Exploring barriers to innovation in higher education: An empirical investigation in Zimbabwe

South African Journal of Information Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Exploring barriers to innovation in higher education: An empirical investigation in Zimbabwe
 
Creator Mazorodze, Alfred H. Mkhize, Peter
 
Subject — innovation; higher education; organisational structure; organisational culture; resistance to change; communities of practice; knowledge management.
Description Background: In a competition for scarce resources, higher education institutions in developing countries have lost to other priorities. The article examines specific barriers to innovation in the higher education context. A thorough understanding and removal of these impediments paves a way to innovation in developing countries, specifically Zimbabwe.Objectives: Firstly, the study sought to evaluate the barriers to innovation in higher education and secondly recommend strategies to improve the innovation capabilities of the institutions.Method: A survey strategy was adopted to collect data from 240 purposefully selected academics at four state universities in Zimbabwe with a 66.6% response rate.Results: The results indicate that the lack of funding for research is the biggest barrier to innovation in higher education with a 46% representation. Along the same spectrum, the lack of incentives is also another barrier with an account of 21% of the participants who participated. The organisational structure is also a pertinent barrier with 24% representation. Lastly, the organisational culture accounts 9% of the participants.Conclusion: Adequate resource allocation and funding is crucial to the success and transformation of the higher education system. Implementing policies that align with the strategic goals of the institutions is imperative to bring about innovation not only in Zimbabwe but also in other developing countries too.Contribution: Higher education institutions should provide adequate funding for research and reassess their organisational cultures and structures for them to be on the cutting edge.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2024-01-15
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Survey
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajim.v26i1.1644
 
Source South African Journal of Information Management; Vol 26, No 1 (2024); 6 pages 1560-683X 2078-1865
 
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://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1644/2570 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1644/2571 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1644/2572 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1644/2573
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Alfred H. Mazorodze, Peter Mkhize https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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