It has not been previously argued whether development finance can or should be regarded as a distinguishable academic discipline in its own right. The main objective of this study was to create an in-depth understanding of the current perceptions and misconceptions of development finance within the South African financial sector, which have not been formally captured or analysed previously. The research is important in determining the magnitude of contemporary interest in, and the emphasis of, development finance as a means of developing society. Furthermore, public perception influences the funding of future development finance research, the emerging theoretical framework and disciplinarity, access to education and training in the subject area, the level of student participation and enrolment in development finance courses and qualifications, as well as the supply of skilled practitioners. To accomplish the research objectives, an extensive literature review was conducted so as to provide a theoretical framework for the empirical study. Subsequently, self-administrable questionnaires were distributed to a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 319 individuals who have decision-making experience within the South African financial sector. Thirty-one respondents completed the questionnaire and the results were examined by means of non-probabilistic frequency distribution and qualitative analysis, where appropriate. Pervasive disagreement was found to exist among the respondents regarding a number of key issues, including the definition and characteristics of development finance, in addition to its pedagogy, professionalisation, and disciplinarity. A substantial majority of respondents agreed that there is a shortage of development finance experts in South Africa and that local universities should begin to offer students an undergraduate degree majoring in development finance specifically. It is recommended that in order for future development finance research, pedagogy, and practice to be more meaningful, greater conceptual clarity and more consistent usage of terminology and subject boundaries should be employed by stakeholders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:28198 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Dobbin, Jeremy |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | xiv, 127 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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