Jane, an academic staff member of a university based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, had been involved in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) research for many years. Jane wanted to apply for academic promotion to an Associate Professor position at her institution. In order to be promoted to an Associate Professor level, Jane was required to demonstrate a certain level of competency (Exhibit 1) in three core activities of South African universities, namely teaching and learning, research and community engagement. She was confident about her ability to meet the promotion criteria with respect to her teaching and research activities. However, she was uncertain about the degree to which her activities satisfied the criteria for community engagement.

Background: Information technology (IT) trust is an important concept as people today rely more on IT to perform their tasks than before. A current review of information systems literature suggests that trust in technology is a key determinant of technology adoption, use and an accelerator of understanding user perception. User perceptions of a technology’s characteristics influences the users’ initial decision to adopt the technology, while the user is less likely to make use of the technology if they perceive significant risk linked to the technology exploration. Objectives: This study focused on trust in relation to adoption of mobile applications for self-management of diabetic treatment regimens. The aim was to identify components that should be incorporated into these applications to positively influence user perception of trustworthiness for enhanced adoption. Method: This research study adopted the qualitative research approach with a survey design. Questionnaires were used to solicit user trust opinions and views of mobile applications for diabetes treatment management influencing adoption and continued use. Twenty people living with diabetes participated in the study by agreeing to download and try the Diabetes:M application, a diabetes self-management application for mobile devices from Google Play store. The diabetes application enables patients to log their treatment, create reminders and track treatment progress. Results: Functionality, usability, information accuracy and reliable information generated by diabetes applications were important elements identified by patients to trust these applications. Conclusion: Research findings showed that the applications for diabetes self-management should be usable, possess enough functionalities, give accurate information for decision-making, be reliable and secure to enhance the trust of people with diabetes.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in the production of natural essential oils can reduce market accessibility challenges by trading through electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces). However, trust is a barrier that SMEs should overcome in order to successfully trade in e-marketplaces. The agricultural sector presents a unique challenge to the subject of trust and e-marketplaces. It is difficult for SMEs in the agricultural sector to provide the level of assurance of product quality that their buyers expect. Trust between buyers and sellers during the earliest stages of e-marketplace interaction can pave the way for future trust in a seller on an e-marketplace. Thus, this study uses the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) to investigate factors that could influence the initial trust and pave the way for future trust in a seller on e-marketplaces. This study assumes a qualitative research methodology in which a multiple-case study approach is adopted. The study focuses on SMEs that produce natural essential oils in South Africa. Open-ended interviews were conducted with companies involved in buying or selling natural essential oils in South Africa to determine the factors that influence their decision to buy or sell in an e-marketplace. Findings from data were used to inform the development of a model of trust in sellers of natural essential oils in e-marketplaces. The proposed model recommends trust factors that should be considered during the entry, personal, and exit phases of the URT. The model identifies common and unique trust factors that relate specifically to businesses trading natural essential oils on e-marketplaces. The study found that some SMEs face challenges in coming up with an effective model for selling agricultural produce on e-marketplaces. Hence, they often resort to face-to-face interaction when it comes to product inspection, especially when dealing with first-time buyers. However, this study presented measures put in place by other SMEs suggesting how such challenges could be addressed. Nevertheless, a lack of trust in technology remains a cause for concern to some SMEs selling natural essential oils.

This study investigates the influence of native languages on password composition and security. The socioculture theory’s psychological development principles were used to argue the influence of language on passwords. 107 Namibian and South African university students were asked to generate a new password for the study using a web based experiment. Levenshtein’s edit distance, language experts and a password guessing algorithm were used for data analysis. Results showed that users generated passwords that were oriented towards both English and native languages. English is the first language of instruction while native languages are typically the first spoken languages of the participants. These passwords were based on names and words. A difference in character distribution confirmed the disparity in character preferences among researched groups. These findings suggest the influence of psychological development according to the socioculture theory. Password guessing shows that English oriented passwords are weaker than those oriented in native languages. The study shows that choices of password generation policy design should be informed by contextual factors if they are to be effective.

Diabetic patients must have the capacity and ability to effectively manage their treatment regimen. Various mobile applications (apps) have been produced and deployed to help these patients assume personal responsibility for their medications, without essentially looking for assistance from health centers or medical personnel. Despite the view that mobile apps can support self-management behaviour amongst diabetic patients, extant literature reveals that adoption and use has lagged behind. Various factors need to be considered to dispel the negative perception over acceptance and use of these apps to enhance adoption. This study investigated factors that influence adoption of these apps for improved diabetic conditions by patients away from hospitals and clinical personnel. The study was conducted in the city of East London, South Africa. Twenty diabetic patients on chronic medication and three health providers working with diabetic patients were asked to try the Diabetes: M app for a period of not less than two months. Interviews were held to investigate their perceptions of the diabetes management app. Findings from the study are critical success factors that include perceived value, perceived risks and perceived costs in diabetic apps which are believed to play a significant part in patients to influence their adoption and use of apps for their conditions management. Creating awareness of these apps also play a role in making the success of diabetes apps for widespread adoption.

The subject of Information Technology (IT) adoption and use has been going on for some time (Jeyaraj & Sabherwal, 2008). In particular, to electronic commerce (e-Commerce) adoption and use, the invention of Web 2.0 presents new technological features for potential and current e-Commerce adopters as well as new challenges. With Web 2.0, customers' perceptions, preferences and decisions are not only based on information presented on e-Commerce websites, but are also influenced by content generated by people on social networks and interactive e-Commerce websites. This poses the following question: how can Small, Medium and Micro-Sized Enterprises in the tourism sector (tourism SMMEs) keep up with these technological advancements given their limited resources? Accordingly, this book chapter proposes a framework that shows challenges and incentives (critical success factors) of e-Commerce, identifies e-Commerce platforms tourism SMMEs should adopt in order to maximise benefits and outlines what tourism SMMEs should expect from their e-Commerce platforms.

Technologies that are widely perceived to bring value to users in the context of developed countries are not always readily adopted in the developed world. This study uses theories from trust literature to propose that, for users to adopt technology to enhance their effectiveness in terms of their livelihoods, they must be convinced that the technology will work in their best interests and will perform its intended purpose reliably or predictably. The user’s experience with the technology must result in positive expectations with respect to its functionality, usefulness and reliability. Moreover, the manner in which the technology is conceptualised, designed and implemented will have a strong bearing on the user’s perception of its trustworthiness. Rural users with limited experience of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are particularly sceptical about the role technology can play in their income-generating activities. Therefore, if technology is to be adopted successfully by its intended users, it is critical that an approach to software development should be used that enhances users’ perceptions of its trustworthiness. This paper presents a model for the development of trustworthy applications for rural users with limited experience with ICTs. The model is based on an action research project involving the deployment of a voice-driven e-marketplace targeted at a rural aloe farming community. The model proposes that the manner in which requirements are defined and managed will influence the extent to which the users can trust the technology.

Technologies that are widely perceived to bring value to users in the context of developed countries are not always readily adopted in the developed world. This study uses theories from trust literature to propose that, for users to adopt technology to enhance their effectiveness in terms of their livelihoods, they must be convinced that the technology will work in their best interests and will perform its intended purpose reliably or predictably. The user's experience with the technology must result in positive expectations with respect to its functionality, usefulness and reliability. Moreover, the manner in which the technology is conceptualised, designed and implemented will have a strong bearing on the user's perception of its trustworthiness. Rural users with limited experience of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are particularly sceptical about the role technology can play in their income-generating activities. Therefore, if technology is to be adopted successfully by its intended users, it is critical that an approach to software development should be used that enhances users' perceptions of its trustworthiness. This paper presents a model for the development of trustworthy applications for rural users with limited experience with ICTs. The model is based on an action research project involving the deployment of a voice-driven e-marketplace targeted at a rural aloe farming community. The model proposes that the manner in which requirements

The purpose of this paper is to produce a framework to help guide the contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to the development of rural areas. Researchers argue that Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) projects have a high failure rate and seldom meet their expectations. However, research also shows that billions worth of funds have been spent on ICT4D projects in developing countries. Studies suggest that the reason for failure is largely because of the lack of frameworks to guide development through ICT in developing countries. This study presents the findings of a case study research project evaluating two rural ICT cases to determine how the success rate of ICT4D projects can be improved. The researcher interviewed individuals who have participated in ICT4D projects in Alice and Dwesa; both projects were based in rural areas in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The output of this study is a framework that can help guide the contribution of ICTs to development.

While there is a noted increase in studies focusing on electronic commerce (e-Commerce) adoption and use, the adoption and use of e-Commerce by Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises in the hospitality sector (hospitality SMMEs) remains low. This has coincided with studies that focus on researching Information and Technology (IT) adoption until acquisition without any further analysis of whether the technology becomes an integral part of the business or not. Accordingly, this paper seeks to enhance the adoption and use of e-Commerce by hospitality SMMEs in the Eastern Cape Province. It uses qualitative multiple-case studies to evaluate a proposed model of advanced e-Commerce adoption and use by hospitality SMMEs. The model shows how hospitality SMMEs can attain advanced e-Commerce adoption and use. In particular, the model identifies factors of advanced e-Commerce adoption and use and describes characteristics of e-Commerce platforms for hospitality businesses. It goes on to propose a criterion for evaluating success in e-Commerce adoption and use.

Research shows that Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) in the tourism sector can enhance their operations by adopting and using e-Commerce. While there has been a growing interest in research on e-Commerce and SMMEs, e-Commerce adoption and usage by tourism based SMMEs in the Eastern Cape Province remains low. As such, this research’s primary aim is to identify factors of e-Commerce adoption and attempt to explain the way these factors interrelate by proposing a model of e-Commerce diffusion by SMMEs in the tourism sector. This research argues that, identifying and examining factors influencing e-Commerce adoption alone may not be adequate to explain the subject of e-Commerce diffusion by tourism based SMMEs in the Eastern Cape. This is motivated by the fact that e-Commerce adoption is not always a once off adoption unlike other technologies. e-Commerce comes with numerous features which may see tourism SMMEs taking a considerable amount of time to adopt and fully enjoy the associated benefits. Proposing a model of e-Commerce diffusion can explain the manner and extent to which certain factors are instrumental to e-Commerce adoption during the various stages of implementation. As such, the research concedes that e-Commerce diffusion is a process that may take numerous phases as tourism based SMMEs transfer their value chain activities to the relevant e-Commerce platforms. Based on the challenges faced by SMMEs in the tourism sector, the factors influencing e-Commerce adoption and the e-Commerce services available to tourism based SMMEs, the research proposes a model of e-Commerce diffusion. The proposed model concedes that e-Commerce diffusion by tourism SMMEs is a result of a balance between the interacting internal and external environmental factors. While external environmental factors are important to e-Commerce diffusion, they are not the actual deciding factors of e-Commerce diffusion, instead they are facilitating factors. Internal environmental factors (organisational, technological and knowledge factors) are the deciding factors of e-Commerce diffusion by tourism SMMEs in the Eastern Cape Province. In addition, the proposed model of e-Commerce diffusion posits that, e-Commerce diffusion is a process that consists of three stages namely non-adoption; initial adoption and extended adoption. This implies that the most important factors of e-Commerce adoption may change as tourism based SMMEs move from one stage of e-Commerce diffusion to the next. The proposed model of e-Commerce diffusion will be evaluated through a critical analysis of existing literature and secondary data.

I DECLARATION II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VIII PART 1: BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 1

Dwesa is a rural town situated in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province. Its residents are plagued with the challenges of poverty, poor access to public services, unemployment and low levels of literacy. A project is currently underway in Dwesa to develop an E-Commerce platform that will 'connect' the residents with the necessary access to services and markets by providing them with the necessary tools in order to help in alleviating some of their challenges. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate existing requirements elicitation techniques and methodologies in the context of rural information technology implementations. The primary objective is to develop a model for user requirements elicitation in Dwesa. Many requirements elicitation techniques and frameworks exist, but few have been evaluated in the context of rural software implementations. Furthermore, requirements elicitation techniques should not be applied simply as steps to gather information. Instead this paper proposes a model that can be applied to assimilate the contribution of knowledge regarding the stakeholders, problem and solution characteristics, and other characteristics into the software development process for the effective elicitation of requirements.

Early studies on the influence of technological advancements on job susceptibility suggested that creative jobs were less inclined to technological displacement. However, as technology becomes more intelligent and capable of producing creative works, there is an increased need to reassess the future of creative jobs. Technological advancements in the media industry have led to a highly competitive market, increasingly characterized by a rise in gig work, precarious working conditions and job losses. There has also been a rise in innovations that substitute work (automation and digitization) and innovations that make work more efficient (Artificial Intelligence), raising the threat of technological job displacement for content creators. This study examined the social, political, economic and technological factors that make content creator jobs vulnerable, proposing a conceptual framework for evaluating their job susceptibility. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to demonstrate the proposed framework based on survey data from content creators. The results confirm that job susceptibility among content creators is shaped by social factors (organisational and leaders’ values, job precarity, occupational wellbeing and skills, knowledge, and ability), technological factors (innovative systems that drive efficiency and new technology driven models of business), political factors (a competitive labour market) and economic factors (emerging and declining occupations, job polarization, wage rates and wage equality, conditions of employment and precarious working conditions). The study makes a contribution to the creative sector, particularly in identifying a framework to determine how technological advancements could affect jobs and market dynamics among content creators. The framework can also assist practitioners, policymakers, and organisations in the creative industries in making informed decisions to mitigate job displacement and navigate the complexities of the shifting creative labour market.

This paper focuses on operationalizing the diverse discourses on the Future of Work (FoW) into a research model and instrument to measure the impact on job susceptibility in any given sector. Over the last few decades, the central focus in the discourse of the FoW has mainly been on how technological advancements have substituted jobs and skilled labor through the simplification of tasks. This has been at the expense of other non-technological factors that influence the FoW. The discourse on the FoW has also been difficult to operationalize with most of it being theoretical and conjectural. The paper adopts an abductive methodology, making use of a critical literature review and Santana and Cobo’s (2020) bibliometric review of the FoW. The resultant FoW model and instrument enable the measurement of job susceptibility in any sector and are useful for operationalizing the highly abstract and theoretical concept of the FoW. While the primary trigger for the FoW is innovative technological advancement, the discourse has often ignored the equally important and complementary political, social and economic forces that accompany any industrial revolution. The FoW model and instrument have considerable implications for individuals and organizations as they present a clearer picture of the job risks and opportunities available for skills development. The instrument, subject to empirical validation, holds potential to provide a more holistic projection about the impact of future industrial revolutions as they unfold. The FoW instrument can be used to measure job susceptibility in any sector. The recommendations from each sector can be used to plan and respond to social, political and economic changes affecting work that is affected by technological advancements. The instrument enables relevant stakeholders, policy makers and decision makers to better understand future prospects in different fields in order to plan and prepare workforces accordingly. It also means that society can better prepare and avoid unnecessary displacement of workers. The paper is exploratory and future work will involve the empirical validation of the research model and instrument.