Melanie Wiese

A cashless society for all : determining consumers’ readiness to adopt mobile payment services

ABSTRACT The technology readiness index was applied to determine consumers’ readiness to adopt mobile payment services and the moderating effect of gender. Gender has been identified as a key variable in adoption and its vital role in market segmentation and gender empowerment obliges its inclusion. The results of the regression analysis indicate that convenience and compatibility drive consumers’ adoption whereas risk, cost and insecurity are inhibitors. Furthermore, gender moderates only the relationship between convenience and the adoption of mobile payment services. Given the moderating effect of gender, companies should initiate advertising campaigns targeting women opinion leaders in advertisements, which can in turn encourage and educate other women to enjoy the convenience of mobile payments. Results provide insights on how to increase adoption and reduce the gender gap in mobile payment services.

Consumer intentions to engage in s-commerce: a cross-national study

ABSTRACT Social media has reached global proportions; yet, little is known about how consumers engage with firms in ways that lead to social commerce (s-commerce) – an emerging area of importance in the literature. This study addresses this gap and extends previous research by examining factors that influence consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce in four countries: Chile, Spain, South Africa and Australia. Specifically, this study develops and tests a model of consumers’ intentions to engage in s-commerce through brands’ Facebook pages incorporating personal variables (involvement in brands’ products and services, satisfaction with brands’ Facebook page), trust variables (message credibility of Facebook posts, trust in firms’ Facebook) and social variables (peer communication, social media dependency, online social interaction propensity) on predicting intentions to purchase products and services through brands’ Facebook pages if s-commerce was available to them. The findings show that the main drivers of s-commerce engagement are message credibility, trust in the brands’ Facebook, involvement, peer communication and online social interaction propensity, as influencers of consumer satisfaction with brands’ Facebook and social media dependency, which in turn drive intentions to engage in s-commerce. Contributing to theory and practice, these relationships are discussed for the four countries involved in the study.

The battle of the e-textbook : libraries' role in facilitating student acceptance and use of e-textbooks

The objective of this study is to investigate students’ acceptance and use of e-textbooks to enable libraries to make better informed decisions about their e-book collections. The data were collected in a classroom situation surveying students that had been exposed to e-textbooks. A self-completion questionnaire was used and 254 usable questionnaires were received back. The results showed that most students would prefer to have both a printed and an e-textbook, followed by a printed textbook. Although almost half of the respondents indicated that they would prefer it if the library were to buy more e-textbooks; the others did not see a need for this option; or, alternatively, they did not care at all. However, only 44% of respondents indicated that they knew how to get access to the electronic collection in the library. It was, furthermore, a matter of concern that 82% of the respondents never, or rarely, made use of e-textbooks from the library. It is up to universities, and more specifically libraries, as distributors of information, to take the lead in developing policies, processes, and strategies to deal with e-textbooks, and to manage this electronic challenge successfully.

Emerging technologies : e-textbooks, one piece of the puzzle

ABSTRACT The Internet has not only brought about a new technological era, but also seen the introduction of a number of emerging technologies such as e-textbooks. However, the slow acceptance of e-textbooks is an issue of concern. The objective of this study is to investigate students’ perceptions and use of e-textbooks. Data was collected by using a self-completion questionnaire and a focus group discussion. The results showed that the two major obstacles identified in literature in adopting e-textbooks, access to electronic devices and the lack of computer skills, were not an issue of concern in this study. Unfortunately, the results of this study show that although students are positive about e-textbooks, this positive attitude does not necessarily result in high usage. This has real implications for academics, as the challenge will be to encourage students to try out e-textbooks by incorporating this as part of a pedagogical model, whilst providing safeguards against academic risks.

Black middle class township shoppers: a shopper typology

Due to an increase in spending power amongst Black middle class, this growing segment has become a lucrative investment opportunity for many retailers in South Africa and most emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to segment township consumers according to their demographics, life stage, attitudes towards township shopping centres and Living Standards Measure, to understand shopping patterns of township consumers. A survey among Soweto Black middle class township respondents was conducted, and maximum likelihood factor analysis was used to identify attitudes towards township mall factors. The study revealed five factors namely entertainment, convenience, mall essence, staff and mall basics, which were all consistent with previous studies, with the exception of staff and mall basics, which was revealed in this study. A K-means cluster analysis was then used to segment township shoppers according to their attitudes. Four shopper segments were discovered, namely disappointed crusaders, upcoming loyals, social seekers and local loyals, which, despite investigating shopper attitudes in place of shopper behaviour alone, were similar to well-establish shopper typologies. Each segment was profiled according to demographic variables, attitudes as well as shopping patterns. Results, therefore, suggest that retailers and developers need to consider the unique needs and differences among Black middle class consumers when developing retail strategies as they reveal unique characteristics from typical shopper typologies. Given similarities in some emerging countries such as India, the findings of this study could be generalized to other middle class consumers from emerging markets. Similar shopper segments may arise, which may be consistent with previous shopper typology studies and new segments unique to emerging market middle class consumer may be unveiled.

Differences in the usefulness of communication channels, as experienced by gender and ethnic groups during their university selection process

Abstract Recruiting students to enrol at a particular institution is becoming a competitive and challenging process for higher education institutions. Therefore, institutions should create efficient and effective ways of providing relevant information to prospective students during their process of selecting an institution. The major communication channels that prospective students consult during their selection process, and the usefulness thereof for students, are important knowledge imperatives for higher education institutions. In this study, 12 different channels of communication, considered by students during a typical higher education institution selection process, were investigated. A non-probability convenience sample of 1 241 first-year students from six higher education institutions in South Africa was drawn. Findings suggest that female students attach a significantly higher value to nine of the 12 communication channels, compared to their male counterparts. There were also differences between the ethnic groups in terms of the usefulness of events on campus, high school teachers, open days and campus visits, as well as university publications. Higher education institutions can use the results to develop communication strategies that are more student oriented, in order to reinforce their image and to reach students more effectively through the appropriate communication channels.

Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Online Advertising in a Social Network Context

Social network advertising is a very interesting topic for marketers today for the reason that mass collaboration is influencing consumer’s beliefs and attitudes. The study aims to investigate the relationships among consumers’ beliefs and attitudes towards online advertising on social networks, as well as gender and ethnic responses towards online advertising on social networks. The survey was conducted using a convenience sampling method and a sample size consisting of 420 were realized.

Antecedents and Consequences of Users’ Attitudes Towards OSNS Advertising: A Conceptual Framework

The rapid growth of participation in Online Social Networking Sites (OSNS) at the beginning of the twenty-first century has changed the boundaries between the private and public lives of individuals (Acquisti and Gross 2006; Lareau 2011). By making each person into a potential global publisher in a much more user-friendly format than through Web 1.0, OSNS have expanded the ordinary individual’s ability to share information. This situation has led to an increased uncertainty and disagreement about what information should be shared and what should be kept private (Tufekci, 2008).

Social Relations Beyond Team-Based Learning

Management teachers have been encouraged to pay attention to the fact that due to the success of teamwork in business, employers are now seeking graduates with experience in working in teams during their academic programmes (Lamont, 2001). Industry needs individuals that can help reduce costs, shorten product development cycles and improve customer service and quality and according to Lynn (1998) teamwork and team learning are credited for helping businesses to do just that. It is therefore imperative that educational institutions, especially in the field of management, respond by incorporating teamwork and problem solving into their curriculum (Lamont, 2001). Baldwin, Bedell and Johnson (1997) note that different group interaction patterns or peer interactions in an educational setting may lead to student satisfaction and achievement. Therefore a need for greater understanding of student interaction and the nature and value thereof should be recognised, and Baldwin et al., (1997) argues that social networks in educational programmes are applicable.