An empirical investigation of banks employees’ interactions and workflow influence during social media advent: a case study of two commercial banks

The primary aim of this study is to investigate commercial banks employee’s interactions in the advent and eminence of social media, thus, depict the major influence which is made by social media in two commercial banks (ABSA and Standard Bank) workflow. This study has employed a quantitative research approach whereby structured questionnaires were distributed respectively to two commercial banks’ employees. A self-developed and administered questionnaire was distributed to a population size of 194 employees with 102 returned and completed successfully, thereby generating a response rate of 53%. Findings in this study revealed the extent to which social media has changed workflow in commercial banks (54% agree, 23% were undecided, and 24% disagreed). Among other major findings that this study reflected, social media among commercial banks employees’ has totally transformed channels of communication (60% agreed, 25% were undecided, and 24% disagreed). Despite the positive advancements revealed in this study, social media has not allowed openness of emotions among commercial banks employees’ (49% agreed, 28% were undecided, and 24% disagreed). This study is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge, as there is a paucity of published studies on commercial banks employee’s interactions in the advent of social media. This study will also help the bank managers to intensify online team management and supervision. Keywords: collaboration, communications, employees’ emotions, human interaction, supervision, team management. JEL Classification: G21, M30, M5

The Status of Adoption of Social Media Analytics: Three Cases in South African and German Government Departments

Lack of access to technologies and quality data are key challenges for reducing the digital divide and developing digital citizens to support Smart City initiatives. This paper reviews efforts towards Smart Cities and access to smart technology and Open Data in developed economies globally and in South Africa. Reviews of literature and websites were conducted and the Qualitative Content Analysis method was used to analyse the data. The contributions are the commonalities and differences between Smart City initiatives in developed economies and in South Africa. The findings revealed that in developed countries the focus was mainly on e-services, citizen engagement, Intelligent Transport Systems and energy systems. They provided city-wide connectivity and addressed integration and interoperability challenges. The technologies included large IoT sensors and WiFi in-motion networks incorporating internationally accepted standards. Initiatives in South Africa were less mature, mostly in the initial stages and are not addressing other more urgent needs of the country such as water, food, shelter and education. Collaboration with best practice Smart Cities is needed to provide support to current and future initiatives in South Africa and for the development of African digital citizens

A social media analytics framework for decision-making in citizen relationship management

Globally social media has shown unprecedented levels of adoption and Social Media Analytics (SMA) is a rapidly growing topic. For governments, SMA holds the promise of providing tools and frameworks to collect, monitor, analyse and visualise social media data, usually driven by specific requirements from a target application. However, social media data is noisy and unstructured, and organisations struggle to extract knowledge from this data, and convert it into actual intelligence. This study argues that SMA can support intelligent decision-making for Citizen Relationship Management (CzRM). CzRM is a growing effort of governments around the world to strive to respond rapidly to their citizens by fostering a closer relationship thereby creating more effective and efficient service delivery. However, there is a little evidence in literature on empirical studies of any existing decision-making framework for CzRM and SMA adoption. In particular, there is a gap with regards incorporating SMA into decision-making for CzRM of governments, particularly in developing countries like South Africa. The aim of this study was to develop a framework that provides guidelines, including methods and tools, incorporating SMA into decision-making for CzRM in the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) and the Free State Provincial Government (FSPG) of South Africa. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and conceptual analysis method was conducted to design the Social Media Analytics Framework for Decision-making in the context of CzRM (the SMAF). The findings from the literature review revealed several benefits and challenges with SMA, in particular the shortage of skills, guidelines, methods and tools for SMA. These challenges were used to draft guidelines that were included in the framework, which consists of five components that can be used to derive intelligent information from SMA. The pragmatic philosophy and a case study design was used to generate an in-depth, multifaceted understanding of the underlying problems in the case of the GPG and the FSPG. The German North-West Metropolitan region was used as a third case study to provide a more global perspective and a case of a developed country in terms of Gross Domestic Product. The scope of the study was limited to social media posts by provincial citizens related to CzRM and service delivery. Both formative and summative evaluations of the proposed theoretical framework were conducted. The formative evaluation was conducted v | Page as an Expert Review to receive feedback of the framework from the experts in the field of Computer Science and Information Systems. The findings validated the framework and some minor improvements were made based on the experts’ recommendations. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with participants from government managers and decision makers in the three cases were conducted. Case documents for the three cases were collected and reviewed. All collected data was analysed using the Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) method and common categories and themes were identified. Summative evaluations were conducted in the form of a Field Study, which consisted of an analysis of Twitter data from the three cases, and a closing FGD with Business Intelligence (BI) experts at the primary case of the e-Government department of the GPG. The findings revealed that SMA has been adopted in all three cases; however, while their strategies are comprehensive their implementations are very much in their early stages. The findings also highlighted the status of SMA in government and some potential gaps and areas for implementing the framework.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, 202

The Technology, Organization, and Environment Framework for Social Media Analytics in Government: The Cases of South Africa and Germany

This paper investigates factors influencing the adoption of social media analytics (SMA) for citizen relationship management (CzRM). Three real-world cases of government departments, two in South Africa and one in Germany, were investigated, and focus group discussions were conducted. The technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) theory and qualitative content analysis guided the data analysis. The findings revealed that in all cases, staff usually conducted a manual analysis of social media and SMA had not been implemented sufficiently to realize its full potential. Insights were obtained from TOE and factors were identified that should be considered for improving the planning of SMA adoption in government. Data quality, methods and tools for SMA, and resources (e.g., skills and budget) were the most important factors identified for achieving success in SMA projects in government. The contribution is an improved understanding of the adoption of SMA for CzRM and can lead to effective monitoring of social media posts by citizens to improve service delivery and, hence, lead to more citizen-centric government

An exploratory study on the impact of social media of selected commercial banks in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

The emergence of social media in financially high-risk institutions has had a negative impact on employees’ perceptions towards utilization of social media for team collaboration and communication. This study investigates social media impact in commercial banks and explores the contribution it has brought among teams, thus, ascertaining collaboration and effective communication within the banking industry. It adopted a quantitative research method whereby 194 questionnaires were distributed and 102 completed, thereby generating a response rate of 53%. The study findings revealed 60% of the research participants who agreed, 14% undecided, and 27% disagreed that social media present an opportunity for people to commit fraud and attracts hackers. This study will contribute to the body of knowledge in South Africa as there is a limited number of published studies on the impact of social media in financial institution

An exploratory study on the impact of social media of selected commercial banks in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Social media have exacerbated negative impact across all facets of commercial banks. The evolution and ubiquity of social media has permeated the unprecedented pressure which is unavoidable in two identified commercial banks located in the Eastern Cape (OR Tambo District, Mthatha) namely: ABSA and Standard Bank in this decade of information technology. Thus, social media have imposed negative impressions on employees’ understanding, thereby resulting in the negative perceptions of employees regarding its benefits and influence which drastically amounted to change of employee interactions and communication. The primary objectives of the study are to investigate the impact made by social media on teams in the banking sector and to ascertain the types of teams who are utilizing social media tools. A quantitative research method was employed whereby 194 questionnaires were distributed and 102 completed, thereby generating a response rate of 53%. The data were analysed using SPSS version 23.0. The results present the descriptive statistics in the form of graphs, cross-tabulations and other figures for the quantitative data that was collected. Inferential techniques included the use of correlations and chi square test values which were interpreted using p-values. This study findings revealed a significant relationship between biographical variables (age, gender, race, level of education, work experience, job category, job type, job level and employer) and five dimensions (understanding of social media, social media optimism, social media influence on human interactions, challenges of social media in banks and perceptions in business etiquette). The study’s findings revealed a positive and significant relationship between social networking as a great contributor to business productivity and that social media, as a medium, enhances communication effectiveness at 0.448** . However, social media optimism was found to be negative due to lack of trust. The challenges of social media have come with embedded risks of fraud, hacking of information and so forth. These impacts were identified as risks which could violate policies and procedures of financial institutions. This study concludes and recommends that branch managers from commercial banks (ABSA and Standard Bank) should formulate and develop policies to guide employees on the use of social media; this is to intensify intervention in the event of inevitable excessive loss in the financial strength of these commercial bank