Authors:Anita Bosch, Georgina Pondayi First page: 8 Abstract: Men continue to outperform women in obtaining funding through research grants globally, in both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and social science, in multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary fields. This article focuses on the role of research grant funding conditions in women’s lack of research grant funding. Grant conditions are the rules of participation and funding use set out by grant funders. This study aimed to answer the question: how do grant conditions limit women’s propensity to engage with research grant applications' Research grants from the Open 4 Research database were analysed. Research careers with a reproductive life-cycle perspective and four feminist concepts were deliberately gendered. These resulted in a theoretical framework. A content analysis on n = 270 multidisciplinary early career grants for those who already have a PhD was conducted. Grants were selected from both the social science and STEM disciplines. The findings suggest that, overwhelmingly, grant conditions are gender-neutral, assuming no differences between women and men. A comparison between STEM and social science grant conditions also show very little difference. The article provides a framework to guide multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary grant funders in crafting deliberately gendered grant conditions.Transdisciplinary contribution: A pre-application phase to the research grant application process by problematising gender neutrality in early-career researcher grant conditions is introduced. It is posited that grants’ gender neutrality is discouraging women to consider applying, resulting in self-exclusion early in the pre-application phase. PubDate: 2022-12-20 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1281 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Baldreck Chipangura, Gustave Dtendjo-Ndjindja First page: 8 Abstract: The unprecedented online learning that took place at several schools during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is predicted to continue on the same trajectory when learners return to classroom learning. Continuing with online learning implies that learners will spend most of their time learning and socialising online, which exposes them to cybersecurity risks. Hence, this study investigated strategies for securing the cybersafety of online learners at South African high schools. The study adopted an interpretivist approach, and qualitative data were collected from school teachers. Fifteen school teachers from five private high schools in Centurion, Pretoria, were interviewed, and the data were thematically analysed. All the schools were multiracial and English-medium schools. The teachers from the schools were selected to participate in the study because they had experienced online learning during the times of COVID-19. The study proposed cybersafety strategies that are centred around providing cybersafety policies, conscientising learners about cybersecurity risks (awareness), preventing cyberbullying, discouraging the consumption or production of inappropriate content and protecting learners from Internet addiction.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: The proposed practical strategies for securing the cybersafety of online learners are valuable for promoting safe and responsible use of Internet-connected devices in online learning. The strategies encourage schools to integrate Internet-connected technologies and overcome cybersecurity risks in online learning. PubDate: 2022-12-19 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1256 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Chris W. Callaghan First page: 9 Abstract: Background: This review article sets out to identify certain critiques of growth accounting, development accounting and cross-country growth regressions. These critiques provide insights relevant to the usefulness and policy relevance of these methods.Aim: The aim of this article was to critically review literature and to provide a synthesis of this literature, deriving certain arguments to contribute to further research.Method: This article takes the form of a critical review essay.Results: Growth accounting, development accounting and cross-country growth regressions all have some limitations and knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses may be helpful for those who are undertaking transdisciplinary social science research using these methods. These methods seem to suffer from similar criticisms levelled at neoclassical thinking, which need to be considered more seriously in the literature.Conclusion: Further research should explore how such methods might complement each other to improve validity of research findings. PubDate: 2022-12-19 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1051 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Kiara Rampaul, Hangwelani Magidimisha-Chipungu First page: 9 Abstract: The roles of urban spaces in promoting people’s social experiences and interactions, and access to green spaces, are critical for long-term community building. While gender balance occurs in the use of metropolitan spaces, the urban environment can still be considered as a mostly masculine sphere. Women are still marginalised and unsafe in urban spaces. Gender mainstreaming is used to plan and design a gender inclusive city, which includes all women in decision-making processes and helps to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 11. The exclusion of women and girls from the urban planning process generates a knowledge gap, resulting in public spaces that exclude them. There is a clear planning gap: women are excluded from urban planning and design procedures. The research study developed from the urge to examine if gender mainstreaming is used in the design of urban spaces. Data for the study were gathered using qualitative method. Primary data was through interview while secondary data includes policy and research focus documents. The study revealed that women’s experience and understanding of urban spaces varied from men’s, and that these differences must be considered when planning and developing urban spaces. The solutions to establishing inclusive urban public spaces that are accessible and safe for everyone in the community include good design and community dialogue. According to the research evidence, professionals in the built environment must be gender conscious when designing and creating urban spaces. Warwick Market, a public urban location in Durban, South Africa, was chosen for the study. PubDate: 2022-12-15 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1163 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Lario Malungana, Lovemore Motsi First page: 11 Abstract: This study enhances the critical factors for the implementation of smart card technology (SCT) by proposing a conceptual framework based on the healthcare unified theory of acceptance of user technology model (2008), the DeLone and McLean information systems success model and the diffusion of innovation theory (2003) recommending the strategies to be used. The framework was tested using regression analysis on the collected data from 406 self-administered questionnaires from Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Tshwane District Hospital, Kalafong Hospital and Pretoria West Hospital. The structural equation modelling and principal component analysis methods in Statistical Package for Social Sciences were used to analyse the data. The findings of this study show that seven factors – behavioural intention, system use, information quality, service quality, communication, compatibility and trialability – were significantly accepted to ensure the adoption of SCT in public healthcare.Transdisciplinary contribution: The healthcare sector has not fully addressed the technology use for healthcare professionals. However, the sector exploited much for the patients’ needs to improve quality of healthcare. Therefore, this study recommends that this framework will contribute towards the implementation smart card technology within the public healthcare. The study will contribute to the implementation of SCT and ensure the quality of service delivery in public healthcare. PubDate: 2022-12-07 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1261 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Travis M. Noake, David Bell, Timothy D. Noakes First page: 13 Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) has established a public research agenda to address infodemics. In these, ‘an overflow of information of varying quality surges across digital and physical environments’. The WHO’s expert panel has raised concerns that this can result in negative health behaviours and erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. In sponsoring this agenda, the WHO positioned itself as a custodian that can flag illegitimate narratives (misinformation), the spread of which can potentially result in societal harm. Such ‘post-truth’ moments are rife with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. It provides an opportunity for researchers to analyse divisions in knowledge labour, which can help explain when ‘post-truth’ moments arrive. The first COVID-19 example for this division foregrounds the development of knowledge in an academic context. Added to this is the infodemic or disinfodemic research agenda and personal health responsibility, whose academic contributors are similar. In contrast, the division of labour for messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine research foregrounds the role of vaccine manufacturing pharmaceutical companies in driving and promoting related knowledge production.Transdiciplinary Contribution: This analysis focuses on intergroup contradictions between the interests of agencies and their contrasting goals and across different types of knowledge division. Many intergroup contradictions exist, and a few intergroup examples are also described. An overarching contradiction was identified where rushed guidance based on weak evidence from international health organisations may well perpetuate negative health and other societal outcomes rather than ameliorate them. PubDate: 2022-12-21 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1263 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
Authors:Mourine S. Achieng, Masike Malatji First page: 13 Abstract: The economic activities of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) drive much of the region’s economic growth and development. Despite their importance, SMEs tend to fail in their first two years of operation compared to macro enterprises. Digital transformation (DT) of organisations fosters resilience; however, DT of SMEs in SSA has been slow because of several impediments. The objective of this article is to establish how SMEs in the context of SSA can develop comprehensive strategies for integrating digital technologies into their operations to build resilience. Arksey and O’Malley’s systematic scoping review (SR) is used to identify and map articles over a 5 year period using inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 44 articles were included for in-depth analysis to address the issue under investigation. The results indicate toward economy-based, market-based and sociotechnical contextual factors emerging as themes that impede DT of SMEs in the SSA region. In the SSA context, SMEs face numerous regional constraints that create barriers in their operations, such as limited access to profitable and value-added markets.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: To develop strategies for integrating technologies, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of SMEs’ operational context. This is vital if SMEs in the SSA region are to fully realise the transformative potential of integrating digital technologies into their business operations and gain long-term resilience. Through digitally enabled resilience, SMEs can continue to play their critical role in the economic growth and development of the SSA region. PubDate: 2022-12-20 DOI: 10.4102/td.v18i1.1257 Issue No:Vol. 18, No. 1 (2022)
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