The Impact of Background Music on Customer Purchase Intentions

Retail supermarkets in Harare have been finding it difficult to differentiate their store environment based on the traditional components of the retail mix. As such, a quantitative research study was conducted to determine the impact of background music on consumer buying behaviour for retail supermarkets in Harare, Zimbabwe. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of playing familiar songs on customer purchase intentions and examine the impact of music tempo on customer purchase intentions in retail supermarkets. The study also intended to determine the effect of music volume on customer purchase intentions in retail supermarkets. Key findings indicated that music volume has a negative effect on customers purchase intentions (r = -0.199; p < 0.05). The study also revealed that music tempo had a negative effect on customer purchase intentions with a coefficient r = -0.208 at 5% level of significance. The findings implied that when music tempo increases customer purchase intentions will equally inversely decrease at the sampled retail supermarkets. Furtherance, findings from the study revealed that familiar music was positively and significantly correlated with consumer purchase intentions with a coefficient r = 0.650 at 5% level of significance. Thus, the supermarkets can use background music as differentiation strategy for enhancing the value of products or services offerings through positive experiences. Indeed, creating pleasant experiences to customers while shopping products or services can help these customers to feel emotionally attached and bonded with the retail supermarkets

Effect of business soft skills on service delivery in the hospitality industry in Harare, Zimbabwe

pace of change has changed tremendously as the business world becomes global. Since the dollarization of the Zimbabwean economy in 2009, the service organisations have been facing challenges in terms of managing fluctuating demand. In particular, many companies in the hospitality industry were still using a “hit and miss” approach to handle their service. As such, business soft skills have become indispensable in the hospitality industry in the enhancement of service delivery. The study, therefore sought to examine the effect of business soft skills on service delivery in the hospitality industry in Harare. Specifically, the research sought to establish the knowledge levels of business soft skills in the hospitality industry; establish the impact of training on business professional skills in the hospitality industry on employee service delivery and identify the extent to which business soft skills have enhanced service delivery. A survey research design was adopted and survey questionnaires were sent to respondents who are implicitly and explicitly involved in business soft skills activities. The study’s sample size comprised of 150 part time and permanent employees from selected hospitality companies. The research questionnaires were tested for reliability and validity through a pilot test. All the collected data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 20.0. The findings revealed that soft skills such as interpersonal skills, communication skills, strong work ethics and team work skills were deficient. In addition, respondents also showed difficulties in leadership and decision making skills. The findings revealed that business soft skills were low among all the types of employees. The findings also revealed that companies do have challenges with soft skills training. The study concluded that soft skills are of paramount importance in meeting customer needs. Thus, soft skills are important in showcasing hard skills. The study recommends future research to focus on the demand side of the skills equation by looking on how the designs of organisations and jobs do impact skill requirements and performance in the hospitality service sector.CPU