Information management capability and operational excellence of selected institutions of higher education in South Africa

Abstract

The advancement of the industrial revolution has had an impact on the way things are done globally. For instance, the unfolding of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) within the current society has resulted in urgent or rapid demands for more effective information management. Both private and public sectors were impacted by the advancement in technology. It is pertinent to note that the need for enhancing information management efforts is particularly urgent for public sector institutions that continue to struggle with operational deficiencies. This is owing to these institutions being still anchored on old bureaucratic models of management. It is within this context that this study focused on assessing information management capability and operational excellence of selected higher education institutions in South Africa from the resource-based view perspective. Concepts that measure the value of managing information and how it influences the operational excellence in higher education institutions were developed. This research was grounded on the Resource Based View. This theory provided the guidance towards comprehensively assessing the nature of relationship between operational excellence and the management of information capability. Adequate insights towards understanding the influence of information management capability and the extent to which it influences operational excellence were analyzed. Information technological capabilities, processes and systems used for managing information capability, benefits and challenges were also explored. The researcher used both primary and secondary data to depict how information capability management contributes to operational excellence of selected higher education institutions. Secondary data assisted the researcher to make primary data more specific and assisted in identifying the gaps, deficiencies and additional aspects required for the success of the study. This study was conducted within the qualitative dictates. The data was collected from 60 heads of departments and academics from four higher education institutions. The participants were selected purposively. The collected data was analyzed through thematic framework analysis using ATLAS. The study found that information management capability can be perceived as availability or access, data integrity, mechanism to identify the business needs and directions to follow, ensuring hardware and software reliability and user-friendly mechanisms adopted to ensure that hardware and software are meeting current business needs and directions. The findings showed that information management capability is critical towards enhancing operational excellence in higher education institutions. The study concludes that information management capability and operational excellence are being realized in institutions of higher learning though there are accompanying challenges. The study recommends that for higher education institutions, the recommendation is that they should ensure that digital information management capabilities are enhanced through the adoption of advanced digital technologies which will ultimately push the boundaries of education and enhance information management capabilities and ultimately operational excellence. Several theoretical and practical recommendations were provided.