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Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)

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    Entrepreneurial intention of matric commerce students in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
    (2022) Phetha, Mondli Honesty; Adam, Jamila Khatoon
    Entrepreneurship is widely accepted to be an effective mechanism for elevating tripartite challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty. This study was conducted to gauge whether matric commerce students in rural areas of KwaZuluNatal have the intention to start their own businesses. The study put heavy reliance on entrepreneurial intention models and focused on the relationship between exposure to entrepreneurship education, personality traits of entrepreneur and social capital as variables of the study, aimed to establish whether they are related to the intention of matric commerce students to start their own businesses. The current literature was consulted in an effort to understand diverse views on entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial intention models; entrepreneurship education and its role in strengthening entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial selfefficacy, entrepreneurial competencies and entrepreneurial intention; the influence of social capital on entrepreneurial intention, key drivers and enablers of entrepreneurial intention and personality traits that influence entrepreneurial intention. A survey was conducted among commerce students in 11 districts of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The respondents for the study comprised 433 matric commerce students of which 38 were from Amajuba, 45 from Ethekwini, 43 from Ilembe, 39 Sisonke, 33 from Ugu, 47 Umgungundlovu, 56 from Umkhanyakude, 47 from Umzinyathi, 36 from Uthukela, 34 from Uthungulu and 15 from Zululand. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistics. The findings revealed that seventy percent were ready to start a business after their studies and believed that their professional goal was to be an entrepreneur. Some significant relationships were found between entrepreneurial intention and the key variables of the study. The study developed an entrepreneurship model using the personality traits influencing entrepreneurial intention, social capital and entrepreneurship education as variables of entrepreneurial intention. The study recommended that government authorities should come up with awareness programmes that encourages business start-ups especially considering the fact that unemployment looms the South African market. The government authorities should channel the curriculum even more positively in order to interest these matric students in starting a business after leaving school. The authorities are highly encouraged to provide free workshops and training activities that will equip these matric students as far as the management of financial records and assets of the business is concerned besides the academic subjects they are getting. The study recommends that future researchers may consider the same scope and area of study but making use of a different methodological approach. Studies may use an approach that will be able to rank the level of entrepreneurship intention of these matric students. Alternatively, the same research can be conducted but in the form of a comparative study across African countries and this will enrich a wider and better understanding at continental level. A study on entrepreneurial intention of commerce matric students can also be examined in the context of both urban and rural areas of South Africa in order to ascertain the net effect as entrepreneurship cuts across both in the rural and urban areas
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    The socio-economic effects of tourism development in rural areas : the case of Hlabisa and its local community adjacent to game parks
    (2021) Dlamini, Xolani Welcome; Chili, Nsizwazikhona Simon
    The research is centred on rural tourism and its socio-economic effects on the local community of Hlabisa located adjacent to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, investigating and disclosing the socio-economic conditions, tourism activities, rural tourism models/ strategies, community participation and challenges faced by the local community and businesses in the area. The socio-economic conditions include employment, income, education, quality of life and other relevant infrastructure contributed by rural tourism to the local economy of Hlabisa. According to Ivanovic et al. (2009) rural tourism can develop rural economies by providing new economic activities and employment. The research was guided by five research objectives: (1) To determine the socio economic well-being of the local community of Hlabisa, i.e. employment, income, skills development, entrepreneurial opportunities; (2) To determine level of tourism development and the nature of tourism activities taking place in the Hlabisa area; (3)To determine the level of community participation and representation on tourism activities taking in Hlabisa; (4) To ascertain rural tourism strategies / rural tourism models in place to empower the local community of Hlabisa socially and economically? (5) To ascertain the challenges / obstructions faced by the rural community and tourism entrepreneurs of Hlabisa? The research problem of the study seeks to investigate the extent to which the wellbeing of the local communities of Hlabisa is being empowered or changed for the better socially and economically through the game park and tourism development inter alia. The Rural Tourism Strategy (2012) states that between 10-15 million South Africans live in areas that are characterised by extreme poverty and underdevelopment. “There is limited integration of local communities and previously neglected groups into tourism, inadequate tourism education, training and awareness and lastly lack of infrastructure, particularly in rural areas” (Rural Tourism Strategy 2012). Moreover, what triggers the researcher’s curiosity is that while seeing and knowing that there is quite a number of tourism activities taking place in the study area but the extent to which those activities affect the livelihood of the surrounding rural communities economically and socially is unknown. The concept and literature were matched or tested in line with the identified themes which were as follows:  Socio-economic conditions;  Rural tourism models (strategies);  Community participation and representation in tourism;  Tourism activities; and  Challenges / obstructions faced by the local community and businesses in the area. The study was anchored around the Integrated Rural Tourism (IRT) development model “with emphasis on co-planning, learning and participation which originates from the Global North” (Saarinen and Lanao 2014). This model was relevant to this study because “it discusses key challenges of rural tourism development especially related to the integration of the tourism industry and rural communities in developing countries and overviews the applicability and conditions of the IRT framework as a potential approach for rural tourism development in the developing world” (Saxena et al. 2007). The study employed a qualitative research approach, with the following tools or instruments used to collect data i.e. questionnaires, unstructured interviews with open ended questions and focus groups. The questionnaires were analysed using the Atlas.ti 8 Data Analysis Software in order to enhance reliability by applying the rules built into the programme. The information analysed included employment, income, education, quality of life and other relevant infrastructure contributed by rural tourism to the local economy of Hlabisa. The software provided tools that helped with transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, recursive abstraction, content analysis and discourse analysis. The outcomes from the interviews indicate that the majority of the local community respondents are happy with the economic opportunities presented by tourism development in the area. The majority of respondents indicated the community participates in tourism planning and development activities in the area. There are structures in place such as Co-management boards in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and, Local Community Committees and Community Trust that represent communities in decision making processes in relation to tourism. However, the key challenges that emerged from the findings were that the majority of the locals employed in tourism occupied low paying positions, with grade 08-12 and no tourism qualifications. This means locals do not have the necessary qualifications and skills to qualify to be employed in Senior Management positions in the tourism establishments in the area. The lack of a tourism qualification, training and skills would prohibit locals to progress up the ranks to become managers who earn higher salaries and be in a position to make key decisions about tourism in the area. On the other hand, the small family run tourism business cited access to capital and incentives, markets access, road access, lack of training programmes, unreliable electricity and water supply among the main challenges they face in the area of Hlabisa which affects their growth and revenue. Recommendations arising from the study include but are not limited to the following: The local and district municipality, provincial and national government tourism institutions should consider providing bursaries to the youth and scaling leanership programmes in Hlabisa in order to have greater reach and impact in advancing the careers of the local people in the local tourism industry. The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park should put in place a sound educational programme to improve the education of the local people of Hlabisa so that they can advance to high ranking positions in order to earn high income. The small businesses in the area of Hlabisa should enter into joint marketing agreements with one another, travel trade, destination marketing organisations in order to increase tourist volume and revenue but also to meet tourist demand in the interim. In addition, the local, provincial and national tourism institutions should put in place sound tourism dedicated incentives and capital to assist small tourism business businesses to grow and expand their businesses to enable these small tourism businesses to employ more local people and pay them high income
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    Factors affecting young prospective entrepreneurs in the Umdoni Local Municipal Area
    (2016) Mbele, Kwethemba Good-present; Chetty, Gopalkrishna
    Given the current, global, economic situation, the status of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa is no different to that of the youth in other countries. It is debatable whether similar support and mechanisms used by other countries can be used without contextualising them for the South African environment. Cultural differences, level of education, different market standards, and a different socio-political environment are some of the factors that should be taken into consideration, when aiming to create an enabling environment that will open entrepreneurial opportunities for South African youth. A major threat for youth, especially in South Africa, is that if their needs and desires are not addressed, the youth will lose faith in starting their own entrepreneurial activities and in that way, become more dependent on the government to create employment opportunities for them. This situation certainly could add to the currently high unemployment rate and in the long-term, high youth unemployment could destabilise the country. This study is aimed at investigating entrepreneurship activities in a semi-rural area, with the aim of identifying the inherent weaknesses that prevent young people from pursuing entrepreneurial activities, as well as those enabling factors that can mitigate against these identified weaknesses. The study is conducted in the UGu District Municipality, specifically, the Umdoni Local Municipal area has been selected. A mixed methods research approach was used and 120 respondents from the selected municipal area participated in this study, including the municipal official. The study highlighted that access to financial support is one of the primary obstacles for the setting-up of a new business, since the majority of young people in the area tend to come from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, the research pointed to other challenges, including the business registration process, lack of adequate entrepreneurial training and mentoring programmes, the impact of crime in starting a fledging business and general support from government departments and agencies. Should these challenges not be addressed through an enabling environment, young people will, in the process, be discouraged from engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Given that the study was conducted in a semi-rural area, there are certainly greater challenges to the development of youth entrepreneurship. Therefore, the recommendations include municipalities creating a special relationship with government agencies to obtain greater assistance; that Government and its agencies consider setting up a designated fund to assist young people who want to open business in semi-rural and rural areas; that the administrative requirements for such a group of young entrepreneurs, in respect of funding, training, support, mentoring and business registration, be much more accessible and easier to obtain.