International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science

The attitude that employees have towards their job is well believed to have an influence on their performance. This study investigated the influence of job satisfaction on employees’ performance. Herzberg’s two-factor hygiene and motivation theory was used to explain employees' motivation for best performance. A cross-sectional survey design in the form of a structured questionnaire was used to randomly sample one hundred (100) employees of the University of Zululand, South Africa. Descriptive and correlation analysis were used to analyze the collected data. The findings indicate that job satisfaction does not influence employees’ performance. The study concludes that UNIZULU employees enjoy their roles despite the unsatisfactory benefits attached. In spite of the unsatisfactory level of benefits, they perform their duties effortlessly. This research contributes to research-based knowledge that will assist universities’ management in identifying the factors that will enhance employees’ performance.

Assessing the readiness and maturity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a foundation for implementing emerging technologies like big data analytics and artificial intelligence to drive their digital transformation endeavours. This study emphasises that readiness and maturity dimensions offer descriptive and prescriptive guidelines for gauging the current and desired levels of preparedness and maturity required to achieve desired digital transformation outcomes. However, prevailing readiness and maturity models overlook the diverse stages of advancement in big data analytics and artificial intelligence. This research explores the dimensions essential for assessing SMEs' readiness to adopt big data analytics and artificial intelligence. This paper identifies the key dimensions for evaluating SMEs' readiness and maturity across different categories of big data analytics and artificial intelligence by conducting a systematic literature review and employing cluster analysis. The study's principal findings underscore that SMEs' readiness for maturity is influenced prominently by strategic leadership and organisational culture, closely trailed by information technology, security, and business model transformation. Additionally, three pivotal dimensions encompass data analytics and governance, cost-benefit and risk management, and environmental factors. Consequently, proposing that evaluating digital readiness and maturity for SMEs should encompass these six dimensions, thoughtfully considering various prerequisites related to analytics and artificial intelligence.

Widowhood in Africa presents unique challenges for women due to cultural and social factors. This paper discusses the challenges of widowhood in African contexts with a view that various social, cultural, legal, financial, and economic issues are at the centre of the challenges widows face in Africa. A thematic literature review was used to examine the multifaceted challenges faced by widows in African societies. Findings show that widows in Africa face multiple challenges, including limited healthcare access, property rights, social support, and harmful traditional practices, impacting their well-being across various dimensions. Cultural attitudes, legal barriers, resource constraints, limited awareness, and the complex interplay of these factors hinder effective interventions. The literature review also found that changing cultural norms, improving access to education and economic opportunities, and strengthening social protection systems are crucial steps towards creating a more inclusive and equitable society for widows. The paper concludes that comprehensive and coordinated strategies are necessary to address these multifaceted challenges, including legal reforms, economic empowerment, awareness campaigns, and the provision of essential resources. Further, collaborative implementation of these strategies can promote gender equality, reduce poverty, and enhance the lives of widows in African countries. Further, there is a need for the urgency of comprehensive interventions and support systems to alleviate the hardships faced by widows in African societies.

The influence of macroeconomic variables on aspects of business and the country's economy has been a subject of robust discussion. This study was conducted to identify the effect of macroeconomic variables, namely inflation rate, economic growth, exchange rate and share price, on listed companies in South Africa. The goal was to study the long run and short run effects of macroeconomic volatility on company performance because of the world’s recent pandemic experience. To achieve this objective, the study applied the panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model on annual panel data from 2010 to 2020 to analyse the short run and long run effects of macroeconomic variables on a company’s performance. The study results suggested a positive impact of economic growth, exchange rate and share price on asset returns, whilst a company's equity return is supported by economic growth and share price in the long run. The short run revealed that none of the independent variables has a sufficiently significant effect to influence a company's performance changes in the short run. Based on the findings, it was recommended that policymakers and economic authorities should introduce and implement strategies that favour and enhance the country's economic growth and stable exchange rate in order to improve company performance. Additionally, given that the company's short-run performance may highly depend on internal factors such as corporate governance, internal policies and business strategies, these decisions should be taken with precaution and a high level of professionalism.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of cultural forces that shape social influence with a look at Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism. The direct effect of these cultural dimensions on social influence is investigated. To measure social influence, this paper relies on the dimensions of Hofstede. A multiple regression analysis is applied to answer the hypotheses. The research design adopted for the research was quantitative, and the method used to collect data was an online survey. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and distributed to the targeted respondents for obtaining primary data.The respondents involved were 340 SMEs in the urban area of Harare province in Zimbabwe. A nonprobability convenience sampling method was used for the study. Hofstede’s cultural factors of power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance were used as the independent variables that moderate social influence.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, grants all official languages parity of esteem and equal treatment. The Constitution also recognises injustices of the past and historical diminished use of indigenous (African) languages. It is against this backdrop that this democratic constitution calls-upon the national and provincial government to take practical and positive measures in encouraging the use and elevation of the status of African languages. In advocating for these languages, the Constitution declares that a minimum of two official languages be used by the government in executing government activities. Contrastingly, the heads of court resolutions in 2017 declared English a lingua franca in South African courts. In a diverse country such as South Africa with twelve official languages, this raises critical concerns in terms of the country’s diversity, inclusivity, and multilingualism policies. With a distinct focus on Eastern Cape legal courts, this study examines the constitutional linguistic rights on the use of English as a lingua franca in South African courts system. The study adopted a qualitative research approach embedded within the exploratory-explanatory research design. The data was obtained from secondary sources, which in this context are judicial precedents. To analyse the collected data, close-reading and thematic content analysis techniques were adopted. The findings of the study exhibit English as a language of power and access in law, this positions African languages at the periphery, limiting their development and incorporation in legalese. Also, the use of English as a lingua franca in the Eastern Cape courts contravenes the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. This study submits that legal practitioners and linguists should critically explore, language studies to bridge the knowledge gap.  Additionally, the government should create channels which allow the practical use of African languages in the court of law.                                                                                                                                             

Single motherhood is a prevalent phenomenon within low-resourced communities globally, especially within African communities. Despite the fact that discourses on single mothers have received considerable attention in social sciences, there remains a notable gap within social work literature where momentous traction is still needed. This thematic narrative literature review synthesises current evidence regarding the challenges faced by single mothers in low-resource communities across Africa. Employing a thematic approach to literature selection, the analysis found several key areas of hardship and economic instability. Further, the findings included childcare and educational barriers, health and under nutrition, limited social support and stigma for single mothers, lack of safety and protection from violence and crimes, as well as poor policy implementation and service access. These findings highlight a complex interaction among macroeconomic factors in African communities, discriminatory gender values and norms, and community service structures, which frequently intensify vulnerabilities for single mothers and their children. The recommendations made emphasises the need for policy and programme redesigns in African communities, advocating for community-based strategies that prioritise gender sensitivity and inclusivity to address the distinctive socioeconomic challenges encountered by single mothers in low-resource settings. Further, recommendations are made on establishing family-inclusive social frameworks that extend beyond marriage-based models to include strengthening of child support enforcement mechanisms and paternal responsibility legislation.  

This study examines the relationship between digital globalization and educational access in Africa. It uses publicly available secondary data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) ICT database and UNESCO education statistics. While digital transformation is widely promoted as a catalyst for inclusive human capital development, cross-country heterogeneity in Africa raises questions about whether digital expansion uniformly enhances educational access. Employing panel quantile regression for a balanced panel of African countries over the period 2005–2023, the paper investigates how ICT penetration, trade openness, and digital infrastructure affect educational participation across different points of the distribution of access indicators. The findings indicate that digital globalization exerts heterogeneous effects: countries at lower quantiles of educational access benefit more strongly from increases in internet penetration and mobile connectivity, whereas upper-quantile countries exhibit diminishing marginal returns. Institutional quality and governance metrics serve to moderate these observed relationships. The findings contribute to the existing body of research concerning the digital divide, globalization, and educational inequality, specifically by illustrating that digital transformation mitigates disparities, particularly in contexts where fundamental access limitations persist. Consequently, the policy implications emphasize the need for infrastructure expansion, regulatory adjustments, and targeted digital inclusion initiatives, all of which should be congruent with the African Union Digital Education Strategy.

This study critically examines the discretionary powers conferred on the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) under the Value-Added Tax (VAT) Act, focusing specifically on Section 72. Using a comparative analysis with the United Kingdom’s VAT framework, the research examines how discretion is shaped by principles of fairness, certainty, simplicity, and transparency. The findings show that South Africa confers broader and less regulated powers than the UK, where discretion is narrowly administrative, formally codified, and subject to stronger transparency and judicial oversight. These differences have significant implications for legal certainty, taxpayer rights, and compliance in South Africa. The study contributes by highlighting the risks of over-broad discretion in tax administration and recommends adopting a more structured and transparent approach, including the publication of binding regulations and clearer criteria for decision-making. Such reforms would align South Africa’s VAT system more closely with constitutional standards and best international practices.

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have increasingly become politicised in Africa in recent years. The prevalent notion that Africa is "homophobic" conceals a significant array of political dynamics around LGBT rights across the continent. Numerous studies indicate that the politicisation of LGBT life in Africa distorts their experiences and fails to encapsulate the intricacies of African sexuality. This study aimed to investigate sexual orientation from an Afrocentric perspective. This study specifically examined how black bisexual women managed and negotiated their sexual wants and orientation. The researchers utilised an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study design, requiring document analysis and comprehensive interviews for data collection. The research indicated that planning and strategy facilitated participants in identifying ways to reveal their sexual orientation. Bisexual women must disclose their orientation despite being in a hostile environment, driven by their pursuit of pleasure and autonomy. The writers advocate for a post-colonial reevaluation and reimagining to rethink and reclaim African cultural practices and beliefs that correspond with an Afrocentric perspective on sexuality.