Masters Degrees (Business Management)

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Complexity leadership theory : an exploratory study in the South African context
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Swart, Maret; Human, Gert; Maree, Lelani; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: In the contemporary landscape of organisational dynamics, the understanding of leadership within complex adaptive systems (CAS) has become paramount. This qualitative study investigates the intricate interplay between CAS, complexity leadership theory (CLT), and conditional influences as suggested by the the Cynefin framework. The literature review synthesises the foundational concepts of complexity theory, highlighting its non-linear, interconnected, and emergent nature. CLT is examined, emphasizing the need for adaptive and context-sensitive leadership approaches within dynamic environments. Additionally, the Cynefin framework, known for categorising knowledge and contexts into the simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic subdomains, is explored for its applicability in guiding decision-making and leadership action and approach. Employing a qualitative research design, this study utilised semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection method. Participants from diverse organisations, were approached and interviewed regarding the organisational context and the leadership approaches they are exposed to. The qualitative approach allowed for an in-depth exploration of nuances and complexities inherent in the leadership approaches of respondents or their experience of such approaches, as well as the role of the context and uncertainty of their environments. The findings of this study shed light on current organisational context faced by leaders. The integration of CLT and the Cynefin framework provides a comprehensive lens to understand the multifaceted nature of leadership within CAS. The research underscores the importance of context-aware leadership approaches that acknowledge the fluidity of systems and the necessity of flexible responses. Consistent with the changing landscape of organisational dynamics, this research indicated that in the organisational investigated it was found that the context is considered to be complicated or complex in nature. As expected, trace elements of CAS and CLT were identified, along with the recognition from leaders and employees of the importance and ever presence of complexity. In conclusion, this research contributed to the discourse of leadership by unveiling the intricate dynamics of leadership within CAS. The insights garnered from the interviews and analysed through the lens of complexity, CLT, and the Cynefin framework offer practical implications for leaders navigating uncertainty in today’s rapidly evolving organisational landscape.
Board intellectual capital components for nonprofit board role fulfilment
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Mulholland, Hanli; Human Van Eck, Debbie; Human, Gert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Humankind is suffering. Globally, but specifically so in South Africa. The social and economic needs of society are ever-increasing, with limited focus on solutions. The nonprofit sector (of South Africa) carries an enourmous responsibility to assist in addressing the social and economic shortfalls that the government and the private sector cannot address. Unfortunately, the nonprofit sector of South Africa is fighting an endless struggle towards growth and maturity as research to support this almost R10 billion sector remains scarce. The board of directors of nonprofit organisations is said to be the group responsible for the long-term success of such organisations. Without long-term, sustained operations of nonprofit organisations, the needs of disadvantaged and at-risk members of society cannot be adequately addressed. However, research about nonprofit organisations' boards of directors is extremely limited worldwide and even more so in South Africa. The limited research furthermore focuses on individual characteristics and demographic factors of individual members of the board of directors instead of the collective, holistic group. Research suggests that the board of directors of nonprofit organisations, as a group, are responsible for managing the complexities of the highly heterogeneous environment and keeping the more extensive operational system of the organisation in equilibrium through fulfilling three board roles, namely the monitoring, resource provision and advisory role. The current study proposed that board intellectual capital (human capital, social capital, structural capital and cultural capital) at a group and individual level could be sufficient for board role fulfilment. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used for the first time in the context of the board of directors to explore the board intellectual capital of the group with board role fulfilment. Through comparing the board of directors of 16 nonprofit organisations in the Western Cape of South Africa at a case level, the research showed that social capital was sufficient for nonprofit board role fulfilment, specifically for fulfilling the advisory role. The research further showed that structural capital was sufficient in enabling the monitoring role of the board of directors. Finally, social capital, together with structural capital, was found to be sufficient for the role of the board of directors of nonprofit organisations that are concerned with the provision of resources. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis as a research approach to a resource scare sector, such as the nonprofit sector, proved invaluable. Solutions obtained through qualitative comparative methods set out to uncover the simplest solution to the problem more so than the often impractical, unattainable optimum solutions previously used research methods are concerned with.
Exploring factors hampering the performance of business incubators in Aouth Africa – a public, private, and university business incubator cross-case analysis
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Matthee, Sabrina Vinette; Solomon, Goosain; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Business incubators (BIs) are policy instrument investments that are expected to develop and grow small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMME), which in turn enhance the socio-economic landscape of a country as a return on the investment. Despite numerous business incubation programmes run by government entities, private organisations, and universities, their impact on SMMEs has not been well documented. Limited attention has been given to the challenges BIs face in their efforts to support incubatees, yet BIs are unconditionally expected to deliver to their mandate. Furthermore, little, if any, evidence is documented of the factors hampering the performance of public, private, and university BIs. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the factors hampering the performance of public, private, and university BIs in South Africa. A resource-based view was assumed under a phenomenological approach that incorporated a cross-case analysis design. Qualitative data were collected by conducting 16 semi-structured interviews from purposively selected stakeholders from a public, private, and university BI respectively. The data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic data analysis using the interpretative phenomenological analysis technique to interpret the everyday lived experiences of the selected stakeholders of the three cases studied, two of which have national footprints. Business incubator sustainability emerged as the primary overarching theme of the findings. Across all three cases, a lack of both financial resources and organisational resources was identified. The lack of these resources resulted in structural decoupling a phenomenon that is inherent to BIs in a survival mode, whereby the major activity of the incubator (incubation) tends to be disconnected from its organisational control structures and the activity itself is disconnected from its intended mandate. Structural decoupling was noted in all three cases in the current study and, although the degree at which it occurred varied in each case, its impact was observed in all three cases. The study contributed firstly towards diminishing the dearth in the literature; secondly, it initiated dialogue about the efficacy of public, private, and university BIs and, lastly, the study proposed a review of managerial practices and policies. Seldom is research without limitations. A primary limitation of this study is the limited cases considered within the categories of the BIs. Future studies of this nature could increase the number of cases within each category of a BI. In addition, replicating the study and including a developed country context and translating it into a comparative study might be useful. A further recommendation is that a longitudinal approach be adopted and the study be repeated over time to assess the progress in the performance of business incubators in South Africa.
Investor short-termism on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Moll, Lucy; Erasmus, P. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Participants in global financial markets appear to be placing increased pressure on corporate managers to prioritise short-term results. When managers are pressurised into focusing on shortterm financial performance, the actions required to ensure the long-term sustainability of a company might be deferred or overlooked. Barton (2011) argued that the capital markets are experiencing an era of quarterly capitalism, where the nearly continuous release of new information has contributed to a shift in market participants’ focus from the long-term sustainability of a company to its short-term share performance. Traditional finance theory assumes that markets operate efficiently, and that market participants have access to perfect information which allows them to make decisions in a rational manner. Under traditional assumptions, market prices accurately reflect a share's intrinsic value. However, volatile market conditions and numerous market anomalies may suggest the opposite. Behavioural finance theory attempts to explain this by examining behavioural biases such as short-termism, often displayed by investors when making intertemporal investment decisions. When accentuated by herding, myopic preferences could have a significant impact on asset valuation models. Short-termism occurs when investors overvalue short-term returns by applying higher discount rates to more distant cash flows. This disproportionate discounting might result in market prices deviating from their intrinsic values. This problem might be further compounded when corporate managers also prioritise short-term cash flows, possibly resulting in underinvestment in future, long-term fundamental value-generating projects. The results of previous studies (Haldane and Davies, 2011; Miles, 1993; Chou and Guo, 2004) have indicated that investors in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) exhibited shorttermism. The authors found that the discount rates applied to shares were adjusted to overvalue near-term cash flows and undervalue long-term returns. Whereas these studies have investigated the presence of short-termism in developed countries, only limited research has been conducted on the phenomenon in developing countries. The primary objective of this study was to investigate investor short-termism in South Africa from 1995 to 2014. The sample of the study included companies that had been listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from 1995 to 2014. The regression model employed included five years of lagged and future variables for each company considered. Therefore, the data were collected within the timeframe from 1990 to 2019. In order to provide five years of lagged and future values, companies were required to publish the necessary data continually for 11 years. The resulting sample consisted of 280 companies and 3 577 company-year observations. To assess for changes over time, the sample was divided into two ten-year subperiods over the study period. The sample was also divided between sectors to investigate short-termism in companies operating in different industries. Multiple regression analyses were used to test for short-termism in the sample. The regression model employed was based on a theoretical model developed by Davies, Haldane, Nielsen and Pezzini (2014). The regression model was estimated using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation method. The Wu-Hausman endogeneity test, Sargan’s test for overidentifying restrictions and the Cragg-Donald weak instrument test were used as diagnostic tests to determine the suitability of the GMM estimation method for the current study. The results of the study indicated that investors in JSE-listed companies exhibited significant levels of short-termism over the study period, the degree of which was found to have increased over time, with statistically significant evidence of sustained short-termism found in the final decade of the study period. When considered at a sector level, investors in the basic materials sector were found to have exhibited the highest levels of short-termism among the four applicable sectors in the study. To reduce short-termism in South Africa, the researcher recommends that managers adopt a corporate culture that promotes long-termism, discourage quarterly reporting, structure executive remuneration to facilitate long-term financial performance and offer enhanced shareholder participation rights to long-term investors. Furthermore, investors are encouraged to exercise stewardship and provide executives with investor mandates that prioritise sustainable investing. The government is also encouraged to adjust capital gains tax to reward long-term share ownership, promote short-termism awareness through improved financial literacy programmes in curriculums and enhance or modify fiduciary duties of financial intermediaries to align the long-term interests of stakeholders.
Social and organisational identification and student commitment : the mediating roles of trust and shared values
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Cupido, Amber; Theron, Edwin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept of Business Management.
ENGLISH SUMMARY: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa face numerous social and economic challenges. Some of these challenges are a decline in national state funding, a reduction in transformational mobility policies (Cassim, 2005), a lack of suitable resource and infrastructural educational facilities (Walker, 2018), the privatisation and marketisation of the Higher Education Institutional (HEI) environment (Altbach, 2007) and technological development in HEIs (Jongbloed, 2015). To add to the complexity of these challenges, there appears to be a general lack in commitment on the side of some students at HEIs (Chen, 2017). It is therefore not unexpected to find that only 4.1 percent of South Africans above the age of 20 years have attained a Bachelor’s degree (Statistics South Africa, 2016). However, managing student commitment amongst HEIs in South Africa is a relatively under-researched topic that warrants further research (Wilkins, Butt, Kratochvil & Balakrishnan, 2016). Although there is a significant body of knowledge in terms of the antecedents of student commitment (Yousaf, Mishra & Bashir, 2018; Chen, 2017; Love, 2013 Morgan & Hunt, 1994), the role of identification in creating student commitment appears to be under-researc hed (Yousaf et al. 2018; Thomas, 2015, Van Knippenberg & Sleebos, 2006). This apparent gap comes against the background that learning should be both social and individual, as research suggests that employing a social identity perspective in the classroom allows educators to understand how a student’s social identity influences his/her university learning (Bliuc, Ellis, Goodyear, Hendres, 2011). Furthermore, the possible mediating roles of and shared values (Yousaf et al. 2018; Wilkins et al. 2016; Thomas, 2015) and trust (Chen, 2017: Boateng & Narteh, 2016) in the identification-student commitment relationship need clarification. A theoretical model was developed, based on marketing theories of identification, student commitment, shared values and trust to address the primary objective of the study. Boland College and Stellenbosch University were identified in order to provide a comprehensive view of the HE landscape in South Africa. Furthermore, a quantitative research design (more specifically a self-administered electronic survey) was employed on the SUNSurveys platform to assess the identification-commitment relationship of South African students. A data analysis was conducted by way of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on the SmartPLS software programme and a multi-group analysis based on the realised sample of 510 Boland College students and 1494 Stellenbosch University students. Statistically significant positive relationships related to social identification were confirmed for the social identification-shared values, social identification-goal commitment, social identification-extra mural commitment and social identification-trust relationships for Boland College and Stellenbosch University. With regard to organisational identification, the organisational identification-shared values, organisational identification-institutional commitment and organisational identification-trust relationships are statistically significantly positive relationships for both Boland College and Stellenbosch University. However, only the organisational identification-goal commitment and organisational identification-extra mural commitment relationships are significant for Stellenbosch University. Additionally, trust was found to be a stronger mediator of the identification-commitment relationship than shared values for College and University students. As far as could be ascertained, the study is the first of its kind to investigate the identification-student commitment relationship, given the contextual background of South African higher education.

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