Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology

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Browsing Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology by Subject "Africa"

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    Global Diffusion of the InternetXIII:Internet Diffusion in Kenya and ItsDeterminants– A Longitudinal Analysis
    (2008) Muganda, Nixon; Belle, Jean-Paul Van; Brown, Irwin
    This paper assesses Internet diffusion and its determinants in Kenya using the Global Diffusion of the Internet (GDI) framework. Kenya was selected due to its strategic importance for the economic progress of the great lakes region of Africa. An understanding of Internet diffusion in Kenya provides preliminary insight in to how the process might unfold in Eastern Africa. Theanalysisshowsthatin2008,lessthan10percentofthepopulationaccessedtheInternet,with a majority of users clustered around two major urban centers. There is an indication that across the sectors of education, commerce, health, and public service, the Internet is being embraced, with potential for further diffusion. The underlying national Internet connectivity infrastructure is well established, but skewed in favor of urban centers that have high levels of electricity penetration. Vibrant competition exists between Internet service providers despite a persistent monopoly in national fixedlinetelecommunicationsprovision. A few sophisticated applications of the Internet were found in several sectors. A snap shot of the state of Internet diffusion in Kenya reflects, on average, good performance on the various dimensions of the GDI framework. However, this overall picture masks the reality that the majority of the population, mostly in rural areas, lack access to basic amenities such as electricity,and hence infrastructure to support the Internet. The trajectory along which the Internet is diffusing has therefore led to the exclusion of this majority. The critical role that governments in developing countries play needs to be brought to the fore in order to ensure that the Internet diffusion trajectory is not left entirely to the commercial sector. The government’s ability to marshal resources, execute telecommunications regulation, as well as enable change remains pivotal to ensuring inclusive Internet diffusion.
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    Harnessing fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies for sustainable development in Africa: a meta-analysis
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 2023-02-19) Kwanya, Tom; Kibe, Lucy; Nyagowa, Hesbon
    Abstract Purpose – The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has changed the way people operate. All sectors of the economy have been affected by this technological advancement. However, little is known of how 4IR technologies are used in Africa. This paper aimed to investigate how 4IR technologies can be harnessed to support sustainable development in Africa. The objectives of the study were to: examine the infometric patterns of research production on 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa; explore the perception of 4IR technologies and their potential for sustainable development in Africa; investigate the extent to which 4IR technologies have been harnessed to support sustainable development in Africa; determine the factors influencing the use of 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa; and identify the strategies which can be used to harness 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa. Design/methodology/approach – The study applied a mixed methods research approach. Quantitative data was collected through bibliometrics analysis while qualitative data was collected by use of systematic literature review. Data was collected from Google Scholar using Harzing’s “Publish or Perish” software and analysed using Microsoft Excel, Notepad, VOSviewer and Atlas.ti and presented using tables, graphs and figures. Findings – The study retrieved 914 research publications on 4IR and sustainable development in Africa. It emerged that production of research on the subject has increased gradually over the years. The findings reveal that Africa is aware of the potential of 4IR for sustainable development. In fact, it emerged that 4IR technologies are being used to support education, health services, tourism, e-commerce, records integrity and project management. Some of the factors that inhibit the use of 4IR for sustainable development Africa include lack of relevant policies, low skill levels in 4IR technologies, inadequate infrastructure and lack of stakeholder involvement. This study recommends the development of policies in 4IR, capacity building and upgrading of infrastructures. The findings can be used by governments in Africa to harness 4IR technologies for sustainable development. Originality/value – The research is original in scope and coverage.
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    Harnessing fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies for sustainable development in Africa: a meta-analysis
    (Emerald Insight, 2023-02-19) Kwanya, Tom; Nyagowa, Hesbon; Kibe, Lucy
    Abstract Purpose – The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has changed the way people operate. All sectors of the economy have been affected by this technological advancement. However, little is known of how 4IR technologies are used in Africa. This paper aimed to investigate how 4IR technologies can be harnessed to support sustainable development in Africa. The objectives of the study were to: examine the infometric patterns of research production on 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa; explore the perception of 4IR technologies and their potential for sustainable development in Africa; investigate the extent to which 4IR technologies have been harnessed to support sustainable development in Africa; determine the factors influencing the use of 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa; and identify the strategies which can be used to harness 4IR technologies for sustainable development in Africa. Design/methodology/approach – The study applied a mixed methods research approach. Quantitative data was collected through bibliometrics analysis while qualitative data was collected by use of systematic literature review. Data was collected from Google Scholar using Harzing’s “Publish or Perish” software and analysed using Microsoft Excel, Notepad, VOSviewer and Atlas.ti and presented using tables, graphs and figures. Findings – The study retrieved 914 research publications on 4IR and sustainable development in Africa. It emerged that production of research on the subject has increased gradually over the years. The findings reveal that Africa is aware of the potential of 4IR for sustainable development. In fact, it emerged that 4IR technologies are being used to support education, health services, tourism, e-commerce, records integrity and project management. Some of the factors that inhibit the use of 4IR for sustainable development Africa include lack of relevant policies, low skill levels in 4IR technologies, inadequate infrastructure and lack of stakeholder involvement. This study recommends the development of policies in 4IR, capacity building and upgrading of infrastructures. The findings can be used by governments in Africa to harness 4IR technologies for sustainable development. Originality/value – The research is original in scope and coverage.
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    Leadership for the electronic age : towards a development-oriented, socio-technical ontology of leadership : scene setting
    (2013) Muganda, NO
    The idea of an ontology of leadership for the electronic age raises "big questions" from the perspective of leadership as a broad interdisciplinary practice. This article aims to capture the current dilemma in leadership research and practice that Hackman and Wageman (2007) concluded is "curiously unformed". It aims to add a socio-technical voice, rarely heard in a fiercely behavioural school, even where global advances in ICT have tipped the scales towards reifying a more integrative view of leadership. It does not claim to present an integrated theory of leadership; rather, it seeks to elevate the socio-technical school within leadership theory and shift the discourse on leadership to be more inclusive of socio-technical thinking. The concept of "regional ontology", derived from Heidegger, to refer to "as lived" practices and experiences of a particular social group (in this case Africa), is extended to discuss a development-oriented ontology of leadership. This enables us to recognise that effective organisational leadership in Africa and other developing countries should be anchored in local values; encourage netrepreneurship, take into account opportunities afforded by mobile computing platforms and high diffusion of mobile applications; focus on ethical leadership engagement to spur e-particpation and e-democracy; and develop national and regional innovation systems to enable Africa and other developing regions to participate in global knowledge flows.
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    A Proposed Framework for E-Government Knowledge Infrastructures for Africa’s Transition Economies
    (2010) Muganda, Nixon O; Belle, Jean-Paul Van
    This paper proposes an empirically founded framework for building E-Government knowledge infrastructures in transition economies such as those in Africa. The proposed framework builds on the concepts of nomadic information environments. The f ramework, under the acronym NECE (Nomadic E- Government Co-Evolutionary) framework, caters for th e three levels of government: national, regional and local. At the national level lies the responsib ility of building Flexible Infrastructures. The regi onal level concentrates on the creation of nomadic netwo rks. The local level addresses the fostering of confident communities. The framework recognizes expl icitly the links and dependencies between the various levels. The strength of the framework is its systemic view in recognizing the roles of social, human resources, digital and physical resources requi red for addressing the possible social exclusion resulting from traditional “Western style” E-Govern ment implementations in developing countries. Importantly, e-government should not be conceptualize d primarily as from a technological perspective but as a tool to build of social, human, digital and physical resources in order to empower individuals, communities and whole societies
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    Towards a Nomadic E-Government Co-Evolutionary Framework (NECE) for Building Knowledge Infrastructures for African Countries
    (2009) Muganda, Nixon
    Purpose - E-Government, introduced in African countries under the banner of New Public Management (NPM), is envisaged to fundamentally aid in improving governance in developing countries. The imported model of EGovernment is therefore transferred to African countries as a panacea to bad governance by carriers such as international donor agencies, consultants, Information Technology vendors and Western-trained civil servants. Improved governance is expected to impact on the socio-economic development of these countries implementing E-Government, as an NPM instrument. This article recognizes that E-Government success, which is critically dependent on the World Wide Web, requires success frameworks that are context-dependent. This paper presents a framework for building E-Government infrastructures (NECE) in transition economies such as those in Africa. The above framework is based on a number different literatures sources and frameworks. It synthesizes literature sources on frameworks of nomadic information environments and those with a specific focus on E-Government as an E-Transformation response to the digital divide. The framework recognizes that the key technological drivers that underlie the development of computing technology are mobility, digital convergence, and mass scale. Dubbed the NECE (Nomadic E-Government Co-Evolutionary) framework, the critical dimensions focus attention on the macro level of building of Flexible Infrastructures; the meso level building of Nomadic Networks and the micro level building of Confident Communities. The critical linkages at the various levels focus on having in place the social, human resources, digital and physical resources that are necessary for addressing social exclusion of E-Government in developing countries. The new conceptualization of e-government presented in the NECE framework can be seen to have some practical implications. The NECE framework lays emphasis on the building an e-government infrastructure which is linked to the presence of various resources, which on the surface do not appear remotely connected to e-government. The conceptualization advocated for in the NECE framework recognizes that e-government is not only a technology solution, but also a social system that elevates the need for empowered individuals, communities and whole societies through the building of social, human, digital and physical resources. Thus the adoption of e-government should pay attention to the ‘localities’ within which the artifact is finding expression and that it is difficult to achieve successful implementation as long as it remains foreign and a myth.