Chux Gervase Iwu

The unique and dynamic Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in South Africa strives to thrive in a challenging business environment with the attendant need for stability, loyal and satisfied workforce. An empirical investigation was, therefore, conducted utilizing managerial and non-managerial employees in a stratified sampling technique. Questionnaires were administered to 250 employees from four selected organizations. The essence was to examine the nature of the relationship among change implementation, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Four significant results emerged. Firstly, there is a positive but moderate relationship between change implementation and OCB; there is a high or strong positive relationship between change implementation and job satisfaction; there is a positive, but moderate relationship between OCB and job satisfaction; and lastly the results confirm the assumption that job satisfaction moderates the relationship between change implementation and OCB. BPO firms need to understand the effects of change implementation on OCB and job satisfaction. This is because change management is inevitable in the BPO industry; therefore, organizations have to be constantly alert to tackle its demands.

Keywords: change management, job satisfaction, intrinsic job satisfaction, extrinsic job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior.
JEL Classification: J240, J280, L240, M120

Notwithstanding its struggles to tame the high levels of poverty and inequality, South Africa is considered as a major economic hub of Africa. However, as an economic hub, there are other countries that perceive South Africa as a capitalist, neo-liberal economy that goes all out to dominate not only its neighbors in the southern hemisphere, but also many other developing nations in the continent. Therefore, the main aim of the study is to assess the socio-economic implications of South Africa’s foreign direct investment in Southern Africa. As far as the authors are concerned, there is yet to be a frank analyses of the varying perspectives, as well as a holistic explanation of the clearly, yet complex relationship which exists between South Africa and many other countries in the southern hemisphere. While the authors acknowledge the efforts of several scholars in trying to juxtapoze the nuances in these relationships, they insist that there has not been a contextual treatment with due consideration for the socio-economic implications of South African business expansion in Africa. Thus, the authors sincerely believe that the paper has serious implications for emerging economies especially in Africa. Other African countries can learn from South Africa’s tactical brilliance; the way it has positioned its economy as a major economic hub in Africa with illustrious attractions that are derived from sophisticated infrastructure, a good educational system, a functional health care system and world class standard ecotourism. The study was conducted using documentary analysis and, therefore, allowed the researchers to source and utilize documents, both in private and public domain, on the basis of their relevance to the research.

Keywords: democracy, foreign direct investment, public administration, Southern African Development Community, Southern African Customs Union, Southern African Power Pool, regional cooperation.
JEL Classification: H5, N27, 016, 019, 024, 055

On gaining independence, one of the first steps it took was to open its doors to various socio-economic dynamics. It is fair to say, therefore, that South Africa’s neo-liberal approach was necessitated by the nation’s desire to diversify its economy in multiple sectors and, therefore, permit foreign direct investment into the country. To most researchers, this has resulted in near deindustrialization leading to gross job losses and reduced standards of living. Essentially, this paper, relying on realist theory, delves into one of the issues, i.e., the demise of the manufacturing sector in South Africa to deliver the poignant explanation pertaining to South Africa’s sociopolitical economy. The authors find that the presence of China’s finished products in South Africa’s market has emboldened and continues to debilitate its manufacturing industry. A major concern is that South Africa’s attempts to soften this effect on its manufacturing sector through its protectionist policy – precisely the application of the quota system on imported goods – will not go too far considering the limitations placed on South Africa by virtue of its membership in organizations such as WTO and BRICS.

Set in the Western Province of South Africa, this study is centred on a group of small business owners who received financial support from a leading South African business developer. The main aims were to obtain from the recipients what they envisaged as their main challenges, and to compare those challenges at a later stage to get a better understanding of the real challenges of small business pre and post startup. The ultimate benefit will be to report on these to inform practitioners and researchers so that every stakeholder can have a fresher insight into this phenomenon with the hope that much more concrete discussions and interventions may emerge. This longitudinal study adopted the mixed method, specifically the use of a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview schedule. This method enabled the researcher to gain a better understanding of the issues at play with respect to first time recipients of funds, as well as engage intimately with them in order to obtain salient information regarding challenges of small business pre and post business startup. Interestingly, most participants indicated that almost all the items in the questionnaire were major challenges. This study should not only generate the necessary discussions among practitioners and scholars on small business growth constraints in South Africa, but, at the same time, uncover through such discussions, some of the undocumented challenges of small businesses in emerging markets so that the chances of survival of small businesses beyond the 2-3 year mark are improved.

This research sought to ascertain those job characteristics that influence teacher motivation, which may result in improved pass rates for learners in Ibadan South-West Local Government, Nigeria. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analytic methods were employed to determine the relationships between job characteristics and obstacles to teaching and learning, on the one hand; and respondents’ profile, on the other. For the purpose of the research, 456 teachers were surveyed with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Relatively young teachers were surveyed (87%), with females dominating the sample. The results suggest that while salary, career opportunities and duties and responsibilities respectively take central stage in motivating the participants, other job characteristics variables (such as supervision/leadership) do not exert the same effect. Furthermore, the results also show that the lack of resources related to learning and research, and the lack of recognition/reward are deemed as the dominant obstacles in meeting teaching and learning goals, while non-transparent culture is viewed as an insignificant obstacle. A major implication of the findings is that to achieve a sustainable improvement in student performance, a systematic improvement in teachers’ job related factors would be needed.

The relationship between an aging workforce, higher retirement age, and youth unemployment has already been established in the available literature. However, the empirical research on the impact of an aging workforce, and higher retirement age on youth unemployment is limited, has conflicting results, has occurred mostly overseas, and has not considered the perceptions of young people who are about to enter the workforce. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the perceptions of the youth on the relationship between the aging workforce, higher retirement age, immigration policies, and youth unemployment. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the responses of 183 business students. The findings establish that five relationships were supported out of seven hypothesized relationships. The key research finding reveal that immigration policies and higher retirement age are significantly related to youth unemployment. Lastly, the theoretical and managerial implications of the study were discussed, along with the limitations and recommendations for future research.