Bibliography: pages [83]-89. / One of the basic needs of both information systems practitioners and academics is in determining what skills and knowledge staff need in order to be able to perform adequately in their jobs (Nelson : 1991). This study was concerned with the information technology and information systems learning needs of two distinct classes of personnel; end users and information systems personnel. More specifically, it examines the perceptions that each group has of the other's particular deficiencies. It also compares the importance that each group accords to skill or knowledge in particular items for their counterparts, and how these expectations match their counterparts' own perceptions of item importance. The study was thus concerned with cross-perceptions; the perceptions that each group has of the other. This study examined these perceptions by means of the analytical survey method. The research instrument used was an adapted version of an instrument previously validated and used by Nelson (1991). The research instrument was completed by 168 employees within ten different organizations. The findings suggest that within six different areas of knowledge and skill both end user and IS personnel perceived their counterparts to be most deficient in the area of general IS knowledge; particularly in knowledge of the fit between IS and the organization, the potential uses of IS/IT within the organization, and in the use of IS for competitive advantage. In addition, both groups of personnel perceived their counterparts to be particularly deficient ii') their ability to communicate effectively. The deficiency in general IS knowledge was aggravated by the finding that both groups expect their counterparts to carry more of the responsibility for knowledge in general IS matters than their counterparts appear willing to assume. The implication of this mismatch of expectations is that it must first be resolved by clarifying the respective roles and responsibilities of both end user and IS personnel before the deficiencies themselves can be dealt with.

The provision of free Wi-Fi has dominated the African continent by providing Internet access to citizens. In 2014, South Africa was ahead of the rest of the African continent with more than 2,000 hotspots located in 60 local and district municipalities. Municipalities prioritised disadvantaged communities in an effort to bridge the digital divide for the citizens. It was anticipated that learners from disadvantaged communities in high schools would potentially benefit from this highly publicised project. Using the domestication framework, this interpretive study sought to understand how learners were adopting free Wi-Fi within their school environment in a disadvantaged community set-up. Key findings reveal that while access points are available to serve in disadvantaged communities some learners are able to connect whilst others are unable or struggle to connect with ease. This is due to poor signals and or disruption by multiple APs that are either malfunctioning or privately owned. Learners view the lack to connect and ease of use of the free Wi-Fi as an unfortunate disservice in a digitally competitive world.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-138). / This study investigated the factors influencing the success of business-IT alignment in South African firms while taking into consideration the coverage of the requisite dimensions and paradigms of business-IT alignment. The impacts of the South African business operating environment and the industry sector of firms on the success factors for business-IT alignment were also examined. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with 10 CIOs of major firms in five industry sectors - major retail, food and beverages, higher education, governmental organisation, and financial services.

Includes bibliographical references. / The problem of music piracy has been around for many years and costs the global economy millions of dollars annually. In recent years, advances in technology have facilitated more efficient methods for disseminating music in non-physical (digital) form by means of peer-to-peer networks and the internet, often without cost. The widespread practice of digital media piracy has been implicated as the major driving force behind the sharp decline in music sales over the last decade. Despite this, recent industry reports offer evidence of a gradual increase in music sales, specifically of digital albums. It is suggested that this growth is driven by the increasing number of available legitimate sources of digital media in the global marketplace. A number of these legitimate download (and streaming) services have recently become available to South Africans and offer a valid alternative to piracy. As such, this research presents an investigation into the effect that these legitimate channels have on South Africans’ digital music acquisition habits. The relative awareness (and adoption of) a number of legitimate services amongst South Africans have been investigated (“iTunes” - download, “Deezer”, “YouTube” – streaming) and contrasted against a popular source of contraband (“The Pirate Bay” website). Factors often cited by literature (“Risk”, “Price”, “Convenience” and “Availability”) have been incorporated into a conceptual model employed by this research to measure the influence of these elements on South Africans’ intention to practice digital music piracy. Data was collected by means of a web-based survey instrument and enriched by a limited number of interviews with South African digital music consumers and musicians. Key findings of this research are that South Africans tend to believe that digital music piracy is wrong and they acknowledge some risk of being caught and prosecuted for participating in the practice. Most respondents assert that they have the necessary technical abilities required to locate and download contraband from the internet. This research found that respondents are willing to share their media, both legitimate and illegitimate with their peers and that the practice of digital music piracy is considered socially acceptable in South Africa.

Includes bibliographical references. / Currently, there is a growing need for mobile Business Intelligence (BI) in the business world as the nature of work is changing and employees are more mobile than ever before. Mobile BI promises portability and pervasive access to BI, making it a topic high on many directors’ agendas; however the tangible and intangible benefits of mobile BI are still not well understood. Coupled with this, BI practitioners’ are sceptical about the real business value of delivering BI reports to mobile devices and how this undertaking can bring about organizational changes in the long run. As the field of mobile BI is still in its infancy, there is a lack of research which addresses the business value of mobile BI. The existing studies in this research area have been focused on adoption and implementation strategies. This study therefore attempts to address the gap by investigating how mobile BI can be utilised to enhance organizational performance and also contribute towards strategic business value. In light of this, an extensive literature review was conducted which revealed that mobile BI usage can result in benefits, such as improved employee performance management, organizational agility and customer satisfaction. A conceptual model was developed based on the literature and this model acted as the framework for investigating the research problem.

Bibliography: p. 103-114. / The motivation for this research was twofold. The first was to explore measures of information system success. The second, to investigate the influence of user variables, specifically attitude, belief and levels of user involvement, on information system success. Although researchers agree that the aggregate organisational benefit derived from an information system is the best measure of success, no practical instrument has been employed to measure this benefit. Rather, a number of surrogate measures, specifically system use and user information satisfaction have been employed. This research explores a new measure, the "fit to objectives", as an appropriate and practical measure for information system success. It also uses this measure to establish the relationship between information system success and user involvement. User attitude, user belief and levels of user involvement have all been examined by previous research and are postulated to be positively associated to information system success. However, in testing the above postulations previous research has achieved mixed results. The major constraints in verifying the above has been a lack of accepted definitions, inappropriate measures, and poor methodologies. With the growth in the importance of the user in information systems development, a better understanding of the behavioural influences relating to the user is required. In examining these user influences, this research employs tested and proven measures based on past research from the information systems, organisational behaviour, and psychological disciplines. The research is both exploratory and empirical in nature. A focus throughout has been on the practical application of constructs and instruments and providing contributions to both information system practitioners and researchers alike.

Business IT Alignment (BITA) remains a challenge for many organisations and is repeatedly ranked highly by Business and IT executives in an annual survey by the Society for Information Management (SIM). BITA has been defined as applying information technology (IT) in an appropriate and timely way, in harmony with business strategies, goals and needs. BITA maturity provides organisations with a way to determine the level of maturity of the BITA activities that is the management activities performed to attain a better alignment between IT function and the organisational goals. Mature alignment develops into a relationship where IT and other business functions adapt their strategies together. Previous research on BITA has focused more on formal structures such as reporting structures, decision-making rights and centralisation vs decentralisation, rather than informal structures such as relationship-based structures, including organisational culture, that go beyond the formal division of labour. The impact of culture on BITA has often been de-emphasised in earlier studies, leaving a gap in alignment research. Culture has been defined as a set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments. Culture at an organisational however, has been defined as the culture within an organisation that includes the common expectations, goals, beliefs, ideas, common understanding and norms of the people in the organisation which varies between organisations. Culture at a group and organisational level have the same content and meaning and are theoretically isomorphic, meaning they both influence behaviour through shared, social normative cues. This study, conducted within a parastatal organisation, focused on culture at an organisational level. The purpose of this research was to explore and describe the organisational culture and BITA as indicated by the BITA maturity level within a South African parastatal, to compare perceptions of IT vs business groups with regards to BITA maturity, to explore and describe the relationships between cultural dimensions and BITA maturity criteria, and to determine whether the existing culture within a South African parastatal supports BITA. The research study adopted an interpretive philosophy in order to develop an understanding of the impact of culture on BITA within a South African parastatal. The research strategy was by means of a single case study. The study was qualitative in nature, data being collected by means of semi-structured interviews and company documents. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) formed the theoretical basis through which cultural types were identified deductively for each of the six cultural dimensions of the organisation. The Strategic Alignment Maturity Model was used to describe the BITA maturity criteria. The impact of culture on BITA maturity criteria was determined inductively. The study contributes theoretically through an explanation theory of how culture impacts BITA maturity positively and negatively through propositions of theory. In addition, it contributes practically suggesting that organisations wanting to improve their BITA must change their culture first. Practically, it serves as a guideline to managers and leaders within government organisations as to the cultural dimensions that are more likely to improve BITA such as 'success criteria and value’ and 'strategic emphasis’. Findings reveal incongruence in perceptions of the overall organisational culture within a South African parastatal for both Business and IT groups, with an overall dominant culture of Hierarchy. BITA maturity was negatively impacted by the cultural dimensions, Organisational leadership (Hierarchy) and Human Resource management (Clan/Hierarchy). In contrast, BITA was positively impacted by success criteria and value (Market) and strategic emphasis (Adhocracy). Overall, an incongruent culture seemed to negatively impact BITA maturity with a low overall BITA maturity level.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study examines the attractiveness of the Western Cape for offshore outsourcing contact centres and suggests a series of normative business practices contact centres can adopt to achieve superior organistional efficiency and performance. A literature review defines the concept of a contact centre and discusses the various functions these operations perform. Contact centre technology is also reviewed as well as the personnel management and service quality components of these operations, such as first call resolution and the effectiveness of service encounters. The phenomenon of offshore outsourcing contact centres is discussed by reviewing its risks and benefits. Offshore outsourcing is primarily done to reduce costs, as well as for other factors, such as increased flexibility, efficiency and scalability. However, it is risky due to issues as cultural misalignment and managerial difficulities. A brief overview of the South African contact centre industry reveals that South Africa is home to approximately 525 contact centres including 105 operations situated in the Western Cape. It is estimated that 30% of these operations are outsourcers, of which over 55% service offshore markets.

Bibliography: leaves 177-207.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-103). / This study attempts to bring insight into the claims and counter-claims made about Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). A rich understanding of OOP enables us to maximize OOP's potential and uncover its limitations in practice. OOP rose from relative obscurity in the 1960s to the mainstream of software development. While adoption of OOP continues to grow steadily fervent criticism mounts against OOP from certain quarters. Detractors believe that OOP's early promise has not been fulfilled and resentment deepens against its all-encompassing embrace. Negative, self-serving rants needs to be separated from genuine causes for concern about software development. Equally, the software development community must guard against the blind adoption of technology in an industry driven by excessive market hype and vested interests. Given the decidedly human nature of the task of programming and the varying interpretations and perceptions that exist about programming styles, it is unlikely that scientific methods can conclusively prove the truth of arguments made for or against OOP. Therefore this interpretive study uses hermeneutics to understand and explain the claims and counterclaims made in the OOP discourse in order to forge a deeper understanding of OOP. The 'meanings' of OOP in the online discussions taking place in three developer communities encounters the literature on OOP through hermeneutic principles of understanding. Three different interpretations of OOP emerge from this encounter. Against these newly appropriated insights of the OOP phenomenon the prevailing OOP discourse is critically assessed through the hermeneutic lens. This study concludes that the current quest for atemporal categories and casual explanations of OOP is futile; we can only deeply understand OOP if we are willing to accommodate multiple interpretations of OOP in a hermeneutic understanding of the phenomenon of OOP.