scholarly journals A review of four decades of research in organisational career psychology by academia in South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dries Schreuder ◽  
Melinde Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Career Guidance ◽  
The Body ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Career Interventions ◽  
Career Psychology ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Career Research

Orientation: Career research in organisations has increased in importance since the 1970s, which heralded new directions for organisational career research and practice both globally and nationally. Research purpose: The study critically reviewed trends in organisational career psychology research in South Africa from 1970 to 2011 in terms of global and present national challenges that require empirical investigation in the contemporary South African world of work context.Motivation for the study: The increasingly complex contexts, in which people have been pursuing their careers since the catalytic 1970s, demand the continuous generation and development of knowledge for the benefit of the discipline and practice of careers.Research design, approach and method: A broad systematic review was carried out to analyse documented academia research (N = 110) on careers from 1970 to 2011, which was published in six accredited South African scientific journals.Main findings: Much of the research addressed issues pertaining to career theory and concepts, the world of work and career assessment and technology. Career development, professional issues and organisational career interventions in the multi-cultural South African context appear to be under-researched.Practical/managerial implications: The insight derived from the findings can be employed by academia and researchers, in this field, to plan future research initiatives that will contribute to the profession and practice of career guidance and counselling in the contemporary workplace.Contribution/value-add: The findings provide preliminary insight that adds to the body of knowledge concerned with career studies in the South African organisational context.

scholarly journals An overview of industrial and organisational psychology research in South Africa: A preliminary study

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dries Schreuder ◽  
Melinde Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Body ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Psychology Research ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
African Context ◽  
Proportional Increase ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Personnel Psychology

Orientation: The generation and development of knowledge for the benefit of the discipline of industrial and organisational psychology by means of research is a core academic focus.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore general research trends in the field of industrial and organisational psychology in South Africa from 1950 to 2008.Motivation for study: Research in the field tends to be influenced by either the changing needs of business or the occupational or personal fields of interest of academics, which often lead to an overemphasis on specific subdisciplines at the expense of others. This research aims to critically review dominant trends in the research focus areas in the field, in the light of present challenges in the changing work context. Recommendations are also made for possible future research.Research design, approach and method: A broad systematic review was carried out to analyse documented published and accredited South African research in the field (n = 2501).Main findings: Although there has been a proportional decline in personnel psychology research since 1990, there has been a proportional increase in both organisational psychology and employee wellness research since 1980 and 1990, respectively. Some areas of the industrial and organisational psychology field appear to be consistently under-researched.Practical implications: The insights derived from the findings can be used by academia and researchers in the field to plan future research initiatives.Contribution/value-add: The findings provide preliminary insights that contribute to the body of knowledge concerned with the industrial and organisational psychology field in the South African context.

scholarly journals Exploring Perceptions of Bitcoin Adoption: The South African Virtual Community Perspective

10.28945/4080 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 165-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiden J Walton ◽  
Kevin A. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
The Body ◽  
High Potential ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Transactions Costs ◽  
Barriers To Adoption ◽  
Perceived Benefit ◽  
Sub Saharan

Aim/Purpose: This paper explored the factors (enablers and barriers) that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa, a Sub-Saharan country with the high potential for Bitcoin adoption. Background: In recent years, Bitcoin has seen a rapid growth as a virtual cryptocurrency throughout the world. Bitcoin is a protocol which allows value to be exchanged over the internet without a central bank or intermediary. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are technological tools that arguably can contribute to reducing transactions costs. This paper explored the factors that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa, a Sub-Saharan country with the high potential for Bitcoin adoption, as little is known about the factors that affect Bitcoin adoption and the barriers to adoption. Methodology: A quantitative questionnaire was distributed to South African virtual communities where Bitcoin is a topic of interest, and 237 quantitative responses were received, along with 212 open-ended comments. Contribution: This research contributes to the body of knowledge in information systems by providing insights into factors that affect Bitcoin adoption in South Africa. It raises awareness of incentives and barriers to Bitcoin adoption at a time when financial literacy is a crucial issue both in South Africa and worldwide. Findings: The results indicate that perceived benefit, attitude towards Bitcoin, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control directly affected the participants’ intentions to use Bitcoin. Perceived benefit, usefulness, ease of use, and trust-related risk were found to indirectly affect intention to use Bitcoin. Further, it emerges that the barriers to Bitcoin adoption in South Africa consist of the complex nature of Bitcoin and its high degree of volatility. Recommendations for Practitioners: Bitcoin can contribute to reducing transactions costs, but factors that affect adoption and the barriers to adoption should be taken into consideration. These findings can inform systems and software developers to develop applications that make managing Bitcoin keys and transacting using Bitcoin less complex and more intuitive for end users. Recommendation for Researchers: Bitcoin adoption in South Africa is a topic that has not been previously researched. Researchers could research similarities or differences in the various constructs that were used in this research model. Impact on Society: South African Bitcoin users consider it as a universal currency that makes cross-border payments cheaper. A large number of refugees and workers in South Africa make regular payments across borders. Bitcoin could reduce the costs of these transfers. Future Research: Future research could explore Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) adoption in other developing countries. Researchers could look at factors that influence cryptocurrency adoption in general. The factors affecting adoption of other cryptocurrencies can be compared to the results of this study, and similarities and differences can thus be identified.

scholarly journals Nigerian tourists to South Africa: Challenges, expectations and demands

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikechukwu O. Ezeuduji
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Flight Costs ◽  
Study Results ◽  
New Business ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Targeted Marketing ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Identification of tourists’ needs and finding ways of satisfying them is crucial to any tourism destination.Research purpose: This paper investigated the challenges, demands and expectations of Nigerian tourists to South Africa.Motivation for the study: Nigeria, along with other African nations, has been identified as one of the core regional source markets with air links to South Africa. Increasing revenue generated from regional tourism is important to South African Tourism.Research design, approach and method: Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyse the data collected using a questionnaire survey of 320 Nigerian tourists to South Africa.Main findings: Results showed that Nigerian tourists visit South Africa mostly for the purposes of business, holiday, visiting friends and relatives, education and medical care. Challenges perceived by these Nigerian tourists visiting South Africa include long waiting time for the visa process in Nigeria, expensive cost of living in South Africa, safety and security problems, not so many airlines to choose from and expensive flight costs. Nigerian tourists mostly expect South Africans to be friendlier and have expectations of linking up with new business partners or performing transactions. They also have a strong demand for shopping, leisure and quality education.Practical/managerial implications: This study recommends a bilateral tourism relationship agreement between the Nigerian and South African governments to ameliorate the visa process; targeted marketing communications by South African Tourism toward Nigerian tourists based on study results; strong police presence and proper policing in South Africa; air transport liberalisation and low-cost carriers implementation for shared economic growth within the African region.Contribution/value-add: No former research has specifically identified Nigerian tourists’ challenges, expectations and demands whilst visiting South Africa.

scholarly journals Reconceptualising undergraduate entrepreneurship education at traditional South African universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manduth Ramchander
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Postgraduate Level ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Start Ups

Orientation: The relatively high number of unemployed graduates in South Africa is a major cause for concern. Entrepreneurial start-ups have been heralded as the panacea to the unemployment challenge.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to ascertain how entrepreneurship education, at traditional South African universities, measured against existing entrepreneurship education frameworks.Motivation for the study: Despite a plethora of entrepreneurship education initiatives, the South African higher education system fails to produce sufficient entrepreneurs; hence, the need to explore how entrepreneurship education is structured.Research design, approach and method: The research design was exploratory and both quantitative and qualitative in nature. The population comprised the eleven traditional universities in South Africa and all of them were included in the study. Secondary data was obtained from the respective universities’ websites. The search sequence in the websites were as follows: Faculty of commerce/Management Sciences, Year/handbook, undergraduate/postgraduate programmes. The word ‘entrepreneurship’ was also used as a keyword to search within the university website.Main findings: The findings revealed some entrepreneurship modules, with low total credit value in relation to total programme credit value, at the undergraduate level and specialisation at the postgraduate level with some form of centre or incubator initiatives. It was also found that little attention is given to the development of entrepreneurial skills such as perseverance, resilience and self-efficacy.Practical/managerial implications: The significance of this article lies in its potential to guide the reconceptualisation of entrepreneurship education at South African universities.Contribution/value-add: This study integrates an existing framework and model to reconceptualise the undergraduate entrepreneurship programme. The reconceptualised structure entails a programme where modules from other disciplines are integrated into an entrepreneurship programme as opposed to the current structure where entrepreneurship modules are integrated into other career-focussed programmes.

scholarly journals Human resource management as a profession in South Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huma Van Rensburg ◽  
Johan S. Basson ◽  
Nasima M.H. Carrim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Sampling Strategy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Hr Management ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Bona Fide ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Various countries recognise human resource (HR) management as a bona fide profession. Research purpose: The objective of this study was to establish whether one could regard HR management, as practised in South Africa, as a profession.Motivation for the study: Many countries are reviewing the professionalisation of HR management. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the professional standing of HR management in South Africa.Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a purposive sampling strategy involving 95 participants. The researchers achieved triangulation by analysing original documents of the regulating bodies of the medical, legal, engineering and accounting professions internationally and locally as well as the regulating bodies of HR management in the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA) and Canada. Seventy- eight HR professionals registered with the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) completed a questionnaire. The researchers analysed the data using content analysis and Lawshe’s Content Validity Ratio (CVR).Main findings: The results confirm that HR management in South Africa adheres to the four main pillars of professionalism and is a bona fide profession.Practical/managerial implications: The article highlights the need to regulate and formalise HR management in South Africa.Contribution/value-add: This study identifies a number of aspects that determine professionalism and isolates the most important elements that one needs to consider when regulating the HR profession.

scholarly journals Challenging the ‘Four Corner Press’ as framework for invitational leadership in South African schools

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Niemann ◽  
Zendré Swanepoel ◽  
Nalize Marais
Keyword(s):  
School Leadership ◽  
South African ◽  
The Body ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
The South ◽  
Invitational Leadership ◽  
South African School ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Successful School

Orientation: Invitational leadership (IL) is consistent with current leadership trends and, because South African schools are in need of sound leadership, it is necessary to have a framework that can guide principals to act in accordance with the expectations of their educators.Research purpose: This study challenges the internationally accepted ‘Four Corner Press’ of Purkey and Novak (1984) as a framework for IL in the South African school context.Motivation for the study: IL appears to be a comprehensive model for successful school leadership. This necessitated an investigation to determine whether the ‘Four Corner Press’ reflects the expectations of teachers and, if so, whether it could serve as a valuable leadership tool.Research design, approach and method: A questionnaire containing 31 Likert-scale items, underpinned by the principles of IL, was disseminated to 600 educators conveniently drawn from the population of 88 828 teachers in Free State and Eastern Cape schools.Main findings: The data obtained from the survey enabled the researchers to perform a factor analysis, which revealed that South African educators’ expectations of leadership aligned with the ‘Four Corner Press’.Managerial implications: The ‘Four Corner Press’ can be used as a plausible framework for IL in South African schools, which has implications for the development and training of principals.Contribution/value-add: The ‘Four Corner Press’ can be regarded as a reliable prototype of IL expectations within the South African context, which contributes to extending the body of knowledge of education leadership in South Africa.

scholarly journals Constructing racial hierarchies of skill – Experiencing affirmative action in a South African organisation: A qualitative review

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanya Reuben ◽  
Shaida Bobat
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
South African ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Orientation: Apartheid in South Africa constructed racial, economic, social and political segregation, the consequences of which are still experienced today. Government has made concerted efforts to ‘deracialise’ South Africa, most notably through affirmative action (AA) measures.Research purpose: This study aimed to explore employees’ social constructions of AA in a South African organisation.Motivation for the study: Research in this field focuses mostly on attitudinal perspectives of AA with an emphasis on traditional approaches. Subjective, contextualised approaches to AA have received little attention. Thus, this study aimed to critically engage with the embodied nature of prejudice, particularly in reference to how we understand and experience AA.Research approach, design and method: This study aimed to explore AA from a social constructionist orientation, using semi-structured interviews. More specifically, this study used Potter and Wetherell’s discursive psychology.Main findings: The findings illustrate how participants engage in discursive devices that continue to rationalise a racial order of competence. Ultimately, AA is a controversial subject that traverses many segments of life for all South Africans.Practical/managerial implications: The findings contribute to the discipline of industrial psychology, particularly with regard to policies around preferential treatment, and can add value to the ways in which organisational policy documents are conceptualised. The findings also suggest the importance of developing an inclusive, non-discriminatory organisational culture.Contribution/value-add: This approach adds to the existing body of knowledge around the embodied nature of prejudice. The study’s methodology highlights the value of studying context in meaning-making and implied inferences that underlie talk.

scholarly journals Environmental influences, employee resourcing strategies and small and medium-sized enterprises performance: Case of South African small restaurants

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Honest Mupani ◽  
Crispen Chipunza
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
South African ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Business Failure ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Small businesses’ contribution to economic growth and employment creation cannot be disputed in South Africa, amid operating in an environment that is highly competitive and reports of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) high failure rates, in general. In view of this, and to our knowledge, no known theoretical study has been conducted in South Africa examining how certain environmental factors might influence the use of appropriate resourcing strategies for improved small businesses’ performance.Research purpose: This theoretical article investigates the relationships between environmental influences, employee resourcing strategies and business performance among South African small restaurants.Motivation for the study: There is a paucity of literature that has explored whether a relationship exists between the three variables among small restaurant businesses in South Africa, justifying the need for such an investigation.Research approach/design and method: This article, which is conceptual in nature, adopted a systematic literature review which entails combining all existing research literature related to the three variables so as to arrive at logical inferences.Main findings: The research contends that a relationship exists between the three variables.Practical/managerial implications: Small businesses need to be aware of the environmental influences that may contribute to business failure so that they attune employee resourcing strategies to the environment to achieve high performance.Contribution/value add: The article contributes to extant literature on the interplay between environmental factors, resourcing strategies and firm performance in small restaurant businesses of emerging economies.

scholarly journals The use of storytelling in quantitative research reports: A marketing research firm perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Maritz ◽  
Daniel J. Petzer ◽  
Christine De Meyer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Business Impact ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Actionable reporting ensures that a marketing research firm communicates with clients to achieve business impact as opposed to merely communicating data to clients. Storytelling communicates with impact as it focuses on creating engagement and inspiring action.Research purpose: This article investigates the use of storytelling as a tool for actionable reporting by South African marketing research firmsMotivation for the study: Clients of marketing research firms often criticise research reports as being too technical and lacking in strategic value. Storytelling is a reporting technique that can be used to develop actionable research and provide clients with more strategic value. Research design, approach and method: A total of 26 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with client service directors and managers of marketing research firms that deliver quantitative research reports to clients.Main findings: Results indicated that all marketing research firms but one use storytelling. Barriers that impede more regular use are inexperienced research executives and the time intensity associated with creating stories.Practical/managerial implications: Storytelling should be used by marketing research firms to provide clients with more actionable research.Contribution/value-add: The study provides marketing research firms in South Africa with recommendations as to how to implement storytelling as a reporting technique, which will add value to clients and enable marketing research firms to remain competitive and develop relationships with clients. 

scholarly journals Teleworking in South Africa: Employee benefits and challenges

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Baard ◽  
Adèle Thomas
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Virtual Work ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Employee Perceptions ◽  
Employee Benefits ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
African Context ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Virtual working arrangements present possible benefits to organisations and their employees. However, in South Africa, few organisations have implemented teleworking as a specific form of virtual work. The benefits and challenges to teleworkers are therefore largely unknown.Research purpose: The present study aimed to identify employee perceptions of personal benefits and challenges of teleworking.Motivation for the study: The study sought to contribute insights for South African business practice in this under-researched field.Research design, approach and method: This exploratory study collected primary data through the distribution of an electronic questionnaire to 94 employees at three South African organisations, with a 67% response rate. The survey included both closed and open-ended questions that were analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques.Main findings: Most of the internationally identified benefits of teleworking were supported by participants, such as improved productivity, increased job satisfaction and organisational loyalty, decreased stress and improved work-life balance. Challenges identified included an increase in working hours and the lack of availability of training opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The possible employee benefits and challenges of teleworking may assist organisations in devising teleworking practices and procedures that leverage benefits and address challenges inherent in this form of work practice.Contribution/value add: The study aims to supplement the dearth of knowledge about teleworking, specifically in the South African context, to assist organisations practically in their development of this form of virtual work arrangement for the benefit of organisations and their employees.

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