3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Exploring how values shape the entrepreneurial propensity of youths: a study of the young, black South African entrepreneur(2014-10-23) Venter, Robert BruceSouth Africa’s Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) scores are consistently well-below the average of other efficiency-driven economies, as well as for other sub-Saharan countries (Turton and Herrington, 2013). Despite this, a 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report suggests that youth in sub-Saharan Africa demonstrate marked entrepreneurial propensity and potential (Kew, Herrington, Letovsky and Gale, 2013). As such, this thesis seeks to contribute an understanding of how black, youth entrepreneurs located in Johannesburg’s informal economy, seek to achieve legitimacy, and thus ‘become’, through the attainment of an accepted entrepreneurial identity. To this end, the role of hybridity, as a form of entrepreneurial capital, is explored as a potential mechanism. A hypothesised conceptual framework is accordingly evolved which explores the relationships between entrepreneurial identity aspiration, resource attainment, legitimacy, and how these are mediated by hybridity. Survey data gathered from young, black entrepreneurs (n=503) across Johannesburg’s seven administrative districts, using a structured questionnaire, and tested using multiple regression analysis, reveals the following: a direct relationship between entrepreneurial identity aspiration, entrepreneurial resources as well as the attainment of legitimacy is found, suggesting that black youth do indeed aspire to entrepreneurial legitimacy, and thus, seek to ‘become’ accordingly. Moreover, hybrid values are seen to mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial iii identity aspiration and resource attainment such that they accounted for the relationship. This suggests the potential for hybridity as a form of entrepreneurial capital such that values might have been seen to act as a form a catalyst for the attainment of other resources. The study contributes a conceptual framework which provides a theoretical understanding of young, black entrepreneurs in South Africa. More specifically, it suggests a values-mediated relationship between entrepreneurial identity aspiration and the attainment of resources such that youth seek legitimacy accordingly. As such, this study is the first to provide insights into the potential impact that hybrid values might have on shaping an entrepreneurial identity. Additionally, it contributes evidence to suggest that opportunity-driven behaviour motivates young, black entrepreneurs in Johannesburg’s informal economy, beyond necessity motives which are used to stereotypically frame this space. It is recommended that further research be undertaken to test this framework in other contexts in order to gain a finer understanding of hybridity as a potential entrepreneurial resource. This might additionally involve research into the cues that potentially result in a switching between different values.Item "Getting their stories : narratives of youths in a shelter for orphaned and vulnerable children"(2014-09-15) Kostopoulos, AnnaThis research explored the narratives of orphaned and vulnerable youths who currently reside, or have previously lived their childhood and/or adolescent years, in a shelter in Johannesburg, Gauteng. Data was collected using a semi-structured interview and thematic content analysis was used to interpret and analyse the collected data. Interviews were conducted with 8 participants, all male youths between the ages of 18 and 25 years. This research explored their perceptions of life in the shelter and particularly how the youths make sense of their experiences, relationships, social support, and their ability to cope in the childcare institution. This research also explored the participants’ views of the future. The elicited ‘insider’ perspectives yielded rich information regarding life in a childcare institution, and may additionally serve to guide future interventions to adequately meet the needs of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in childcare institutions, and subsequently attempt to improve their psychosocial well-being. Results of the study indicate that there is a need for more consistent psychosocial support for institutionalised OVC, especially during the adjustment period into the institution. It seems that participants in the study were still struggling with unresolved emotional issues of the past which appeared to be negatively impacting their current well-being. Consequently, it was not uncommon for them to rely on unhealthy coping strategies to deal with the emotional distress thereof. Despite the various challenges described, it seems that participants have demonstrated considerable resilience, gratitude, and hopefulness for the future.Item Social entrepreneurship among Diepsloot youth(2014-07-10) Mataboge, Dinah MamashalaneSocial entrepreneurship activity is very low in South Africa, especially among the youth. It is argued that favourable attitudes toward social entrepreneurship are determinants of successful social entrepreneurship that could contribute to sustainable socio-economic development amongst the youth who are still grappling with the “triple challenge” of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The primary objective of this study was to describe the attitudes of urban youth toward social entrepreneurship and to identify the constraints that the youth perceive as barriers to engaging in social entrepreneurship. The data of this study was from a survey conducted in Diepsloot, North of Johannesburg involving 153 young people. Data was collected using two self-rating questionnaires. The Social Entrepreneurial Intent Scale (SEIS), adopted from Thompson (2009), was used to measure social entrepreneurial intentions, while the Constraint scale developed by Fatoki and Chindoga (2011) was used to identify constraints. The study produced three main findings. Firstly, the majority of respondents had positive attitudes towards starting and engaging in social enterprises. Secondly, the research identified three main constraints that discourage the youth from starting or engaging in social enterprise, namely “lack of access to finance”, “lack of savings to start”, and “weak economic environment”. Thirdly, the research also identified an overall limitation to social entrepreneurship, namely; lack of support. Recommendations to reduce constraints and support social entrepreneurship were suggested.Item Personality traits influencing style adoption among the youth in South Africa(2013-04-09) Venter, MarikePurpose – This study provides a theoretical framework that explores the personality traits that influence style adoption among the youth in South Africa. Five personality traits form part of the framework, namely fashion consciousness, the need for uniqueness, susceptibility to interpersonal influence, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity. Methodology – A quantitative approach was undertaken and the data were collected by means of self-administered questionnaires among 400 university students. Established multi-item scales were adapted for the study, and a pilot test was used to confirm the validity of the multi-item scales and the correctness of the data-gathering procedure. Following the data gathering and coding, validity and reliability tests were carried out on the entire sample. A regression analysis was used to test the relationships between the constructs. Findings – The findings suggest that the dominant factors influencing style adoption are susceptibility to interpersonal influence and masculinity/femininity. Fashion consciousness, the need for uniqueness, individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity, influence the knowledge acquired of style. One’s attitude towards style is influenced by the need for uniqueness and masculinity/femininity. Research Limitations - The results of this study may not be appropriate for generalizing across the majority of youth culture in South Africa, and in a global context. However, understanding one segment of the youth may be beneficial to practitioners in South Africa, and may encourage exploration into other youth segments through continuous resampling and reassessment of difference ages and gender populations. Implications - By examining the youth and their sense of style, the study facilitates the possibility of consumer-behaviour research that not only includes style in a broad sense, but also explores post-modern and classic style expressions, thus providing a better understanding of modern youth culture in a local context, and the influence of their personality traits on style adoption.Item The role of Rap/Hip Hop music in the meaning and maintenance of identity in South African youth.(2009-03-06T05:50:54Z) Cohen, DrorAlthough music has seemingly always formed an integral part of human culture, technological advances in contemporary society have increased both its accessibility and portability, allowing for unprecedented production and consumption of a medium that allows individuals to enact and display various social identities during day-to-day life. Furthermore, recent research has demonstrated that youth consume more music that any other age group. Thus music may be considered as a primary cultural influence in the lives of youth. While the bulk of the research conducted in understanding the form and function of this influence has been located in the disciplines of sociology and musicology, Psychologists in Europe and America have become increasingly interested in understanding the role of music in constructing and maintaining identity during this critical period of development. As a contribution to this field of application outside of these contexts and located within a qualitative framework, this study explored the role of Rap/Hip Hop music, as one of the most popular global and local genres of music, in the meaning and maintenance of identity in a cohort of South African youth. The resultant thematic framework illustrated the complex tensions negotiated by youth through assuming Hip Hop culture membership in South Africa. Importantly, the study showed that the nature of Hip Hop culture; its emphasis on self-expression, individuation and critical social awareness dovetails with many of the traditional psychological developmental theories of youth identity. Hip Hop consumption also implied appropriating identity markers from a wide range of social influences, posing challenges to the application of traditional social identity theory in accounting for in and out groupings. This was most pronounced in the way that ‘remixing’, as a governing musical principle in Hip Hop seems to resonate as key mode of identity and identification amongst its South African consumers. Thus, it seems fitting that South African youth currently in the midst of cultural, economic and political transitions would embrace an eclectic rather than rigidly bounded genre of music with such enthusiasm. In some ways then Hip Hop in South Africa, appears to provide youth with the means to remix past and present, old and new, global and local, self and other.