence of AI-driven activities within their organisations. This underscores the need to understand how retail organisations should structure themselves to leverage AI effectively and in what ways value can be attained. Within this context, this thesis investigates how AI capabilities can enhance organisational performance by prompting changes in critical organisational activities. Through a survey-based research approach, data was gathered from individuals within retail organisations in South Africa to explore the indirect impact of AI capabilities on organisational performance. A total of 145 participants from South Africa's retail sector were surveyed, and their responses were analysed using structural equation modelling with AMOS/ SPSS. The results indicate that AI capabilities positively influence process automation, cognitive insight generation, cognitive engagement, and innovativeness. While both process automation and innovativeness positively correlate with organisational performance, it was observed that cognitive insights and cognitive engagement do not significantly affect organisational performance. These findings explain the essential resources comprising an AI capability and highlight the consequences of nurturing such capabilities on critical organisational activities, thereby influencing organisational performance
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    The contribution of corporate entrepreneurial dimensions on firm performance in South African non-governmental organisations
    (2022-01) Naidoo, Keshan
    Corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has been suggested by various scholars as occurring when an individual or a group of individuals in an established company display behaviour that is typically practised by individual entrepreneurs. Literature supports the notion that corporate entrepreneurial practices can be implemented as a means to improve company’s performance, and that it may result in an organisation obtaining a competitive advantage. CE dimensions are specific characteristics that are evident in firms that embody the following: innovativeness; risk-taking; proactiveness; autonomy; and competitive aggressiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate and empirically determine the contribution of CE dimensions on firm performance within South African non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the health industry, by also considering the moderating effects of the organisation’s climate on this relationship. Furthermore, this study sought to provide important findings that might aid NGOs and other policymakers to determine key interventions that could be included in particular policies, so as to assist such organisations to grow and to remain sustainable, so that they can address the much-needed socio-economic gaps in the South African health sector. A quantitative research technique was used, as the study proposed to measure relationships, as well as predictions, between two or more constructs. A sample size of 103 respondents was aimed for, based on a total target population of 288, with a total of 66 responses having been captured for analysis after the data screening and cleaning process, representing a response rate of 64% from the original targeted 103 sample size. With the exception of the CE dimension of autonomy and proactiveness, the other three dimensions, namely innovativeness, risk-taking and competitiveness were perceived to be key influencers in firm performance in terms of business growth, within South African NGOs that aid in HIV/AIDS research, treatment and care. Interestingly, although the autonomy dimension resulted in a negative influence in its relationship on firm performance, the empirical evidence suggests that, when this dimension is moderated by leadership factors, it changes to a positive outcome on firm performance, thereby confirming that, for positive firm performance to be experienced in South African NGOs, autonomy is a good influencer only if the leadership criteria govern the same. The study further demonstrated that leadership inversely influences the relationship between innovativeness, risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness. In the context of previous literature, such was to have been expected, as it was noted that, for leadership factors to influence relationships in a test positively, the interaction among the particular variables is important, including their moderating and mediating. The interaction terms and the type of leadership factors involved might influence a particular relationship. This study sought to provide empirical evidence suggesting that, by embodying CE in means of its various dimensions, firm performance will be positively influenced in terms of the growth of the business. Such, in turn, should allow such organisations to remain sustainable by means of obtaining a competitive edge, and perhaps even by discovering innovative ways of generating income to drive their socio-economic mission.
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    Organisational internal factors and the innovativeness in SMEs in Gauteng, South Africa
    (2021) Mavimbela, Chuene
    This research study investigated the relationship between organisational internal factors and the SMEs’ innovativeness. The theoretical background to the study was adopted and grounded on the theory of corporate entrepreneurship. The study focused on SMEs’ owners and managers with firms operating in Gauteng, South Africa. The organisational internal factors that were investigated are management support, work discretion, rewards and reinforcement, time availability, and organisational boundaries. The study took a quantitative approach, implementing existing instruments and analysed a sample of 272 owner-managers. Multiple linear regression analysis was used as a core statistical technique to analyse the primary data and found a significant and positive relationship between management support to innovative ideas and the SMEs’ innovativeness. The results presented a significant and positive relationship between management support to execute innovative ideas and the SMEs’ innovativeness. The study highlighted a significant and positive relationship between time availability to handle the workload and the SMEs’ innovativeness. The study further highlighted a significant and positive relationship between time availability constraints on the job and the SMEs’ innovativeness. The study also found a positive but not significant relationship between the organisational antecedent of rewards/reinforcement and SMEs’ innovativeness. The study contributes to the research theory of corporate entrepreneurship by recognising the importance and influence of the organisational internal factors in the context of advancing the SMEs’ innovativeness in Gauteng. The study provides government, academic practitioners, and the SMEs owners with insights of organisational internal factors’ policies that can be implemented to facilitate and encourage employees’ innovativeness. The study is relevant to the SMEs’ owners who seek to remain entrepreneurial, competitive and contribute to economic growth.
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    Entrepreneurial orientation and performance of small-and medium-sized hotels in Gauteng, South Africa
    (2021) Sekoere, Maloela
    Entrepreneurial orientation has been widely touted as an essential element for augmenting firm performance. The main purpose of the current research study, consequently, was to ascertain the influence of entrepreneurial orientation with its dimensional variables – innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness on the performance of small-and medium-sized hotels in Gauteng, South Africa. To measure performance, both financial and nonfinancial criteria was then utilised. Furthermore, the external environment, in terms of (a) dynamism, (b) hostility and (c) turbulence, were used as a contingent to exert the outcome of a moderating influence on the entrepreneurial orientation and performance relationship. The study adopted a quantitative and positivist research approach. A cross-sectional method was used to gather the data by means of a questionnaire. Altogether, 309 questionnaires were disseminated to the owners and managers of small-and medium-sized hotels, both online and manually distributing the questionnaires concerned through visits to the respondents in question. Only 128 respondents participated in the survey. Cronbach’s alpha was then employed as the appropriate measure for reliability. The entrepreneurial orientation dimensions diverged into two, instead of into three, dimensions. Therefore, the results indicated a significant and positive association between risk-taking and proactiveness in relation to performance. Of the two dimensions, proactiveness was found to be a more predictive dimension than was risk-taking in the variance explained. The hypothesis pertaining to the moderating influence of external environmental factors on performance was rejected. Based on the findings made in the current study, the hotel owners and managers surveyed should be able to drive a culture of risk-taking and proactiveness to drive the performance for their establishments to be able to survive. Ultimately, the present study’s contribution could be wide-ranging in providing evidence from an African emerging context that has received minimal attention to date