Doctoral Candidate Mariapaola McGurk is placing Johannesburg’s creative economy under the academic spotlight with her groundbreaking research, A Systems Thinking Approach to Growing Johannesburg’s Creative Economy. Completed as part of her DPhil in Digital Transformation, the study explores how a systems thinking framework can support the strategic growth of South Africa’s cultural and creative industries (CCIs), positioning them as key drivers of the national economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Supervised by Professor Natanya Meyer, McGurk’s doctoral study advocates for a systems thinking approach to develop Johannesburg’s creative sector, positioning it as a key driver in both the national economy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The creative economy already contributes nearly 3% (R161 billion) to South Africa’s GDP, employing an estimated one million people — figures comparable to the country’s agricultural sector (SACO, 2022). Nowhere is this sector more concentrated than in Gauteng Province, particularly within the City of Johannesburg, which houses the largest number of creative businesses in the country (Oyekunle, 2019).
Yet despite its proven economic and social value, research into the strategic growth and development of the creative economy — especially in Johannesburg — remains limited. This is the gap that McGurk’s research directly addresses. Through her DPhil in Digital Transformation, McGurk applies a systems thinking framework to unpack the interconnectedness of creative industries with other key sectors such as IT, mining, agriculture, and design. Her work aligns these relationships with the distributed networks characteristic of the 4IR, offering a fresh, future-facing perspective on the sector’s potential.
As governments and international bodies increasingly recognise the creative economy’s role in advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs), McGurk’s research makes a compelling case that traditional, linear, and siloed leadership and policy approaches can no longer meet the demands of this dynamic, decentralised sector. Instead, she advocates for disruptive, networked, and future-focused leadership capable of embracing the complexity and collaborative nature of Johannesburg’s creative industries ecosystem.
This argument is particularly timely, given the South African Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s 2020 report, which identifies the creative economy as a key human-centred sector with the potential to tackle national challenges through innovation. Likewise, government departments such as Trade, Industry and Competition, Small Business Development, and Communications and Digital Technologies are actively integrating creative industries into their long-term economic strategies — a direction McGurk’s findings strongly support and inform.
By spotlighting Johannesburg’s creative economy — already an important site for foreign direct investment and cultural entrepreneurship — McGurk’s study aims to offer policy-makers, local government, and business leaders practical frameworks for inclusive, sustainable city-based economic development. Her work not only maps the contribution of the creative sector to the SDGs but positions it as a model for multi-sector collaboration in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
As McGurk puts it, the future belongs to disruptive leaders: those with the vision to scan the environment, identify trends, and find “wicked opportunities in wicked problems.” In Johannesburg, that future is already taking shape.
While her oral defence was a closed session, McGurk has created a 25-minute video presentation of her PowerPoint, along with a written blog that outlines the main insights and includes the full slide deck. These resources offer an accessible way to engage with her research.To explore Mariapaola McGurk’s research and findings in full, visit: https://m9art.co.za/dphil-in-digital-transformation-oral-defense/
