Gaelle Fitong Ketchiwou

There is a rapid transformation in digital technologies worldwide, and digitalisation is now part of all major economic sectors, thereby impacting labour markets. However, women still lag behind men and are not fully benefiting from the opportunities that come with digitalisation. This paper aims to unpack what is needed for women to benefit from digitalisation. The PRISMA protocol was used to perform a comprehensive search across EBSCO, ProQuest, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Scopus, JSTOR, Emerald, and Google Scholar, from which 60 papers were retained after screening. Articles were analysed in-depth using a thematic approach. Findings reveal the need for governments to design initiatives to raise awareness, increase access, and promote the usage of digital technologies, tools, and devices at affordable prices. Supporting digital infrastructure, partnerships, household conditions and a legal framework are vital. Together with educational institutions, governments should also develop strategies to boost education and digital skills development, mentorship, and networks to empower women to leverage digital opportunities. There is also a need to ensure social and work-life balance support to help women leverage digitalisation. Hence, governments, educational institutions, private entities, civil society groups, and women need to collaborate to implement tangible actions that ensure meaningful access to technology and the benefits of digitalisation. By synthesising dispersed evidence from 60 studies, this study integrates conditions, capabilities, and support systems needed for women to benefit from digitalisation and provides actionable initiatives at multiple levels. This paper highlights the relevance of access to technology, and the need for pathways, capability enhancement, and enabling conditions that make digital skills available for the entry of young women into the labour market and for their career progression in a digital era. These findings can reduce the digital gender divide, improve women’s labour market participation, or inform policy and practice.

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies has significantly transformed teaching, learning, and research practices within higher education institutions (HEIs). Although a growing body of literature has examined the application of AI in higher education, existing studies remain fragmented, often focusing on isolated tools or outcomes, with limited synthesis of best practices, core functionalities, and implementation challenges across diverse contexts. To address this gap, this systematic review aims to comprehensively examine the best practices, functionalities, and challenges associated with the integration of AI in HEIs. A comprehensive literature search was conducted across major academic databases, including Google Scholar, Scopus, Taylor & Francis, and Web of Science, resulting in the inclusion of 35 peer-reviewed studies published between 2014 and 2024. The findings suggest that effective AI integration is supported by best practices, including promoting student engagement and interaction, providing language support, facilitating collaborative projects, and fostering creativity and idea generation. Key AI functionalities identified include adaptive learning systems that personalize educational experiences, predictive analytics for identifying at-risk students, and automated grading tools that improve assessment efficiency and accuracy. Despite these benefits, significant challenges persist, including limited knowledge and skills, ethical concerns, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient institutional and management support, data privacy risks, inequitable access to technology, and the absence of standardized evaluation metrics. This review provides evidence-based insights to inform educators, institutional leaders, and policymakers on strategies for leveraging AI to enhance teaching, learning, and research in higher education.

Porcelain Publishing is a publishing company based in Singapore. We have in our portfolio a range of high-quality, open-access, peer-reviewed journals and books from a broad spectrum of science, technology, biomedicine, engineering, education, social sciences and many more.

Africa has been characterised by gender and social inequalities that have affected differentdimensions of women’s lives. Even in the modern era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),most women do not have the right skills to secure and keep profitable employment. Grounded inhuman capital, postmodern feminism, and empowerment theories, this study unpacks how to empower African women with skills relevant in the 4IR. An integrative review approach is used. Out of 917 articles screened, 24 peer-reviewed articles (2018–2023) on 4IR, women, and Africa were retained and analysed using a manual content analysis method. Results reveal the need for a robust regulatory framework backed by government funding and support to address past inequalities and tackle the underdevelopment of 4IR and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills in women.

Although there is a myriad of research on women's careers, limited research has considered the role women play in their own career development and advancement. This study aims to explore the role of personal attributes in the skills development and career advancement of women. The self-determination theory and the sustainable career model are used to unpack personal attributes vital for women's development and career progression. 234 women from the service industry in Johannesburg participated in this study. Participants were selected using a convenience sampling method. Free-text comments were gathered through open-ended questions in a questionnaire. The manual thematic analysis approach was used to analyse data. Findings reveal that personal attributes such as effort, willingness, motivation, determination, and optimism are vital for women's skills development. Likewise, inspiration, determination, hard work, effort, ownership, assertiveness, and eagerness to seize opportunities are critical for women's career progression. Findings also reveal that some organisational factors can discourage and demotivate women from pursuing their career goals. Therefore, women need to take personal responsibility to drive their careers forward. Organisations should motivate women and encourage them to actively take charge of their careers.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected entrepreneurs, compelling them to close, downsize, diversify, or adopt innovative approaches to stay afloat. This global challenge, coupled with technological disruptions, resulted in many losing their jobs and entering the competitive entrepreneurship space that requires them to be innovative to succeed. However, without the right resources, context, and environment, entrepreneurs may struggle to innovate. This paper aims to investigate the challenges to innovative entrepreneurship in a technological era. We used an integrative review to synthesize challenges to innovative entrepreneurship from 42 empirical studies in different countries worldwide. A thematic approach was used to analyse the content of the articles. Results reveal that factors related to the entrepreneur’s skills and traits impede innovative entrepreneurship. Also, challenges related to finance, human resources, operational capabilities, and marketing obstruct innovation in entrepreneurship. In addition, environmental factors related to the country, social and cultural norms, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem pose challenges to innovative entrepreneurship. Innovation has become the order of the day, and knowledge of the obstacles to innovative entrepreneurship is vital. Findings can help in designing all-around support to promote innovative entrepreneurship.

Despite several laws promulgated to mitigate workplace gender inequalities in South Africa, women continue to face challenges in their development and career advance in the workplace. This study aims to examine the role of legislation aimed at promoting gender equality play in the development and career advancement of women. The pluralist world view allowed the researcher to use a mixed research method (ie qualitative and qualitative approach). A total of 412 women in the service industry in Johannesburg, South Africa, were selected through a convenience (non-probability) sampling method. Regression analysis revealed that legislation aimed at promoting gender equality is not statistically linked to the skills development and career advancement of women. Thematic analysis showed that having relevant policies and strong ethical standards can help organisations comply with existing gender laws. However, the lack of implementation of existing policies, coercive compliance and discriminatory practices that exclude certain groups hinder compliance with legislation. This research was limited to women working in the service industry in Johannesburg. Organisations need to go beyond compliance with legal requirements and adopt customised strategies to promote gender equity in the development and advancement of women to top positions. The South African government must examine and review gender-related laws applicable to the workplace to ensure that they fulfil their purpose. This research is original in that it investigates the application of gender-related legislation in the workplace using a mixed-method approach. Future research should consider women in other industries, using a more representative sampling method.

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