SA Journal of Business Management

Purpose: Organisations increasingly invest in collaborative artificial intelligence (AI) literacy to improve employee performance, yet many simultaneously face rising technostress. This creates a critical managerial dilemma: when do AI capability investments generate performance gains, and when do they erode the perceived fit between employees and AI-enabled work systems? This study examines how collaborative AI literacy translates into employee performance under varying levels of technostress.Design/methodology/approach: Using a two-wave, multi-source survey of 403 employee–supervisor dyads. This study tests a conditional process model in which task–technology fit (TTF) explains the performance effects of collaborative AI literacy, while technostress acts as a boundary condition. Structural equation modelling with bootstrapping is employed to assess direct, indirect and interaction effects.Findings/results: Results show that collaborative AI literacy improves both technology-enabled and creative performance primarily by strengthening TTF. However, technostress significantly weakens this relationship. Under high technostress, increases in AI literacy no longer enhance TTF and may even undermine it, resulting in diminished or reversed performance benefits. These findings reveal that AI literacy investments yield positive returns only when technostress is effectively managed.Practical implications: Managers should recognise that AI literacy investments are contingent upon the prevailing stress environment. Organisations are advised to redesign training programmes to incorporate technostress resilience, prioritise task-technology alignment during AI system implementation, and treat technostress mitigation as a managerial performance metric. Such an integrated strategy ensures that AI capability development translates into sustainable improvements in operational efficiency and employees’ performance.Originality/value: This study advances decision-oriented research by identifying a critical trade-off in AI capability investments: more AI literacy is not universally beneficial. By demonstrating that technostress can disrupt – and potentially reverse – the pathway from AI capability to performance, the study provides actionable guidance for managers on when to scale AI training and when to prioritise stress reduction and system simplification.

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the relationships among operational capabilities, firm competitive performance, supply chain responsiveness and flexibility in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing sector in South Africa. The study also interrogated the mediating role of competitive performance in this association with the same sector. This investigation stemmed from operational challenges affecting FMCG’s competitive sustainability.Design/methodology/approach: A correlational design was used to collect data from 420 purposively selected supply chain professionals from the FMCG manufacturing sector in Gauteng province. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.Findings/results: Three operational capabilities – innovation, technology and supply network diversity – emerged as driving factors of competitive performance. Competitive performance positively influenced the FMCG supply chain’s flexibility and responsiveness. Competitiveness mediated the impact of operational capabilities on the flexibility and diversity of the FMCG supply chain.Practical implications: Operational capabilities are a vital source of competitive performance and a supply chain flexibility and responsiveness of FMCG manufacturing firms.Originality/value: The study applies a unique research model to the FMCG manufacturing supply chain, making it a novel attempt to apply that empirical lens to this economic sector in South Africa.

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine the competencies of small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) owners and managers and the association between these factors and the financial performance of their SMEs to help reduce the high failure rate of SMEs in South Africa.Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among SME owners and managers in Johannesburg, South Africa. Because the questionnaire used a five-point Likert scale, factor analysis was used to determine the role the various competencies play in the financial performance of SMEs and to determine a Business Success Driver Index (BSDI) based on their responses.Findings/results: The competencies positively influence the return on investment (ROI) of SMEs, where competency is regarded as a combination of knowledge, skills, values, attitude and experience as an attribute.Practical implications: The implication for practice is that SME owners and managers could improve their firms’ profitability and business success by enhancing their competencies by focusing on their knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and experience. The results of the study could help reduce the SMEs’ failure rate in South Africa.Originality/value: This study is the first to investigate the combination of knowledge, skills, values, attitude and experience as competency factors driving SMEs’ profitability (measured by the ROI). The authors followed a positive approach by considering the factors contributing to success instead of the factors leading to failure in SMEs.

Purpose: This study examines whether trust in the sharing economy (SE) is driven more by decentralised, peer-based mechanisms (normative or cultural-cognitive institutions) or centralised regulatory authority.Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modelling was performed to test a multi-level trust model using data from 635 respondents exposed to a between-subjects experimental vignette online survey.Findings/results: The mechanisms of peer pressure, micro-level platform reputation, and meso-level platform brand assurance are the primary drivers of consumer trust and participation intention. The authority of macro-level independent regulation plays a significantly weaker role. The collective judgement of peers holds more sway for consumers than the oversight of formal authorities in establishing SE legitimacy.Practical implications: Service providers must prioritise curating excellent platform reputations, as high peer ratings are a de facto market requirement. Platforms should strengthen their brand’s perceived reliability. Policymakers should adopt a nuanced regulatory approach, recognising that traditional top-down assurances are less influential than decentralised, social proof mechanisms for legitimising most SE services.Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to integrate and contrast trust-building institutions across micro-, meso- and macro-levels within a single SE framework. It provides empirical evidence that normative and cultural-cognitive institutions are more effective than regulatory ones in legitimising the SE, highlighting a pivotal shift in how trust is established in digital, peer-to-peer markets.

Purpose: Limited evidence exists on the application of the African philosophy of Ubuntu in family businesses and how it relates to ethical values, ethical behaviour and business outcomes. Our study identifies ethical values influencing the decisions and behaviours of indigenous Black South African (IBSA) family businesses and explores the manifestations of these values in this context.Design/methodology/approach: Our study adopts a qualitative approach and case study design and draws on semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect data from participants in seven IBSA family businesses. The software ATLAS.ti was utilised to manage the data, and reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken.Findings/results: The analysis reveals that ethical values relate to relational, coexistence and compassion values, which are aligned with the Ubuntu philosophy and reinforce each other. These values are the antecedents of ethical behaviour in IBSA family businesses and are associated with business outcomes, including organisational transparency, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, societal impact, long-term value creation and organisational identity and reputation.Practical implications: The study explored the link between ethical values, Ubuntu philosophy and business outcomes in IBSA family businesses. We recommend adopting relational values to strengthen stakeholder connections, coexistence values for harmony and cooperation and compassion values to foster empathy and mutual care.Originality/value: This study contributes to the family business literature on values and ethics, as well as to the broader conversations in the fields of management and organisational behaviour. Our study advances knowledge of ethical values and Ubuntu in family businesses by proposing a new framework through which values related to Ubuntu can be categorised and understood better.