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Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa

Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2023

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Main Author: Adams, Simon
Other Authors: Mbokota, Gloria
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Adams, Simon
author2 Mbokota, Gloria
author_browse Adams, Simon
Mbokota, Gloria
author_facet Mbokota, Gloria
Adams, Simon
author_sort Adams, Simon
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2023
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:56.516Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/96432 Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa Adams, Simon Mbokota, Gloria Fourth industrial revolution Job automation Technological unemployment Responsible leadership Qualitative research Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2023 The unemployment rate in South Africa has reached unsustainable levels and the advancements in the capabilities of technologies associated with the fourth industrial revolution are such that what was once considered science fiction is now becoming a reality. Making use of an exploratory qualitative research design, this study sets out to explore what would be the driving forces behind business leaders wanting to adopt fourth industrial technologies in South Africa and where does the responsibility for a solution reside to the unemployment challenges which South Africa faces. A total of fourteen semi-structured, in-depth interviews with senior business leaders across ten different industries took place to gather the required data. The findings of this study showed that there is an awareness amongst business leaders when it comes to the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, their capabilities, as well as the impact these technologies can potentially have in exacerbating levels of unemployment. The findings show however that business leaders do not believe that South Africa’s current unemployment challenge has been caused by the adoption of technologies of the fourth industrial revolution primarily due to limited adoption rates. Business leaders see competitive advantage as a strong enough driver to adopt technologies even at the expense of human labour, and concerningly they see South Africa’s education system as inadequate when it comes to arming humans with the skills required to succeed in a world which is continuing to integrate with technologies of the fourth industrial revolution. This research and its findings contribute to the extant literature on Technological Unemployment. pagibs2024 2024-06-12T08:54:19Z 2024-06-12T08:54:19Z 2024-04-17 2024-04-17 Mini Dissertation * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/96432 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Fourth industrial revolution
Job automation
Technological unemployment
Responsible leadership
Qualitative research
Adams, Simon
Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title_full Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title_fullStr Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title_short Adopting technology in favour of human labour: A managerial perspective on the impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in South Africa
title_sort adopting technology in favour of human labour a managerial perspective on the impact of fourth industrial revolution technologies in south africa
topic Fourth industrial revolution
Job automation
Technological unemployment
Responsible leadership
Qualitative research
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/96432
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