APPENDIX 4: LIST OF SCHEDULE 1 OFFENCES 270
7.11 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
A randomly selected representative sample was chosen from the 4 universities that are located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The sample comprised of all members of executive and senior management at the 4 universities. Although information regarding fraud may be regarded as sensitive, no specific details such as names of fraudsters were requested from the participants. The questions were not designed to establish the specific details about the fraud cases; rather the questions were aimed at establishing the causes of employee fraud and prevention strategies at universities in KwaZulu-Natal. Most questions in the questionnaire aimed to establish what strategies were in place to prevent fraud at universities. Some repetition of detail may ensue when explaining the methodology used.
Figure 7.1 below depicts the different research populations such as the total research population, the sample population and the eventual response population:
Figure 7.1: Research population
Source: Ferreira (2007)
7.11.1 Total Research Population
The total possible research population was staff employed at the four chosen universities in KwaZulu-Natal, which is listed in Table 7.1 below:
Table 7.1: Total population of staff employed at 4 universities located in KwaZulu-Natal province
UNIVERSITY NUMBER OF STAFF
UKZN 4098
UNIZULU 1288
DUT 1522
MUT 698
TOTAL 7606
Source: Department of Higher Education and Training (2015)
The total possible research population and sample population were determined in collaboration with the institutional statistician. The total target population comprised all members of executive and senior management strata from the 4 universities that are located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The executive management cadre is predominantly made up of Vice- Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Executive Directors. The senior management cadre is made up of Directors and Deans.
The websites of these 4 universities reflected that there were 33 members of executive management and 88 members of senior management. The target population was 121 individuals. Although these executive managers and senior managers are employees of the universities, they are also de facto employers on behalf of their universities. As executive and senior management, they are accountable to their university council for the overall management of the university in pursuit of fulfilling predetermined organisational objectives.
In their roles of executive and senior management of the universities, they are entrusted with fulfilling their fiduciary duties. These include implementing adequate systems of internal control to mitigate any risks, including fraud.
According to COSO (2013:28), senior management are responsible for establishing policies and procedures which management and staff have to comply with in order to execute their responsibilities for internal control. Internal controls are implemented to prevent fraud from occurring. In essence, executive and senior management are regarded as employers. These participants provided relevant data pertaining to this study as they are the faces of the four universities. They are accountable for fraud that occurs in their areas of responsibility. In consultation with the relevant statistician, the survey questionnaire was distributed to executive managers and senior managers located at the 4 universities in KwaZulu-Natal. These participants were requested to respond to the questionnaire in their organisational capacities as de facto employers.
7.11.2 Sample Size
Welman and Kruger (1999:47) postulate that a population size is generally too large to include all members in the study, thus necessitating that a sample of the population be selected in consideration of practicality and economy. A random sample was selected for this study and was representative of the total possible research population, which is a form of probability sampling, of executive managers and senior managers at the 4 universities in KwaZulu-Natal.
As noted, although these executive managers (Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Executive Directors) and senior managers (Directors and Deans) are employees of the universities, they are de facto employers on behalf of their universities.
The sample comprised all members of executive and senior management at the 4 universities.
As executive and senior management they are accountable to their university council for the
overall management of the university in pursuit of fulfilling predetermined organisational objectives. In their roles of executive and senior management of the universities, they are entrusted with fulfilling their fiduciary duties. These include implementing adequate systems of internal control to mitigate any risks, including fraud. There were a total of 33 individuals from executive management and a total of 88 from senior management at the 4 universities in KwaZulu-Natal. The sample of potential participants totalled 121. During the process of collating the electronic mail (email) addresses of the identified respondents, it was found that there were 7 vacant posts among the selected sample.
The sample of 114 was not considered to be too large, necessitating that all 114 members of the selected sample be requested to participate in this survey by completing the online survey questionnaire. Table 7.2 below reflects the number of executive and senior management staff that were employed at the 4 universities, as listed on the respective websites:
Table 7.2: Target population of executive and senior management employed at 4 universities in KwaZulu-Natal
TARGET POPULATION UKZN UNIZULU DUT MUT TOTAL
Executive Management 13 7 10 3 33
Senior Management 51 17 10 10 88
TOTAL 64 24 20 13 121
Source: Websites of UKZN, UNIZULU, DUT and MUT (2015)
Participants provided relevant data pertaining to this study as they are the faces of the universities. They are accountable for any fraud that occurs in their areas of responsibility. In consultation with the relevant statistician, the survey questionnaire was distributed to the identified target sample. These participants were requested to respond to the questionnaire in their organisational capacities as de facto employers.
The target population in this study was 114 and the response population was 65. This equates to a response population of 57% as a percentage of the target population. According to Seidman (1991:45), a response rate of 25 participants is sufficient, but aspects such as time and money would impact on determining when there are enough respondents in a study. Welman and Kruger (1999:64) concur and state that a sample of 15 should be a minimum that may be used, but suggest that a sample of 25 or more would be desirable for the purpose of analysis.
Newman (2000:216) suggests that using a big sample size does not mean that the sample is representative of the population because of other factors that need to be considered. According to Newman (2000:217), equally increasing a sample size in smaller and larger samples
produces more accuracy in smaller samples. The number of surveys in this study totalled 65, which was more than twice the sample recommended by Welman and Kruger (1999) and Seidman (1991).
Seidman (1991:45) also suggests that the point of saturation reached with the information sought will also play a role in determining when to terminate the survey. This usually occurs after a number of interviews when similar themes or responses are being received and no new information is emerging. This is the point of information saturation. The responses received in the online survey in the current study indicate that the point of information saturation was reached as no new information had emerged as the survey progressed towards its closure.
Although the collection of data by means of face-to-face interviews from selected knowledgeable individuals forms part of the process of literature reviews, the methodology on how they were selected and interviewed is elaborated in this section. There were 4 directors of forensic auditing firms, namely, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo in KwaZulu-Natal, who were identified to participate in this study. There were also 5 forensic investigators permanently employed at one of the universities in KwaZulu-Natal, who were also identified to participate in the study.
A total of 9 knowledgeable individuals were purposefully identified by the researcher based on his awareness of their roles in investigating fraud at universities. These participants are members of reputable forensic investigation organisations who are also members of professional bodies that are bound by professional codes of conduct. This prevented bias.
Welman and Kruger (1999:63) point out that purposive sampling is a form of non-probability sampling. These knowledgeable individuals, who work within the province of KwaZulu-Natal, contributed to this study based on their experience of investigating employee fraud at universities in KwaZulu-Natal. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were held with these identified directors and forensic investigators. These participants are regarded as experts in the forensic investigation field and known to be skilled and experienced with investigating employee fraud at universities in KwaZulu-Natal.