Theses and dissertations (Accounting and Informatics)
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Item Using ICT for diarrhoea intervention in resource constrained environments : a case study of Narok County in Kenya(2019-11-10) Mutua, Abraham Matheka; Millham, Richard C.; Puckree, ThreethambaalDiseases are the major causes of mortality worldwide with developing countries having the highest disease prevalence. Diarrhoea is one of the major diseases worldwide and especially in poor countries with its victims being mostly children below the age of five years. Diarrhoea is most prevalent in rural areas of poor countries which is due to poor awareness about the disease. Effective use of ICTs can greatly enhance health information dessimination and consequently improve disease awareness. The aim of this study was to reduce diarrhoea prevalence by raising awareness using suitable technologies in the context environment. The study was based in Narok County, one of the counties in Kenya with most of the people living in the rural areas. The county has high diarrhoea prevalence due to low levels of awareness which is attributed to use of ineffective strategies and technologies in dissemination of health information. A control and an experimental group from two similar sub-locations were identified for the study. Purpose sampling technique was used in data collection. The study was quantitative conducted in three parts concurrently. Part one was a retrospective chart review of dispensary records of children under the age of five years who suffered from diarrhoea. Part two consisted of a pre-test post-test experimental study of 175 mothers with children below the age of five years from each group.The experimental study was a diarrhoea intervention through awareness on children below the age of five years through their mothers who are the caregivers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data during this phase. Part three conducted concurrently with parts one and two was a cross sectional survey on community health volunteers. The study established that the previously used strategies and technologies had failed because they were not suitable for the area. Mobile phones were identified as the most pervasive and preferred technology in the area for diarrhoea information dissemination. A mobile phone-based system was developed and used in diarrhoea intervention through awareness. Diarrhoea education voice messages were sent through the system to the mothers in the experimental group for three months but not to the control group. The system was unique in that it used mobile phones, which is the most pervasive technology in the area, the messages were in voice and in the Maasai language which is the local language. This allowed the illiterate to benefit from the intervention. The system allowed interaction between the participants and the system and the system allowed participants in emergency situations to contact a health worker. The intervention caused an improvement in diarrhoea awareness in the experimental group from 42.69% to 87.10% which was significant (effect size= 0.81) but there was no significant change in the control group (p>0.999). On diarrhoea prevention practices, there was a significant improvement from 36.9% to 73.0% in the experimental group (effect size=0.643) however there was no significant change in the control group (p=0.526). Diarrhoea prevalence significantly reduced from 28% to 19.6% in the experimental group (p=0.002) but there was no significant change in the control group (p=0.557). Using the data collected during the study, a diarrhoea intervention framework for resource constrained environments that integrates use of suitable technology in the context environment in diarrhoea intervention was developed. The framework addresses diarrhoea intervention from the awareness point of view because high diarrhoea prevalence is associated to low diarrhoea awareness. The framework can also be adopted in interventions of other diseases that can be prevented by creating awareness. The study concluded that when the right technology for the context environment is used to raise diarrhoea awareness, the awareness increases which leads to improved diarrhoea prevention practices and consequently to reduced diarrhoea prevalence.Item A framework to lower maternal mortality and morbidity rates in Kenya using mobile technology(2019-11-15) Mukami, Victoria; Millham, Richard; Puckree, ThreethambaalBackground. Maternal health represents an area of significant concern in the world. With various innovations in healthcare, maternal mortality rates are decreasing exponentially. However, this is not the situation in developing countries, specifically Kenya. Several causes of maternal mortality exist; however, it is noted that one of the key causes is due to a lack of information by pregnant women. Traditional strategies such as free maternal health care at public hospitals have been in place to improve overall pregnancy outcomes. While this is aimed at a reduction in maternal mortalities, it has not been as effective in Kenya. Non-conventional strategies are needed to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce maternal mortality. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the areas that has been proven successful in reducing maternal mortality. Aim. The aim of the research was to create an ICT framework that aided in educating pregnant women using an mHealth dissemination tool and thus reduce complications that led to mortalities within Kajiado North Constituency. Methods. The study utilized a sequential mixed-method design. Phase one consisted of a retrospective chart review and a cross-sectional survey on nurses and pregnant women. The first phase focused on understanding the maternal mortality rates within Kajiado North and to determine procedures pregnant women and nurses took during pregnancy. The retrospective chart review was conducted for a period of six months at two health facilities, the Ongata Health Centre (OHC) and Ngong Sub District hospital (NSD). The cross-sectional survey interrogated the mitigation strategies with a focus on information and communication technologies (ICT). Phase two was a prospective multi-location randomized clinical trial (RCT). A two-arm, two-site RCT was conducted using an intervention in the form of an ICT prototype with messages aimed at educating the pregnant participants. The trial was conducted at two public health facilities namely the Ongata Health Center and the Ngong Sub District. A total of 211 pregnant women were recruited from both locations after they had met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and after providing consent to participate in the study. During the RCT, an intervention was developed using the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) and was used to send messages to participants within the intervention arm. The DSRM approach allowed for two iterations to be created, with one iteration being tested during the pilot test and the other during the RCT. Pregnant participants within the intervention groups received messages on their mobile phones about well-being during pregnancy. Women in the control group continued to receive their established standard of care. Both groups completed a post-test survey at the end of the trial. Data were analysed using ANOVA with the probability set at p≤0.05%. The relationship between the number of antenatal visits and the place of delivery on the complication rate was shown using the correlation coefficient. Additionally, a multiple regression model was generated based on the antenatal visits, place of delivery and the study arms and their impact on the complications. Results. Data from phase one of the study showed a need for a messaging system to send messages to pregnant women. The retrospective data showed no maternal mortalities, however, the nurse survey highlighted possible explanations for the lack of mortalities. From the RCT, there were no known maternal mortalities. There were three neonatal mortalities (p=0.154), one from the OHC intervention group and two from the OHC control group. The ANC visits relationship towards the complication rate was calculated. At the NSD site, the effect size of the ANC visits based on the participants' study arm toward the complication rate was low (0.027) and statistically insignificant (p=0.15). At the OHC site, the effect size was moderate (0.405) and statistically significant (p=0.003) for the ANC visits variable. The place of delivery relationship towards the complication rate was calculated. At the NSD site, the effect size of the place of delivery based on the participants' study arm toward the complication rate was moderate (0.366) but statistically insignificant (p=0.479). At the OHC site, the effect size of the variables was low (0.237) and statistically insignificant (p=0.789). The stepwise regression model at the OHC site showed significance when ANC visits (p=0.007), place of delivery (p=0.003) and participants study arm (p=0.008) were sequentially entered. The multiple variables (R=0.516) Only had a medium effect size (0.266) toward the complication rate. The stepwise regression model at the NSD site was statistically insignificant when the place of delivery (p=0.283), participants study arm (p=0.445) and ANC visits (p=0.655) were sequentially entered. The multiple variables (R=0.217) had a small effect size (0.047) toward the complication rate. Conclusion: Qualitative findings revealed that maternal health was affected adversely by several lengthy health worker strikes. Negligence on part of the health worker was a lead contributor to neonatal deaths. The study also found that accountability systems for referrals were lacking within the county and measures needed to be put in place to mitigate the consequences. In addition, feedback from the study participants indicated that the messages had aided in helping them to take necessary action based on complications and warning symptoms. Based on the data, the study finally proposed a framework that would allow for a reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality rates using ICT technologies. The study equally contributed to knowledge when using technology to empower women on maternal health matters as well as areas of maternal health practice that need improvementItem Creating a framework for promoting perceptions of ease of use for e-learning(2019-06-28) Dhebideen, Sharitha; Heukelman, DeleneInformation Technology is so widespread and moving at such a rapid speed that it has influenced the education sector at a fast and pressurised pace. This influence has placed focus on the new terminology education technology and blended learning. In order to introduce and implement education technology, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide have been introducing Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to support the charges in pedagogy to improve the collaboration learners themselves and between learners and educators. The implementation of LMSs at South African HEIs are still lagging behind in comparison to first world countries. Nonetheless, changes and advances in education technology have been taking place. These changes have to some degree brought about resistance towards the use of technology (software) to change teaching technique. Mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative) was used to conduct a case study analysis at the Durban University of Technology (the case of DUT academic staff using a LMS). The case study allowed the analysis of perceived ease of use (PEOU) of LMSs at this HEI. The perceptions of the academic staff was analysed by executing a survey and by conducting interviews. The study identified additional factors that have a significant influence on PEOU on the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM) (Venkatesh and Bala 2008). Literature, information from the interviews and the themes that emerged from the qualitative results was used to propose a theoretical tiered pedagogical framework that could be adopted by other HEIs planning to adopt a LMS.Item A critical assessment of management accounting practices in small and medium-sized clothing enterprises in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal(2019-11) Vilakazi, Sanele Phumlani; Stainbank, Lesley June; Nyide, Celani JohnThe aim of this study was to make a critical assessment of the extent of the management accounting practices (MAPs) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent to which MAPs are employed by Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs, to identify the roles played by MAPs in Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs management, to determine the factors that affect the extent of use of MAPs amongst Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs and to consider the role of MAPs in the performance of the SME. The motivation for the study was driven by the lack of research on the extent of use of MAPs by clothing/textile SMEs in South Africa. The forms of MAPs investigated in this study were the costing systems, the budgeting systems, the performance management tools, the decision support systems, and strategic management accounting. These MAPs are thought to be necessary for the survival and success of SMEs in the modern enterprise environment. This is a quantitative descriptive survey of 51 clothing/textile manufacturing SMEs in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal using a self-administered questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that budgeting systems were the most used MAPs by Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs and that the strategic management accounting (SMA) and performance measurements tools (PMTs) were the least used of the MAPs surveyed. Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs use traditional MAPs; however, they are endeavouring to integrate the modern or newly-developed MAPs such as the use of the decision support systems into their enterprises’ administration. The results indicated that the most valued role of MAPs was for planning future strategies, tactics and operations. On the other hand, certain roles of MAPs were considered not to be beneficial to Newcastle clothing/textile SMEs. Factors that affected the use the MAPs were the high cost to implement MAPs, the complexity of newly-developed or modern MAPs, that the benefits of the MAPs were too difficult to observe, and the lack of information on affordable accounting services. In respect to the performance of the Newcastle SMEs, the results indicated that the MAPs assessed had a moderate influence on the performance of SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs are apprised of the significance of MAPs. SMEs should liaise with academics, government, and professionals in the commerce field, amongst other initiatives, to implement and monitor their skills development for the success and survival of SMEs in the clothing/textile industry.Item A longitudinal sentiment analysis of the #FeesMustFall campaign on Twitter(2019-04-29) Khan, Yaseen; Thakur, SurendraThe #FeesMustFall campaign began in 2015 to lobby government to provide students with free university education in order to redress past imbalances. It rapidly progressed to become a widespread national phenomenon that attracted international attention and sympathetic support. However, certain unsavoury incidents marred the campaign and attempted to derail it from achieving its goals. The campaign did reach many of its targets with the South African government eventually announcing free education for the poor and working class in December 2017. #FeesMustFall has been well documented and researched, however, no literature offered a quantitative insight into the opinions of social media users during this campaign, although a unique feature of #FeesMustFall was leveraging social media platforms to coordinate the campaign. This study addresses this gap by undertaking a longitudinal sentiment analysis of textual conversations expressed on the Twitter social media platform. This longitudinal study analyses the Twitter #FeesMustFall campaign through the acquisition of 576 583 tweets posted between 15 October 2015 and 10 April 2017. These tweets were pre-processed and cleaned by removing exact duplicates and unintelligible data. The research method to analyse the “cleaned” #FeesMustFall data utilises, inter alia, descriptive statistics, sentiment analysis using a natural language programming (NLP) approach called Valence Aware Dictionary sEntiment Reasoner (VADER) and code written in Python. VADER is a lexicon rule-based sentiment analysis tool particularly suited to social media. To detect multiple changes in this large historical dataset, the Change Point Analysis method (CPA) is applied using a Cumulative Sum Analysis (CUSUM) method to identify changes across time. The research question is whether and for what reason the online sentiment changed during the observation period. The sentiment expressed is triangulated with perceived real-life negative events, such as the burning of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) library and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Hall, to understand whether online activism sentiment reflected or reacted to real-life events. The study finds that sentiment did change in relation to these two events, one on the day of the UKZN library event and one prior to the UJ Hall event. Social robots (bots) are automatic or semi-automatic computer programs that mimic human behaviour in online social networks. Their deployment exposes online activism to manipulation. A further research question addressed whether bots played a role in the #FeesMustFall campaign. A review of bots, their characteristics, behaviour, and detection methods was undertaken. The study does indeed establish the presence of bots during #FeesMustFall. The study’s contribution is significant as this is the first longitudinal study of the #FeesMustFall campaign which observes the sentiment distribution and changes. It is also the first study to investigate and find evidence of bots in the #FeesMustFall campaign.Item A comparison of collaborative compliance agreements between taxpayers and revenue authorities : lessons for South Africa(2019-07) Greenham, David Colin; Stainbank, Lesley J.; Ramlall, RajeshConventional methods to close the tax gap and increase government revenue by facilitating and enforcing taxpayer compliance have been all but exhausted. New opportunities to mend the taxpayer’s relationship with the revenue authority do exist through the establishment of collaborative compliance agreements. This research investigated global cooperative-compliance enhancing taxation policies and strategies. After assessing the aptitude of South Africa’s taxation infrastructure to assimilate new compliance policies and then ascertaining and applying the recommendations of relevant experts, compliance strategy proposals were suggested for adoption locally. The study focused on four major tax compliance themes of transparency, education, responsive regulation and reintegrative enforcement, together with their associated compliance strategies, which could improve the taxpayer-authority relationship. A qualitative research methodology was adopted and fifteen interviews were conducted with relevant experts who could provide knowledgeable opinions on the issues raised. The respondent tax experts confirmed the importance of these themes as well as the need to introduce the eight compliance strategies, which were proposed. The study concluded by recommending the following strategies: Simplified Personal Taxpayers Receipt, the publication of Compliance Statistics, tax Enculturation and Aptitude development to form part of the Economics and Management Sciences curriculum, a Taxpayers’ Week, the development of a Responsive Service Charter, a Compliance Rewards System, and the introduction of Reintegrative Shaming to rehabilitate non-compliant taxpayers.Item Employment practices of student library assistants in academic libraries in KwaZulu-Natal(2018) Mthembu, Queen Ncamisile; Sentoo, Naresh Ramnarain; Rakoma, Pamela Portia ThembekaEmploying student library assistants (SLAs) has been a time-honoured tradition of academic libraries. In the library, SLAs help to staff the circulation desk during hours when librarians are not available, to answer directional or reference questions and to carry out special projects that benefit the library in various ways (Wu 2003: 141). SLAs also benefit from working in the library, not only through financial gain, but university libraries are the best training grounds for the development of their personal and professional competencies. The purpose of the study was to compare the overall employment practices of student library assistants (SLAs) in academic libraries in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The research project is intended to provide an understanding of the factors that affect the selection and recruitment of SLAs, their hours of work and the rate of pay. This study used the survey method as the data collection method. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for two types of respondents, namely student library assistants as well as their supervisors. The information was extracted from the questionnaires and presented in the form of graphs and tables. The study revealed that many academic libraries follow a similar pattern when selecting and recruiting student library assistants; however, issues such as duration of training provided to SLAs, and having a library guide prepared for students, tend to differ. The research findings could contribute towards assisting academic libraries in improving their service delivery and achieving their organisational mandate. Recommendations and suggestions where differences were discovered are shared.Item Evaluating the effectiveness of facilitating inquiry based learning on Facebook to advance domain knowledge and develop enquiry skills(2019-05-09) Khomo, Feziwe Lindiwe Yvonne; Heukelman, Delene; Skinner, Jane PhyllidaThis research involved a quest to discover a way, involving technology, which would encourage students to take the lead and take ownership of their own learning and rely less on the lecturer. It sought to investigate a learning approach that would encourage students to be proactive in their learning whilst increasing their domain knowledge. The study was instigated by a concern for what the researcher experienced as students’ negative attitude towards learning. She identified Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) as a learning model that would ignite critical and creative skills and encourage students to take responsibility of their own learning. Thus, the purpose of the study was to investigate a technology-assisted approach to investigate a technology-assisted approach to developing skills for discovering and creating new knowledge. Taking into consideration that most students of the 21st century own technological tools and most have accounts on social network platforms, the study sought to determine whether IBL could be facilitated on the social network platform, Facebook. A case-study, mixed-methods approach was employed. The researcher relied on statistical analysis done by the program SPSS for the analysis of the quantitative data and a qualitative program, NVivo, for analyzing words selected by the students. In addition, observation of the interactions on Facebook assisted materially in drawing conclusions as to whether the objectives were met. In terms of determining an appropriate IBL-oriented model for the study, the findings suggest that the intrinsic attributes of IBL such as collaboration, interaction and engagement can be enhanced on Facebook as students attempted to answer the questions related to an Inquiry Based Scenario question. However, only a limited number of the respondents found the approach and the intervention fully effective. In terms of exploring the usage of Facebook, students expressed a sense of fulfilment and appreciation for the platform with regard to sharing and accessing information. On the other hand, a majority also found the experience challenging; were not fully enthusiastic about this form of learning; and nor did they feel that it would be sufficient if used in isolation from traditional learning methods. In addition, the researcher acknowledged that participation on Facebook was not as she had envisaged it. Further, the study evaluated the facilitation of an IBL “Classroom” environment on Facebook. The interaction on Facebook and the responses to the perception regarding this objective indicated positive results. However, only a limited number of respondents acknowledged that the “classroom” challenged their thinking capabilities, stretched their thinking, or led to deeper thinking. Lastly, the study observed improvements in understanding learning material and the development of a higher order of learning by taking into account (with the assistance of NVivo) the choice of words used in answering the questions related to the IBL scenario posted on Facebook. Further, based on the attempts of the participants to tackle the questions, the researcher concluded that an improvement was attained. In addition, the responses by the students acknowledge that domain knowledge and understanding of the learning unit was improved. It is, however, also important to note that the limited time frame allocated for the study, and the lack of a systematic approach in scaffolding the teaching principles and learning process, had an effect on students’ adoption of the intervention and on the desired outcomes. Based on the findings and challenges encountered, the researcher was able to shed light on certain aspects that need to be considered for an effective inclusion of technological instruments within traditional learning. The study confirmed important aspects revealed in the literature, while the positive effective of the intervention on desired outcomes was encouraging. It could therefore be concluded that the findings were able to address the main objectives of the study.Item Knowledge sharing among library staff of special libraries in KwaZulu-Natal with special reference to using Information and Communications Technology enabled platforms(2019) Khoro, Lucky; Rajkoomar, Mogiveny; Rakoma, Pamela Portia ThembekaThis is a study on knowledge sharing among library staff of special libraries in KwaZulu-Natal with special reference to Information and Communication Technology enabled platforms. The aim of the study was to explore knowledge sharing among the staff of special libraries in KwaZulu-Natal by using ICT enabled platforms. Once the knowledge has been shared by special library staff using ICT enabled platforms, it may benefit staff of special libraries to gain new knowledge by using ICT enabled platforms to support knowledge sharing. The objectives of the study were to find out if staff in special libraries share knowledge among themselves; to determine the extent to which the staff in special libraries share knowledge among themselves using ICT enabled platforms and to ascertain possible ways in which ICT enabled platforms to support knowledge sharing. The target population of the study were the staff of special libraries in KwaZulu-Natal. A quantitative research method using a survey was used in this study. Online questionnaires were administered to 192 staff of special libraries in KZN. Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel and content analysis was used for the open-ended questions. The findings of the study revealed that special libraries’ staff shared knowledge among themselves. It was found that special libraries’ staff shared knowledge by means of WhatsApp and Facebook with staff at other libraries. This study found that social media platform can be utilized as a knowledge sharing platform among the special libraries’ staff in KZN. It is recommended that social media should be considered as a KS platform for collaboration in all libraries. Knowledge sharing culture should be implemented in all special libraries in KZN. Special librarians can play crucial roles as facilitators of learning forums such as Community of Practice (CoPs), where members teach and learn from each other.Item The adoption of an enhanced overhead costing system in a South African state university : the case of Durban University of Technology(2018) Kudanga, Annah; Stainbank, Lesley June; Nzuza, Zwelihle WisemanBudgetary constraints associated with freezing of fees and limited government funding have increased the pressure to reform cost management strategies in state-funded South African universities. The main concern is that the data being generated in the allocation of overheads in universities is distorted and inaccurate. Activity based costing (ABC) could help solve these problems. However, there is a lack of empirical studies regarding the adoption and implementation of the ABC system in South African state universities. The aim of this study was to determine and analyse the factors that influence the adoption and implementation of ABC as a cost management strategy in a state university in SA, using Durban University of Technology (DUT) as a case study. A mixed methods approach was used which included a questionnaire and interviews. The study adopted the embedded mixed methods approach beginning with the quantitative method (questionnaires) that involved a detailed exploration of the current costing system used at DUT and the perceptions on the factors that facilitate or hinder the adoption and implementation of ABC. This was followed with the qualitative method that used semi-structured interviews conducted with employees from the finance and the selected academic departments. A detailed study was then carried out in the university library to determine activities, cost pools and cost drivers that could be used to develop an ABC model. The quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (version 25®) and NVivo, respectively. The study showed that DUT is using a traditional costing system. A uniform cost base (number of students) is being used to assign most of the overhead costs to respective programmes. The findings of this study indicated that ABC has not been adopted at DUT. There was little support on the adequacy, transparency and accuracy of the current overhead costing system. Despite these shortcomings of the current system, more than half of the respondents agreed that changing the overhead costing system is not a strategic priority in the university. Perceptions regarding ABC showed that five out of eight themes developed could assist in the adoption and implementation of the ABC system. Supportive factors that could positively influence the adoption and implementation of ABC at DUT included the organisational strategy, information technology, decision usefulness of cost information, contextual/environmental factors and the organisational structure. However, system adaptability, which included adequacy of skills, top management involvement and consensus about and clarity on the objectives of the ABC system, was considered a barrier to the adoption and implementation of ABC. There were mixed views on the technical factors as well as some behavioural and organisational factors. The perceptions investigated in the in-depth interviews revealed resistance to change emanating mainly from perceived complexity, associated prohibitive cost of implementing the ABC system and uncertainty of the long-term benefits of the ABC system. The detailed study in the university library showed that the activities recorded could be grouped into cost pools and activity-related cost drivers could be used to apportion services to university programmes. The information that could potentially be used to initiate ABC was, therefore, available. Based on this information, an ABC model was developed. Overall, the findings of the study help to understand the current overhead system at DUT as well as perceptions on the factors that influence the adoption and implementation of ABC. The information could inform strategic initiatives related to ABC and the model developed for the university library could be used as a template for a university-wide ABC implementation.