Workplace diversity, equality and inclusivity in Zimbabwean labour market

Abstract The constructs of diversity and equality exist in literature, however, it is the purpose of this article to unpack findings from managing diversity, inclusivity and equality issues in the workplace with perspectives from the Zimbabwean labour market. It aims at addressing questions relating to whether there is an equal treatment legislation in Zimbabwe and its content, whether there are public debates about diversity, actors debating, empirical research relating to diversity, inclusivity and equality as well as the relationship between diversity and equal treatment. Empirical evidence exists in the organisational and human resources management research, where there are knowledge gaps relating to limitations of balancing inclusivity, diversity and equality. In terms of research methodology, systematic literature survey method and inductive research approach have been used in the study. Results indicate that inclusivity can be the panacea to the problems of discrimination within the workplace. Further to this, the idea of having team work, participation and cohesiveness is the linchpin to enhancing workplace diversity, equality and inclusivity in Zimbabwean labour market. The research contributes to theory, practice and future research directions in the human resources management field.


Introduction & background analysis
The facilitation of diversity, equality and inclusivity have brought about an improvement in business organisations' performances (Armstrong et al., 2010;Issaka, 2020;Kaupp, 2018;Wilson, 2016). The purpose of this article is to review relevant specialised literature in diversity, equality and inclusivity in the Zimbabwean labour market, basing on empirical sources. Pursuant to the PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT Diversity, inclusivity and equality have emanated from the advent of globalisation, which represents diverse cultures, beliefs and ethics. Due to this, leaders of organisations the world over have experienced a lot of challenges related to how the corporate human resources management culture issues have affected the general operational effectiveness of organisations. Effective diversity, inclusivity and equality require a proper organisational structure, which is nurturing, teamoriented, cohesive and participative in nature.
above, diversity, equality and inclusivity are key concepts guiding this particular study as they are applied in human resources management. In extant literature, these concepts were rigorously researched on by a variety of prominent authorities that include (Issaka, 2020;Sharma, 2016;Wilson, 2016) and others. Diversity management can be viewed as an approach to equality within the organisations, where there is distinctiveness mainly focusing on equality as a result of differentiation and sameness. This would come into effect if the employees are seen as an asset to what would be happening to their organisations (Issaka, 2020). Empirical evidence exists in the organisational and human resources management research that attests to knowledge gaps relating to limitations and/or problems of balancing diversity, equality and inclusivity (Ali, Burns & Grant, 2013;Donnelly, 2015;Hvidman & Andersen, 2013;Lee Cooke & Saini, 2012;Sharma, 2016).
In Zimbabwe, the administration of the Labour Act of Zimbabwe [Chapter 28:01], International Labour Convention Act 1948 No/87;1951 No/100;1958 No/111, Companies' Acts have been used to deal with issues relating to diversity and equality matters in firms and organisations. For example, a research by Ndudzo (2014) showed that the "Labour Act of Zimbabwe [Chapter 28:01], section 5: no employer shall discriminate against any employee or prospective employee based on race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, colour, creed, gender, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS status or subject to the Disabled Persons Act [Chapter 17:01], any disability referred by definition in the Act, in relation to advertisement, recruitment, remuneration and others". Ndudzo (2013) reported that the selected state university does not have a clear policy on diversity and equality policy, which is vividly written for application in the organisation. This is also in tandem with the Foma (2014), who cited that 169 of the Society for Human Resources Management, included as respondents study indicated that they do have clear written policy or structured program on diversity and equality. In the United States of America (USA) and Canada, as well as Zimbabwe where PEPSI Company is located, it supports the idea of diversity and equality, as evidenced on their website in 2012 with 31% women constituting part of the organisation's workforce. The Strategies for Success Women's Program by PEPSI, was meant to accelerate female managers as a way of promoting diversity and equality, and this led the company to be awarded Corporate Equality Index by the Human Rights Campaign (Foma, 2014). In some selected organisations in Zimbabwe, there is a noticeable increase in diverse groups' participation in the workplace. What has caused major problems within some organisations is that calls for diversity, inclusivity and equality from industry leaders, captains of industry and authorities from the public sector and groups of lobbyists are so many, but however, the issue is still vague. At times, it is limited by inflexible systems which may lead to limitations in the way people perceive inequality, injustice, criminality and perpetration of other related matters. The above scenario suppresses diversity, equality and inclusivity within the organisations. There is pressing need to meet the real labour matters to express the silenced voices of minorities with emphasis on gender balances and recognition of women voices. Maintenance of harmony in the workplace increases room for productivity.

Methods for collecting and analysing literature
Qualitative systematic analysis was employed to collect and analyse the literature. The research was done using the Google search engine (Nyagadza, 2019a). Words such as corporate diversity, equality, inclusivity, Zimbabwe and labour market were used to guide the search process. The literature search was conducted in October 2020 to January 2021 and was not restricted to specific years. Articles that were not related to the study area were deleted from the selection because the focus of the current paper is on diversity, equality and inclusivity in the Zimbabwean labour market. All non-empirical articles were excluded. The process of search resulted in summation of 120 papers that the authors coded subsequently. The discovered articles were heralded between 1959 and 2020. Most of the articles were from the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labour Law, Journal of Managerial Psychology, British Journal of Management, Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture, Human Resource Management Journal, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Equal Opportunities International and others. To discover the main areas in 120 papers, each journal was analysed and given codes with descriptions. The keywords were then analysed and populated into defined and identifiable strategic themes.

Empirical research relating to diversity, equality and inclusivity in Zimbabwe
By 2009, the Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Zimbabwe number 96 out of 134 countries, while in 2006 it was in 76th position out of 115 countries. On all four yardsticks used, the country's 2009 rankings were lower than their 2006 equivalents: number 82 on the position of women in economic participation and opportunity, number 103 on educational attainment, number 125 on health and survival, while for political empowerment, the country was to be found on the 83rd spot (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). Equality, that is organisation-based, has a problem of raising the number up of disparities as per the number concerned with women especially related to black or ethnic fewer women (Augusto, 2017;Sharma, 2016). Exploitation of skilled women and the skills that they have has led to the development limitations and strengths to organisations (Annesley & Gains, 2013;International Labour Organisation, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c. Many opportunities have come out of the development of concepts related to women discrimination within organisations. It is worth mentioning that the SIGI Gender Equality and Social Institutions Index overall ranked Zimbabwe number 72 of 102 countries in 2008. On the family code sub-index, the country was ranked 80th of 112 countries, on women's civil liberties number 84 of 122 countries and on women's ownership rights, it was ranked number 111 of 122 (website OECD-SIGI). Following Zimbabwe's economic meltdown since 2000, reliable recent figures on the sectoral labour market structure has been the missing link (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). Ndudzo (2013) undertook a researched to establish if there is employee diversity, equality and inclusion in Zimbabwe, based on a case study of a state university. The interviewed employees highlighted that employee diversity is highly valued at a selected state university as the institution focuses on developing an organisational culture that values the contributions of a heterogeneous workforce with different cultures and religion (Ndudzo, 2013). This is supported by Give (2020) who states that employment diversity is a commitment to the recognition and appreciation of unique beliefs, values, skills, attributes, and characteristics of all employees. The respondents confirmed that employee morale and employee retention at the selected state university was positively influenced by having a workplace that accommodated different religious viewpoints (Ndudzo, 2013). The research participants further echoed that the selected state university "family concept" has proved beyond doubt that recognizing and appreciating diverse perspectives in the workplace resulted in more flexibility, more productivity, more creative problem-solving, better decisionmaking, and an enhanced ability to meet the needs of a multi-faceted employee, student, and stakeholder population. However, the human resources personnel revealed that the University has eight hundred and twenty four (824) employees where 822 employees are black, 1 employee is white and 1 employee is Indian. This observation pointed the imperative need for ZOU to improve on ensuring a diversified recruitment system that emphasizes on recruitment of other racial groups (Ndudzo, 2013). The respondents confirmed that there is equal employment opportunity at ZOU. The Human Resources Unit enforces impartiality, fairness and equity throughout the University. The study revealed that, Section 6.1 of the ZOU Act emphasizes on prohibiting discrimination in employment practices on the basis of nationality, race, religion, gender, physical ability and age. Equally, the Human Resources Strategic Plan document revealed that the University has taken a major step towards accomplishing gender equality on employment opportunities as statistical data confirm that there are 46% female employees as compared to 54% males. The selected state university ensures that men and women who perform equal work have the right to receive equal pay. The institution should ensure that there is a balanced gender representation of male vs. female employees as well (Ndudzo, 2013).
Compared with the total population of Zimbabwe in this age category, for 1999 estimated at 3,235,000 men and 3,452,000 women, the country's Labour Participation Rate (LPR) or Employment-to-Population ratio (EPOP) could be calculated at 69.8% (MDG Indicator 1.5). This might have implied a position in the lower middle ranks among the 14 countries in our project. With respectively 73.7% for males and 66.0% for females, the female LPR was 90% of the male rate (women to men parity). Yet, by 1999 these figures were already beset with uncertainties, which have increased since (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). If approximately correct, the estimate of the global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum that women recently accounted for about 43% of the labour force (Van Klaveren et al., 2010, Global Gender Gap Report 2021 would imply about 1,550,000 women employed-about 730,000 or one-third of all women less than a decade earlier. Table 1 indicates that, at the time women made up majorities in government (64%), followed by services (62%) and agriculture (58%), while their shares were quite small in transport (2%) and in mining and construction (7%; Van Klaveren et al., 2010). The female share in manufacturing (38%) was rather at par with that in many other countries; by contrast, that in education (24%) was very low by international standards. Yet, the education percentage may have been subject to statistical errors; the gender gap report 2009 of the World Economic Forum states (without year) that women in Zimbabwe formed more than half (51%) of primary education teachers and two in five (40%) of secondary education teachers (Van Klaveren et al., 2010).
As indicated earlier, women are overrepresented in informal employment, and consequently women's share in paid employment in 1999 was only 22.3%, though increasing somewhat to 23.9% in 2002. In all industries, women formed (small) minorities of paid employees, only nearing one in three industries notably agriculture, forestry and fishing; finance et cetera, and community, social and personal services. At the turn of the century, community, social and personal services showed up as the main stronghold of paid female labour, with in 2002 even over half of all paid employed. Remarkable is the low share of females in paid employment in manufacturing, even in elsewhere female-dominated industries like textiles, apparel and leather. Comparison with Table 2 clarifies that in various industries, the paid employee status in 1999 was only attributed to small minorities of all female workers: less than 5% in agriculture and less than 20% in manufacturing. It is striking that even in government only 70% was in paid employment (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). As for occupational groups, the World Economic Forum report mentioned earlier indicated that for Zimbabwe, 18% female share in the occupational group at the highest level, legislators, senior officials and managers. Discouragingly, this suggests a worsened under-representation of women at this strategic employment level. As for 2001, the national statistical bureau reported a female share of 27%, or even 9% points more (United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 2003).
By contrast, for the second highest category, professionals and technicians, the most recently reported female share was 40%, compared with a 2001 figure of 35% to 5% points less (UNDP, 2003;Van Klaveren et al., 2010). For 1999, national statistics revealed that 19% females were among directors, managers and company secretaries; less than 1% females among "business and finance engineers and technicians"; 26% among "administrative associate professionals", and 38% females among clerks and secretaries. The proportion of female clerks and secretaries fitted in the sub-Saharan context where men remain strongly represented in these occupations, but was rather low in wider international perspective (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). Diversity and equality have emanated from the advent of globalisation, which shows diverse cultures, beliefs and ethics. Due to this, the leaders of organisations the world over have experienced a lot of challenges related to how the corporate human resources management culture and diversity issues have affected the general operational effectiveness of organisations. Effective diversity and equality require proper corporate incubation, which is inclusive, nurturing, team-oriented, cohesive and participative in nature.
In the 1990s, Zimbabwe witnessed high literacy levels, which could be sustained until some years ago (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). The country's adult literacy rate-those aged 15 and over that can read and write in 1999-2006 was, according to the UNDP Human Development Indicators, 90.7%, divided in 93.7% for men and 87.6% for women, resulting in 93% women to men parity (UNDP, 2008). For 2008, UNESCO estimates were even slightly higher, with 91.4% to 94.4% for men and 88.8% for women, or 94% women to men parity-respectively 17% and 25% points higher than the sub-Sahara Africa average (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). The literacy rate of young women has surpassed that of their male peers, and both levels are quite high. For 2007, the overall youth (15-24-year-olds) literacy rate was 98.3%, with 98.7% for young women and 97.9% for young men or 101% women to men parity-compared with 1992, increases of 2.9% points overall, 1.4% points for young men and 4.3% points for young women (MDG Indicator 2.3, derived from UN MDG Indicators and based on UNESCO data). The following Table 4 indicates the conventions ratified by the Government of Zimbabwe which direct links to the diversity, equality and inclusion within the private sector: Under Zimbabwean law, ILO Conventions do not automatically become part of the national law. For this to occur, they have to be domesticated through an Act of Parliament. However, these Conventions have had a significant influence on national labour legislation (Mariwo, 2008). The research revealed that although the government has ratified and domesticated some ILO Conventions, their implementation in the private security industry remains a major challenge (Gwisai, 2006;Mariwo, 2008;ILO 2021). Female enrolment remained to lag behind, in spite of an Affirmative Action (AA) programme built in the university's policy in 1995. In 2001 and 2005, cases of serious gender-related violence and sexual exploitation at University of Zimbabwe (UZ) were reported (Van Klaveren et al., 2010). Such and related problems may add to the explanation of the success of the selected state university, as the only distance learning university in the country. Since its start in 1999, the selected state varsity averages about 20,000 students, nearly half of all Zimbabwe's total. Female enrolment in tertiary education is still comparatively low. The higher the level in the education system, the lower is the representation of women. In 2007, females constituted 55% of those enrolled in teacher training colleges, while accounting for 35% of those educated in polytechnics and other vocational institutions. In 2007, the female share in university enrolment stood at 37% (GoZ, 2009;Van Klaveren et al., 2010). Female skill levels in the current conditions producing an estimate of the division of skill levels in Zimbabwe's female workforce is a daunting task; one only has to recall the consequences of emigration. Thus, the following cannot be more than a rough indication and should be used with the greatest caution. An estimate for 2009 that, of 1,550,000 women in the labour force, 60% (about 930,000 persons) may be called unskilled (ISCED levels 0-1), 37.5% or about 580,000 skilled (ISCED levels 2-4), and 2.5% or about 40,000 highly skilled (tertiary educated, ISCED levels 5-6). Of those at skilled level, we estimate 11.5% or 180,000 women educated at upper secondary level (

Connecting diversity, inclusivity and equal treatment
Establishment of equality and diversity amongst male and female employees requires the crafting of policies and laws that are friendly as well as protective to the people concerned. Female labour force has proved to be contributing to the major output to the GDP of major economies (Bennett, 2014). Developed countries in states such as the United States and Europe, have made strong efforts to curb sexual discrimination in the job recruitments and related human resources management matters like flexi-time, administration of leave (sabbatical, education, unpaid leave etc.), full time working, part-time and temporary working arrangements (Hyman & Summers, 2007). The statutes that have been established legally to protect the interests of employees in the mentioned states are called AA edicts, and these are essentially designed to close the gaps emanating from issues of discrimination and inequalities at the workplace. In Zimbabwe, companies have different ways of working with solutions to the matter, although some refresher courses and continuous development interventions have never been effective enough to counter the problems (Annesley & Gains, 2013;Kalev et al., 2006). This has started in as early as 1970s, through the federal enforcement order for equal opportunity for all. Necessitation of the fairness in the policies and laws of the AA in American states has been a compelling case to increase workforce diversity and corporate efficiency. Most fundamentally, the concept of AA relates to the correction of segregation that involves the adoption of methods to make a society well organised and balanced (Annesley & Gains, 2013).
Normally what hinders the administration of the equality for opportunities in Zimbabwe is, largely, the result of barricades imposed by managers who may be taking time to see the weaknesses than promoting the idea of decentralisation, so as to meet immediate performance indicators within the organisations (Sharma, 2016;Shepherd, 2014). The attitude of these managers is chief amongst all other factors which cause the inequalities and discrimination. Due to this, the governments have taken on board the Affirmative Action (AA) so as to reduce segregation (Guillaume, 2015;Shepherd, 2014).
In a bid to standardise the effectiveness and efficiency of diversity and equality, Esso and Westpac have included Affirmative Action (AA) and EEO, while preparing for performance appraisal systems (Niroula, 2017). The Australian firms have introduced some schemes such as performance-based incentives with the primary goal to emphasise diversity management and equality for organisational performance effectiveness (Niroula, 2017). However, it was noted that these Australian firms do not culturally include diverse employees in their performance appraisal panels. In China, they have used the classification criteria based on gender to reduce wage differences, but there was lower conflict and role ambiguity (Niroula, 2017). The Chinese gender wage differentials were akin to those of Russia and first world countries (Niroula, 2017). In Italy, the survey results by Ravazzani (2016) showed that 72% of responses were for ensuring equal opportunities within organisations. Equally, improving capacity to compete among foreign multi-nationals was identified as top priority to corporate effectiveness.
Some other authorities such as Byrne (1993) as cited in Sharma (2016) have established goals and timetables model which ensure that legal compliance has been established at the workplace areas. Setting these goals makes it possible for the organisations to measure quantitatively the performance against other competitors within the same organisation. They bring in state of balance in terms of interests for the corporate and that of the employees as chief internal stakeholders of the human resources function. With proper management and administration of these goals discrimination and imbalances can be reduced amicably. Many companies in Zimbabwe take the policy of diversity management with simplicity and looking at it for granted. The end result normally can be getting to ignore it, leaving the vulnerable women and ethnic minorities being exposed to segregation and imbalanced preferences.
Research conducted among a variety of employees, including students, has indicated that there is more focus on AA assessments than the diversity programs for corporates (Sharma, 2016). Higher courts, such as the Supreme, Labour and Constitutional courts in Zimbabwe, have hailed the idea that AA law elements are more suitable in the protection of diversity and equality than any other methods that can be institutionalised (Armstrong et al., 2010). Governments have seen the development of the AA laws as more effective in dealing with labour issues for the non-included and under-represented ones, as many have advocated for the idea of their adoption. Since the law is a statutory instrument institutionalised by the government, companies are obliged as a must to adopt the AA laws and the reduction of inequalities in the work place. However, the problem related to these laws is that they are related to negative stereotypes within companies as some view them with so much strong negativity across the board. Debate is on whether the benefits of the policy and laws could be permanently to the beholders or not (Coate & Loury, 1993as cited in Sharma, 2016. Some victims end up calling for some preferential which may be hardening the room for effectiveness of the policy and AA laws since the application has no room for seclusion (Sharma, 2016).
Many researchers have lodged some critics, in a bid to express some concerns over how the issues are dealt within the organisation (Nyagadza, 2019a;Sharma, 2016). Minorities have been lowering performance within the organisation, as a result of the AA laws against their counterparts. Some contest that the white minorities have actually benefited from the system as a loophole, to what they are not producing in entirety. Affirmation from the top level authority to lower-level authority must be an element that is essentially important in guarding against taking the matter for granted.
Extant literature depicts that there is great agenda and diversity and this has gained international recognition among human resources academics and corporate leaders, with the inclusion of those in the emerging and developed world (Scott et al., 2011). In this light, there is a growing specialised literature on managing diversity and performance which focused at different corporate levels (Brammer et al., 2009;Elly & Thomas, 2001;Kalev et al., 2006;Kochan et al., 2003;Pitts, 2009). In particular, there is considerable literature with empirical evidence which has depicted some limitations to managers in managing diversity as well as equality, in a variety of corporate sectors such as health, travel and tourism, sports and other public and private sectors (Ali et al., 2013;Colgan, 2011;Lee Cooke & Saini, 2012). The increase in harmonisation of human resources needs with the corporate expectations has a positive impact on the productivity of the organisation in its entirety.
Top management needs to embrace the idea of maintaining higher levels of diversity so as to avert the problems associated with employee tensions inside the organisation (Hill et al., 2003). Respecting the employees in terms of their different backgrounds is equally demanding in a bid to build a bold corporate culture of diversity. Personalisation of the corporate resources must be avoided altogether to reduce the room for discrimination. Problems of saying "us", "we" must be avoided at all costs. To establish a good corporate culture of diversity toleration of characteristics, aspiration and expectation can be incubated (Cennamo & Gardner, 2008).
Diversity and equality are different concepts that are intertwined in terms of how they can be utilised in the study of social sciences, or to be precise, human resources management, which is an anchor for the current research. Equal opportunity relates to the balance in terms of the recognition of the human rights in sync with the legal issues (Greene & Kirton, 2002). On the other, the author established that diversity is all about corporate initiatives that focuses largely on valuing differences of individuals within the workplace, without discrimination based on race and gender. In light of this, corporates are encouraged to abide by the principles of Racial Discrimination Act and Sex & Sexuality (Sharma, 2016).
Empirical evidence indicates that in Nigeria, for example, they have since adopted the policy that adheres to equality, diversity and social inclusivity practices. Currently, the nation has about three ethnic groups and close to 400 ethno-linguistic groups that have equal numbers of Muslims and Christians; with one of the youngest world's populations (median age of 17.9), over 3 million people living with HIV. Thus, it has the highest prevalence rate in the world (Adeleye et al., 2014;George et al., 2017). The discrimination policy in Nigeria sounds to be weak to manage the diversity-related issues (Adeleye, 2019). In the South African perspectives, the issue of discrimination has posed so many challenges in the delivery of effective human resources management practices. The same country, appears in the United Nation's 1985 article 40/64 on Policies of apartheid of Government of South Africa, where pervasiveness and oppression has been observed in all facets of professional life. Frantic efforts have been made for removing segregation and inequalities within the workplaces, in the form of differences related to disability and gender (Van Rensburg, 2014). Due to this, South Africa has no choice but to manage diversity and equality issues in a more effective and efficient manner. Notwithstanding, the dream is yet to be realised since 1994 when this policy was promulgated (Van Rensburg, 2014; Joe, 2020).

Conclusion
From the study, the researchers established that diversity, inclusivity and equality can be the panacea to the problems of discrimination within the workplace. Consulted sources advocate the idea of having team work, participation and cohesiveness (Roberson & Park, 2007;Sharma, 2016;Grantham et al., 2021). At times, the major impediments in dealing with the diversity issues lie in the legal grounds to which the policies are devised. Many of the policies, especially from the African continent, lack rigour on protecting the needs of the people and protecting them from the negative discriminatory effects. Hiring and firing has been the order of the day in the period pre-2000s where the voice of the employees was less recognised (Sharma, 2016). Personal perceptions also have a serious impact on diversity and equality matters (Allen et al., 2008;Kossek et al., 2010;Rohwerder, 2017). It is a widely public concern to managers to make sure that they control the diversity and equality issues in the organisations (Calister, 2021;Colgan et al., 2007). This is primarily because it affects the operations of the organisations and the needs of individuals, since this has a direct effect on productivity and efficiency. It is quite imperative to have a multi-cultural approach towards tolerance in official corporates as far as corporate culture is concerned (Kaupp, 2018;Sharma, 2016;Tedla, 2016). Some academic authorities put forward the argument that critical factors such as employee age, sex or gender, social status, marital status, disability conditions, sexual orientations, personality, ethnic backgrounds, and social cultural inclinations have a strong impact on how diversity, inclusivity and equality are dealt with in the organisations. Case evidences from the USA, EU and SA brought to the limelight that issues related to multi-culturalism has been debated very much, though, there are a lot of imbalances that are still affecting these countries possibly due to lack of polices which are tolerant to the needs of the individual differences (Kaupp, 2018;Shen et al., 2009).

Study limitations and future research implications
The research on the diversity and equality varies from case studies to general original research. Work groups constitute the greater part to which sharing of corporate values and associations are born and bred. The hindrances stem from social cultural backgrounds to corporate structural policies. Complementary research studies can be done in other parts of the world to be able to come up with cross-cultural comparisons, as well as methodological validation. The study has limitations that may affect the generalisability of the results, since they can only be applied to the literature area studied. Another limitation was the nature of the study, systematic literature review, which does not allow immediate conclusions to be made about the topic under study. In future, longitudinal empirical research study inquiries can be made in order to check different variations of views of the same topic in other relevant studies. Future research studies can include evaluating other relevant theoretical frameworks in workplace diversity, equality and equity. The results hopefully may influence further future research study inquiries.