African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies
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Building Thriving Innovative Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
Get PDFHigher education institutions (HEIs) must adapt to the demands of the digital revolution and play a bigger part in the ecosystems and economics of innovation. HEIs and policymakers now need to reconsider how they should be creating entrepreneurial innovation systems to support a robust global economy and a better world. The objective of this article is to describe the socio-institutional and techno-economic innovation components of innovation systems. The development of a theoretical framework for constructing a healthy innovation ecosystem at HEIs will be guided by an analysis of the already available literature and practical responses to the issues. The methodology followed a systematic review approach that considered articles found within the google scholar website. According to the research cited in this article, HEIs must comprehend how innovation systems affect their innovation to conduct research, innovate, and commercialise. The ramifications of this research emphasise how crucial it is to forge connections between academic universities and commercial enterprises as part of formulating a roadmap for developing robust support systems for research, innovation, and commercialization
Practices and Spaces (Location): Reflecting on the Contribution of Writing Centres for Decolonisation in Higher Education
Get PDFThe location of writing centres in universities has attracted attention from practitioners and researchers in the field of academic support scholarship. These writing centres, known as spaces where students discuss their writing ideas, have become part of the decoloniality discourse in South African higher education. This study adopts a mixed-method approach and builds upon Grimm's theory of transitional space to examine tutor perspectives on the contribution of writing centres' pedagogical practices and physical location to the decolonisation of education at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT). The findings reveal that the writing centres in these contexts contribute to the decolonial agenda by employing various approaches such as multilingualism and one-on-one consultations that are sensitive to the African context. However, despite these positive contributions, it is necessary to initiate decolonial discussions that address historical past injustices. The study recommends that the creation of decolonised spaces is a complex process requiring collaborative engagement between writing centres and the university community, including management. Writing centres have an integral role to play in decolonising the university space, particularly in the South African context.
Assessing the Impact of Community Gardens in Mitigating Household Food Insecurity and Addressing Climate Change Challenges: A Case Study of Ward 18, Umdoni Municipality, South Africa
Get PDFSouth Africa, while nationally acknowledged as food secure, grapples with persistent household food insecurity, particularly in rural areas. Addressing this issue, the implementation of community gardens has gained traction. This mixed methods study focuses on the impact of community gardens on food security at the household level, exemplified by the community gardens in ward 18 of Umdoni Municipality. These gardens not only provide sustenance but also generate supplementary income through surplus crop sales. However, climate change threatens food systems and vulnerable livelihoods, necessitating assessment. A survey of 120 community garden participants was conducted, employing questionnaires and focused group discussions to gauge perspectives on crop production and food security. The survey revealed that 58.3% of participants did not receive sufficient food from community gardens, while 41.7% reported adequate supply. Only 15.8% achieved food security, with the majority (40%) experiencing moderate food insecurity. Challenges cited encompassed shifting rainfall patterns, temperature fluctuations, heightened disease, and pest pressures, and altered planting seasons. Intriguingly, despite their establishment, community gardens appeared ineffective in substantially improving household food security. These findings underscore the need for enhancing productivity and climate resilience within community gardens. Future research could illuminate strategies to bolster garden productivity and mitigate climate change impacts
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in South Africa: An Interdisciplinary Discourse Analysis of One Selected isiZulu and One Selected isiXhosa Literary Text
No full textGender-Based Violence (GBV) in South Africa is a post-colonial social ill. Women and young girls suffer double oppression in the country. First, they are oppressed for being women and young girls; and second, they are oppressed for being women and young girls of the lower class. This article aims to utilise one selected isiZulu and isiXhosa drama, respectively, to effectuate a meticulous examination of how and why GBV is a recurring pattern. The ultimate aim is to underline the unprejudiced reality that South African literature (isiZulu and isiXhosa, for example) engages contemporary social ills such as GBV, subordination of women and young girls, gender discrepancies, and neolithic stereotypes. African feminist technique is utilised as a conceptual framework to advance the said aims of the article. In the process, the qualitative research methodology is employed to describe and explain the nature of the data source. The discussions and findings demonstrate that although women and gender discourses research has been undertaken extensively, the fact that women and young girls continue to be tormented is enough to prove that there is a conundrum in South Africa and possibly, elsewhere
The Convergence of Quality and Digitalisation in a Changing World: Implications for Developing Nations such as the BRICS Group
Get PDFThe emergence of digitalisation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution has resulted in a significant shift in practices, resulting in a disconnection among organisations, employees, and technology, particularly affecting developing nations like the BRICS group which have faced disproportionate challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of quality in the context of intelligent and automated systems operating in a technologically advanced environment. The study employs a systematic literature review methodology, which encompassed a rigorous process of identifying and selecting 38 articles, followed by a comprehensive thematic analysis. The findings highlight that organisations need to adapt their quality systems to effectively operate in a world dominated by intelligent and automated systems. The implication is that by leveraging digital technologies, organisations can embrace the integration of quality with machine learning, programmable logic controllers, adaptive feedback loops, automated information collection, and blockchain technology to develop a value-based, transparent, and secure quality system. The proposed roadmap and model derived from this study affords organisations the opportunity to establish an intelligent quality ecosystem that aptly aligns with the requisites of the technologically advanced era, thereby ensuring the attainment of excellence in quality during the digital era
Coping with Crisis: A Regional Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer-Facing Businesses in South Africa
Get PDFThe spread of COVID-19 over the span of over two year is a strong testament to the fact that we live in a truly integrated global community. The estimation of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is at an early stage but is significant, even catastrophic, for many emerging economies. The precise economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the measures taken by the South African government to mitigate the transmission of the virus is still unknown, and the effect of COVID-19 on South African businesses has not yet been widely reported in the literature. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 1694 business executives in the Western Cape province, South Africa. The findings show how businesses in different industries, and of all sizes, adapted their business models to the changing environmental conditions within a short period. The results indicate that the crisis is causing major business changes, including loss of revenue, work-from-home arrangements, bridging finance, restructuring debt, retrenchment and closing of businesses. In addition, the crisis has led to a tentative digitalization
Antecedent Factors of Procurement Performance in the Public Health Sector in the Gauteng Province
Get PDFPublic procurement occupies a key role in government departments and public entities. Supplier selection, a sub-function of procurement, has become one of the elementary roles of procurement managers since it virtually affects any industry’s competitiveness. Therefore, selecting suitable suppliers brings substantial benefits to enterprises and increases customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between supplier selection practices, supplier risk management, supplier commitment, and procurement performance in the public health industry in Gauteng province. The survey material was designed in a structured questionnaire to measure the study constructs. The collected quantitative data were analysed using the SMART-PLS 3 structural equation modelling procedure. The study results showed positive and significant relationships amongst all variables except for one. Supplier risk management had a weak and insignificant connection with procurement performance. The results are essential to the existing literature on procurement performance within public health industries in developing countries such as South Africa. The study concludes by suggesting recommendations for limiting the impact of the identified challenges on procurement performance
Human Resource Management Practices and Business Performance: The Mediating Effect of Corporate Entrepreneurship
Get PDFGlobalisation is creating profound and substantial changes for businesses and industries worldwide. These changes have forced businesses to re-evaluate their organisational philosophy and strategic approaches to become more competitive. Corporate-level entrepreneurship is indispensable in improving productivity and promoting economic growth. The paper’s purpose was to determine the mediating role of corporate entrepreneurship between human resource management practices (HRMPs) and business performance. Following this purpose, the interrelationship between specific human resource practices, corporate entrepreneurship and business performance was investigated. After that, the mediating role of corporate entrepreneurship in the relationship between human resource practices and business performance was examined. A quantitative, formal, and cross-sectional approach was used. Data were collected using a survey, and self-administered questionnaires were emailed to 744 human resource managers in medium and large businesses in Gauteng. A response rate of 47.6 per cent was achieved as 351 usable questionnaires were received. The results provide empirical evidence that corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is stimulated by better employee relations, selection practices, compensation, high level of employee development and skills training. The evidence further shows that HRMPs influence business performance and that a positive relationship exists between innovation intensity and risk propensity and business performance
Nigeria and ‘Negotiated Elections’: Examining the Impact of Rotational Presidency on Peace, the National Question, and Development
Get PDFNigeria is a country consistently tilting towards one violent situation or another. Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has witnessed numerous ethnoreligious conflicts that have threatened its corporate existence. For example, age-long feelings of relative deprivation by certain sections of the country, have given rise to the continuous reference to a need to address the national question: a phenomenon that describes the aggregation of concerns by the different nationalities on how they can or should cohabit in the same federation. However, elections, and the entire electoral process, often serve as precipitates of ethnoreligious conflicts in Nigeria. Aside from the tensions that always sprout about who becomes what, there is a more prominent challenge of where the candidate comes from. Thus, elections in Nigeria often get reduced to geographical linings of candidates, rather than their competence or political ideology. This is often festered by the need to provide opportunities for all geographical sections of the country to produce the President, thus giving rise to the idea of a rotational presidency as a negotiated approach. The article examined the rotational presidency, vis-à-vis its implication for inclusiveness, peace, the national question, and development in Nigeria. The study utilised historical materials, elite theory, and the consociational model of power sharing to explore how the political activities towards elections have shifted the attention of the populace away from the pedigree and the leadership potentials of the aspirants/candidates to their ethnic and religious backgrounds. The study suggests how good leaders can emerge without jettisoning inclusiveness
Predicting Work Engagement among Employees in Windhoek, Namibia
Get PDFOrganisations are increasingly dependent on their employees’ strength; therefore, they need energetic and engaged employees. Engaged employees develop an abundance of resources which they devote to their job activities. When tackled with difficulties and limitations, engaged employees are determined to overcome challenges. A cross-sectional quantitative research design making use of a questionnaire is used in this study. The questionnaire was administered to n=124 employees (availability sampling) in Windhoek, Namibia across three institutions to collect data on the biographical details, emotional intelligence, job demands-resources, and the work engagement of employees. Data on the social skills, growth opportunities, and advancement opportunities predicted employees' work engagement. Positive organisational outcomes may be enhanced by focusing on job resources. This study also suggests that emotional intelligence is critical in ensuring that employees can withstand overwhelming job demands that they may encounter. Organisations need to expose employees to growth and advancement opportunities to foster work engagement. This study adds to the knowledge related to work engagement within Namibia and the field of psychology.