Management, Informatics and Governance

The article by Matete Lerutla and Renier Steyn is titled ‘Definition of Leadership in Africa within the Twenty-first Century Context: Empirical Research on Leadership in Africa’. Granted that leadership is a widely used construct and there are numerous articles across multiple disciplines that researche the ‘leadership’ phenomenon, this research investigates the construct of leadership in Africa. Much of what is written is conceptual, and empirical articles on African leadership remain sparse. The article reports on the findings of a systematic literature review that was conducted on leadership in Africa. It presents a qualitative review of empirical research, highlighting key findings and implications for future research. The research investigation followed the traditional body of knowledge framework of concepts, statements, definitions, and conceptual frameworks to systemize reports on leadership in Africa. Articles were identified, selected and analysed using the systematic literature review methodology. Articles, statements, definitions, models, typologies, theories, and paradigms were explored and interrogated in each article, so as to understand how they are linked to leadership in Africa

Editorial: Management, Informatics and Governance

As we live through the digital revolution and, for that matter, have entered the much acclaimed fourth industrial revolution, we need to also take a glance back, to look at where this has all began. There are many academic scenarios – and some not so academic – but in principle, it appears that, like many other scientific endeavours, it was started by and for the military. With regard to Alternation’s own trajectory, Smit and Chetty (2018a; and 2018b) provide a few brief insights.But be that as it may. Tim Berners-Lee was the first to connect the dots, and provide a vision for the future, in 1989, with the sketch on the cover of this issue of Alternation. And, after the 30 years, since, we want to dedicate this issue to him

Editorial: South African Research in Management, Informatics and Governance in a 21st Century Hyper Connected World

Alternation Special Edition 22,1 of 2015 forms a continuation of on-going research in the fields of Management, Business Leadership, Informatics, and Governance at a number of South African universities. This issue contains nineteen contributions from authors in South Africa, Britain and New Zealand. Contributions vary from the nature of transformational leadership, integrity in research and organisational management, and the ubiquitous role of informatics in the present-day digitally hyper-connected world in which we all now live. In one way or another, these nineteen contributions all focus on, relate to, or depend on Informatics as organisational management and communication backbone.The image of the front page of this is a blend of a painting in my possession, painted by my former colleague and friend Jan Zaal who is now deceased, which I photographed and which I overlaid with a simulated threedimensional image of digital information code. Jan Zaal’s painting is of a display window of the former Stuttafords in West Street Durban. Having witnessed the various phases that the painting went through, and having had privilege of discussing them with Jan Zaal, it is worth mentioning that he took over 700 photographs of the display window at various times of the day in different seasons over a nine month period and that his painting is a composite image, capturing the essential spirit of that display window

Report on the 2016 KwaZulu-Natal Pearson eLearning Pilot Project

Governments and institutions in Africa are increasingly turning to ICT-based solutions in order to improve the education performance of their students. Specifically, the promise of eLearning to improve and to better facilitate learning has spurred innovation towards provision of eLearning resources on mobile devices such as tablets. Tablets hold enormous potential in delivery of eLearning due to their portability and provision for multiple uses. This study aimed at understanding the efficacy of tablet-based digital content on teachers and learners and consequently, to offer recommendations for sustainable, scalable eLearning models. This report presents key findings from an eLearning research pilot conducted in 12 schools at KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The results indicate that an eLearning intervention could have an impact on the learners’ subject-specific skills, that teachers and learners gained digital literacy in their use of the eLearning intervention, that learners gained confidence in using the eLearning intervention and integrated various digital resources in their learning over time, that learners were sharing content more over time, that the majority of the teachers felt comfortable integrating the digital content in their teaching over time. The findings in this report would help educational leaders, content developers, technological providers and the Department of Education to make sound decisions in relation to developing and implementing eLearning interventions, especially in South African schools. Based on the findings of the eLearning research pilot, this report also presents recommendations based on pedagogy, eLearning, training, support and facilitation, implementation, hardware, partnerships and provides possible considerations for tablets in educational rollouts

Hands-on Postgraduate Research Proposal Design

The purpose of this article is to provide an account of empirical research among postgraduate first-time researchers regarding what skills are required to develop sound quality research proposals. The authors identify challenges that novice researchers encounter when designing their research proposals. The first of these challenges is to design a problem statement. The second challenge is how the researcher identifies an appropriate theoretical framework that is compatible with the problem set under investigation. This contribution also explains how the matrix method of literature review could be used ensure a review only references that relate to the problems under investigation

Students’ Use of Smartphones at a Historically Disadvantaged University

As technology becomes cheaper the potential for learning is greater, preparing and disseminating learning material through smartphones is likely to become popular. However, it was not clear whether students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, have the right equipment (smartphones) to support learning at a historically disadvantaged university. This study assesses smartphone ownership as a potential tool for enhancing students’ learning at a relatively resource-poor higher education (HE) environment in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Correspondence universities, such as ‘Unisa’ and examples worldwide in HE, use students’ smartphones for educational purposes. Primary data were collected from postgraduates and undergraduate students using a self-administered structured questionnaire for all faculties. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was employed to account for students’ perceived ease of use (EOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). The results revealed smartphone ownership and use was greater than the ownership and use of regular cellular phones. Regular cellular phone users commented on smartphone capabilities as enhancing learning

Gesture-based Technology and Organisational Strategy: A Study of a Quick Service Restaurant Franchisor

The aim of the study was to derive a theoretical framework that is hinged on critical success factors, enablers and Inhibitors, for the Alignment of Gesture-Based Technology and Organisational Strategy for the quick serving restaurant sector. The critical success factors, enablers and inhibitors that were used to formulate the framework were extrapolated from the literature. The sample design of this research study is a Non-Random, Purposive Sample. The key analysis of the research was to test whether critical success factors, enablers and inhibitors indeed can be used to derive a theoretical framework using a questionnaire. It was concluded that critical success factors, enablers and inhibitors were indeed core to the formulation of a theoretical framework. All of the critical success factors, enablers and inhibitors presented in the sample were accepted

Evaluation of Information System Service Quality in a South African Governmental Department

The research project was undertaken to investigate the effective usage of Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) in theDepartment of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT), taking into consideration other factors impacting onservice delivery in the Department and their challenges. The survey was confined in the DEDECT Provincial office and at middle managementrespondents with access to IS equipment and tools. A sample of 25 respondents was selected. The collected data was presented in frequencytables and graphs. The main findings of the study reveal that there is a strong correlation between service delivery and the IS infrastructure in thedepartment and encompassing other factors which may include perceptions of clients, support systems to IS and the capabilities of the IS operators. It is therefore imperative that the various arms of government start working smartly and effectively by using IS and IT to increase productivity. At the end of this article, several general strategies are put forward as possible solutions to achieve this goal

The impact of information quality on information research

This contribution analyses the impact of information quality on research. It presents a theoretical discussion of the concept 'information quality' and shows that good information quality entails good research. The discussion is relevant for both researchers and research users, because it shows that information quality is a critical determinant of research success, as measured by the creation of new knowledge. Thus, information quality fundamentally impacts research. Reasons for the existence of low quality information as well as proposed solutions to this problem are provided in the paper