Research Publications (Management Sciences)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/217
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Item Using marketing as a means to ‘sell’ salvation(African Association for Rhetoric, 2015) Adebayo, Rufus Olufemi; Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathyThe adoption of marketing communication strategies is becoming more prevalent in the routing services of some contemporary churches. This paper explores the concept of selling from the perspective of commercial selling to personal selling as many churches have become much more aggressive about the use of marketing communication strategy. However, this study is positioned to draw a contradistinction between motivational speaking and biblical preaching, and ask the question whether the former can be used as a means to ‘sell’ salvation similar to selling a product or service to the consumer. The theoretical framework for this study is integrated marketing theory which was narrowed down to two of its components, direct marketing/selling and personal selling situated alongside rhetorical tools such as Logos, Ethos and Pathos. A qualitative methodology was used to gather the data with fifteen churches in Durban as sample, were selected for the study. The result indicates that although, marketing communication can be used by the church, the effectiveness of the message depends largely on the power of the Holy Spirit as against the power of marketing communication by profit marketers.Item Magazines’ representation of women and its influence on identity construction : a South African perspective(MCSER Publishing, 2014-09) Govender, Nereshnee; Rawjee, Veena P.; Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathySouth Africa is now in its third decade of democracy and is characterised by a social and political dispensation based on the principles of freedom of expression, non-racialism and non-sexism. These values ought to be entrenched in all aspects of our society and likewise, in the media we consume. Media is a powerful tool and through its representation contributes significantly to the definition of the world around us, and thereby also to the definition of ourselves. One such area that the media influence is the way women are represented. The media takes on an interpretative role and teaches us how to ‘make sense’ of the world and therefore consistently privilege some issues and identities while devaluing others. The media landscape in South Africa is large, complex, robust and mature and arguably, ranks among the largest in Africa. Magazines in particular, are modern and are popular cultural forms of representation. They are one of the most influential forces in South African culture today. The aim of this paper is to explore the representation of women in magazines and the extent of how this representation influences gender identity in either empowering or limiting the development of women in society. It employs a qualitative research methodology to examine content of selected articles in South Africa’s two leading weekly magazines namely DRUM and YOU. Content analysis was used to analyse specific categories of text collected from these magazines. Overall findings reveal that stereotypical, dismissive and confining representations of women prevail in magazine media content. Creating and sustaining change must involve challenging this media content to not only increase the type of coverage of women but to extend the range of diversity to include coverage a range of stories about women including achievements and success stories of women.Item Cultural diversity and its influence on the attitudes of Africans and Indians toward marketing communication : a South African perspective(Open Journal Systems, 2016-12) Ijabadeniyi, Abosede; Govender, Jeevarathnam Parthasarathy; Veerasamy, DayaneethieCulture has been reported to be one of the major factors influencing attitudes toward marketing communication. However, identification across prevailing cultural dimensions could have unique implications for attitudes toward marketing communication. This paper examines how African and Indian cultural values may or may not influence attitudes toward marketing communication. It explores how Africans converge with or diverge from Indians with regards to culturally sensitive attitudes toward marketing communication, based on a Marketing Communication-Specific Cultural Values (MCSCV) model adapted from the individualism-collectivism constructs. Attitudes toward marketing were measured based on the advertising scale of the Index of Consumer Sentiment toward Marketing (ICSM) practices. Data generated for this study were based on responses provided by 283 and 92 African and Indian shoppers at the main shopping malls in the most predominant African and Indian townships in Durban, South Africa viz. Umlazi and Chatsworth, respectively. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CATPCA) were conducted on the dataset. Findings revealed that both races displayed more individualistic than collectivistic tendencies toward marketing communication, but Africans exhibited more collectivistic tendencies than their Indian counterparts. In addition, respondents’ individualistic tendencies have a significant influence on attitudes toward marketing communication which showed that consumers’ indigenous cultural disposition play a moderating role on attitudes toward marketing communication. This study builds on the marketing literature by validating the implications of cultural diversity for marketing communication. The study emphasizes how the interplay between target markets’ underlying cultural dispositions and cultural values held toward marketing communication, influence the consistency or inconsistency in consumers’ attitudes toward marketing communication.Item Assessing customer service quality in banking by an alternative service provider: An African perpective(HOEHERE BUNDESLEHRANSTALT UND BUNDESAMT FUER WEIN- UND OBSTBAU, 2015-09) Govender, Jeevarathnam Parthasarathy; Msosa, Steven KayambazinthuAchieving service quality has been the goal of many organisations over the past decade. ln recent times, the postal business across the world has experienced a sharp decline in the volume of mail due to more efficient alternative channels of communication. The dwindling volumes of mail have made it necessary for public postal operators to diversify into financial services as one way of generating more revenue. However, the influx of many players into the financial service industry has raised the standard of service quality as a tool for business growth and sustainability and as a result, there is no room for mediocre perfom1ance. This paper examines customer perceptions of service quality in the Malawian public postal service. A survey comprising a sample of 400 financial services customers was conducted using the SERVPERF model as the measuring instrument. The results show that customer perceptions of the service quality dimensions are satisfactory. There were significant differences between education level and the perceptions of tangibles and reliability and between region and the perception of tangibles. There were no significant differences between gender, age and occupation and the perception of empathy, tangibles, assurance, reliability and responsiveness. Recommendations are proposed on how the public postal operator can improve service quality among its financial services customers. This study can prove useful as a basis for comparison of customer service quality by altemative providers of banking services in other under-developed countries.Item The service quality experience of International students: the case of a selected higher education institution in South Africa(MCSER Publishing, 2014-05) Veerasamy, Dayaneethie; Noel, Dion Trevor; Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathyThe university, which forms the basis for this paper, has seen significant growth in the number of international student enrolments. It is against this background that international students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality are assessed. A census was conducted among this group of students which comprised 215 respondents using the SERVQUAL instrument. The results indicate a high degree of internal consistency among the five dimensions of service quality in terms of both expectations and perceptions. It emerged that there were varying gaps in the twenty items that were measured, with the empathy dimension exhibiting the largest gap score. Recommendations are made on how the university can improve on service quality levels among its international students.Item Magazines’ representation of women and Its influence on identity construction: a South African perspective(MCSER, 2014) Govender, Nereshnee; Rawjee, Veena P.; Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathySouth Africa is now in its third decade of democracy and is characterised by a social and political dispensation based on the principles of freedom of expression, non-racialism and non-sexism. These values ought to be entrenched in all aspects of our society and likewise, in the media we consume. Media is a powerful tool and through its representation contributes significantly to the definition of the world around us, and thereby also to the definition of ourselves. One such area that the media influence is the way women are represented. The media takes on an interpretative role and teaches us how to ‘make sense’ of the world and therefore consistently privilege some issues and identities while devaluing others. The media landscape in South Africa is large, complex, robust and mature and arguably, ranks among the largest in Africa. Magazines in particular, are modern and are popular cultural forms of representation. They are one of the most influential forces in South African culture today. The aim of this paper is to explore the representation of women in magazines and the extent of how this representation influences gender identity in either empowering or limiting the development of women in society. It employs a qualitative research methodology to examine content of selected articles in South Africa’s two leading weekly magazines namely DRUM and YOU. Content analysis was used to analyse specific categories of text collected from these magazines. Overall findings reveal that stereotypical, dismissive and confining representations of women prevail in magazine media content. Creating and sustaining change must involve challenging this media content to not only increase the type of coverage of women but to extend the range of diversity to include coverage a range of stories about women including achievements and success stories of women.Item The influence of social networking on lifestyle : a higher education perspective(IFRD, 2013-04) Veerasamy, Dayaneethie; Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathySocial networks have become a way of life for many people who use them to connect and communicate with the world at large. Social media is defined as any tool or service that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites (SNSs) and has a total of 55 million active users worldwide with an average of 250000 new registrations per day. After Yahoo, MySpace and Google, Facebook is also the fourth most popular SNS in South Africa. The purpose of the paper was to determine whether social networks have an influence on higher education students’ lifestyles and behaviour. This research was descriptive and quantitative in nature. The sample comprised 386 students studying at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The results indicated that the majority of the respondents preferred Facebook as their social network of choice. More than half of the respondents indicated that they access their preferred social network five times or more per day. The majority of the respondents agreed that social networks allow for global interaction and that maintaining relationships has become easier with social networking,Item Critical success factors influencing project success in the construction industry(University of the Free State, 2012) Garbharran, Hari Lall; Govender, Jeevarathnam Parthasarathy; Msani, Thulani ArmstrongThe construction industry is one of the largest job creators in developing countries and is highly competitive. The high number of project failures suggests the existence of underlying critical success factors which have not been identified. This article assesses the perceptions of contractors and project managers on the critical success factors that lead to project success in the construction industry. This article is based on the four COMs model (comfort, competence, communication and commitment). A survey was conducted among 95 project managers and 61 active grade four contractors in Durban, South Africa. The findings reveal that both project managers and contractors strongly support the identified critical success factors as significant in achieving project success. There was no significant difference in their perception of critical success factors, based on the biographic characteristics. The recommendations presented may be used as a guideline for successful execution of construction projects.Item International students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality : the case of a higher education institution in South Africa(International Foundation for Research and Development, 2012-10) Govender, Jeevarathnam Parthasarathy; Veerasamy, Dayaneethie; Noel, Dion TrevorSouth Africa has recently seen a significant increase in international student enrolments in recent years. In order to be competitive, attention needs to be given to service quality with a view to being the institution of preference. This paper therefore seeks to assess international students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality. A census was conducted among the 215 international students, using the SERVQUAL model as the measuring instrument. The results indicate that there are gaps between international students’ expectations and perceptions on the five service quality dimensions. An analysis of variance was conducted to test for significant differences between three biographical variables viz. faculty of study, qualification enrolled for and region of residence versus the five dimensions of service quality, on both expectations and perceptions. Recommendations are presented on how the institution can enhance service quality among its international students.Item The proposed banning of alcohol advertising in a developing economy(International Foundation for Research and Development, 2013-04) Govender, Jeevarathnam ParthasarathyThe growing problem of alcohol misuse and its social consequences have been attributed to the advertising of alcohol, by some parties. Alcohol companies and the advertising industry have refuted this claim. It is against this background that this paper seeks to assess consumer attitudes towards alcohol advertising in South Africa. A survey was conducted amongst a sample of 400 respondents. Respondent demographics and attitudes towards the advertising of alcohol were ascertained. The results indicate no significant relationship between the selected demographic variables (viz. gender, age, income, education level and race) and attitude towards the advertising of alcohol. Some perspectives on the implications for policy and practice are presented.