The influence of customer value On behavioural intention in the LGBT tourism sector

The potential economic implications of the LGBT tourism sector have received the attention of scholars, marketing practitioners and tourism destinations, highlighting the LGBT community as a lucrative sector, while also signifying their distinctive needs of the LGBT community. LGBT tourists spent approximately $218 billion on travel in 2018 and they account for approximately 6% of the global tourism market. The LGBT tourism sector is fast growing in South Africa, and it was predicted that by 2030, South Africa will attract approximately 21 million tourists. Within South Africa, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg have earned a reputation as LGBT friendly destinations, with LGBT tourists expected to contribute approximately R1.8 billion to the Cape Town economy annually. Furthermore, between 10% and 12% of tourists in Cape Town identified themselves as members of the LGBT community. As a result, South Africa – and notably Cape Town – has been named one of the world’s top destinations for LGBT travellers. A well-known characteristic of the LGBT community is that it is comprised of highincome individuals who travel more frequently compared with their heterosexual counterparts. As a result, it is critical for the tourism sector to gain a thorough understanding of this market to effectively target it. Although travel and tourism are critical aspects of the modern LGBT culture, and LGBT tourism represents a developing and lucrative industry (especially in South Africa), there is limited scholarly research that can assist marketers in better understanding the LGBT tourists and their needs. In addition, no research has been conducted on the relationship between customer value and behavioural intentions in the LGBT tourism sector in South Africa. A major challenge for the tourism sector is the ability to offer value to LGBT tourists; therefore, destinations targeting the LGBT market should ensure that they understand how to create value for their customers. v LGBT tourism is considered unique in that the LGBT tourist views value differently than other markets. It is important to understand the dimensions of value to the LGBT market, as LGBT tourists are likely to be discouraged from visiting destinations that do not provide value, which has a significant impact on behavioural intentions. This study, therefore, investigated the dimensions of customer value and their influence on the behavioural intentions of tourists in the South African LGBT tourism sector. A self-administered electronic questionnaire was used to collect data, and 406 usable questionnaires was received. SPSS version 27.0 and Analysis of Movement Structures (AMOS) version 27.0 statistical packages were used to analyse the collected data and test the relationships between the variables examined in this study. The empirical results of this study showed a positive correlation between most dimensions of customer value and behavioural intention while a negative correlation coefficient was observed between cognitive dissonance and dimensions of customer value. The results confirm a positive significant relationship between the independent variables - functional value, emotional value, reputational value, epistemic value, social value - and the dependent variable - customer value. These relationships imply that if functional value, emotional value, reputational value, epistemic value and/or social value, customer value would improve. Interestingly, the findings show a significant positive relationship between monetary and non-monetary sacrifice, and customer value dimensions. These relationships imply that if monetary sacrifice and non-monetary sacrifice increase, customer value would increase. The findings also reveal that customer value has an influence on behavioural intention. Lastly, customer value was not found to be a mediating factor between customer value dimensions and behavioural vi intentions outcomes, namely revisit intention, tourist loyalty, willingness to pay a premium price and word of mouth. Findings from this study could aid destination marketers to ensure that they provide functional, emotional, reputational, epistemic and social value to tourists to gain competitive advantage. LGBT tourists need a safe haven where they can relax and enjoy themselves without fear of societal discrimination, and destinations should do their best to make this happen. This might be accomplished by creating a space where travellers who identify as LGBT can gather and mingle freely. In addition, to improve revisit intention, positive word of mouth and loyalty, tourist destinations should provide unique experiences. Destination marketers should engage in a number of marketing initiatives, including promoting South African LGBT tourism destinations at tourism expos, LGBT music festivals and prides. Lastly, limitations of the study and future research directions are presented.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 202

The influence of customer value On behavioural intention in the LGBT tourism sector

The potential economic implications of the LGBT tourism sector have received the attention of scholars, marketing practitioners and tourism destinations, highlighting the LGBT community as a lucrative sector, while also signifying their distinctive needs of the LGBT community. LGBT tourists spent approximately $218 billion on travel in 2018 and they account for approximately 6% of the global tourism market. The LGBT tourism sector is fast growing in South Africa, and it was predicted that by 2030, South Africa will attract approximately 21 million tourists. Within South Africa, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg have earned a reputation as LGBT friendly destinations, with LGBT tourists expected to contribute approximately R1.8 billion to the Cape Town economy annually. Furthermore, between 10% and 12% of tourists in Cape Town identified themselves as members of the LGBT community. As a result, South Africa – and notably Cape Town – has been named one of the world’s top destinations for LGBT travellers. A well-known characteristic of the LGBT community is that it is comprised of highincome individuals who travel more frequently compared with their heterosexual counterparts. As a result, it is critical for the tourism sector to gain a thorough understanding of this market to effectively target it. Although travel and tourism are critical aspects of the modern LGBT culture, and LGBT tourism represents a developing and lucrative industry (especially in South Africa), there is limited scholarly research that can assist marketers in better understanding the LGBT tourists and their needs. In addition, no research has been conducted on the relationship between customer value and behavioural intentions in the LGBT tourism sector in South Africa. A major challenge for the tourism sector is the ability to offer value to LGBT tourists; therefore, destinations targeting the LGBT market should ensure that they understand how to create value for their customers. v LGBT tourism is considered unique in that the LGBT tourist views value differently than other markets. It is important to understand the dimensions of value to the LGBT market, as LGBT tourists are likely to be discouraged from visiting destinations that do not provide value, which has a significant impact on behavioural intentions. This study, therefore, investigated the dimensions of customer value and their influence on the behavioural intentions of tourists in the South African LGBT tourism sector. A self-administered electronic questionnaire was used to collect data, and 406 usable questionnaires was received. SPSS version 27.0 and Analysis of Movement Structures (AMOS) version 27.0 statistical packages were used to analyse the collected data and test the relationships between the variables examined in this study. The empirical results of this study showed a positive correlation between most dimensions of customer value and behavioural intention while a negative correlation coefficient was observed between cognitive dissonance and dimensions of customer value. The results confirm a positive significant relationship between the independent variables - functional value, emotional value, reputational value, epistemic value, social value - and the dependent variable - customer value. These relationships imply that if functional value, emotional value, reputational value, epistemic value and/or social value, customer value would improve. Interestingly, the findings show a significant positive relationship between monetary and non-monetary sacrifice, and customer value dimensions. These relationships imply that if monetary sacrifice and non-monetary sacrifice increase, customer value would increase. The findings also reveal that customer value has an influence on behavioural intention. Lastly, customer value was not found to be a mediating factor between customer value dimensions and behavioural vi intentions outcomes, namely revisit intention, tourist loyalty, willingness to pay a premium price and word of mouth. Findings from this study could aid destination marketers to ensure that they provide functional, emotional, reputational, epistemic and social value to tourists to gain competitive advantage. LGBT tourists need a safe haven where they can relax and enjoy themselves without fear of societal discrimination, and destinations should do their best to make this happen. This might be accomplished by creating a space where travellers who identify as LGBT can gather and mingle freely. In addition, to improve revisit intention, positive word of mouth and loyalty, tourist destinations should provide unique experiences. Destination marketers should engage in a number of marketing initiatives, including promoting South African LGBT tourism destinations at tourism expos, LGBT music festivals and prides. Lastly, limitations of the study and future research directions are presented.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 202

Consuming For Recognition: South African Youth Consumption Of Status Clothing

Buying expensive and fashionable brands to portray social status is increasing rapidly among South African township youth. The South African youth mainly spend their income on status-depicting clothing in order to conform to social settings and groups and to be noticed by their community. This study investigates the factors influencing the need to consume status-depicting clothing items among South African township youth. A self-completing survey questionnaire was administered to 400 youth consumers from three township malls in the Sedibeng district, Gauteng region of South Africa. Regression analysis was employed to analyse the data. The results suggest that materialism, fashion clothing involvement and group identity are key factors predicting status consumption among South African township youth consumers (aged 18-24 years). Marketers interested in targeting status conscious township youth consumers are advised to devise their advertisements in such a way that they emphasise the brand or product’s ability to indicate status

Entrepreneurial Barriers that are Confronted by Entrepreneurs Living with Physical Disabilities: A Thematic Analysis

Living with a physical disability can interfere with an individual’s ability to participate actively in economic and social life. It is imperative to comprehensively understand the entrepreneurial barriers hindering the development of entrepreneurs living with physical disabilities. In spite of the increasing research on entrepreneurship, there seems to be a paucity of studies that have investigated the entrepreneurial barriers that are faced by entrepreneurs living with physical disabilities in South Africa. This study set out to explore the entrepreneurial barriers that are confronted by entrepreneurs living with physical disabilities. In this study, data were collected within the Sebokeng Township, which is an African township located in the Vaal Triangle, south of Johannesburg in South Africa. A qualitative research approach was used to collect data for the study. The researchers gathered qualitative data by means of semi-structured face-to-face interviews and focus groups. The analysis of the qualitative data was conducted through the use of thematic analysis. The themes that emerged from the findings include lack of equipment and machinery, discrimination, business networking, hardships in obtaining start-up capital, knowledge of support centres for entrepreneurs living with physical disabilities, and lack of education and training. Each theme was discussed individually, followed by substantiating quotes. Most respondents stressed that the barriers they face hinder the survival and growth of their ventures. The paper suggested that in order to help entrepreneurs living with physical disabilities, the South African government must formulate some schemes that are most necessary for their improvement and betterment of their life

Exploring motives behind Generation Y’s smartphone purchase

Considering the increase in smartphones, it becomes important to understand why people buy them. The purpose of this paper is to examine Generation Y’s motives behind smartphone purchases. The study made use of a qualitative research paradigm. Focus group interviews were selected as the method of data collection. Focus group members ranged from seven to ten. A total of 81 (N = 81) South African Generation Y were interviewed. The findings indicate that Generation Y consider quality and technical features when buying smartphones. Additionally, this study also observed that this cohort is status conscious and easily influenced by their friends when making purchase decisions

Ease of use, security concerns and attitudes as antecedents of customer satisfaction in ATM banking

This study examines the influence of ease of use, security concerns and attitudes on South African consumers’ satisfaction with ATM banking services. Participants of the study were solicited through electronic mailing list of ATM users in South Africa. These participants were provided with a website link that directed them to an online survey hosted by Qualtrics. A total of 224 participants from the various provinces of South Africa responded. This study confirms that customer satisfaction is linked to security concerns, attitudes and ease of use. Overall, the results indicate that the respondents were satisfied with ATM banking services. Since there is a shortage of research on customer satisfaction with ATM banking services in South Africa, an area often neglected by South African researchers, this study contributes to knowledge available in the existing literature. Keywords: ATM banking, customer satisfaction, ease of use, security, attitudes. JEL Classification: G21, M3

Navigating the reasons behind joining a business Incubation programme: Empirical evidence from entrepreneurs in South Africa

This study aims to examine why entrepreneurs choose to join the incubation programme in urban areas, South Africa. The study utilised a quantitative method approach to collect data by way of questionnaires. The data was collected using structured questionnaires. The research participants for this study were limited to entrepreneurs in the incubation programme in Western Cape Province and Gauteng Province in South Africa during the course of the study. Populations of all 65 (incubatees) were deemed suitable for the study. This paper provides an insight into the reasons entrepreneurs chose to join the incubation programme. The findings indicated that entrepreneurs join the incubation programme to acquire entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial education, funding, business networks, Access to technology, sported a gap in the market and employment creation

Exploring status consumption in South Africa: a literature review

South Africa is one of the most important countries in the status goods market. In addition, it has the biggest share from the status consumption market in Africa and it is amongst fastest growing countries worldwide in status consumption. The growth in status consumption in South Africa is attributed to the growth of the high-income and middle-income groups. As the demand for status increases and status goods become more available, the concept of status has become an important research area for academics and marketers. The aim of this study is to explore the concept of status consumption and provide an overview of status consumption. In this study, the literature has been reviewed for the studies on the same subject to make a compilatio

Political campaigns in South Africa : does celebrity endorsement influence the intention to vote?

From presidential campaigns to social awareness campaigns, celebrities have gradually become central fixtures in modern politics. They tend to be information platforms for candidates and parties they either clearly support or officially endorse. South African political parties raised eyebrows when they rallied the country's popular celebrities to publicly endorse them. Political parties spend a significant amount of money on celebrity endorsements as it is believed that celebrities can leverage “secondary brand associations”. This leads to the question: does the increased use of celebrity endorsements in political campaigns influence the intention to vote? The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of celebrity political endorsement on intentions to vote. Employing a quantitative research design, 227 respondents were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The findings show that endorser credibility has a positive significant relationship with political party credibility and voters' intentions. The relationship between political party credibility and voters' intentions is also positive and significant. This study provides managerial implications, limitations and future research.University of Cape Town's Research Committee (URC).http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa2022-07-29hj2022Marketing Managemen

The Influence of Relationship Proneness on Relationship Satisfaction and Relationship Commitment: Rapport Building between Domestic Tourists and Small Tourism Enterprises within the Cape Town Metropolitan Area of South Africa

In South Africa, small tourism enterprises lie at the heart of the industry and form a major part of the tourism sector. There are the cornerstones of tourism development in local economies. In spite of the increasing research on small tourism enterprises, they seem to be a paucity of studies that have investigated the influence of relationship proneness on relationship satisfaction and relationship commitment. Therefore, this study examines the relationships using a data set of 151 tourism clients within the Cape Town Metropolitan Area of South Africa. All the posited three hypotheses are supported. The results indicate that the relationships between the constructs are positive in a significant way. The research paper discusses both academic and managerial implications of the results and future research directions are suggested