Conflict of interest: The case of a non-decision-making committee at a South African public higher education institution
Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Conflict of interest: The case of a non-decision-making committee at a South African public higher education institution | |
| Creator | Wessels, Jacobus S. Sadler, Elmarie | |
| Description | The avoidance of a conflict of interest within private and public institutions is closely associated with good corporate governance. This study departed from the question of whether a conflict of interest is possible within a non-decision-making institutional committee. For this purpose, a high-level non-decision-making committee within a South African public higher education institution was selected as a case study. This article reports on an exploratory qualitative study consisting of qualitative content analysis of the constituting and operational documents of this committee, as well as on a study of the perceptions and lived experiences of the selected committee. It was found that the selected committee was established to be a high-level consultative body for the executive management committee of the university on decisions of strategic operational nature. This committee does not have any decision-making duties. Conflict of interest is perceived by committee members in terms of either the explicit or the hidden agenda metaphor. According to the explicit agenda metaphor, a conflict of interest within a non-decision-making committee is not possible, whilst the hidden agenda metaphor holds that a conflict of interest is the reality of members’ lived experiences. This article provides a comparison of the two perspectives according to three defining attributes of the concept and shows a need for a logical and principled definition of the concept ‘conflict of interest’ within the context of higher education and the public sector at large. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2021-06-28 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/td.v17i1.878 | |
| Source | The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa; Vol 17, No 1 (2021); 12 pages 2415-2005 1817-4434 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/878/1785
https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/878/1786
https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/878/1790
https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/878/1791
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