The Drivers of Customer Satisfaction in Interactions with Virtual Agents: Evidence from South Africa

The advent of the fourth industrial revolution has increased the application of artificial intelligence in various marketing related activities. Organisations are increasingly using artificial intelligence through virtual agents to aid and facilitate interactions with consumers. Clearly, virtual agents need to be capable of fulfilling customer needs. However, it raises the question of whether they should be cold and unfeeling or should imitate the most innate human qualities. This research therefore set out to examine what impact humanness, perceived agency, trust, and emotionality have on customer satisfaction in interactions with virtual agents, or, more specifically, AI chatbots. A quantitative research design was employed in the study. Data were collected by using a survey questionnaire and a total of 207 respondents were obtained. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS 28, where a linear regression was performed. The results indicate that humanness and perceived agency were significant predictors of customer satisfaction. On the other hand, emotionality and trust were not significant predictors. The results of this research have theoretical and practical implications for both practitioners and researchers

Attitudes and perceptions towards TB in Grahamstown East in a time of HIV/AIDS

Tuberculosis (TB) has become a serious South African health problem because it is the most common opportunistic disease that leads to death in people with HIV/AIDS. Due to the airborne nature of the disease it can easily be spread to anyone including healthy people. A lack of compliance to treatment by TB patients explains why prevalence rates of the disease are high and why there is an emergence of drug resistant strains such as XDR-TB and MDR-TB. Information on existing knowledge, attitudes and perceptions regarding TB can provide a crucial foundation for the development of educational programmes and interventions aimed at reducing the further spread of the disease. This study aimed at understanding the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards TB and relating these to the current prevalence of HIV/AIDS. A face-to-face interview survey was conducted among adult Grahamstown East residents (n=1020). The Health Belief Model (Rosenstock et al., 1994) and Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory formed the theoretical framework of the data collection and analysis. The data generated from the field work was first descriptively analysed providing frequency tables. Thereafter cross tabulations were calculated for relevant items using independent variables, namely gender, level of education, and experience of dealing with TB. The results of the study show that, in general, knowledge concerning TB was sufficient to provide a foundation for the adoption of healthier behaviours in the female respondents. Few of the respondents reported feeling personally susceptible although the majority of the respondents acknowledged the severity of the disease. The cues to action lacked the influence to persuade people to adopt positive health related behaviours. The perceived benefits of adopting preventative behaviour were not very influential in the adoption of healthier behavioural changes in the respondents. Disease stigma regarding the dual association of TB and HIV/AIDS was the main barrier for the adoption of healthier behavioural attitudes. Perceived self-efficacy in preventative behaviours was generally low in the less educated respondents. Recommendations regarding areas for future research and change interventions are provided

The personality of an entrepreneur : a psychobiography of Steve Jobs

From Integrative Summary: There has been a growing interest in successful entrepreneurs. Research on entrepreneurship has focused on the identification of personality variables that would assist in the prediction of entrepreneurial success. The present study moves away from attempting to predict entrepreneurial success and instead focuses on exploring and describing the personality of a successful entrepreneur. A psychobiographical case study was adopted by the researcher to explore and describe the extent to which Steve Jobs demonstrated the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007). A personality trait approach to entrepreneurship was adopted in the study. The study also attempted to explore the socio-cultural and economic context within which Jobs practised his entrepreneurial activities. Jobs was a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Apple and founded NeXT and Pixar, which were all companies that transformed various technological industries. His entrepreneurial orientation allowed him to produce innovative products that transformed society in various sectors which included personal computing, mobile phones, music, retail stores and films (Isaacson, 2011). A qualitative approach was adopted in the study. The data collection and analysis was guided by the three linked sub-processes proposed by Miles and Huberman (2002) which involved data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing and verification. The findings of this study showed that Jobs demonstrated, at varying levels, all the entrepreneurial characteristics identified by Rauch and Frese (2007) which included a need of achievement, risk-taking, innovativeness, autonomy, locus of control and self-efficacy. The researcher however noted that the desire for autonomy, risk-taking, innovativeness and self-efficacy were the most dominant characteristics driving his entrepreneurial orientation. The research thesis adopted the structure of a teaching case which can be used to explore and discuss the personality trait perspective to entrepreneurship in a classroom setting. The findings of the study can be recognised as positively contributing to the growing field of psychobiographical research on exceptional individuals, including entrepreneurs. The study can be considered as a foundation for future studies which will add to the body of knowledge relating to entrepreneurship and personality