WIReDSpace
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Communities in WIReDSpace
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- This community is for all faculties and schools' theses and dissertations by masters and doctoral students.
Recent Submissions
The impact of ICT on rural communities in KwaZulu Natal
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Ngcamu, Nkonzenhle; Mogotsi, Keratiloe
The importance of Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) as a driver of community development is increasing in South Africa, especially for the rural communities that have been neglected from technological infrastructure deployment. It is an urgent need for developing countries like South Africa to invest in ICTs in the rural areas to eradicate digital divide and to enable these communities to partake in the digital world. The main objective of this research study is to investigate the factors that impact the deployment of ICT infrastructure in the less dense communities of KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa. There are a number of factors that has an effect on the spread of ICT which then limits the rate of adoption of these technologies. Using Rogers’s three attributes of diffusion of innovation theory, relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity, to explore the rate of ICT adoption in rural communities. Data was collected at three district municipalities, King Cetshwayo, eThekwini, and iLembe through a survey. A total of 396 people participated in this study and then a critical data analysis was computed. It is found that relative advantage and complexity have a negative effect on adoption and compatibility has a positive impact on adoption. Though Mndzebele (2013) found that relative advantage has no relationship with adoption but (Marak et al., 2019) found it to be negatively significant. Complexity is found to be significant but with an inverse relationship to adoption of ICT. Previous researchers have found a similar output in regard to technological innovations (Fong, 2009; Ibrahim & Monsurat, 2015; Mndzebele, 2013). Also, the highest level of education and employment status are significant predictors of ICT adoption. On the other hand, age range and gender are insignificant predictors. The outcome of this study will assist ICT service providers with a developed framework they can use to successfully deploy infrastructure in these communities
A customer communication application for organisations
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Netangaheni, Shumani; Horvey, Sylvester Senyo
The aim of this study was to investigate the need for an integrated communication application dedicated to service communication for organizations as well as to determine factors that users consider important for the adoption of a new communication mobile application system. This study is important to the building
of an application where resources are constrained and need to be traded off. The growth of social media has seen a rise in the need for consumers to instantly
want access to information that is of importance to them. It is for this reason that communication has become a commodity that organizations invest in to build
stronger relationships with their customers. However, it is not always easy for organizations to get it right as the communication methods they rely on may not
be efficient or cost effective. It is for this reason that theoretical work was consulted to determine a need for a central communication application which
various organizations can plug into to publish messages when they have service failure or recovery. The literature advised of a need but for a different problem. Primary data was collected from respondents using a survey where respondents were asked if they would use an integrated mobile application dedicated to communication when their service providers have service failure and when the service has recovered
The Impact of Technology in the Productivity of Corporate Banking: An Assessment of Emerging Markets
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Moyo, Nkosi
This paper assesses the role of technology within the banking environment and seeks to find a correlation between increase in technological investment and the financial performance of banking institutions. This is achieved through a comparative analysis of six banks in two emerging markets to prove that an increase in technological output results in improved productivity and ultimately, financial performance for banks within emerging markets. The paper illustrates how technological advancements in the twenty first century have been contributed significantly to the financial performances of major banks in South Africa and Kenya, to an extent that technology is a quintessential contributor to the increasing success of financial institutions and that even through the advent of the Covid pandemic, the role of technology has increased significantly, to the extent that the relationship and impact between banking and technology is immeasurable
Entrepreneurial orientation of the City of Johannesburg
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2019) Malakoane, Jones
The notion of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is important because it contributes to the fundamental apprehension of entrepreneurship. Increasingly, attention is being paid by scholars and policy makers to the concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) as incubators of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Though the concept is still in its embryonic phase, well performing entrepreneurial ecosystems such as the Silicon Valley in California are the envy of many governments striving for economic success, through promotion of entrepreneurship. The primary objective of this study was to explore the relationship between the perceived entrepreneurial orientation of the City of Johannesburg Department of Economic Development (CoJ-DeD) and the perceived City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) local EE performance. EO of an organisation, for the purpose of this study, is reflected in the organisation’s innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking abilities while EE was measured by the three variables, opportunity exploitation (OE), opportunity recognition (OR) and entrepreneurial activity (EA). The data relating to the perceived city’s EE performance was from 109 usable questionnaires collected from a target sample size of 150, the sample’s population was comprised of nascent entrepreneurs, early start-up and established business owners in the CoJ. The data concerning perceived EO of CoJ-DeD officials was from 46 usable questionnaires, this sample was collected from a population of 50 CoJ-DeD officials, comprised of middle and senior managers. The measuring instruments construct validity was evaluated by means of Cronbach alpha coefficients and principal component exploratory factor analysis. The Welch’s t-test was utilized to assess the study’s conceptual framework model. The results showed that EO of the CoJ-DeD officials is defined by proactiveness, innovativeness and risk-taking and the city’s local EE perceived performance is defined only by opportunity exploitation and opportunity recognition. The results also showed a positive relationship between innovation and opportunity recognition, proactiveness and opportunity recognition and between risk-taking and opportunity recognition. It is vi recommended that entrepreneurship becomes the dominant strategic thinking in the CoJ to help unlock opportunities and new sources of value, services and innovation.
The impact of environmental management practices in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Madikizela, Zolisa
The research study appraises the effectiveness of the environmental management practices deployed at the Umbogintwini Industrial Complex (UIC) to manage historic and present environmental pollution that is the result of industrial activities over the past 100 years. The study was conducted at the African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI) site in the UIC located approximately 25 kilometres (km) south of Durban in KwaZulu Natal (KZN). In the UIC, AECI, its subsidiaries, and other businesses leasing property inside the UIC (tenants) have manufactured, stored, and supplied a wide range of industrial chemicals since 1907.
The study uses a qualitative case study research methodology and explores the views of internal stakeholder i.e. AECI employees and external stakeholders’ i.e. tenants and other stakeholders regarding the effectiveness of environmental management practices deployed on site. A total of 25 participants were interviewed for this study. The interviews were done in person and some Via Teams Meetings. The theoretical and conceptual lenses that the study used include the concept of sustainability, green manufacturing, resource-based view theory and institutional theory.
The overall findings of this study revealed that AECI personnel, Consultants and Regulators that are involved in the implementation of environmental management practices are aware of the environmental management practices and strongly committed to implement the practices, while the NPOs and communities around the site are wanting in environmental awareness. The study also shows that AECI’s environmental practices are not sufficiently recorded, making it harder to track and improve on them in the long run. As a result, the study proposes that the AECI should build a secure digital data management system that will aid in the keeping of records, the analysis of data, the creation of follow-up schedules, and the flagging of non- compliance, among other things. Moreover, the findings of this study support the value of sustainable development and green manufacturing as a means of investigating how environmental management practices can be implemented effectively in South Africa’s industrial complexes as this is the key finding that distinguishes the UIC.
Furthermore, this study recommends that future studies assess the environmental management techniques used at other industrial complexes in South Africa or other 5 developing countries to assess the sustainability of the current plans, relating them to green manufacturing in order to stimulate continuous development.