Conceptualising the Effect of the Black Economic Empowerment Score‐Card on IT Governance

Abstract

AbstractAugmented concerns regarding Information Technology (IT) Governance have resulted in organisations continuing to relentlessly seek the right IT decision makers who make the right IT decisions as baselines for value generation in dynamic and competitive business arenas. As a result of the implementation of policies such as the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), the IT sector in post‐apartheid South Africa has increasingly seen signs of a rising number of Black IT professionals entering this sector. Organisations now find themselves with a growing number of influential Black decision makers whose decisions are seen to impact large IT investment spending. This article conceptualises the critical role that BEE scorecard has played towards the growth of this number and seeks to understand the influencing dynamics BEE has had towards IT Governance in South African organizations. The study explores BEE policy as a means of redressing past inequalities and then presents BEE challenges that influence IT Governance implementation. A conceptual framework that assesses the relationships between the variables, BEE and IT Governance is presented. The purpose of the framework is to shed insights regarding the strength of the relationship between these two variables both of which have a bearing on the success of businesses operating in South Africa. The framework has been tested using empirical quantitative research, which utilised questionnaires that targeted IT professionals. The findings show a weak association between BEE and successful IT Governance implementation. The results also reveal IT Governance maturity has advanced to well‐managed level 4. The human capital and diversity in the IT workforce lag behind in progress as a result of modest compliance by organisations towards BEE initiatives.