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Research Publications (Management Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/217

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Author: search.filters.author.Mason, Roger B.

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    COVID-19 involvement, shopping motives and buying behaviour : a German/South African comparison
    (Expert Journals, 2022-04-25) Corbishley, Karen M.; Mason, Roger B.; Dobbelstein, Thomas
    This study aimed to investigate whether consumers’ personal involvement with the COVID-19 pandemic led to hedonic or utilitarian buying motives, and how these buying motives might encourage impulse or planned buying behaviour. Furthermore, it examined whether these influences differed between a developed country (Germany) and a developing country (South Africa). The methodology involved a quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional survey, using a questionnaire based on the literature and sent by e-mail to a quota sample from an online-accessed consumer panel. Useable responses of 548 each from the two countries were analysed, showing that respondents with high levels of involvement with COVID-19 also show high levels of hedonic motivation, whereas utilitarian motivation appeared less important and not linked to a greater involvement with COVID-19. The study also found that a high hedonic motivation is associated with more impulsive shopping, whereas utilitarian motivation is not. The implication is that those with a utilitarian motivation tend towards planned shopping. Finally, the findings show that there appear to be no significant differences between the buying behaviour of consumers in a developing country and a developed country. This study contributed new knowledge about consumer shopping behaviour by examining the interaction of the hedonic/utilitarian construct and the impulsive shopping construct as components of consumer behaviour, research that has not been done before, and especially not in a developing country nor relative to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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    Access to finance problems for small retail businesses in South Africa : comparative views from finance seekers (retailers) and finance providers (banks)
    (LLC CPC Business Perspectives, 2017-06-23) Holger, J. Schmidt; Mason, Roger B.; Bruwer, Juan-Pierré; Aspeling, Jonathan
    Small retail businesses are essential for the growth of the South African economy. Though many of these business entities need more assets to seize business opportunities, previous research studies suggest that their overall access to finance through banks and other finance providers seems to be limited. In general, small retail businesses are usually managed by entrepreneurs who lack financial knowledge, but banks, when deciding on credit applications, rely heavily on financial information, which is provided by these entrepreneurs. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, this study aimed to explore barriers that limit access to finance for South African small retailers, from the perspectives of finance providers (banking institutions) and finance seekers (small retailers). Additionally, measures were highlighted to show how those hurdles could be overcome. Qualitative research was conducted, whereby data were collected via semi-structured interviews with management personnel at banks and other financial institutions, as well as independent experts and small retail business owners and managers. The findings show that many financing opportunities are available to small retail businesses, but access to these opportunities is limited mainly owing to, inter alia, strict bank regulations and factors that are inherent to small retail business owners.
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    Tacit knowledge sharing behavior, within a relational social capital framework, in a South African university of technology
    (Clute Institute, 2015) Smith, Carol; De Beer, Marie; Mason, Roger B.
    The sharing of tacit knowledge is an important influence on the development of intellectual capital in a University of Technology but whereas its effects are clear in a business context, they have been absent from studies in the context of higher education. This study integrated relational social capital and reasoned action theory to construct a model to investigate the factors that predict an individual’s intention to share tacit knowledge. Specifically, it examined the relationship between relational social capital in terms of trust (affect and cognitive-based trust), shared norms and values (including social norms and norms of social support and reciprocity) and the individual’s attitude towards sharing tacit knowledge. It further examined the relationship between the individual’s attitude, their perceived norms and perceived behavioral control over the sharing of tacit knowledge and their intention to share tacit knowledge. A hypothesized, theoretical model of the individual’s intention to share tacit knowledge was developed. This model was found to be a poor fit to the data and an alternative model was developed which was found to be a good fit to the data. This study incorporated nine research interviews and five hundred and fifty four questionnaires. Relational social capital was found to be significant for predicting individuals’ intentions to share tacit knowledge but the reasoned action variables were found to be less significant, particularly perceived behavioral control over the sharing of tacit knowledge, indicating the need for further research.