4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions

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    “Youth Enterprising”: Johannesburg Youth’s Motivation, Perceptions and Experiences Regarding Entrepreneurship and Services Provided by the Government and the Private Sector
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Phofi, Caroline; Pretorius, Edmarie; Dube, Nkosiyazi
    Enterprising and entrepreneurship have become one of the solutions to addressing the challenges of the current economic state in South Africa that seem to have proven to lock some of the youth, especially the disadvantaged youth within Johannesburg, in the cycle of poverty, and unemployment. Although the largest group of youth entering the labour market have shown to be educated and suited for South Africa’s global competitiveness, jobs seem to remain competitive in the formal sector. The study aimed to explore youth enterprising, the motivating factors, perceptions, and experiences of youth towards services that the government and the private sector provides. With the significance of entrepreneurship in the South African economy, there is a need to explore and investigate the contribution of entrepreneurs in the economy of South Africa and how can government and private sector support entrepreneurial activities among the youth to curb unemployment and poverty. A qualitative approach based on the interpretive paradigm was employed to explore the topic of youth enterprising. A case study design was best suited to achieving the objectives of the study, which sought to understand youth enterprise regarding youth’s subjectively constructed reality. The selected case studies were selected from five organisations. These organisations mostly engage in youth development programmes aiming to capacitate youth with psycho-social and entrepreneurial skills, and to provide start-up funding. All the participants for the interviews (n=14), focus group discussion (n=8) and respondents of the questionnaire (16) were selected from Organisation A. The four key informants were from the other four organisations (Organisation B, C, D and E) and were only interviewed. Purposive sampling was adopted to select all the 26 research participants comprising of youth, youth workers, managers and key informants, and the 16 youth participants were selected for the structured questionnaire. The methods of data collection were semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and a structured questionnaire. Four different semi-structured interview guides were used as research instruments with all these different groups of participants. A focus group guide was adopted to facilitate the focus group discussion with eight youths. A total of 16 youths completed the hard copy of a structured questionnaire. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the national restriction, some potential participants did not want to engage in face-to-face interviews, therefore an online questionnaire was offered as an option so that the research could have more participants to validate the data collection. A structured questionnaire was employed to elicit the respondents’ responses to the four aspects related to motivation, ability, entrepreneurial opportunities, and resources associated with basic entrepreneurial success components. Results from the questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics. Data from the different interviews and focus group discussions were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that business and entrepreneurial skills should be integrated not only into economic sciences but also within the education sector's human sciences and social work courses. Participants mentioned that the role of the government and private sector in youth development and entrepreneurial services is vital. The study findings aided with the development of practice principles and guidelines to be used by social workers and other stakeholders in their programmatic interventions with youth entrepreneurs.
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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.