Covid-19 research output
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Item A framework to enhance environmental sustainability of plastic manufacturers in South Africa(2022-02) Foot, Judith; Van der Poll, H. M.An integrated view on generative sustainability has taken on acutely important dimensions globally, given the omniscience of degrading environmental forces. This age of the Anthropocene, in the time scale of earth’s evolution, has seen the exponential introduction, use, and wastage of those materials in demand for human lifestyles, all on an unprecedented scale. Within this evolution, the novelty of plastics, and their manufacturing took on normative proportions, more specifically, with their often-uncritical persistence in developing countries, such as South Africa. The negative impact of plastic on the environment has resulted in a ‘war’ on the plastic industry and plastic manufacturers, relevant to this research. Yet plastic manufacturers have defended their management of plastics through claims of upcycling, generating employment and upholding international best practice standards. Probing the authenticity of this ‘war’ prompted this current research, which explores the strategies and operations of plastic manufacturers and their stakeholders. The research theorised how an under-studied confluence of industrial ecology, systems-thinking and stakeholders’ involvement might provide a more judicious account of plastics, and their manufacture, within the global impetus for environmental sustainability. An initial framework was developed by critically evaluating the literature to understand plastic manufacturers and their stakeholders and situate their position in the sustainability debates. The framework was refined using empirical qualitative research, providing rich data interpreted using the tabled novel confluence of industrial ecology, stakeholders, and systems theories. The participants informing the contribution were purposively selected from a developing country’s population of plastic manufacturers and plastic industry stakeholders. The research has new assertions. It was found that a regionalised, territorial cooperation system should be implemented for stakeholders. Additionally, industrial ecology replaces the deliberative production and consumption systems within the regional levels, with a cyclical system such as those found in a natural ecosystem. Furthermore, there is a need to extend beyond the competitive stakeholder positions towards communal and complex inter-dependencies that essentially and powerfully constitute stakeholders within a circular socio-economic collaboration. This assertion has been particularly demonstrated through the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the real awakening that the world is highly interconnected and dependent on social collaboration between stakeholders. The perception of a linear-based manufacturing ethos was challenged with the insights of an under-appreciated regional circular ecology that requires strategic and operational drivers to work within feedback systems appropriate to a living ecosystem. Additional research could explore and extend the complex environmental sustainability issues by expanding the scope and scale of innovative strategies and operations used by plastic manufacturers and their stakeholders.Item The effectiveness and efficiency of student support services in open distance learning institutions in Africa: a desktop review(2021) Shabani, Dr Omari; Maboe, KefiloeToday, most higher education (HE) institutions throughout the world are shifting towards an Open Distance Learning (ODL) system. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has also prompted conventional institutions to move towards this system. This shift requires a greater investment in student support services, especially if the institution strives to attract new students, retain current ones, improve their overall performance, increase students’ progression rates and employability. A desktop review was conducted to ascertain the effectiveness and efficiency of these services and establish any possible direct or indirect association with students’ academic achievements. Studies conducted between 1990 and 2020 were examined using Google and Google Scholar, Scopus, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Science Direct, Sabinet and the National Research Foundation. The review revealed that student support services’ effectiveness and efficiency in ODL institutions in Africa are measured by the success, failure, dropout and attrition rates at these institutions. The effectiveness and efficiency of these services cannot be measured in isolation, but in terms of the philosophical and educational perspectives underpinning the education system. Moreover, dropout rates should be viewed in light of economic and educational landscapes. There is a dearth of literature supporting a direct association between the effectiveness and efficiency of student support services and students’ academic outcomes. The researchers recommend that empirical studies be conducted to provide more evidence-based information instead of speculation in the absence of empirical facts. Student support services’ effectiveness and efficiency need to be planned and implemented at the level of pedagogy and practice, while policy could offer an environment for planning.Item The Escalation of Corporate Corruption during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Is the Anti-Corruption Framework of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 Adequate?(Stellenbosch Law Review, 2022) Cassim, RehanaDuring the Covid-19 pandemic corruption in South African companies, both state-owned and privately-owned, reached staggering proportions. This included bribery, procurement irregularities, overpricing and fraudulent deals between government officials and companies. This article identifies provisions of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 that may be used to address corporate corruption. This is done with a view to ascertaining whether the anti-corruption framework of the Companies Act is adequate to counteract corporate corruption. It concludes that the Act contains a fairly comprehensive framework to tackle corruption in companies registered under it. In spite of this framework the level of corporate corruption remains high, and increased substantially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The article makes recommendations to reduce these high levels of corporate corruption.Item A holistic evaluation framework for inbound tour operator service quality in Cameroon(2021-12-15) Ako-Ebot, Eyong Ayuk; Sotiriadis, Marios; Van Zyl, CinaIn this era of globalisation, competition, and a global pandemic (COVID-19), the assessment of service quality is vital for the success of inbound tour operators in Cameroon. The problem of poor service quality in Cameroon, despite the country’s rich touristic potential, necessitated an empirical study aimed at fashioning a service quality evaluation framework for ITOs. A sequential explanatory mixed-method design was employed in the study. Using the purposive sampling technique through the administration of online questionnaires to staff and customers of ITOs, quantitative data was collected from managers [n=12], employees [n=5] and customers [n=126]. The data collected was used to prepare in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven (7) tourism experts/professionals. A quantitative data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics obtained through the customer and manager questionnaires. Inferential statistics regarding customers were applied to test hypotheses using the Pearson product–moment correlation while inferential statistics regarding managers were applied to test hypotheses using the Kendall rank correlation. Conversely, a qualitative data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and an inferential analysis was performed through the application of grounded theory. The final outcome was the identification of determinant factors of service quality in respect to TOs and the development of a service quality path model, which revealed that both customer-centric and service-centric outcomes must be combined to achieve comprehensive service quality evaluation objectives that will lead to the attainment of the satisfaction zone. The main contributions of this study were academic and practical in nature. From an academic perspective, this study provided more insight into the existing relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Hence, theoretical development occurred by integrating the dimensions of the TO service quality evaluation model and the SERVQUAL model with service quality evaluation. From a practical perspective, this study led to the formulation of an integrated operational system that TOs and service marketers can adopt to enhance service quality.Item Leadership in a transitioning higher education landscape from traditional to digitalisation of teaching and learning : a case of open, distance and elearning in Uganda(2022) Kamya, Mwogeza Resty; Makoe, MpineIntegration of technology into teaching and learning is not new in Uganda, but the rapid rate and pace of technological advancement, especially regarding the emerging educational technologies, corresponding pedagogical and leadership requirements, is. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem by necessitating all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to go online. The main objective of this study was to explore the lived experiences and adaptations of leaders in a transitioning HE landscape to develop a framework that would aid leadership reinvention from traditional face to face to Digitalisation Teaching and Learning (DTL). Using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and specifically the idiographic approach, qualitative data was collected through interviews of seven purposively selected senior managers in the Ugandan higher education sector. The study was also guided by the Complexity leadership theory, Distance Education System Theory and Bridges transition framework. The findings established that while there had existed various digital strategies pre-COVID-19 amongst all HEIs in Uganda, HE leadership struggled iteratively to leverage them in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic for a complete transition. Three master themes, twelve themes and thirteen subthemes emerged. Master theme 1- ‘Digital experiences’ comprised four themes including visioning for digital strategies pre-COVID-19, leveraging existing digital strategies, rethinking institutional strategies post-COVID-19 and the neutral state of transition. Master theme 2- virtual institutional landscape characterised by four themes including new channels of institutional social interaction, mechanisms of institutional culture, operations and practices, leadership roles and power structures and knowledge and social competencies. Master theme 3- ‘Institutional adaptability’ that comprised four themes including mobilisation of workforce, financial resource mobilisation, institutionalisation of DTL and, DTL gaps and mitigations. This study concluded that, while HE was metamorphosing into a virtual landscape, the existing traditional face to face structural setup of HE and inadequate strategic leadership representation is a major barrier to DTL and undermines the positionality and competitiveness of the Ugandan HE sector in the global village. Therefore, the need for leadership’s acceptance and recognition of the transitioning HE landscape, piloting and adoption of the developed leadership transitioning framework is paramount. The insights of this study contribute to a more integrative view of the interplay of leadership amidst DTL in HE.