The Open University of Tanzania Online Journals System
Not a member yet
933 research outputs found
Sort by
Assessment of the Effects of Moderating Factors of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Performance of SMEs in Tanzania
No full textThis conceptual study was conducted in order to assess the effects of the Moderating Factors of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on the performance of SMEs in Tanzania. According to the literature EO refers to the strategy making process that provides organizations with the basis for entrepreneurial decisions and actions. The dimensions of EO are innovativeness, proactiveness, risk taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy. The need for firms to exercise EO has been widely recognized. In less developed countries like Tanzania where the growth rate of SMEs is very limited, the subject matter has not been fully exploited for firms to cope and understand the effects of EO on firm performance especially the SMEs. To the authors’ best knowledge there exists only a few studies in Tanzania on EO especially those looking at the moderating factors and linking them to SMEs performance. According to the literature several moderating factors such as cultural orientation and organizational structure (internal factors), social economic factors and political and legal factors (external factors) have a contribution on the applicability of EO hence performance of SMEs. The study found out that the moderating factors have an effect on performance of SMEs. However there is a need for research to test the applicability of moderating factors of EO and firm performance in a Tanzanian context.Â
Children Engagement with Literacy: A Study of Literacy Practices at a Multilingual Classroom in Cape Town, South Africa
No full textThis paper reports on the early literacy activities which children engage with at school to develop multi-competences. It draws an understanding of literacy as a social practice given the intricacies related to a particular literacy event. In this paper literacy is understood beyond reading and writing ability in order to widen the scope for early literacy learners to explore with literacy. The data was collected through ethnographic case study design from a grade three class using observation and document analysis. The class teacher became a resource as she used linguistic competence in English, Afrikaans and IsiXhosa to teach literacy in different situations. The data shows that, language is a resource for teaching and learning literacy instead of seeing it as a problem and barrier to the learning process.  Home language can be an instrument through which children develop cognitive skills for learning. The paper concludes that, despite the efforts to support learners to become multi-literate, teachers’ competence in different languages is necessary to facilitate the acquisition of multilingual skills. Â
Water Quality in Selected Shallow Wells in Dar es Salaam
No full textMajority of Dar es Salaam residents depend mostly on ground water for their domestic use because, they are not connected to the city water supply system, or the supply system is not reliable. Due to widespread use of groundwater (shallow and deep wells), the scientific determination of quality of this mass consumed product is essential. In this study the water quality parameters: physical, chemical and biological contaminants on the shallow wells were investigated around Dar es Salaam City.  Except for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Total Hardness, other physical parameters tested were within the WHO acceptable range. Levels of phosphate in samples from Temeke district ranges from 0.42 – 1.20 ppm, while samples from Ilala ranges from 0.16 – 0.36. Meanwhile chloride levels in samples from Temeke ranges between 158.40 – 624.14 ppm and Ilala ranges between 142.34 – 359.52 ppm. This could be due to human activities such as small industries and unplanned waste dumping sites close to water source.  All water samples were contaminated with both Total Coliform (TC) and Fecal Coliform (FC). The highest TC and FC levels were detected in the sample from Vikunai Village in Temeke municipality (2160/100ml and 67/100ml respectively). This was due to proximity of pit latrines and runoff during rainfall because shallow wells are neither covered nor built up above ground level to create barriers against storm water inflow.  Generally, water from shallow wells in Dar es Salaam City is bacteriologically and chemically contaminated. The source of contamination is on-site waste disposal and poor hygiene education. It is recommended that water from wells must be treated prior to consumption in order to prevent potential infections. Residents ought to be provided with water quality management education so that they could know how to treat, store and maintain the quality of drinking water
Effect of Family Size and Sex Preference on Contraceptive Use Among Married Women in Morogoro Municipality
No full textThis study was conducted with the purpose of determining whether son preference exists in the study area as well as establishing the ideal family size among married women. These were correlated with contraceptive behaviour in order to establish their relationships. The study was conducted to a sample of 135 randomly selected married women aged between 15-49 years from Morogoro Municipality. Both a questionnaire and focus group interviews were used to collect the data. The results showed that mean ideal number of desired children was 4.2. When ideal family size was compared with contraceptive behavior results indicated the increase of current and intention to use contraceptive methods to women with more than two children. Majority of respondents did not show strong sex preference. When related with contraceptive use, current use of contraceptive use was found to be high among respondents with children of both sexes and low for respondents with children of single sex. Looking into actual sex composition, 47.3% had more boys than girls. When actual family size was related to contraceptive use, it was observed that majority were currently using contraceptive (67%), the same pattern was noted with the intention to use contraceptives, which was high especially to those respondents with one or two children. The study recommends that, although the current use and intention to use contraceptives was high in the study area, more effort is needed to make sure that continuation rate is also high
ACCESSIBILITY AND USE OF INTERNET LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (ILE) BY DISTANCE EDUCATION STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA
No full textThis study aimed at investigating accessibility and use of Internet learning environments (ILE) by distance education students at the Open University of Tanzania. The study was qualitative and largely descriptive and interpretive. It used purposive sampling procedures to draw a total of 84 respondents constituting two ICT administrators, two Directors from two directorates in OUT and 80 OUT students from three Dar es Salaam Regional Centers; Ilala, Kinondoni, and Temeke. The study sought to discuss students’ and staff- perceptions on their competence levels in using internet facilities, availability of internet services, staff training and perceptions of major barriers encountered in using internet services while studying and working at OUT. Data collection methods used for the study included observations, questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. Findings of the study revealed the lack of comprehensive computer skills, distance to internet facilities, demographic factors and information processing skills among students and staff to be the significant influence on the use of ILE. Gender was also found to have some influence on accessibility and use of ILE.; while distance ranked fourth. Age and income were found to have no significant influence on accessibility and use of ILE. On the basis of the findings the researchers proposed the following recommendations: (1)There should be provision of further training for students in computer use and information processing skills, (2) ICT experts at the University should be qualitatively and quantitatively trained in order to,(3) provision of adequate user friendly facilities and services to align with students' needs, (4) further studies need to be conducted to assess use of various internet services for students’ learning through the distance mode of education provision;(5) ascertain faculty acceptance of internet integrated teaching, (6) conduct a more detailed and elaborate investigation on accessibility as well as use of internet learning environments for different courses at OUT and other institutions where the Internet is used for provision of education, (7) Develop policies that enhance OUT’s collaboration with other universities in East Africa and across the world (8) expand the volume of internet bandwidth so as to lower costs of internet services and increase the speed of internet services and (9) introduce compulsory computer courses from primary schools and (10) introduce modalities for OUT students to own personal Internet equipment
The Dynamic Synergies between Agricultural Financing and Economic Growth of Tanzania
No full textWe apply the recently developed asymmetric ARDL cointegration methodology of Shin et al. (2011) to analyse the relationship between agricultural financing and economic growth of Tanzania. In this approach, short run and long run asymmetries are introduced via positive and negative partial sum decompositions of exogenous variables, and the model is estimable by standard OLS. Our findings reveal supporting evidence of asymmetric interactions among the examined variables in the short run and long run. The findings further reveal that endogenous variables react differently to positive and negative shocks of exogenous variables. Positive shocks of agricultural financing have considerably larger positive impacts on economic growth compared to negative shocks, while any unfavourable economic conditions would clobber agricultural financing. In light of our findings, we conclude that the existing asymmetric relationship between agricultural financing and economic growth should be taken into account and the government should increase its financing of the agriculture sector.  Â
Dynamics of Economic Growth, Energy Consumption and Health Outcomes in Selected Sub-Sahara African Countries
No full textThe study investigates the relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and health outcomes in a representative of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. Annual data over 1990-2014 were sourced from World Bank's World Development Indicators (2016) and fitted in a panel vector autoregression model. The study reveals that neither economic growth nor energy consumption was found to affect health outcomes significantly. The study however shows that medical factor such as health care expenditure remains an important determinant of health outcomes in SSA. However, all the variables employed in the study have joint significance to Granger-cause health outcomes, but individually only CO2 causes a marked change in health outcomes. Neutrality hypothesis in causal relation is found to hold. No evidence of causality running from proxy of health outcome to energy consumption or economic growth. Likewise, no evidence of causal pattern running from either energy consumption or economic growth to health outcome is foun
Comparing the Illicit Financial Flows in Some African Countries: Implications for Policy
No full textDue to the deleterious effect of the illicit transfer of funds on Africa economies the paper determines and compares the volume of illicit funds which should have been used for development but otherwise channeled into private benefits in seven African countries during 2005-2015. Using the World Bank Residual Model, we found that illicit financial flows are being experienced in all the sample countries otherwise unabated. In quantum terms, illicit transfers of funds are more in upper-middle-income countries while and it was highest in low- income countries as a proportion of the country’s GDP. The study concluded that relative to aggregate income low-income countries engage more in illicit financial transfers that the other income groups whereas in quantum terms it was substantial in upper-middleincome group. We recommend that all income groups should improve on regulatory controls in order cub illicit transfers in Africa, more importantly, the low-income group. Â
Trade Union Revitalization in Kenya: Acquisition and Utilization of Power Resources
No full textA consensus has emerged in trade union research that trade unions are not solely at the mercy of major societal trends, but always have the option of making strategic choice(s) to revitalize and ensure improvement in the socio-economic welfare of their members. The key question is, which power resources and means of exerting such power are available to trade unions in the different context they face to reposition and revitalize themselves? This paper uses the power resources approach to identify the power resources that were acquired, developed and utilized by the Kenya National Private Security Workers Union to revitalize. The revitalization process, which started in 2011 saw the union transform from an outfit characterized by leadership wrangles, coup d’états, demarcation conflicts and low membership density to one with relatively high membership, stronger cohesion and solidarity, and unity amongst the leadership and the rank and file members. Based on the analysis, the revitalization of the Kenya National Private Security Workers Union reinforced the fact that associational power is best sustained through institutional power. The revitalization process also saw a double framing function by allowing the union to gain more sympathy and relevance from members of the public, while internally presenting it with articulation capabilities to bring together national officials, shop stewards and rank-and-file members. These changes made the union to increase its density by almost tenfold between 2011 and 2017. It also enabled the union to emerge as a strong, cohesive and vibrant union capable of turning challenges into opportunities