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This study examines the ethical beliefs of Turkish consumers using a modified version of the Muncy-Vitell Consumer Ethics Scale (CES). Turkey’s ethical climate faces challenges such as copyright violations, environmental pollution, deceptive advertising, unsafe products, bribery, and ethical misconduct in business and politics. Focusing on frequent purchasers, the research assesses consumer ethics in shopping behaviors. While prior studies suggest some Turkish consumers engage in unethical practices, this study reveals a heightened sensitivity toward unethical behavior among respondents. Given Turkey’s status as a Muslim-majority country, the influence of Islamic ethical principles on consumption patterns warrants deeper investigation. The findings contribute to understanding how cultural and religious values shape consumer ethics in emerging markets, offering insights for policymakers and businesses aiming to promote ethical consumption.

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.

Despite National and International commitments for gender equality and victims or survivours of sexual encounters, the envisaged protections, gaps in legislative frameworks, and institutional policies implementation exist, coupled with underreporting and inadequate institutional response. The student sexual victimisations in South African universities remain a persistent challenge, necessitating comprehensive legislative and institutional policies to ensure student safety and security for potential victims. Objectively, this study describes the effectiveness of existing legislative frameworks and institutional policies to address sexual victimisation in the selected South African rural and urban universities. This qualitative study used the descriptive research design to follow the predetermined steps of a documentary study, focusing on documentary sources and the electronic databases; the reviewed data was subjected to the non-probability: Purposive sampling for selections, the keywords/phrases were used to filter info relevant to the study objective, using the Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA), the collected data was restricted to 1979-2024 (not in sequence), with the six (6) phases of inductive Textual Content Analysis (TCA) employed for data analysis and identification of three (3) study themes. This study showcases key challenges, including staff-student power dynamics, lack of independent oversight and inconsistencies in legislative frameworks and institutional policies enforcement. The witnessed disparities between the selected South African universities and international best practices are shared, emphasising the need for victim/survivor-centred approaches, enhanced reporting mechanisms, and mandatory training programmes. The study concludes by proposing effective legislative frameworks and institutional policies as recommendations for strengthening institutional accountability, promoting awareness, and ensuring holistic support for victims.

The learning process of a new language implies many different aspects to be considered and one of those aspects is the social component, family and society, that is always present in the learning processes. It is important to get to know what those roles are in the specific social context; how families/caregivers are supporting their children and the connection these actions have with academic performance in the English first additional classroom. Thus, this, this paper addressed the following research question: What is the importance of parental input in English first additional language? The aim of the study is to explore parental input in English first additional language. Data was gathered through a systematic literature review, and during the search, only English language was the subject of teaching in settings where English is not the language of the majority. After screening the papers, settled for only those that met all inclusion criteria for data extraction and analysis. Findings revealed that that parents are their child’s first teachers; thus, their involvement in additional language development is critical in enhancing academic performance. As the children’s ?rst learning experiences are tied to their home environment, the parents are important in creating a favourable learning environment for their children. Also, parents who read books with their child before the child goes to school, particularly primary school, and parents who participate in their child’s reading and managing homework outside school hours are the best predictors of academic achievement. However, some parents in disadvantaged communities had literacy challenges, thus unmotivated to assist their children with homework, unlike the educated parents, especially in semi- and urban areas who possess some   academic knowledge to manage EFAL homework.

Corruption is a pandemic that gradually undermines governmental structures and has precipitated the downfall of numerous governments. This article stems from a research inquiry: What is the magnitude of financial malfeasance within the South African public sector? The study aimed to investigate instances of financial malfeasance inside a certain state-owned enterprise. The qualitative research approach involved a desktop examination of existing literature and official records from government departments and public entities to assemble and assess the data. The research examined the extent and underlying causes of financial misconduct and corruption through an exploratory design. An examination of official records verifies the existence of multiple anti-corruption statutes currently enforced in South Africa, including the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PCCA), Public Audit Act (PAA), Public Service Commission Act (PSCA), Special Investigating Unit and Special Tribunal Act, Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003, and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). These Acts are designed to mitigate and eliminate corruption. These measures enable the South African public sector to establish and execute policies aimed at eradicating corruption. Four supplementary initiatives are presently implemented in South Africa: the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020–2030, the National Development Plan 2030, autonomous anti-corruption agencies, and whistleblower protection measures. Anti-corruption organisations in the country include the Financial Intelligence Centre, the National Anti-Corruption Hotline, the National Prosecution Authority, the South African Police Service, and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, among others. None of these measures could have diminished corruption and financial wrongdoing to the intended levels. The article examines incidents of corruption and financial malfeasance in South Africa, with particular emphasis on Eskom, a state-owned organisation (SOE). Significant corruption and financial malfeasance have transpired in South Africa during the past three decades. The findings indicate that the major corruption issues addressed include political interference, state capture, the Zuma-Gupta relationship, the latest de Ruyter interview, and related procedures. The paper presents comprehensive policy proposals to address and mitigate corruption within the public sector based on the findings. The practical implication is to aid policymakers in ensuring that the government engages all pertinent stakeholders to realise its objective of "no corruption."

The quality of institutions continues to be a pertinent issue due to its potential direct and indirect effects on economic growth. The research examined the correlation between institutional quality and economic growth in Botswana from 1990 to 2022. The research utilised the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds model to assess cointegration and the Toda and Yamamoto and Dolado and Lütkepohl (TYDL) model to investigate the direction of causality. The ARDL methodology is favoured for this research because to its applicability to small sample sizes. This method is not constrained by the sequence of integration among the variables. The results demonstrate that corruption adversely impacts economic growth in both the short term and the long term. Regulatory frameworks and governmental stability exert a substantial favourable influence on economic growth in both the short and long term. The analysis identified a bidirectional causative relationship between government stability and economic growth, as well as a unidirectional causal relationship from regulatory rules to economic growth. This study revealed a negative impact of labour on economic vitality. The cointegrating link indicates that the Botswana government ought to prioritise investments in institutional quality, targeted procedures, and policies due to their direct influence on economic growth. The report advocates for the Botswana government to formulate and implement legislation that fosters and advances the development of the citizen sector. The Botswana government should improve and sustain the factors that contribute to institutional quality, as they facilitate development.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is transforming knowledge-intensive professional services; nevertheless, data from consulting ecosystems in emerging markets is still scarce. This study investigates the organisational and human-centric consequences of RPA implementation in consulting businesses in Johannesburg, South Africa, concentrating on company performance, job security, employee performance, and customer engagement. We performed reliability testing, rotational factor analysis, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression in SAS using a cross-sectional survey of 256 consulting staff. The results indicate a favourable correlation between RPA and employee performance as well as customer interaction, however no statistically significant link was found for business performance or job security. The paper provides context-specific empirical evidence about RPA within the South African consulting ecosystem, indicating that early value realisation may manifest through enhancements in worker efficiency and client interactions rather than immediate increases in firm-level performance. The findings underscore the necessity for change management, reskilling, and appropriate automation governance to maintain human-technology complementarity.

This study mainly aimed to examine the impact of the effectiveness of the internal control system on store performance through the example of D&R Store in the retail media sector in Türkiye.  In the study, it was investigated whether the effectiveness of the internal control system has a significant and positive effect on the perception of store performance through the COSO internal control components. It was also investigated whether these perceptions differed according to demographic characteristics. Methodologically, a descriptive online survey method including a questionnaire prepared in accordance with the 5-point Likert scale was used to collect data. 302 employees responded to the survey included statements regarding demographic characteristics and COSO’s main internal control components. The data were analyzed with SPSS-22. The study concluded that all COSO internal control components (control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information-communication, monitoring) have a positive and significant effect on store’s performance perception. Furthermore, the study revealed that these perceptions differed according to demographic characteristics. While statistically significant differences in perceptions were found according to demographic characteristics such as gender, job position, and years of professional experience, no significant differences were found based on demographic criteria such as age and educational level. The study is considered to contribute to the literature because it is the first study to investigate the impact of the effectiveness of the COSO internal control system components on store performance together with the example of D&R Store in the retail media sector. The study is limited by the selected sample store, number of participants, survey questions-answers, the applied statistical analysis methods and tests. Therefore, in order to reach more general results, it is suggested to expand the studies with more diverse and larger numbers of stores in the retail media sector, employees, survey questions and statistical methods.

Celebrity endorsement is a widely utilised strategic marketing method employed by companies globally. This study examines the influence of sport celebrity endorsement, with particular emphasis on Lionel Messi's effect on the profitability of the brands he represents. Two prominent brands, adidas and Louis Vuitton, both positioned within the top ten most valuable fashion brands in 2024, were selected for analysis. The study utilised secondary data to fulfil its aims. The findings indicate that Lionel Messi has a positive impact on profit generation for endorsed brands, underscoring the effectiveness of integrating high-profile sports celebrities into marketing communication strategies to enhance profitability. Brand managers who have not yet employed sports celebrity endorsements should consider this approach, as it has demonstrated a substantial impact on company profits. This study recognises specific limitations, as is common in research endeavours. Future research should evaluate the influence of local sports celebrities on the profitability of brands they endorse within the community. 

This study aims to examine the effect of empowering leadership on employee agility in the Indonesian banking sector, with knowledge sharing and perceived organizational support as mediating variables. A quantitative approach was employed using survey data collected from 322 employees of commercial banks in East Java, Indonesia. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized with SmartPLS 4 software. The study reveals that empowering leadership exerts a significant positive influence on employee agility, both directly and indirectly. Knowledge and perceived organizational support emerged as strong predictors of agility, while also serving as key mediating mechanisms. Specifically, empowering leadership enhances employee agility by fostering knowledge sharing and strengthening perceived organizational support, highlighting their central role in translating leadership practices into agile employee behaviors. Organizations should prioritize empowering leadership practices to cultivate agility among employees. Managers can achieve this by encouraging open knowledge sharing, creating supportive work environments, and recognizing employee contributions.

Grounded in Conservation of Resources theory, this study examines how psychological capital influences organizational citizenship behavior among Vietnamese IT expatriates in Taiwan, focusing on the mediating role of cross-cultural adjustment and the moderating influence of cultural intelligence. Survey data from 500 participants were analyzed using PROCESS Macro and AMOS. The results show that hope, self-efficacy, and optimism significantly predict cross-cultural adjustment, whereas resilience does not. All psychological capital dimensions positively predict organizational citizenship behavior, and cross-cultural adjustment partially mediates these relationships, indicating that psychological resources promote discretionary behaviors more effectively when expatriates achieve cultural ease. Cultural intelligence significantly strengthens the psychological capital, cross-cultural adjustment link, with the strongest effects observed for self-efficacy and optimism, highlighting the importance of cultural capability in resource deployment. This study advances expatriate research by integrating psychological capital, cross-cultural adjustment, cultural intelligence, and organizational citizenship behavior into a unified model within an East Asian technology context. Practical implications include developing psychological capital-cultural intelligence training, enhancing intercultural onboarding practices, and supporting migrant professional networks to improve expatriate retention and performance.

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.

This research examined the influence of board tenure diversity (BTD) on shareholder value creation (SVC) among 95 non-financial companies listed in South Africa. A quantitative quasi-experimental research design was employed. The data collection sources included integrated annual reports, the Who Owns Whom database and the Osiris database. The study used a fixed effects model to test the hypotheses.  BTD  was measured using the Blau index (BI_BTD), average tenure (AVE_TBM), standard deviation (SD_TBM), and coefficient of variation for tenure board members (TBM), as well as dummies for short tenured boards  (AVE_TBM  3) and long tenured boards (AVE_TBM 10)  The proxies of SVC  included standard market value added (SMVA), market-to-book ratio (MTB) and Tobin’s Q (TBQ). The results of curvilinear quadratic models indicate that all BTD  measures had both positive and negative influences on all SVC measures, highlighting an inverted  U-shaped effect. The inverted U-shape effect reflects a trade-off between beneficial knowledge accumulation and harmful entrenchment or coordination problems as board tenure diversity increases beyond an optimal level. Given the inverted  U-shaped effect, many proposals for corporate governance reform explicitly stress the importance of limiting board tenure.

Rural entrepreneurship has emerged as a significant focus and is widely recognised as a crucial contributor to the tourism sector and overall economic development of the Wild Coast in South Africa. Rural entrepreneurial ventures frequently function in unstable and resource-limited contexts, rendering them susceptible to various factors that may impede their sustainability. This study aimed to examine the success factors affecting the sustainability of rural tourism entrepreneurs in the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. This study employed a descriptive research design and quantitative methodology. Additionally, inferential statistics were utilised to derive descriptive statistics from a sample of 310 tourism ventures, enabling inferences about population parameters via correlation analysis. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select a sample of business respondents from the Wild Coast in the context of rural tourism entrepreneurship. The research findings indicate a significant correlation among skills development, motivations for entrepreneurship, business challenges, and strategic and management knowledge as critical success factors for rural enterprises. This study contributes to the under-explored domain of success factors influencing rural tourism entrepreneurs. This study identifies success factors for rural entrepreneurs and advocates for ongoing efforts and interventions to optimise their utilisation. This study significantly enhances the understanding of the impact of specific variables on the performance of SMTEs. This is especially important in the Eastern Cape Province, where there is a lack of research examining the factors that contribute to the sustainable success of rural tourism entrepreneurs.

There are various challenges to foreign policy execution in South Africa. Disagreements over policy direction among political parties, factions, and interest groups may be the most significant of them. As a result, South Africa is at a loss about which partners to choose between traditional Western allies or eastern partners like China and other BRICS partners. This chapter explores how the discord in policy positions and consequent geopolitical implications affect South Africa's international development cooperation agenda. The study adopts a qualitative literature review to draw its conclusion. Theoretically, the chapter leans on Group Theory to guide its research and conclusion. The study shows significant disparities in foreign policy adoption, leading to significant geopolitical and domestic problems. Political parties, foreign actors and elements like NGOs and other interest groups all have disagreements. The chapter makes the argument that these disagreements and consequent delays cause major challenges for South Africa’s development cooperation agenda. In this regard, the chapter makes various recommendations on how South Africa can navigate this conundrum while balancing relations between both Eastern and Western partners for a sustainable development path. Furthermore, it is also recommended that South Africa set a foreign policy agenda that surpasses partisan and party-political interests to minimise these effects. This chapter seeks to contribute to wider discussions on international development cooperation in the changing geopolitical and North-South relations.

This article contends that the governance of public tenderpreneurship in South Africa fails to foster entrepreneurship ecosystems characterised by dynamic micro-foundation capabilities, which are essential for enabling business ambidexterity in state tender-based enterprises. The article posits that political, bureaucratic, and public bribery corruption develop within a public order that is fundamentally opposed to, and incompatible with, the fostering of entrepreneurial ambidexterity. Thus, its theoretical contribution lies in the evolution of dynamic capabilities within the frameworks of entrepreneurship ecosystems, micro-foundations, and the conceptions of public order corruption from the perspectives of republicanism and liberalism. The desktop literature analysis identifies 47 dynamic micro-foundation capabilities across strategic operations, marketing, innovation, and information systems governance domains that facilitate the incubation of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Furthermore, it formulates one question for each governance domain of entrepreneurship ecosystems as a summative normative assessment of South Africa's tenderpreneurship preferential treatment governance. The article concludes that South Africa's governance of state tenderpreneurship promotes a public order characterised by the rapid emergence of tender-based entrepreneurs and businesses, alongside corruption ecosystems that lack processes orientated towards entrepreneurship, such as sensing, seizing, and transformation, as well as dynamic capabilities necessary for fulfilling service level contractual obligations, reconfiguration, and renewal. Tenderpreneurship governance is problematic due to hidden agendas that undermine democratic transformation, lacking transparency in the exercise of public power and disregarding citizens' claims to equality as legitimate rights-holders. The article recommends the following: the establishment of mandatory requirements for public accountability in the exercise of entrusted public power; the promotion of authentic citizenship and public order where all citizens are political equals and legitimate rights-holders; the prohibition of covert preferential treatment in state tenderpreneurship governance; and the implementation of a rigorous meritocracy-based state procurement governance system.

This study examines how environmental, social, and governance malpractices manifest as selective disclosure and weak assurance, enabling greenwashing across corporations in sub–Saharan Africa, and delineates governance and policy levers to curb these behaviors. Following integrative review standards, the study screens Scopus and Web of Science outputs and synthesizes 22 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024 using a transparent PRISMA-informed pipeline and thematic coding to ensure replicability and analytic depth. The evidence shows that greenwashing is driven by regulatory gaps, voluntary compliance regimes, and narrative heavy self-reporting, while quality of integrated reporting is unevenly translated into real performance, signalling persistent decoupling between disclosure and outcomes; the preponderance of studies identifies governance weaknesses and selective disclosures as recurrent enablers across sectors including certification schemes and the built environment, corroborating the dominance of symbolic over substantive implementation in many African settings. The review argues for stronger ESG legislation, independent third-party auditing, and digital monitoring tools to restore investor confidence, protect public trust, and align corporate behaviour with the Sustainable Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa

Artificial intelligence has infiltrated various industries and workplaces. The application has been examined from two primary perspectives concerning threats and opportunities for enhanced job performance. Research indicates that AI can serve as both a disruptor in the job market by replacing human roles and as a facilitator for improved productivity and work performance. This study aimed to analyse final year students' perspectives on AI, considering it either as a threat to job market entry or as an opportunity for enhanced work performance. The study utilised a quantitative research approach, employing a Likert-type questionnaire for data collection and analysing descriptive statistics to meet its objectives. Data were collected from 200 final-year students selected from five faculties at a University of Technology. The data analysis revealed that students exhibited diverse perspectives on AI. They perceive it as a threat to job market entry and work performance; however, they also acknowledge potential benefits for enhanced work performance that can be derived from AI. The results were inconclusive regarding the significance of each perspective. Further research is necessary to determine the significance of threats to job market entry and the opportunities for improved work performance related to AI.

The objective of the study was to examine the perceptions of the efficacy of artificial intelligence (AI) in improving work performance between final-year students and recent graduates. The study employed a quantitative research methodology involving the gathering of quantitative data from two participant groups. The first group consisted of thirty representatives from final-year students across the six university faculties, while the second group comprised thirty recently employed graduates from the same universities. The students were instructed to engage with their peers in the faculties and thereafter evaluate their judgements of the utility of AI, considering both their own perspectives and those of their colleagues. The evaluations were assigned using a semantic differential scale ranging from 1 to 10. The Mann-Whitney test was conducted to determine if the difference in perspectives between the two groups was significant. Engagement in industry and the utilisation of AI enhance perceptions of its utility. Employees were more inclined to believe that AI can improve workplace performance, whereas final-year students expressed scepticism. It is advisable for higher education institutes.

Unethical conduct by nurses in Ghanaian hospitals adversely affects patient care delivery. Notwithstanding this concern, research on ethical conduct among registered nurses in Ghana has been scarce. This study examines the ethical practices of registered nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. The study was informed by Kant's deontological theory, which perceives ethical conduct as an intrinsic obligation. The study was quantitative in nature. A sample of 313 participants consisted of registered nurses at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 30.0. The research use descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation, to discern significant ethical behaviours and issues faced by registered nurses. The research indicates that prioritising patient welfare is the foremost ethical practice demonstrated by registered nurses. Simultaneously, insufficient training and education constitute the primary obstacles encountered by registered nurses. The study advocates for ethical conduct among registered nurses, hospital investment in nursing training, and the provision of sufficient infrastructure.