The influence of online consumer reviews on purchasing intent

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing, Wits Business School, Johannesburg 2016The proliferation of social platforms in the digital and online space has given voice to millions of social media users and carved careers otherwise unheard of a few years ago, in the form of expert technology reviewers who enjoy mass online following and sponsorship from brands seeking to leverage millions of followers who log in daily. Social media has enabled access to information otherwise previously restricted to user guides and product manuals. Using the theory of planned behaviour, the study examines the effect that online consumer reviews have on product knowledge, social influence, trust, source credibility, brand image and purchase intent among urban South Africans falling in the Generation Y cohort. The methodology involved a self-administered online questionnaire adapted from past studies. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected from the identified sample. The study tested ten hypotheses using Structural Equation Modelling along with SPSS 22 software used for descriptive statistics and IBM Amos 22. Results indicate that all ten hypotheses have significant influence on purchase intent. All hypotheses displayed equally significant relationships per testing as findings revealed that online consumer reviews have a positive effect on product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility and brand image. Findings also revealed a significant relationship between product knowledge, trust, social influence, source credibility, brand image, and purchase intent. The study contributes to the literature and theoretical knowledge on online consumer reviews in the local South African context, and can be applied to similar developing markets. The theoretical implications in the study contributes to both limited, and existing research, literature, and knowledge on the effects that online consumer reviews have on the purchase intent of South African consumers. The study broadens knowledge in the ever growing influence of online consumer reviews and the significant theoretical contributions of the study will benefit academia and scholars. Managerial implications highlight that managers cannot afford to ignore the influence of online consumer reviews on intent to purchase, and that even though these reviews are not under the direct influence of organisations, marketers can indirectly influence these by ensuring quality products that meet both the brand and product promises. Recommendations, iii limitations of the study, and future research on the subject of online consumer reviews are also discussed. Keywords: Online consumer reviews, social influence, brand image, product knowledge, purchase intent, source credibilityGR201

Youth Politics: The Political Role of AZANYU in the Struggle for Liberation: The Case of AZANYU Thembisa branch, 1980s to 1996.

Student Number : 9809033F - MA research report - School of Social Sciences and Humanities - Faculty of HumanitiesThe overriding theme of this research report is ‘youth politics’ in South Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s. The report explores the role played by the Africanist youth organization, the Azanian National Youth Unity (AZANYU), in the struggle for liberation. It further examines its response to the transition period which took place in the country in the early 1990s. The report explores in particular the role played by the AZANYU Tembisa branch in the struggle. It contends that this branch adopted a militaristic approach in its fight for liberation. And this prohibited it from participating in the local politics mounted by the Tembisa residents. Instead it focused on national politics. The report further illustrates how youth politics were introduced and sustained in Tembisa over a period of time from the early 1970s

Pan-Afrikanism or Man-Afrikanism?

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract

Black politics in Kroonstad: political mobilisation, protests, local government, and generational struggles, 1976-1995

Ph.D. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012The thesis examines political mobilization and protests in Kroonstad’s black townships, in the northern Free State Province, South Africa, from 1976 to 1995. It attempts to explain the reason(s) why these townships lagged behind when it came to mobilizing and protesting. It also explores the various entry points employed by some of the residents of these townships to politics; and how they in turn assisted in mobilizing other residents. Furthermore, it shows that local community politics in these townships did not follow the common pattern as in other townships and because of this the residents reacted differently. It demonstrates that until the early 1980s political restraint in these areas existed because of the influential role of the “respectables” or elders in politics. From the mid-1980s the situation changed after students and young people assumed leadership role in local politics. This caused generational tensions, particularly between teachers and students. Furthermore, the thesis examines the divisions between the progressive’ activists in the townships, leading to the formation of the Maokeng Democratic Crisis Committee and Activists’ Forum, and political violence between the Three Million Gang and the “community”, which disrupted the momentum of political mobilization and protests. Finally, the thesis explores the tensions between the provincial leadership of the ANC, supported by the national leadership, and the local branch of the South African National Civic Organisation, which cost the ANC in the first democratic local government elections

Incentivising the Social Discounting Task: A laboratory experiment

Altruism is one of the single most important social preferences driving human behaviour. In Psychology experiments, the Social Discounting Task is employed as a measure of altruism. A conventional laboratory experiment was conducted with 117 undergraduate students, with students randomly assigned to complete an incentivized and un-incentivized Social Discounting Task. In accordance with the 1/d law of giving, the results exhibit the expected inverse relationship between social distance and altruism. There is weak evidence that incentivizing the Social Discounting Task impacts the measurement of altruism in a student population. More specifically, subjects are more altruistic when incentivized, possibly due to enforced reciprocity. At the same time, making payments real influence the identity of the target recipients: paying makes subjects more likely to choose people who are physically and psychologically close at high ranks, and more likely to report greater physical and psychological distance to subjects at lower ranks. Further research is required to verify the robustness of this result. The study also shows that among students family members are more altruistic toward each other as are those exhibiting greater intergenerational solidarity. Preferences for altruism in this student population is no different from WEIRD subject populations.JEL Classification Codes: C91, D64http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/munro_alistair

The impact of inconsistent electricity supply and coal price shocks on JSE share return volatility

M.Com. (Finance)Abstract: In 2008, South Africa’s public enterprise Eskom began rolling power cuts due to not meeting the demand of the electricity power mainly produced by coal energy. With little research been done on financial share return volatility caused by coal energy shocks; in this study the impact of inconsistent electricity supply and coal energy prices shocks on JSE share returns volatility is examined. The monthly data period between 2005 and 2015 is used as this represents the peak period during which the country experienced significant energy supply disruption. To capture the share return volatility, GARCH-mean and EGARCH models are used while to analyse the impact of coal energy shocks on share returns; a Vector Auto-regression model is used. The results show that different JSE sector returns and their volatility react differently to shocks caused by coal prices and inconsistent electricity supply. When examining share returns, finance and industrial sector share returns initially rises for both coal price and inconsistent electricity supply shocks while mining sector share returns initially declines from a coal price shock only. For the industrial and mining sectors; a positive energy shock caused by coal price or inconsistent electricity supply implies lower volatility in the following period compared to the negative energy shock respectively. While for the agriculture sector, only a positive energy shock caused by coal price implies a lower volatility in the following period compared to the negative energy shock. However, it is found that these results are not dependent on initial energy shocks but are affected by energy shocks which happened two or three months prior. Furthermore, coal price shocks are likely to have a longer impact and less immediate change in the share return volatility in comparison to inconsistent electricity supply shocks

The Zachman Framework applied to construction engineering risk management

M.Ing.The research is based on the complexity of project management and risk management fields and how applying each field on its own can be problematic. This poses an everyday challenge to project managers when implemented simultaneously and such a problem predominantly exists in the engineering construction field.The challenge faced by project managers is approached throughout the research study by introducing a commonly used six order matrix framework with a high success rate in analysing and dissecting complex fields into small fragments. The framework is known as the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture. However this is only done once a thorough literature review of both project and risk management as well as the limitations of the Zachman Framework have been well documented.Once the Zachman Framework for Construction adaptation is complete, it is then applied to an inner city construction case study. The results of the case study are used to determine if throughout the project lifecycle it has been possible to analyse and implement all project and risk management requirements simultaneously with little or no correction of project constraints.Using a developed integrated risk management tool which graphically tracks aggregate risk( s) in cost and time together with the Zachman Framework for Construction, the case study results reveal that it is possible to increase the ability to simultaneously manage risk and normal activities by concluding that the project constraints (i.e. cost) are accurately estimated and accomplished. In conclusion the research study,discussion and recommendations are made in order to implement all cells within the Zachman Framework for Construction therefore increasing the success of any project and risk management construction field

The emergence and radicalisation of black political formations in Kroonstad, 1915 to 1957.

From the beginning of the 1920s to the 1950s Kroonstad witnessed the emergence of black radical formations, although this happened intermittently. The inaction of the ANC in the 1920s provided the ICU with space to infuse its radical protest methods in this town. This caused members of Kroonstad black community, particularly women, to challenge the Kroonstad Town Council after it had hiked rents in the late 1920s. This was unheard of in Kroonstad, and it undoubtedly left a lasting impression on some of the residents. This was reflected later when some of the residents openly defied the Council. For a brief moment, after the demise of the ICU, moderate formations like the Native Advisory Board (NAB) and the Joint Council of Europeans and Natives (JCEN) filled the political space in Kroonstad. However, after several unsuccessful attempts to challenge the Kroonstad Town Council’s unpopular decisions on behalf of the residents of Kroonstad’s black locations, they ceased to exist. The early 1950s saw the revival and emergence of another black radical formation led by women, resisting the government’s Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act of 1952. The women in Kroonstad mobilised and demonstrated against this law. Although the government responded swiftly and crushed the women’s resistance and forced them to carry passes, it was not, however, able to totally eradicate the radical ideas which had been infused by the black radical formations in Kroonstad over the years

Es’kia Mphahlele’s Afrocentric Pan-African Humanism Paradigm : contributing towards decolonisation of International Relations

Abstract : Please refer to full text to view abstract.D.Litt. et Phil. (Political Studies

Zamdela Township: The explosion of confrontational politics, early 1980s to 1990

Zamdela Township, established by SASOL in 1954, was a typical company township and politically tranquil for a number of decades after its establishment. This situation, however, changed in the 1980s. Just like other townships across the country, Zamdela was on “fire” by the mid-1980s. The residents of the township were aggrieved by hiking of rent, lack of service delivery and perceived corruption by the local councillors, established through the regime’s reforms from the mid-1970s through to the 1980s. In expressing their discontent and anger, they attacked the councillors and denied them space to work freely. Unlike other townships, such as Alexandra, confrontational politics in Zamdela were ignited and spearheaded by secondary school students and out-of-school youth - and not by adults. Undoubtedly, the bombing of SASOL and NATREF plants by members of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress, left a lasting impact on the young people in the township. In this article, it will be argued that the role played by the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) and its student wing, the Azanian Student Movement (AZASM), and later the United Democratic Front-affiliated Congress of South African Students (COSAS) really galvanised the students and youth in the township to challenge the apartheid regime in general and the local authorities in particular