Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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    Addressing The 4IR Skills Gap for South Africa’s Economy
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Bodibe, Lerato; Venter, Robert
    The widespread enthusiasm and hysteria for Artificial Intelligence (AI) todays not only encourages but forces us to approach the future with a combination of childlike aw and mature concerns. A new and evolving set of skills is vita and needed, because automation and robotisation powered by AI is simultaneously creating and eroding jobs. The so-called digitally enabled jobs, AI-driven jobs, indisputably needs a skilled cadre of graduates. This is especially true for the ICT sector in South Africa, which is plagued by a serious skills shortage. The research conducted for this MBA social entrepreneurship project led to the aim of establishing an eSkills institute, specifically targeting the youth in Orange Farm. This community was chosen for its demographic and social condition where it faces high levels of youth unemployment, drug abuse, and lack of access to educational facilities by the youth. The proposed business model offers a promising approach for the eSkills Institute to achieve both its social and financial goals, bringing meaningful change to disadvantaged communities through digital skills training. This would enable the eSkills institute to achieve long-term viability and make a positive impact with its underlying primary objective of providing digital skills training to disadvantaged communities, thereby bridging the digital divide and increasing their access to economic opportunities. Basing our analysis on market research and stakeholder engagement has helped identify key areas of opportunity to generate revenue and create social value. These opportunities include offering paid digital skills training programs to corporate clients, partnering with government agencies to provide subsidised training to low-income individuals, and establishing a social enterprise arm that offers software development and design services to small businesses and their ecosystems
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    Digital banking penetration in underserved communities in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mdluli, Ntokozo; Totowa, Jacques
    This purpose of this research paper is to investigate the impact that the closing of bank branches and the influence of digital banking as an alternative has on the banking population in underserved communities. For the purposes of the study, these communities are those that face barriers and challenges in gaining access to and using resources. Access to electricity, problems with broadband infrastructure or internet connectivity, employment, language, and literacy are just a few of the issues. With the rapid rate of bank branch closures globally and in South Africa, which are due to a variety of factors such as operational cost savings for banking institutions, looting unrest that resulted in property destruction, and the rate of digitalization, underserved communities are at risk of becoming financially excluded. The study sought to answer four research questions. Understanding the factors that influence underserved communities' banking activities, investigating the impact of traditional banking channel closures such as bank branches on underserved communities, determining whether the traditional banking channel closures result in financial exclusion of underserved communities, and making recommendations to banking institutions on how to lessen the impact of traditional banking channel closures. As part of the study, the researcher used a quantitative research approach, distributing a questionnaire to 179 members of underserved communities across South Africa. The key findings of the research showed that the results for two out of four hypotheses were statistically significant. We were able to show that the closure of bank branches increases the use of digital banking in underserved communities and may result in financial exclusion of people in underserved communities. In contrast to the literature review findings, we discovered that bank branches have no influence or impact on the community in underserved areas, and that issues with electricity and internet connectivity, a lack of digital literacy, and security concerns do not prevent underserved communities from using digital banking
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    The Impact of Digital Technology on Education in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Gupta, Shikha
    This study sought to determine the effect that digital technology would have on South Africa's educational system. The use of technology in educational settings may change how teaching and learning are carried out. Learning is made possible by technology, which can significantly reduce the growing gap in inequality and disparity and enhance the status of the economy. The research method used for this study is qualitative. To understand the motivations and behaviours of the target audience, the qualitative technique involves gathering perceptions and having faith in people's responses. Qualitative research aims to offer a more in-depth understanding of the problems. The following key themes emerged: Digital Technology, Willingness for Acceptance, Willingness for Implementation, Issues that Digital Technology Can Solve, and Advantages that Digital Technology Can Have. The results of technology in education spaces can have a profound impact and the findings are in closing the skills gap of the country, creating a more interconnected world, and giving access to educational resources, to mention a few
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    Telcos Approach in addressing the Digital Divide
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Swanepoel, Werner; Craffert, Leona
    The purpose of the qualitative, interpretative study was to explore the perspectives of senior executives within South African telecommunication companies (Telcos) regarding their companies’ role in bridging the digital divide
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    Exploring the potential of 5G to bridge the digital divide in South Africa
    (University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Dumako, Sebongile; Patel, Mr Ashraf
    5G adoption is expected to boost job growth and income, and reduce costs, contributing to the South African National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 goal of a connected society, especially in underserved areas, and improving affordability and broadband infrastructure accessibility. This research study sets out to explore the potential of 5G in bridging the digital divide in South Africa. The researcher undertook a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews of industry experts using an interview guide as the research instrument. The sample was made up of a qualitative study of the perceptions of 14 participants from the telecommunications sector, a research council, the government, and SMEs, with first-hand experience in 5G deployment and manufacturing of 5G equipment. The themes that emerged during the process of data analysis were derived using a thematic analysis. The study findings revealed that South Africa to is ready to adopt 5G technology and confirmed 5G technology's potential to transform South African lives, businesses, and industries through Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (uRLLC) use cases, thus aligning with the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) 2020 vision. 5G offers significant potential for improving service delivery in South Africa, enabling e-government, and saving time, money, and convenience in various sectors. However, 5G technology's potential to revolutionize life and work faces socioeconomic challenges and slow government implementation, hindering its potential to bridge the digital divide. Recommendations have been posited for each of the stakeholders involved in the 5G ecosystem in South Africa to help overcome the digital divide.
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    Assessment of the second-level digital divide in South Africa: the case of digital financial services
    (2022) Makamole, Thabo Karabo
    Financial institutions and entrepreneurs in South Africa are developing and rolling out different digital financial services (DFS) into the market. South Africa is following a similar trend as other countries by investing in financial technology to deliver services, even though not at the same scale. However, these services make up a small percentage of the market share as the use of DFS is still low. This study aimed to assess the second-level digital divide – the divide in digital skill levels and use of technology – by investigating the use of DFS in South Africa. This was achieved by investigating the influence of digital skills on the use of DFS. The hypothesis was that digital skills positively influence the use of DFS. The hypothesis was tested via an online survey that was distributed to South African consumers using social media platforms. A total of 541 valid responses were received. Most of the respondents were between the 31-45 (49.5%) age group and the 60+ age group were the lowest with 0.9%. Most respondent’s education level was a matric (28.7%) and those with no matric was lowest (3%). Most respondents were employed and were earning less than R39 999 per annum. Most of the respondents had access to a Smartphone (95.6%) and most accessed the internet from home (91.7%). The results were analysed using multivariate analysis, which resulted in developing a new hypothesis and eliminating several original variables. A linear regression model was built to determine the contribution of different factors to using DFS. The results were mixed but showed that content creation digital skills and information digital skills contributed positively to the use of DFS. Interestingly, communication digital skills negatively influenced DFS, and English was not associated with the use of DFS as initially hypothesised. The study concluded that only some digital skills influence the use of DFS. In addition, it was also found that generic digital skills for everyday use might assist in using a specific technology. Future research should focus on the digital skills required to use different Internet applications and conducting a comparative study between individuals in different socio-economic statuses.