Browsing by Subject "governance"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    A governance framework for blockchain technology in the South African insurance industry
    (2025) Damon, Aldo; Roodt, Sumarie; Chigona, Wallace
    Purpose: The governance of blockchain technology is a topic of continuing study, and a multidisciplinary perspective on blockchain governance is essential for building a formal governance framework for this emerging technology. While the subject of blockchain governance is sometimes misunderstood, blockchain technology has gained growing interest from businesses and academics. Blockchain stakeholders cannot work or make rational decisions optimally without enough insight into the governance of blockchains. Its advancement and stabilization are of utmost importance for stakeholders that depend on blockchain. Where organizations and individual end-users must consider in their decision the element of regulation for the blockchain technology or network, regulators and developers still need to grasp it. The purpose of this study is to explore the understanding of blockchain governance by reporting on frameworks and themes that capture the main dimensions and layers of blockchain governance. The study proposes a governance framework that can assist strategic management within businesses to analyse the governance of the blockchain in a comprehensible manner in order to facilitate strategic decision-making in the insurance industries within South African organisations. Design/methodology/approach: This deductive qualitative research that is shaped by subjectivism ontology, interpretive epistemology, uses comprehensive literature review and deductive thematic analysis of eight semi-structured and focus group interviews for data collection, which then identifies the key dimensions and layers of blockchain governance, including technical, economic, social, and legal aspects of consideration. The deductive thematic analysis selected follows the seven steps of deductive qualitative research. Findings: The innovative blockchain governance framework consists of four perspectives, each tied to key themes from the collected data. The OSS Governance Phases focus on decision-making, community engagement, and conflict resolution. The OSS Life Cycle Stages emphasize onboarding, code contribution, and version control. The Blockchain Governance Framework Dimensions & Layers highlight on chain voting, off-chain communication, and incentive structures. Lastly, the TOE Framework Model addresses technological readiness, organizational roles, and regulatory compliance. These perspectives align with the study's findings, ensuring clarity and alignment with research objectives. xi P a g e Research limitations/implications: The paper contributes to blockchain governance theory. The innovative perspectives provide a synthesized conceptual framework for researchers to evaluate and understand blockchain governance development from multiple perspectives. Practical implications: The synthesized blockchain governance framework presents a road map for practitioners and business managers to follow in their blockchain projects. Originality/value: The research uses an innovative perspectives and other individual research methodologies to synthesize the existing research framework proposed. It is one of the first research papers in the information systems field to make use of deductive thematic analysis approach to consolidate the existing qualitative research and interviews to systematically propose a blockchain governance framework.
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    An exploratory study of the experiences of student support officers offering counselling services to students at TVET Colleges in the Western Cape
    (2025) Naidoo, Sashen; Ward, Catherine; Titi, Neziswa
    This study explored the experiences of student support officers (SSOs) who offer counselling services to students at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in the Western Cape province, South Africa. Methodologically, the study employs a phenomenological approach as its focus is on experience-generated knowledge. It is thus located within the qualitative paradigm to give voice and the perspectives of the SSOs. Previous literature demonstrates that students historically sought counselling primarily for academic and career purposes. However, over time, the nature and type of counselling students required became increasingly complex with greater expectations of counsellors at higher education institutions. Therefore, further research is necessary to better understand this consequential phenomenon from the perspective of the SSOs through their meaning-making. This study found that SSOs experienced their role to be ill-defined, fluid and riddled with challenges of language and culture thus affecting the quality of meaningful counselling. This study offers recommendations emanating from interviews with SSOs. This study is germane to governance in TVET colleges in the Western Cape but may offer insights to other institutions of higher learning.
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    Cleaner energy cooler climate: developing sustainable energy solutions for South Africa
    (2011) Winkler, Harald
    For South Africa, finding a policy approach which balances the increasing demand for energy with the need for sustainability, equity and climate change mitigation is a particular challenge. Energy and climate change are issues of critical importance for shaping a sustainable future, both in South Africa and globally. This book provides an innovative and strategic approach to climate policy, with local development objectives as its starting point.
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    A critical review of South Africa’s Carbon Tax Policy Paper: recommendations for the implementation of an Offset Mechanism
    (2013-12) Newham, Melissa; Conradie, Beatrice
    The South African government has emphasised the need for ‘developing country’ solutions to climate change that simultaneously pursue GHG reductions and socioeconomic development. To encourage the transition to a low-carbon economy the National Treasury has proposed a carbon tax and offset mechanism to be introduced in 2015. The practical delivery of the offset scheme remains uncertain. This paper investigates which features and governance structure would be desirable for such a mechanism in South Africa. Primary research is conducted into the South African voluntary carbon registry; Credible Carbon. The questions asked by this paper are: Should firms be allowed to offset emissions? What is the ideal way to implement offsets in South Africa? This paper concludes that Credible Carbon provides a good model for carbon trading that can be scaled up to meet demand under the new regulations. However, government needs to ensure that projects continue to deliver acceptable social benefits and that carbon auditors are well-trained and accountable.
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    Neoliberalism and rural exclusion in South Africa: Xolobeni case study
    (2021) Madiya, Sisanda Bongiswa; Maluleke, Gavaza; Lushaba, Siyabonga
    This study investigates the exclusion of rural communities from the postcolonial South African nation state as a result of the neoliberal agenda of the democratic government. This is a qualitative study that was conducted using a desktop analysis of literature and information on the case of the rural Xolobeni community and their resistance to mining. The secondary sources analysed included books, journal articles, news articles and online court documents. The study was also guided by the postcolonial concepts of the nation state and neoliberalism, which have both contributed to the conceptualisation of citizenship in the postcolonial world. The study found that economic growth-centred development in South Africa is often at the expense of those living in the poor communities of the country, such as in the rural areas (Capps & Mnwana, 2015; Kunnie, 2000). Rural communities, such as the former Bantustans, are often stripped of their land rights and livelihood strategies without their consent, at the hands of the democratic government of South Africa under the guise of development. This study argues that this is an injustice that results in the exclusion of rural communities from the postcolonial nation state. This exclusion is not only undemocratic – it resembles the oppression of these communities that characterised apartheid in South Africa.
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    The effect of ESG scores on corporate financial performance: case study on South Africa
    (2025) Choga, Simba Michael; Ndlovu, Godfrey
    This study seeks to examine the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores and firm performance: using both accounting and market-based measures of firm performance. This research is important because it allows for valuable insights for investors and the local government, enabling them to navigate the complex environment of ESG disclosure and financial performance. Although the bulk of the evidence suggests the existence of a positive relationship between ESG scores and firm performance, a few studies find a negative relationship. Further, most research primarily use the combined ESG score and thus ignore the fact that the effect of the ESG subcomponents may vary. Using a panel of 38 JSE-listed firms over the period 2010 to 2022, the results from this study suggest existence of a negative but insignificant relationship between ESG scores and firm performance; regardless of the measure of performance used. Similar results are also found for the ESG subcomponents. The results suggest that firms engaged in ESG activities experience a negative effect on their profitability and market value. This would suggest that the push for ESG efforts negatively affects JSE-listed firms' performance which aligns with some previous research. Therefore, JSE-listed firms should consider investing less in ESG practices to improve firm performance.
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    The effect of fiscal decentralisation on the financial condition of district municipalities
    (2021) Kola, Thato; de Jesus, Carlos
    The adoption of decentralised systems of governance in its various forms across the world represents one of the most important reforms of the past generation. In South Africa, through a plethora of legislative reforms post 1994, the framework of developmentalism and decentralisation underpin the structure and functioning of the local government system. The new onerous legislative responsibilities bestowed on local government included the significant objectives of promoting social and economic development. Given however the myriad of challenges in this sphere of government, the need to find meaningful, suitable and sustainable solutions are even more pressing. By employing a two-way error component fixed panel data regression technique, this study explores the impact of fiscal decentralisation arrangements in South Africa on the financial wellbeing of the district municipalities across the length and breadth of the country. The data reveals that district municipalities in South Africa are not able to self-generate a meaningful amount of revenue and as a result they are heavily dependent on intergovernmental transfers. The results from the regression models reveal that the fiscal decentralisation arrangement have no meaningful impact on the financial condition of district municipalities in South Africa, given their lack of fiscal autonomy. The current two-tier system of governance between local and district municipalities is not consistent with the tenets and intended outcomes of a decentralised system and there is a need to restructure this system to make it more fiscally autonomous and sustainable for municipalities to be able to fulfil legislative responsibilities.
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    Understanding philanthrocapitalism and its impact on private nature reserves: A case study of Gorongosa, Mozambique
    (2022) Ochs, Tobias; Mbatha, Philile
    An increasing body of literature reveals that powerful businesspeople have a long history of using their wealth for the benefit of the greater common good. With philanthrocapitalism, a new generation of hands-on donors that have made incredible fortunes within business sectors like information technology or finance, are taking on the world's most pressuring social and environmental problem, willing to change the way of giving and enhancing traditional philanthropy. The rich entrepreneurs turned philanthropists are applying their skills and talents that have made them successful in business and infusing the charity sector with corporate tools and strategies and are getting personally engaged and using political and social networks to leverage their efforts. Driven to find solutions to the world's most severe problems, philanthrocapitalists tend to target problems that cut across national boundaries, such as AIDS, Malaria, illiteracy, and population growth. Next to these familiar fields such as health and education, philanthropists are also increasingly engaging in nature conservation. By establishing private nature reserves or taking over failed state-run nature reserves, elite donors are increasingly featuring neoliberal conservation and intervene in political ecology particularly in biodiversity hotspots in the global South. Notwithstanding philanthrocapitalism growing prominence and significance, broader public debates and academic literature is just emerging in recent years and the impact on nature conservation has received little scholarly attention. By examining the case of the Gorongosa Project (GP), a transnational nature conservation project that was established by U.S. multimillionaire Greg Carr in Mozambique, this thesis seeks to illustrate: a) how philanthrocapitalism influences nature conservation, b) how philanthrocapitalistic conservation projects work in practice and, c) enhance understanding about the implications of philanthrocapitalism in conservation governance, recognising its advantages and limitations. The thesis further seeks to contribute to the academic discourse as the far-reaching ventures of Western philanthrocapitalists have provoked a controversial debate. Advocates such as economists, journalists and political organisations argue that the financial power, unique business skills, resources and networks enable philanthrocapitalists to contribute to solving global issues more efficiently than other stakeholders. In contrast, critics from political or social sciences or conservation point out the increasing influence that wealthy philanthropists have on global policymaking as well as social and political agendas and have raised concerns about democratic values and power and wealth inequalities.