International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy

This study conducts a thorough analysis of contemporary literature (2020–2025) regarding the impact of digital globalisation on educational inequality in South Africa's marginalised regions, focussing on the interrelated aspects of access, infrastructure, and pedagogy. This systematic literature review synthesises evidence from worldwide and South African contexts to demonstrate how enduring inequities in broadband access, affordability, and institutional capability hinder fair participation in digital learning. Rural provinces like Limpopo and Eastern Cape continue to be disproportionately impacted by inadequate connectivity, elevated data expenses, and insufficient teacher digital knowledge. The results reveal three primary themes: (1) physical and socio-economic obstacles to access, (2) infrastructural and institutional limitations, and (3) educational deficiencies stemming from culturally insensitive digital design. The paper presents a three-dimensional equity paradigm that integrates these domains to inform inclusive digital education policy. It advocates for infrastructure expansion, ongoing affordability initiatives, comprehensive digital literacy training, and legislative frameworks that incorporate equity criteria to guarantee that digital globalisation fosters change rather than exclusion within South Africa's educational system.

This integrative review explores the intricate and interconnected issues of workplace bullying, quiet quitting, and turnover intention—three pressing challenges that have a significant impact on organizational performance and employee well-being. The review highlights workplace bullying as a significant precursor to employee disengagement, often exemplified by quiet quitting, where employees diminish their discretionary efforts while remaining in their positions by synthesizing literature from organizational behavior, psychology, and management studies. This disengagement subsequently contributes to an increased intention to leave the organization. The review employs Organizational Justice Theory as a framework to elucidate how perceived disparities in distributive, procedural, and interactional justice contribute to this detrimental cycle of behavior. The findings indicate that unresolved bullying not only deteriorates organizational culture but also diminishes employee motivation and elevates the risk of voluntary resignation. Consequently, the review underscores the critical necessity for proactive organizational strategies, such as implementing anti-bullying policies, fostering supportive leadership, and monitoring employee engagement, as effective interventions. It also suggests avenues for future research, recommending longitudinal and cross-cultural studies to deepen the understanding of the causal relationships and variances in these dynamics across different organizational contexts.

Increasing access to quality education in South Africa has led to a rise in enrollment by students from diverse backgrounds at higher education institutions. However, first-entering students transition from secondary school to higher education, and it is hypothesized that this will affect students psychologically, socially, and financially. Financially, many higher education students in South Africa rely on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This study investigates the relationship between students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and academic success at a South African university. A mixed-methods approach surveyed 74 first-year students in the Extended Curriculum Programme at the University of Venda, South Africa. Findings from regression and correlation analyses indicate that poor and low socio-economic backgrounds among Extended Curriculum Programme students significantly affect their academic performance and success. These findings challenge the notion that disadvantaged backgrounds necessarily hinder student achievement and emphasize the importance of creating an environment that supports students from all socio-economic backgrounds. Eight policy recommendations and strategies are provided to enhance student success and support for diverse socio-economic backgrounds in higher education institutions.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly gaining local and international attention. South Africa has been experiencing high volume of GBV cases. Men are unable to report gender-based violence cases because of fears for discrimination, labelling and cultural norms. Traditionally, men are expected to be strong despite the difficulties experienced. Although there is high unequal implementation of programs and policies that caters for GBV, male victims continue to suffer because the societal perception, stigmatization, and discrimination. Notwithstanding the existing policies, men continue to become victims of gender-based violence at an alarming rate. Gender-based violence against men has disturbing effects which includes physical effects, mental health illness, sexual dysfunctionality suicide and femicide. Men significantly suffer gender-based violence which this leads to lack of self-expression due to societal expectations and finding it difficult to seek help and report about the abuse. This mostly results to divorce, homicides and other mental related problems. The purpose of the study was to explore the destructive effects of gender-based violence against men in South Africa. The study employed the qualitative research approach with exploratory research design adopted. A sample of 14 male victims of gender-based violence was chosen for the purpose of the study. The study used interviews with semi-structured interview schedule used to guide the session. Purposive sampling technique was used with thematic content used for data analysis process. Among the many effects experienced, the study established the physical, mental health problems, sexual dysfunctionality, suicide and homicide to be the main effects of gender-based violence against men. Family systems theory was found to be relevant in the study to understand the dynamics of gender-based violence.

This paper addresses the critical issue of eroding service delivery by the South African public and local government. One of the primary arguments presented is that a significant contributory factor is the theory-practice gap endemic to public servants. Drawing on a vivid analogy used by the Indian Supreme Court's outrage at the appointment of judicial officers without on-the-job experience, this paper contends that theoretical proficiency alone is not adequate for complex, high-stakes professional work. Through a qualitative, descriptive, and analytical literature review, the study is grounded on conceptual analysis highlighting the inadequacies of academic training devoid of real-world practice. A theoretical framework is then developed by bringing together Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Competency-Based Education (CBE), demonstrating how these pedagogical frameworks can bridge the knowledge-practice divide. Contextual critique assesses the South African public sector setting based on secondary data sources including government reports, academic studies, and public policy briefs. Failures in governance, financial mismanagement, political meddling, and a systematic lack of practical competencies are revealed by the analysis to be underlying factors of the defects in service delivery in the country. The article proposes an integrated "Competency-Driven Public Service" model on such a basis that integrates experiential learning and skills development within public administration. This conceptualisation model aims to foster ethical leadership, induce a culture of continuous organisational learning, and enhance practical competency at all levels of public administration. The article concludes with practical suggestions made particularly for policymakers and leaders in public administration. These aim to reboot public service provision through education reform and organizational capacity building. Overall, the article contributes to the debate around public sector reform through the provision of theoretically informed, practically useful analysis of a significant issue of governance.

The primary focus of this study is to examine how green recruitment and selection, as well as green training, influence employee commitment to the company. Furthermore, this study also examines the role of innovation culture in strengthening the relationship between GHRM and employee commitment. This study aims to investigate the effect of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) practices on employee commitment, with innovation culture as a moderating variable. This study attempts to fill the theoretical and empirical gaps regarding the implementation of GHRM, innovation capabilities, innovation culture, and employee commitment. The method used in this study was a quantitative approach with an explanatory research design, and data were collected through questionnaires distributed to 250 respondents from PTPN IV employees in the North Sumatra region. To analyze the data, the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used. The results of the study indicate that green recruitment and selection, as well as green training, have a significant positive influence on employee commitment. A culture of innovation was shown to strengthen the influence of green training on employee commitment but did not show a significant moderating effect on the relationship between green recruitment and selection and employee commitment. The implications of these findings provide important insights for companies to integrate GHRM practices and a culture of innovation to enhance employee commitment in supporting the company's sustainability goals. This research has contributed to the human resource management and sustainability literature by investigating the interactions between GHRM practices and factors that moderate or amplify their impact.

The global emphasis on sustainability and responsible business practices has elevated the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting in corporate accountability. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified ESG’s critical role, drawing attention to specific ESG concerns linked to the crisis and reinforcing the global reassessment of corporate objectives. What is more, global institutions such as the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) advocate for integrating sustainability into accounting education, resulting in a growing need to align accounting curricula with ESG competencies to prepare future accounting professionals for evolving stakeholder expectations and regulatory landscapes. This paper presents a mathematical framework for modelling ESG literacy among accounting graduates, emphasising the integration of environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) competencies. The proposed model defines ESG literacy as a weighted function of the three core dimensions: ESG literacy score, and are weights reflecting the relative emphasis of each competency in the curriculum. The model enables quantification of ESG competency levels, while the theoretical framework supports empirical validation for curriculum assessment. These foundations also inform future research on ESG integration and curriculum effectiveness in developing economies.    

In 2008, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) adopted the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. The Declaration is based on four equally important strategic objectives relevant to our purposes the promotion of social dialogue through the building of effective labour inspection systems. The setting of such labour standards has been ongoing for over a century in the area of labour inspection at the international level. By virtue of its ILO membership, South Africa is duty-bound to adopt similar laws to set labour standards. Such standards which determine labour inspection’s jurisdiction fall under four broad categories, i.e. Basic Conditions of Employment, Employment Equity, Occupational Health and Safety and Compensation for Occupational Injuries, for which labour inspectors must monitor and ensure compliance. Non-compliance with legislation and regulations is said to be rife in developing countries. This is supported by the Department of Labour Department’s inspector report, which underlines non-compliance with labour standards which this paper views as a deterring factor to achieving social justice. In the South African context, sanctions such as fines and or prison sentences are the legislative enforcement mechanism. Notwithstanding these harsh measures, there is a reported non-compliance from employers. In order to ensure more compliance, this paper suggests that other preventive enforcement mechanisms be envisaged, such as criminal and administrative penalties that affect the vital economic interests of the company, i.e. withdrawing the eligibility of the company to participate in public tenders or subsidies and closing down the company temporarily or permanently.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented changes to the workplace, forcing organisations to adapt quickly to remote work, flexible arrangements, and digitalisation. Human Resource (HR) professionals played a significant role in managing these transitions, ensuring employee well-being, and implementing new workplace policies and procedures. However, there is scant research on the competencies required by HR professionals to navigate the post-pandemic work environment successfully. This study aims to identify the critical HR competencies needed for HR professionals to thrive in the post-pandemic era. To address the research objective, a qualitative research approach was employed, which involved semi-structured interviews conducted online and face-to-face with nine HR professionals who participated in the study. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings provide insights for HR professionals and organisations to develop effective HR practices and successfully support the transition to the post-pandemic work environment. Six themes emerged from the study: the Role of HR in the Post-Pandemic Work Environment, HR Competencies in the Post-Pandemic Work Environment, the Evolution of Critical HR Competencies in the Post-Pandemic Era, Challenges Faced by HR Professionals, Future-Proofing HR Competencies and Roles, and Professional Development.  Given the limited existing studies on HR competencies in the post-pandemic period, further research is recommended in this area.

This study aimed to determine consumers’ benefits for attending a carnival event in South Africa. Social exchange theory was adopted as theoretical lens in the study. Quantitative research method was adopted to address the research aim and the primary data was analysed through descriptive data analysis method with the aid of SPSS version 30. The results of the study provides insights by revealing how consumers perceive the socio-cultural benefits of carnival events. Carnival events provide opportunities for tourism, increase entertainment opportunities, increase destination visibility, offer opportunities to meet new people and showcase the diverse communities. This study provides valuable insights for event organisers and practitioners, emphasising the importance of socio-cultural impacts in planning culturally sustainable festivals. The study aligns with the theme of social inclusivity and cultural sustainability in festivals.