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Technology-facilitated gender-based violence has emerged as a significant challenge within South African basic education institutions, posing risks to learner welfare, professional conduct of educators, and the integrity of a secure digital learning environment. Increased access to mobile devices and social media platforms has amplified incidents of cyberbullying, online harassment, and gendered digital abuse among both educators and students. This paper examines how the organisational culture, policies, and leadership within schools influence institutional responses to technology-facilitated gender-based violence in South Africa. Through a bibliometric analysis of scholarly literature sourced from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, this paper identified citation trends, thematic developments, and existing research gaps. The findings indicate that the dimensions of organisational culture and leadership remain insufficiently explored, particularly in rural African contexts, while studies conducted in South Africa tend to be predominantly descriptive. This paper recommends enhancing digital safety policies, leadership development programs, accountability mechanisms, and organisational cultures that foster reporting, protection, gender equality, and individuals' psychosocial well-being in educational settings.

Social entrepreneurship has arisen as a pivotal mechanism for tackling intricate societal issues while fostering sustainable growth. This study examines the crucial function of social entrepreneurs in promoting inclusive growth, environmental sustainability, and community empowerment. Social businesses merge creative business models with social objectives, effectively reconciling profit and purpose while providing scalable solutions to challenges like poverty, inequality, and climate change. The research investigates the processes by which social entrepreneurship advances social development in South Africa, emphasising case studies from various industries and locations. It also examines the facilitating environments—policy frameworks, financial tools, and educational initiatives—that promote the development of social companies. The findings highlight the capacity of social entrepreneurship to initiate systemic change, underscoring its importance in fostering resilient and equitable communities. This research enhances the dialogue on sustainable development by framing social entrepreneurship as not only a corporate strategy but also a crucial catalyst for enduring social impact.    

This study investigates the role of policy support in addressing barriers to effective small-scale cooperative farming in South African municipality, with a focus on identifying potential solutions to improve the success rate of agricultural co-operatives in the uMhlathuze local municipality. Despite their potential, agricultural co-operatives face significant challenges, with studies indicating an alarming failure of 88% in the country. This high failure rate underscores the need to understand how policy support can address the shortcomings hindering the success of agricultural co-operatives. The high failure rate of agricultural co-operatives in South Africa highlights a critical gap in policy support, necessitating an exploration of how policy interventions can mitigate challenges and enhance the viability of co-operative small-scale farming. The research adopts a secondary data collection method and thematic data analysis. Findings indicate that a combination of lack of member commitment, insufficient training and capacity building and financial constraints are a result of inadequate policy support; policies are not effectively addressing co-ops needs. The study recommends that policymakers should revise and tailor existing policies to better address the unique needs and challenges of small-scale farming co-operatives, enhancing their viability and sustainability.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming teaching and learning in accounting education. While AI technologies offer opportunities to enhance learning outcomes, academic performance is also influenced by broader educational factors such as teacher competence, institutional support, curriculum design, and student engagement. This study investigates the role of AI and educational factors in shaping academic performance in accounting education through a systematic literature review of studies published between 2020 and 2025. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a structured search of major academic databases yielded 168 initial records. After screening and eligibility assessment, 28 studies were retained for final analysis. The review synthesizes empirical evidence on AI applications in accounting education and identifies key factors influencing student performance. The study is grounded in Human Capital Theory and Social Cognitive Theory, which provide insights into how technological and educational investments influence learning outcomes. The findings reveal that AI technologies such as intelligent tutoring systems, generative AI tools, predictive analytics, and automated assessment platforms enhance academic performance through personalized learning and data-driven feedback. However, the effectiveness of these technologies depends on teacher digital competence, student motivation, curriculum alignment, and institutional support. The study proposes an integrated conceptual framework linking AI adoption and educational factors to academic performance in accounting education. The findings provide implications for educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers seeking to improve accounting education in the digital era.

The study evaluating social entrepreneurial activity as a strategy to enhance sustainable rural Economies in South Africa, using the uMhlathuze community. Sustainable local economic development is a paramount concern in South Africa, as ongoing inequality, unemployment, and spatial underdevelopment persistently hinder inclusive progress. This research assesses social entrepreneurial activity as a strategic approach to improving sustainable local economies, especially in marginalised and resource-limited areas. The research used a qualitative approach with original interview from selected participant to examine the ability of social businesses to foster grassroots creativity, create job opportunities, and enhance community resilience. Research demonstrates that social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in local economic diversification, promotes social cohesiveness, and improves access to important services. Nonetheless, its influence is frequently restricted by insufficient legislative backing, inadequate financial frameworks, and institutional obstacles that impede scalability. The study presents a framework for incorporating social entrepreneurship into local development plans, highlighting collaborative governance, capacity building, and conducive regulatory frameworks. The research positions social entrepreneurship as a catalyst for sustainable development, highlighting its capacity to foster transformational and inclusive economic results in South Africa.

Community engagement has evolved as a key pillar in the transformation agenda of South African Universities, particularly with regards to social justice, decolonisation, and inclusive knowledge development. This paper employed a bibliometric analysis to analyse the evolving literature on community engagement within South African higher education. The analysis analysed publication trends, keyword co-occurrences, authorship networks and institutional contributions, by providing a systematic overview of how community engagement is conceptualised, practised and theorised in relation to social justice and inclusion. The findings show consistent growth in academic interest over the past decade, corresponding with national calls for decolonial, socially responsive, and participatory academic practices. Key topic clusters show connections between community engagement, change, participatory research approaches and epistemic justice. Emerging patterns indicate that researchers are increasingly conceptualising community engagement as a catalyst for undoing structural inequities, developing reciprocal connections and amplifying historically marginalised perspectives within and outside university settings. The bibliometric mapping reveals additional differences among institutions, highlighting distinct capacities and commitments to engaged scholarship. This paper adds to the discourse by providing a comprehensive evidence-based synthesis that clarifies the conceptual structure of the discipline. It contends that community engagement, when conducted ethically and constructively, can develop inclusive pedagogies, co-create socially grounded knowledge, and increase universities' democratic role in society. The paper recommends increased multidisciplinary collaboration, methodological innovation, and institutional support to improve the transformative impact of community engagement in South African higher education.

This paper explores the effects of Matriarchal leadership styles on the performance and success of female-led businesses in South Africa, intending to generate insights that support women entrepreneurs in achieving their objectives within a competitive market.  Using a Systematic Literature Review, this paper analysed current scholarly articles, reports and studies that examine the relationship between matriarchal leadership and entrepreneurial success. The review process involved source identification, data extraction, critical analysis, and synthesis to develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The findings revealed that matriarchal leadership styles significantly enhance business performance by fostering empathy, collaboration and inclusivity, which contribute to supportive work environments, increased productivity and innovation. This paper highlights important managerial and policy implications, recommending that inclusive leadership strengthens team cohesion and organisational effectiveness. The paper is original in addressing the limited adoption of matriarchal leadership due to patriarchal norms, misconceptions, limited research, and organisational resistance to change. 

This paper examines the need to decolonise entrepreneurship education in South Africa by addressing epistemic inequalities and aligning curricula with local socio-economic realities. Grounded in decolonial and human capital theories, the study critiques existing programmes that are dominated by Western pedagogies privileging individualism and profit maximization. A literature review shows that current curricula inadequately reflect indigenous knowledge, community-oriented practices, and the informal economy, which remains a crucial site for livelihoods and economic participation. Three key gaps are identified: an overreliance on Eurocentric content, weak contextual relevance to South Africa’s socio-economic challenges, and the exclusion of indigenous and community-driven approaches. These shortcomings limit the curriculum’s capacity to prepare students to address pressing issues such as unemployment, inequality, and informality. The study argues for a decolonised curriculum that integrates African epistemologies, emphasizes social and community entrepreneurship, and produces graduates capable of contributing to inclusive and sustainable development. This study adopts a conceptual and integrative literature-based approach to examine the decolonisation of entrepreneurship education in South Africa. Drawing on peer-reviewed journal articles, policy documents, doctoral studies, and prior empirical research conducted within South African higher education contexts, the paper synthesises existing scholarship to identify structural gaps, epistemic exclusions, and contextual misalignments within entrepreneurship curricula. Rather than presenting new primary empirical data, the study draws on illustrative insights from established South African studies to support conceptual arguments. This approach is appropriate given the paper’s aim to advance theoretical clarity, curricular reflection, and contextually grounded recommendations for entrepreneurship education reform.

This PRISMA-guided review synthesises evidence from 32 studies on how multilingual training supports women’s entrepreneurship in South African townships and rural areas. We focus on post-2010 literature from South Africa and comparable African contexts to examine the intersection of language, culture and capability-building in entrepreneurship support. Findings show that integrating indigenous languages and bilingual facilitation into training improves comprehension, confidence and customer reach; strengthens access to markets, finance and networks; and contributes to higher start-up participation and business resilience. Multilingualism emerges not only as a communicative aid but as a strategic resource that enhances inclusion, opportunity recognition and market insight. Policy and ecosystem factors such as public SME support and mobile enabled learning moderate these effects. We argue for language-sensitive curricula, co-delivery with community partners and targeted localisation of digital content. The review highlights design elements for more inclusive entrepreneurship development and outlines implications for policy and training providers. Keywords: multilingual training; women’s entrepreneurship; South Africa; language barriers; rural development; PRISMA.

The National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) is one of the food security programmes of the South African government that strives to provide proper nutrition meals to all public primary and secondary school learners nationwide. To implement the programme, NSNP hires food handlers to prepare and deliver meals to students on a daily basis. However, in terms of public sector human resource management, it is unclear how these food handlers are recruited and hired into the programme. This paper aimed at assessing the recruitment practices of food handlers into the NSNP. The paper employed qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interviews and documentary review as two data collection methods. Moreover, the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) Johannesburg North District was chosen as a case study for the research strategy. The study reviewed pertinent literature, conducted semi-structured interviews to collect data. The data was analysed using thematic content analysis in order to qualitatively examine the data gathered. The paper's findings demonstrated that the GDE has a plan in place to oversee the NSNP's food handler recruitment practices, and that plan is spelt out in detail in their advising memorandum on the subject. Nevertheless, the study found that the approach does not align with the principles and practices of Public Human Resource Management (PHRM). According to the findings, the NSNP lacks a defined recruitment policy that would govern its hiring practices. It was found that there are challenges in the recruitment process. Finally, this paper offered recommendations for improved recruitment practices for food handlers.

Makhanda Municipality, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, faces difficulties such as service delivery failures, infrastructure deficiencies, and government inefficiencies. This paper aims to assess the applicability and efficacy of Lewin's model in promoting organisational change and improving performance in this particular Municipality. This paper used VOSviewer's bibliometric analysis to synthesise 36 current literature and pinpoint important trends, seminal research, and knowledge gaps about change management. The findings show that Lewin's model, which includes unfreezing, change, and refreezing phases, provides a systematic framework that, when applied in Makhanda, can greatly improve stakeholder engagement and organisational adaptability. The paper's novelty stems from its adaptation of a traditional change model to a modern municipal environment, which provides valuable insights into local governance. To improve the transformation process, recommendations include tailoring training programs for local officials and establishing a feedback mechanism. This paper concludes that effective change management is critical for enhancing public service outcomes, and Makhanda Municipality will greatly benefit from the application of the Model.