A Qualitative Study on Best Practices in Technology Affordances, ICT and Good Governance in Managing Higher Education Institutions in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The emergence and growth of unethical leadership in the corporate world in Zimbabwe militate against competitiveness of the nation. Governance issues of higher education institutions in Zimbabwe have affected their strategic response to new technological innovations and programmes associated with open educational resources (OERs), massive open online courses (MOOCS), e-learning and mobile learning in an increasingly networked environment. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the corporate governance issues that affect technology affordances and IT governance in an increasingly networked environment and the impact on strategic response to the new technologies in teaching and learning. The research methodology used was qualitative where focus group discussions were held with various groups involved in the management of higher education institutions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on selected levels of university management on technology affordances, IT governance and business-IT alignment. Stratified sampling technique was used as the target population was stratified according to levels of management in higher education institutions, starting from the level of University Council going down to IT Managers and key users. The results show that there are corporate governance problems between the Vice Chancellor and Chairperson of the University Council, and the critical success factors were determined. However, all the higher education institutions involved in the study indicated the common problem of poor alignment between the business strategy and IT. Corporate governance and IT governance facilitate a conductive environment for technological progress and responsiveness to technological innovations such as e-learning, m-learning, MOOCs and OERs.