GOVERNING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING: EXECUTIVE ICT LITERACY AS A FOUNDATIONAL MISSING CAPABILITY IN SOUTH AFRICA’S PUBLIC SECTOR
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-0774.2026.2.14Keywords:
continuous professional development, digital leadership, executive ICT literacy, governance enactment, ICT governance, public sector governance, South Africa.Abstract
ICT governance frameworks are gaining widespread use in the public sector, but challenges to governance effectiveness persist. Current literature has attributed these deficiencies to structural misalignment, institutional constraints and behavioural aspects including executive disengagement. This study examines executive ICT literacy as a foundational capability, shaped through continuous professional development and executive learning, that influences governance outcomes. Based on qualitative data of 55 semi-structured interviews with senior ICT governance actors in South Africa, the results indicate that inadequate executive ICT knowledge limits valuable interactions with governance systems. This leads to compliance-based behaviour, over delegation, diminished supervision and reactive decision making. The paper introduces the notion of governing without understanding, which is a state whereby the authority of governance is carried out without adequate domain knowledge. This expands the ICT governance literature by adding a cognitive aspect of the leadership competence. The results also demonstrate the necessity to shift to the development of leadership capabilities instead of formal compliance. Executive ICT literacy is therefore positioned as a critical domain of continuous professional education, requiring integration into executive training and leadership development systems in the public sector.
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