Makamole, Thabo Karabo2023-01-162023-01-162022https://hdl.handle.net/10539/34058Research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Digital BusinessFinancial 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.enDigital financial servicesFintechDigital divideSecond-level digital divideDigital skillsInternet skillsSDG-8: Decent work and economic growthDissertationUniversity of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg