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This review provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to the application of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for novice researchers. This is a conceptual and literature-based review that focuses on best practices and PLS-SEM literature. It highlights the rationale for using PLS-SEM, sample size, software tools, and essential metrics in PLS-SEM analysis. Drawing on best practices and recent literature, the review offers a framework for conducting and reporting PLS-SEM analysis. The review presents essential such as outer loadings, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, average variance extracted (AVE), composite reliability, cross-loadings, Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT), the Fornell-Larcker criterion, variance inflation factor (VIF), and redundancy analysis. Moreover, for more consistent results, the paper emphasizes on researchers to employ 10,000 bootstrap subsamples and Bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap in assessing the structural model. Insights regarding path coefficients, p-values, R-square (R2), f-square (f2), and Q-square (Q2),  are also presented. Furthermore, the review underscores the trade-off between predictive power and model fit when applying PLS-SEM. The presented practical insights alert novice researchers in avoiding common pitfalls and enhance the methodological rigor of empirical research that utilizes PLS-SEM. This step-by-step guide supports early-career researchers and contributes to the ongoing debates on improving methodological clarity and transparency.

In Southern Africa, the human immunodeficiency virus constitutes a significant public health challenge, characterised by elevated rates of new infections in rural populations. Conversely, biomedical interventions have facilitated advancement. The incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems into Human Immunodeficiency Virus preventive techniques is still little investigated. This systematic analysis assesses the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems into community-based HIV prevention strategies in Southern Africa. This systematic review complied with the PRISMA principles. A search was performed across various electronic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and CINAHL, for papers published from 01 January 2015 to 31 June 2025. A total of 51,972 studies were discovered, of which 14 matched the inclusion criteria and were evaluated. The analysis revealed that incorporating Indigenous Knowledge Systems into community-based HIV prevention programs in Southern Africa improved cultural relevance, community involvement, and trust in health initiatives. Traditional healers significantly contributed to counselling, education, and the increase of HIV testing in rural regions, leading to enhanced service accessibility and diminished stigma. Notwithstanding these advantages, several projects nevertheless lacked official policy support and organised collaborations between conventional and biological health sectors.

This article explores the perceptions of teachers about their role to implement the national school nutrition programme in the Harry Gwala District KwaZulu-Natal. This article originated from my Ph.D. study in which a qualitative research design with a sample of teachers was used, and nutrition coordinators who play a primary role in the school nutrition programme. Data was collected through individual interviews and document analysis. The study findings indicated that teachers perceived their role to interact with learners during feeding time as necessary in order to achieve the main objectives of the programme. The findings secondly indicated that teachers have a perception that their monitoring and supervision role ensured that there is a great need to check food stuff delivered by service providers as the key to ensure smooth running of the school nutrition programme, the findings thirdly emphasis that, teachers perceived as their role to ensure that all learners at school benefit from the programme. The findings also heighted that teachers were demotivated by unavailability of feeding equipment in their role to implement the school nutrition programme. The study also assert that school teachers had a perception that smooth running of the school nutrition programme depends on their proper management and administration of the programme. The study also find that teachers perceived safety and security on school nutrition programme as the most challenging aspect on their role to implement the programme. It was also discovered that the duty to that the service providers, Volunteer Food Handlers are not paid on time is also perceived as a barrier to programme implementation. Teachers have a perception that food for learners should be prepared and served under hygienic conditions even if the infrastructure if poorly developed. This study has a meaningful contribution to the entire implementation of the national school nutrition programme, and also fill the gap on how teachers perceive their role in the implementation of the school nutrition programme.

The study examines how quality of governance influences the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study adopts a quantitative research strategy that utilises panel data of selected countries during 28 years, that is, 1996-2023. Indicators of governance like Government Effectiveness (GE), Political Stability and Absence of Violence (AV), Rule of Law (RL), Regulatory Quality (RQ) and Voice and Accountability (VA). The findings indicate that Strong Governance frameworks significantly enhance FDI inflows in Sub-Saharan Africa. VA was found to be a very strong positive determinant. GE and PS were also found to have negative relationships in within-country analyses. The IFRS adoption, being a uniform variable throughout the sampled countries, was observed to increase investor confidence. These results imply that the improvement of governance are synergies that help to establish the stable, transparent, and predictable environment sought by investors. Thus, policymakers can improve the governance systems and provide citizen involvement in order to boost foreign investment and attract sustainable capital and economic growth in the region.

The local government in South Africa is important in providing critical services to communities, although local government is tasked with critical service delivery functions, many faces systemic challenges when fulfilling this responsibility. Mkhondo Local Municipality is no exception, challenges such as inefficiency, inadequate resource management, and limited public participation. This study is grounded in consequential theory, which underscores the significance of outcomes in assessing actions. This theoretical framework facilitates the exploration of strategic actions to enhance service delivery in Mkhondo. The aim of this article was to propose effective strategies to enhance service delivery at Mkhondo Local Municipality. This article adopted a qualitative methodology, with purposive sampling to select ten experienced participants from the supply chain management and finance units. Data was collected through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with 10 key municipal staff members. The interview transcripts were analysed thematically using NVivo 12 to identify and organise the emerging themes. The results highlighted several barriers, including ineffectiveness of performance monitoring, inadequate procurement transparency, and minimal community involvement. The article recommends the implementation of performance-based accountability, improved stakeholder participation, and transparency in municipal procedures. It is recommended that municipal strategies are aligned with consequential theory to significantly improve service delivery. These interventions can foster greater transparency, efficiency, and public trust, providing a model for similar municipalities across South Africa.

This qualitative multiple case study explored the pedagogical training of Business Studies educators within the Capricorn South District, Limpopo Province, and examined how this educational training was translated into classroom settings across urban (private), semi-urban, and rural   contexts. Informed by Bandura's Teacher Self-Efficacy Theory, data were collected through non-participant classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with six Business Studies educators from three secondary schools. Within this small sample, findings indicated a gap between educators' self-reported pedagogical knowledge and their observed classroom performance. Two observed lessons included learner-centered components that educators did not describe. Despite educators demonstrating awareness of CAPS-aligned, learner-centred methodologies, they reported that implementation was hindered by overcrowded classrooms, inadequate subject-specific professional training, limited digital resources, and linguistic barriers. Reported mastery and mentorship aligned with confident utilization of specific methodologies throughout teaching segments, but not with continuous learner-centered engagements. The findings furthermore suggest that professional development, contextual resources and educator self-efficacy may function as interdependent elements influencing curriculum implementation. A case-based interpretation that may need to be tested in larger studies. The study therefore recommends a transition from once-off, compliance-focused workshops towards sustained, practice-based professional development that includes peer-mentorship, coaching and guided classroom practice, as well as differentiated, context-sensitive resources for underfunded schools. Improving these interrelated areas is crucial for bridging the gap between CAPS objectives and classroom realities as well as advancing Business Studies teaching and learning in varied South African environments.

This paper seeks to investigate sustainable green marketing as a business model in the African context. Promoting products or services that are eco-friendly is called green marketing. It involves incorporating sustainable principles into various aspects of marketing. Broadly, the sustainable business principles include investing profits in renewable energy, responsible waste disposal practices and avoiding printed materials. Nevertheless, some organisations in the global south are still grappling with the problem of balancing profit with sustainability. Against this backdrop, this paper is guided by three research questions: what are sustainable green marketing practices in the African business context? what are the benefits of sustainable green marketing to business? and which challenges are faced in implementing sustainable green marketing? Eventually, this study’s results would proffer a business model which can be a key driver of innovation and competitiveness and assist corporate organisations reap substantial economic benefits. Furthermore, green marketing can raise awareness among consumers about the importance of sustainability and environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. An integrative literature review methodology was employed by the authors to understand sustainable green marketing benefits and challenges. The study is guided by two key theories: stakeholder theory and institutional theory. The research findings indicated a deficiency in knowledge, skills, and proficiency in environmental sustainability, conservation, and eco-friendly practices within certain African businesses. Additionally, it was found that certain harmful products were still being used because individuals were unaware of the negative impact these products had on the environment. Notably, using packaging that produces no waste and promoting environmentally friendly advertising gives a competitive advantage and positive outcomes for manufacturing companies. Nevertheless, there are challenges in implementing green marketing, including the lack of standardized criteria for evaluating environmental impact, limited financial resources and tools to measure and monitor environmental effects, and difficulties in tracking consumer behavior.

This systematic literature review investigates the methods by which resource-limited entrepreneurs leverage artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce platforms, and various digital technologies to enhance market capabilities amidst resource constraints. Anchored on the viewpoints of platform ecosystems and dynamic capacities, the research employs a PRISMA-based review of scholarly articles released from 2015 to 2025. A cumulative total of 195 items were incorporated into the final collection. The results suggest that digital platforms and AI-driven tools can enhance access to clients, information, digital infrastructure, analytics, and distribution services, whereas their impact on the development of firm-level capabilities relies on how entrepreneurs utilise, integrate, and reorganise these externally sourced resources. The literature examined places more emphasis on customer acquisition and digital distribution than on pricing optimisation and market sensing. The evaluation also highlights a continual disparity between digital accessibility and the advancement of capabilities, with scant longitudinal data elucidating how the habitual utilisation of digital resources integrates into entrepreneurial practices. Utilising the synthesis, the research formulates a conceptual framework that situates digital leverage as a conduit linking ecosystem resources and digital affordances with sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring processes, culminating in market-facing capabilities. The research offers a mechanism-focused viewpoint on how entrepreneurs with limited resources can transform externally available digital assets into market competencies and highlights areas for future investigation regarding measurement, long-term capability enhancement, and contextual differences.

The latest reform to labour relations in Zimbabwe is the Labour Amendment Act Number eleven of 2023. The amendment was done to enhance labour justice and balance power dynamics between the  employees and employers of various business organisations in the private sector, against the history of  colonial imbalances.  Nevertheless, researchers argue that the amendment, contrastingly created major controversies and legal uncertainties which worsened long-standing issues in the labour market, instead of resolving them. Through a qualitative research approach encompassing trade unionists, employees, legal practitioners and human resource practitioners as the key participants, the present study identifies and analyses the contentious sections of the Labour Amendment Act, number eleven of 2023. study results indicated that section 101 relating to employment codes of conduct, section 56 on employment councils, section 12 on termination of contracts, and section 63 on the jurisdiction of designated agents have confusion and contradictory interpretations. These challenges have created jurisdictional battles, a collapse of the dispute resolution system and a sense of insecurity among workers and employers. Supported by the proximity theory, the paper demonstrates that the amendment of the labour act failed on the cultural, geographical and temporal proximity fronts and that weakens access to justice. The paper concludes that without urgent legislative clarification and stakeholder engagement, the labour amendment number eleven of 2023 risks creating more inequalities than justice it sought to achieve in the Zimbabwean workplace.

Strategic decision-making and innovation are critical to the competitiveness of emerging organisations operating in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments. This paper examines how emerging organisations can make adaptive strategic decisions while pursuing innovation under conditions of environmental uncertainty. Using O’mari Zimbabwe, a corporate-backed financial technology (fintech) venture of Old Mutual Digital Services, the paper aims to develop an adaptive strategic decision-making framework for innovation in a VUCA environment. The study adopts a qualitative case-study and documentary research design, drawing on publicly available information on O’mari and Zimbabwe’s fintech environment. The analysis applies PESTEL, SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, stakeholder analysis, and the VUCA framework. The theoretical foundation integrates the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, organisational ambidexterity, contingency theory, effectuation, bounded rationality, institutional theory, and disruptive innovation. Findings indicate that O’mari’s innovation and competitive advantage depend not only on Old Mutual’s brand, resources, regulatory expertise and institutional legitimacy, but also on its capacity to reconfigure these resources, experiment responsibly, build ecosystem partnerships, strengthen customer trust and continuously learn from environmental change. The paper develops the Adaptive Inclusive Finance Decision Cycle (AIFDC), comprising seven interconnected stages: sensing, problem framing, resource-based option selection, controlled experimentation, trust and regulatory gating, modular scaling, and learning and resource reallocation. The paper concludes that strategic decision-making in emerging organisations under VUCA conditions should be adaptive, iterative, evidence-driven, and innovation-oriented rather than dependent on rigid long-term planning. It recommends strengthening strategic intelligence, controlled experimentation, cybersecurity and responsible data governance, ecosystem partnerships, inclusive distribution, and balanced performance measurement to enhance innovation and competitive advantage.