Browsing by Subject "qualitative study"

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    Open Access
    Collaborative inclusion in South African restaurants: a case study on disability and accessibility
    (2025) Mailovich, Annami; Bam, Armand; Hamann, Ralph
    The study explores social inclusion barriers faced by people with disabilities in the hospitality industry and solutions to promote inclusion. Moreover, the study draws attention to an industry where exclusionary practices typically deprive people with disabilities of full participation in social activities and contributes to the literature on collaboration in design thinking. Using design thinking as a collaborative and inclusive innovation process between disabled and nondisabled participants in a two-day workshop, it describes the co-creation of solutions to overcome information barriers for disabled restaurantgoers. Removing these barriers equips disabled restaurant patrons with the information needed to make informed decisions to partake in social settings where physical barriers are commonplace. This qualitative study employed a single instrumental case study design, gathering data through interviews and observations and is analysed using Braun and Clarke's six-step framework. The findings are presented as three themes: First, inclusivity creates a welcoming setting in design thinking workshops by coupling accessibility with diversity. Second, resilience is critical in overcoming collaboration barriers and normalising accessibility among disabled and nondisabled participants. Third, synergy, forged by collaboration and efficient communication, shows the impact of collaborative efforts in fostering inclusivity and, ultimately, achieving social inclusion. Ethical considerations prioritised participant autonomy through transparent communication and incorporated their views in the development of the study through exploratory conversations. Based on these findings, this study contributes practical guidelines to improve accessibility innovations practitioners and organisations serving people with disabilities could apply.
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    Open Access
    Nudging' health behavioural change: behavioral economics, Tobacco control and innovative finance for Cancer control
    (2025) Chilwesa, Mambwe; Nilsson, Warren; Chelwa, Grieve
    Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death globally. Despite the existing traditional economic approaches like taxation, recent progress in tobacco control has plateaued compared to control efforts in nutrition, sexual reproductive health and alcohol. This discrepancy can be attributed to better nudging efforts in these areas compared to tobacco control. This study aimed to determine the knowledge of tobacco-related health and social problems, applications of behavioural economics in tobacco control amongst tobacco-control stakeholders, and to identify innovative ways of funding for treatment of tobacco-related cancers. This exploratory, cross-sectional, qualitative study was conducted between January 2020 and December 2022. The data collection involved semi-structured interviews and a focus group meeting. Data analysis was done using the thematic semantic analysis approach, with the initial step including verbatim transcription of the interviews followed by the listing of emerging ideas, code generation and sorting of themes. The results demonstrated participants' extensive knowledge of tobacco-related health and social problems and their minimal understanding of behavioural economics including nudging in this space. A few behavioural economics principles were identified which included incentives, bounded rationality, goal gradient theory, gamification, hyperbolic discounting, and herd mentality. Findings also revealed innovative ways to fund the control of tobacco-related cancer, which included public-private partnerships, taxation and occupational health compensations. Despite substantial efforts in the field of tobacco control, existing measures have not yielded the desired results in curbing tobacco smoking and behavioural economics may be an effective tool to bridge the gap. This study highlights the lack of knowledge on nudging as an effective tool for tobacco control. It is imperative to allocate increased funding to further explore the role of nudging in tobacco control and generate additional data in this area.
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    Open Access
    Women in senior leadership positions: higher education in eSwatini
    (2025) Dlamini, Annette; Malinga, Mandisa
    In recent years, there have been numerous changes in higher education institutions (HEI) in eSwatini. These changes include an increase in the number of women appointed to senior leadership positions. However, research indicates that despite the increase in the number of women who are senior leaders in HEIs, women still face certain barriers to not only their advancement, but also to fulfilling their roles as leaders of academic institutions. In order to understand the experiences of women in senior leadership positions in eSwatini's HEIs, this study adopted a qualitative research approach, using semi-structured face-to-face interviews as a way to document women's experiences. The data was analysed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis, which aligns with the intersectional feminist lens that informed the researcher's reading of the data. Findings suggest that a patriarchal culture dominates eSwatini, and that women's experiences in the workplace are determined by patriarchal norms. As a result, women's promotion to more senior roles have happened at a slower pace, and when they are promoted, women experience several barriers. These barriers include: a lack of institutional support, particularly in the form of mentorship programs and funding; lack of family support; and gender- and age-related stereotypes. The study also found that participants consider themselves to be more effective leaders than men because of qualities like emotional intelligence, introspective abilities, and empathy. This study highlights the importance of supporting women in senior leadership positions in HEIs, who are often the ones who take on the role of mentoring younger scholars, sharing the skills they have acquired. The goal of this study is to inform the implementation of institutional policies and programmes aimed at supporting women advance to senior leadership positions, and offer the support they need to successfully navigate their positions once promoted. Most importantly, there needs to be a change in the patriarchal institutional cultures that make it hard for women to lead effectively.