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This study aims to examine the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance records management practices at the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in South Africa.

The study used a convergent mixed-methods research approach, employing interviews and questionnaires for data collection. Analysis of the collected data involved both verbatim and statistical methods, and the results were presented through tables and figures.

The study revealed that AI can proficiently and effectively execute all records management practices across the entire records lifecycle.

Consequently, the study proposed a framework that can be used as a guiding tool for the implementation and use of AI. This framework aims to enhance records management processes, not only within the GDE but also within the broader archives and records management industry.

This study aims to assess the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in retail stores to improve supply chain visibility and integration.

This study employed a qualitative methodology with data collected using semi-structured interviews from a sample selected using purposive sampling. The population consists of 48 employees, of which 6 were selected for the sample as they worked directly with IoT and supply chain issues. Participants were from a SPAR franchise store (Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regalmatig).

Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcribed data from the interviews. The themes identified include supply chain visibility, supply chain integration and IoT. The findings indicate that the main IoT used is an organisational-wide system, the SIGMA (SPAR Integrated Goods Management Application) system. Other technologies that aid supply chain visibility and integration are geotags, the internet, WhatsApp social media applications, emails and scanners.

From the findings, this study recommends that IoT systems should be frequently updated to reflect current trends and that IoT systems should enable the integration of small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) suppliers.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in new technologies that revolutionise business operations. Among these technologies is the IoT, which has ushered in a new connectivity area. However, there is little research on the use of IoT for supply chain visibility and integration in the South African retail sector. It provides sector-specific insights and recommendations for retailers, which might not be covered in general supply chain management literature.

Utilizing electrical discharge machining (EDM) to process micro-holes in superalloys may lead to the formation of remelting layers and micro-cracks on the machined surface. This work proposes a method of composite processing of EDM and ultrasonic vibration drilling for machining precision micro-holes in complex positions of superalloys.

A six-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool was developed, whose software control system adopted a real-time control architecture that integrates electrical discharge and ultrasonic vibration drilling. Among them, the CNC system software was developed based on Windows + RTX architecture, which could process the real-time processing state received by the hardware terminal and adjust the processing state. Based on the SoC (System on Chip) technology, an architecture for a pulse generator was developed. The circuit of the pulse generator was designed and implemented. Additionally, a composite mechanical system was engineered for both drilling and EDM. Two sets of control boards were designed for the hardware terminal. One set was the EDM discharge control board, which detected the discharge state and provided the pulse waveform for turning on the transistor. The other was a relay control card based on STM32, which could meet the switch between EDM and ultrasonic vibration, and used the Modbus protocol to communicate with the machining control software.

The mechanical structure of the designed composite machine tool can effectively avoid interference between the EDM spindle and the drilling spindle. The removal rate of the remelting layer on 1.5 mm single crystal superalloys after composite processing can reach over 90%. The average processing time per millimeter was 55 s, and the measured inner surface roughness of the hole was less than 1.6 µm, which realized the  micro-hole machining without remelting layer, heat affected zone and micro-cracks in the single crystal superalloy.

The test results proved that the key techniques developed in this paper were suite for micro-hole machining of special materials.

Given the rising popularity of mobile commerce among young consumers, this study aims to examine the effect of mobile applications service quality (MASQ), service convenience (SERCON) and satisfaction contributing to the retention of young consumers towards mobile applications.

Primary data were collected from 213 active online young smartphone users who have used mobile apps for shopping through a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data.

The results of this study reveal that both MASQ and SERCON strongly support satisfaction, which leads to the retention of young customers.

This study is one of the few relevant pieces of research that would benefit mretailers encompassing mobile commerce applications to improve their MASQ and SERCON with cutthroat competition in gaining and retaining young customers for shopping through smartphone applications.

Intellectual property (IP) theft is an increasing threat that can lead to large financial losses and reputational harm. These attacks are typically noticed only after the IP is stolen, which is usually too late. This paper aims to investigate the psychological profile and the socio-technical events that statistically predict the likelihood of an IP threat.

This paper analyses 86 IP theft cases found in court documents. Two novel analyses are conducted. The research uses LLMs to analyse the personality of these insiders, which is followed by an investigation of the pathways to the attack using behaviour sequence analysis (BSA).

These IP theft insiders scored significantly higher on measures of Machiavellianism compared to the normal population. Socio-technical variables, including IP theft via photographs, travelling overseas, approaching multiple organisations and delivering presentations, were identified. Contrary to previous assumptions that there is a single pathway to an attack, the authors found that multiple, complex pathways lead to an attack (sometimes multiple attacks). This work, therefore, provides a new framework for considering critical pathways to insider attacks.

These findings reveal that IP theft insiders may come across as charming, star employees rather than the stereotype of disgruntled employees. Moreover, organisations’ policies may need to consider that IP theft occurs via non-linear and multiple pathways. This means that sequences of events need to be considered in detecting these attacks instead of anomalies outright. The authors also argue that there may be a case for “continuous evaluation” to detect insider activity.

This paper offers a new framework for understanding and studying insider threats. Instead of a single critical pathway, this work demonstrates the need to consider multiple interconnected pathways. It elucidates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and provides opportunities to reconsider current practices in detection and prevention.

The purpose of the study is to explore the integration of facets of information technology (IT) governance at a professional council in South Africa with the view to develop a framework.

This critical emancipatory study used the Information Governance Initiative pinwheel to explore the architecture facet of information governance at the professional council, with a view to developing a framework for entrenching a culture of good corporate governance. Qualitative data was collected through interviews and document analysis. The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between the researcher and study participants in defining and solving the problem through a needs assessment exercise.

The key findings report on the processes taken by a professional council in identifying and implementing the facets of information governance, that is, records management, IT, content management, data governance, information security, data privacy, risk management, regulatory compliance, long-term digital preservation and, even, business intelligence.

The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between the researcher and study participants in defining and solving the problem through a needs assessment exercise.

The study’s findings suggest that, with the right information governance policy in place, adopting the facets of information governance can be used to address concerns related to information integrity in the short and medium terms. As a long-term option for retaining data and information, it would have various drawbacks and would not, however, ensure the initial dependability of the information.

A framework for information governance to ensure that the professional organisation and board members adopt a tailored governance system is suggested.

The purpose of this article is to investigate factors related to the time students spent on remote activities during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. Specifically, it analyzes whether the school’s relationship with the family and the guardians’ support are associated with longer study times for children and youth.

This was performed using an ordered logit model on data from two waves of the survey Remote Education in the Perspective of Students and Their Families (PENP) with a nationally and regionally representative sample of Brazilian public school students.

Results show the importance of contact between the school and the family and, to a greater extent, the direct support of parents or guardians. The odds of learners spending more hours studying increase 36% when schools provide guidance for parents and guardians; in turn, when they provide support for students during activities, these odds increase 144%.

Moreover, students spend more time doing school activities in the later years of elementary school, high school and when they attend a state school.

Through the review of several journal articles on the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how it impacts students’ motivation to continue with their studies or to drop out of their academic program, this study aims to review the literature on the impact of ICTs on student motivation at a university.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review steered by the PRISMA guidelines. This paper uses both Durban University of Technology subscription-based and publicly available papers. The research articles examined were published between 2018 and 2023 in Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect.

Reviewed literature bespeaks that ICTs can increase student motivation by enhancing interactive, engaging and individualized learning. Digital technologies that engage students and offer a more engaging learning environment include instructional apps, online simulations and multimedia content. Using ICTs may be useful in lowering university dropout rates.

The systematic review yielded valuable insights for both academic research and real-world applications in education regarding the Durban University of Technology. The study offers a comprehensive analysis of the nexus between ICTs and student motivation.

The purpose of this multi-voiced paper is to propose a prosocial paradigm for the field of performance management and management control systems. This new paradigm suggests cultivating prosocial behaviour and prosocial groups in organizations to simultaneously achieve the objectives of economic performance and sustainability.

The authors share a common concern about the future of humanity and nature. They challenge the influential assumption of economic man from neoclassical economic theory and build on evolutionary science and the core design principles of prosocial groups to develop a prosocial paradigm.

Findings are based on the premise of the prosocial paradigm that self-interested behaviour may outperform prosocial behaviour within a group but that prosocial groups outperform groups dominated by self-interest. The authors explore various dimensions of performance management from the prosocial perspective in the private and public sectors.

The authors call for theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that explores the prosocial paradigm. They invite any approach, including positivist, interpretive and critical research, as well as those using qualitative, quantitative and interventionist methods.

This paper offers implications from the prosocial paradigm for practitioners, particularly for executives and managers, policymakers and educators.

Adoption of the prosocial paradigm in research and practice shapes what the authors call the prosocial market economy. This is an aspired cultural evolution that functions with market competition yet systematically strengthens prosociality as a cultural norm in organizations, markets and society at large.

Drawing on work from home (WFH), job demand-control and street-level bureaucracy literature streams, this paper specifically focuses on the emerging trend of WFH for public sector employees in a developing country context of Egypt.

The empirical sample comprises focus group discussions with a total of 40 public sector employees in Egypt. Thematic analysis was subsequently used on focus group discussion transcripts to bring out main themes linked to this topic.

Our findings show that employee (marginal discretion power, pharaonism, corruption), citizen (unfamiliarity with digital services) and country (lack of proper info-structure, overstaffing in the public sector)- level challenges hinder and/or slow down the potential for WFH in Egyptian public sector.

A major implication of our paper relates to highlighting the criticality of e-governance and WFH for public sector employees, as well as highlighting multilevel challenges associated with those. At the same time, socio-economic and political consequences of offering such options need to be considered in a country like Egypt where most public organisations are overstaffed, and those employees lack modern day employability skills. Hence, there needs to be an open debate in countries such as Egypt on the consequences of e-governance and WFH and whether it may facilitate delivering citizen services digitally. Also, high power distance culture plays a role in this context, and any change cannot be successful unless that specific aspect is confronted.

This study contributes to the emerging WFH literature by being one of the pioneering studies to offer a multilevel (micro, meso and macro) assessment of this phenomenon in the under-researched fragile developing country’s context.