Faculty of Social Sciences

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    The impact of the feelings of economic powerlessness and alienation on self-employment intentions
    (JOLTE, 2010) Khaola, Peter, P
    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the feelings of economic powerlessness & alienation on self-employment intentions of young people. The data used in the study was collected through a survey of students at the National University of Lesotho, and the correlation and factor analyses, as well as standard multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. Two clear factor distinctions resulted from self-employment intentions, namely, self-employment intentions regardless of unemployment, and self-employment intentions in response to unemployment. Similarly, the feelings of economic powerlessness and alienation separated into two factors, namely, economic powerlessness and ‘business exploits’. The feelings of economic powerlessness impacted negatively on self-employment intentions, and the feeling that ‘business exploits’ impacted positively on self-employment intentions in response to unemployment. The results of the study suggest that young people who have high feelings of economic powerlessness would not normally plan to start their own businesses.
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    The impact of the feelings of economic powerlessness and alienation on self-employment intentions
    (JOLTE, 2010) Khaola, Peter, P
    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the feelings of economic powerlessness & alienation on self-employment intentions of young people. The data used in the study was collected through a survey of students at the National University of Lesotho, and the correlation and factor analyses, as well as standard multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. Two clear factor distinctions resulted from self-employment intentions, namely, self-employment intentions regardless of unemployment, and self-employment intentions in response to unemployment. Similarly, the feelings of economic powerlessness and alienation separated into two factors, namely, economic powerlessness and ‘business exploits’. The feelings of economic powerlessness impacted negatively on self-employment intentions, and the feeling that ‘business exploits’ impacted positively on self-employment intentions in response to unemployment. The results of the study suggest that young people who have high feelings of economic powerlessness would not normally plan to start their own businesses.
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    Consolidating Democracy through integrating the Chieftainship Institution with elected Councils in Lesotho: A case study of four community councils in Maseru
    (Rhodes University, 2010-12) Kapa, Motlamelle Anthony; Dr. Hoeane, Thabisi
    This study analyses the relationship between the chieftainship institution and the elected councils in Lesotho. Based on a qualitative case study method the study seeks to understand this relationship in four selected councils in the Maseru district and how this can be nurtured to achieve a consolidated democracy. Contrary to modernists‟ arguments (that indigenous African political institutions, of which the chieftainship is part, are incompatible with liberal democracy since they are, inter alia, hereditary, they compete with their elective counterparts for political power, they threaten the democratic consolidation process, and they are irrelevant to democratising African systems), this study finds that these arguments are misplaced. Instead, chieftainship is not incompatible with liberal democracy per se. It supports the democratisation process (if the governing parties pursue friendly and accommodative policies to it) but uses its political agency in reaction to the policies of ruling parties to protect its survival interests, whether or not this undermines democratic consolidation process. The chieftainship has also acted to defend democracy when the governing party abuses its political power to undermine democratic rule. It performs important functions in the country. Thus, it is still viewed by the country‟s political leadership, academics, civil society, and councillors as legitimate and highly relevant to the Lesotho‟s contemporary political system. Because of the inadequacies of the government policies and the ambiguous chieftainship-councils integration model, which tend to marginalise the chieftainship and threaten its survival, its relationship with the councils was initially characterised by conflict. However, this relationship has improved, due to the innovative actions taken not by the central government, but by the individual Councils and chiefs themselves, thus increasing the prospects for democratic consolidation. I argue for and recommend the adoption in Lesotho of appropriate variants of the mixed government model to integrate the chieftainship with the elected councils, based on the re-contextualised and re-territorialised conception and practice of democracy, which eschews its universalistic EuroAmerican version adopted by the LCD government, but recognises and preserves the chieftainship as an integral part of the Basotho society, the embodiment of its culture, history, national identity and nationhood.
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    The influence of organisational culture and job satisfaction on intentions to leave: The cse of clay brick manufacturing company in Lesotho
    (Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2013) Khaola, P.; Leisanyane, K
    Employee turnover or retention has dominated the research agenda and attracted practitioners� attention for decades. Previous research has, however, suffered from lack of macro perspective in understanding employee turnover in organizations. Based on the survey of employees in a clay brick manufacturing company in Lesotho, the purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of job satisfaction and cultural traits on turnover intentions. There was a negative and significant correlation between job satisfaction and turnover intentions, and all cultural traits and turnover intentions. Though the variance contributed by cultural traits (stability and flexibility) over demographic factors and job satisfaction was only marginally significant, and the impact of flexibility cultural trait became insignificant in the regression analysis, the influence of stability cultural trait remained strong in both correlation and regression analyses. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed in this study.
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    Chiefs, Democracy and Popular Participation
    (African Studies, 2013) Kapa, Motlamelle Anthony
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    Regime Dynamics and Democratic Consolidation in Lesotho.
    (Routledge, 2013) Mwangi, O. G.
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    Factors Associated with Hospital Maternal Deaths: Lesotho 1998 - 2003
    (Lesotho Social Sciences Review, 2013) Makatjane, T. J.; Matlanyane, M.; Lebuso, M.
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    Pay or Job satisfaction? Explaining turnover intent of nurses in Lesotho
    (African Journal of Public Administration and Management, 2013) Khaola, P.; Letsika, K.
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    Analysis of Research Funding and Management Modules in Higher Education: The Case of National University of Lesotho
    (Lesotho Social Science Review Special Issue on Higher Education, 2013) Mapetla, M. M.
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    Leadership, organisational citizenship and innovative work behaviours in Lesotho: Exploratory evidence
    (Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa, 2013) Khaola, P.; Sephelane, R. L
    Although organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and innovative work behaviour (IWB) have attracted considerable attention in recent years, empirical studies on how leadership relates to each construct within the same research design in non-western environments are limited. Based on a sample of 100 participants in Lesotho, we explored how OCB and IWB related to each other, and how leadership related to each construct. The findings suggested that OCB and IWB were highly correlated, and while transformational leadership related to each concept positively, passive-avoidant dimension of transactional leadership related to each negatively. Furthermore, age, tenure, management level and level of education were all significantly related to both OCB and IWB. We submit that the participants could probably not differentiate between OCB and IWB as the two concepts probably represent a behavioural manifestation of the same latent construct. We recommend that managers who want to influence subordinates to adopt OCB and IWB should apply transformational leadership.
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    The Chieftainship in Lesotho: To retain or to abolish?
    (South African Journal for Political Science and Public Administration, 2014) Kapa, Motlamelle Anthony
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    Students' experiences of undergraduate Business Research and supervision at the National University of Lesotho
    (Proceedings of UKZN�s 8th Annual Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference - 2014, 2014) Khaola, P.
    The research dissertation and its supervision have been described by researchers as the most advanced levels of learning and teaching respectively. In spite of the intrinsic value of research and its supervision, there are few studies that document the lived experiences of undergraduate students in these areas. Existing studies are dominated by the opinions and experiences of academic staff, and are primarily limited to the issues of research assessment. To our knowledge, there is paucity of research on the lived experiences of undergraduate students in Lesotho. The aim of this paper is to explicate the students' lived experiences of undergraduate dissertation and its supervision at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). We used interpretive qualitative research to give 'voice' to the participants, and identified and interpreted key themes from interviews conducted over a period of two academic years. We specifically used data collected from 17 interviewees in six focus groups, 11 interviewees a year later, documentary analysis and observation over a period of two academic years. The interviews were unstructured, and took between 60 and 120 minutes. We ended the interviews once we realised that no new experiences were related by participants. The analysis of data resulted in nine themes. In general, students expressed positive views about dissertation as an important mode of learning and assessment; acknowledged the important role of research methodology course in undertaking research; found challenges in undertaking some parts of dissertation; and complained about supervisors who were not available, approachable, nurturing, organised, and did not communicate constructive feedback on timely basis using modern communication channels. While qualitative research findings cannot be generalised, we submit that understanding learner experiences can respectively benefit and inform undergraduate learning and supervision at universities.
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    Alliances, coalitions and the political system in Lesotho 2007-2012
    (Journal of African Elections, 2014) Kapa, Motlamelle Anthony; Shale, V.
    This paper assesses political party alliances and coalitions in Lesotho, focusing on their causes and their consequences for party systems, democratic consolidation, national cohesion and state governability. We agree with Kapa (2008) that formation of the pre-2007 alliances can be explained in terms of office-seeking theory in that the political elite used alliances to access and retain power. These alliances altered the country�s party system, leading to conflict between parties inside and outside Parliament, as well as effectively changing the mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system into a parallel one, thereby violating the spirit of the system. However, the phenomenon did not change state governability; it effectively perpetuated the one-party dominance of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and threatened national cohesion. The post-2012 coalition, on the other hand,was a product of a hung parliament produced by the elections. The impact of the coalition on the party system, state governability and democratic consolidation is yet to be determined as the coalition phenomenon is still new. However, state governability has been marked by a generally very slow pace of policy implementation and the party system has been both polarised and reconfigured while national cohesion has been strengthened. The major challenge for political leaders is to manage the coalition arrangement for the good of the country, which we strongly feel they must, since it seems that coalition governments are very likely to be a permanent feature of Lesotho politics.
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    Environmental Conservation, Peace, Democracy and Development
    (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2014) Mwangi, C. W; Mwangi, O. G
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    Analysis of Lesotho's education budget in the context of inclusive Education for All (EFA)
    (International Journal of Business and Finance Management Research, 2014) Nyabanyaba, T.
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    The Gender-based Violence Indicators Study Report
    (Gender Links, Johannesburg, 2014) Mapetla, M. M.
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    The relationships among students' commitment, self-esteem, orgaisational citizenship behaviour and academic performance
    (Africa Education Review, 2014) Khaola, P.
    As one of the most important dependent variables in education and work research, performance has been operationalised either as the proficiency with which core tasks are performed (task performance), or as extra-role behaviours that support core activities (organisational citizenship behaviours).Relative to academic performance (core academic achievement), there has been little research on the extent to which students practise organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in their academic work. The aim of the present study was to explore some correlates of both OCB and academic performance. Data used in the study were obtained from 185 students enrolled in a business course at the National University of Lesotho. Survey questionnaires inquiring about students� commitment, self-esteem, and OCB were administered to 204 third-year students. These were correlated with formal academic performance before and after the survey. Students� commitment was significantly related to both OCB and academic performance. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with OCB, but not academic performance. Two dimensions of OCB (altruism and civic virtue) were moderately but significantly related to academic performance. Results suggest that improving self-esteem might affect OCB, and improving commitment and certain elements of OCB might improve academic achievement.
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    Perception of library service quality, satisfaction and frequency of use of library resources
    (Proceedings of UKZN's 8th Annual Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference - 2014, 2014) Khaola, P.; Mabilikoane, M
    The aims of this paper are to assess the students' perceived levels of library service quality, satisfaction with the library, frequency of use of library resources, and whether or not there are relationships among these variables. A survey research methodology using LibQUAL+TM instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 400 students at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to students during class hours. Frequencies, means, standard deviations, correlations, regression and factor analysis were used to analyse data. As expected, factor analysis of LibQUAL+TM items yielded 3 factors - affect of service, information control and library as a place. On average, the respondents did not perceive quality service in terms of service provided by the library staff, and easy access and control of information. The majority of respondents also rarely used the library website. There was a strong and positive correlation between all attributes of library quality service and satisfaction with the library. Even though information control and affect of service had a slight correlation with the use of library website, the relationship became insignificant in regression analysis. There was no relationship between satisfaction and frequency of library usage. The paper concludes that LibQUAL+TM has acceptable applicability in Lesotho, and further recommends how affect of service and information control dimensions of library service quality at NUL can be improved.