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Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613961599320064 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Van Tonder, Illoise |
| author2 | Parry, D. A. |
| author_browse | Parry, D. A. Van Tonder, Illoise |
| author_facet | Parry, D. A. Van Tonder, Illoise |
| author_sort | Van Tonder, Illoise |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135648 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:27.789Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135648 Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population Van Tonder, Illoise Parry, D. A. Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science. Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Van Tonder, I. 2026. Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/92f71da2-bbbb-4c5d-a859-51a96ed49730 Algorithms have an ever-growing presence in our daily lives, making evasion nearly impossible. There exists a divide between individuals who are algorithmically aware, and those who are not. This is well explained in a manner similar to the digital divide, which is still and ongoing phenomenon, but with additional considerations when compared to its first introduction. The divide moved from being focused on access to technology constraints, to the lack of algorithmic literacy and the associated benefits. This thesis studied the working population of South Africa (n = 295) by replicating and extending an existing study on the US and German population. Thus far, this topic of research has only been conducted in the Global North (US, Germany, Netherlands, etc.), showing a lack of representation of the Global South (South Africa, Australia, etc.) Furthermore, these studies have only been done on, what is considered developed countries, and not on developing countries. This motivates the reason for choosing South Africa as the country of study to enable comparison between the Global North and Global South, but also between developed countries and developing countries. The results show how income, education, and the frequency of social media usage, are key predictors of algorithmic awareness. Results also show a strong presence of attitudinal ambivalence towards filtering algorithms amongst individuals with high algorithmic awareness, indicating that both the positive and negative sides of filtering are taken into consideration. Furthermore, this thesis also considered the role the industry of employment holds when estimating algorithmic awareness. The outcome shows individuals in tech-related industries as more algorithmic aware. Lastly, this thesis shows the comparison of algorithmic awareness levels observed between the Global North (US, Germany) and the Global South (South Africa). Masters 2026-04-07T08:02:53Z 2026-04-07T08:02:53Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135648 en Stellenbosch University 131 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Van Tonder, Illoise Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title | Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title_full | Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title_fullStr | Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title_full_unstemmed | Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title_short | Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Algorithmic Awareness: A study on the South African working population |
| title_sort | attitudinal and behavioural correlates of algorithmic awareness a study on the south african working population |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135648 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vantonderilloise attitudinalandbehaviouralcorrelatesofalgorithmicawarenessastudyonthesouthafricanworkingpopulation |