An assessment of the effect of Closed-Circuit-Television surveillance on company performance in the Zimbabwean manufacturing sector

Abstract

The increased use of CCTV surveillance in the Zimbabwean manufacturing sector, the declining sector’s contribution to the GDP over the past years, and the inconclusive previous studies world-wide on the impact that CCTV surveillance in manufacturing industry has on Company Performance necessitated the current study. The researcher sought to achieve specific objectives, namely: (1) To evaluate the effect of CCTV surveillance on theft (pilferages) in Zimbabwean manufacturing companies, (2) To establish the impact of CCTV surveillance on wastages in the country’s manufacturing companies, (3) To assess the influence that CCTV surveillance has on employee productivity in the Zimbabwean manufacturing sector, (4) To investigate the importance of CCTV surveillance on employee safety in Zimbabwean manufacturing companies, (5) To ascertain the role that CCTV surveillance plays on ensuring property safety in Zimbabwean manufacturing industry, and (6) To come up with a set of recommendations that will assist the business community in decision making and the academic community in the field of research. The research design adopted was quantitative in nature while the ontological and epistemological assumptions that were held by the researcher were those of objectivism. A questionnaire was used to gather data from randomly selected manufacturing companies in Harare and judgemental sampling was employed to deliberately select Production Managers for their knowledge and experience in the area of study. Of the 192 questionnaires that were personally distributed, 139 responses were obtained. The findings of this study were that the use of CCTV surveillance in the Zimbabwean manufacturing industry leads to a decrease in wastages and theft while it improves employee productivity, employee safety as well as property safety. The conclusion was that CCTV surveillance in the manufacturing sector improves company performance and a causal formula was suggested by the researcher. It was also concluded that the findings can be generalized to other parts of Zimbabwe and other countries. Finally, managerial, policy and general recommendations are provided.