Faculty of Accounting and Informatics
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Item Effects of total quality management implementation in a manufacturing industry(Virtus Interpress, 2016) Assensoh-Kodua, Akwesi; Imrith, AshwinIn today's highly competitive market, the demand for quality is important factor for companies to survive in the ever-expanding global marketplace. The unprecedented pace of globalisation, trade liberalisation, and technological changes in addition to human capital movement in the later years profoundly poses serious challenges for African companies to compete in an open market. African trade liberalisation through the elimination of intraregional tariffs, imposed to serve as a protective barrier to local industries have also worsen the plight of local infant industries. African Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) poses challenges for South African companies as they have to compete with more industralised and older companies. The concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) developed as a result of intense global competition has therefore become a compelling concept for African companies seeking to survive in an uneven grounds of competition. This paper seeks to examine whether the implementation of TQM has effect on LMI in Durban by developing a research model to uncover the barriers and benefits of TQM. A sample population of employees from a manufacturing industry were selected to participate in this study. It became clear that, this study have found a significant relationship between the positions at the manufacturing industry and their opinion of TQM. The Spearman correlation coefficient indicated a significant relationship between TQM and factors such as Management and Commitment Leadership Importance, Work Environment and Culture Importance, Customer Focus Importance, Customer Focus Practice, Resource Management Importance. These findings are in agreement with other studies of scholars that highlights the benefits and barriers of TQM.Item Marketing potentials of the social media tools in the banking market of an emerging country(Virtus Interpress, 2016) Assensoh-Kodua, AkwesiThere are many facts that attest to the pervasiveness of social media applications in the current world of business. This communication medium is replacing the well-known emails and complimenting the likes of short message service (SMS) and instant messaging and chatting. As part of technology, which is revolutionising the way we do business and live, organizations worldwide are gearing up efforts to take advantage of this phenomenon. In South Africa, the story is the same. However, the Banks in South Africa seems to have problems selling this form of communication to their clientele to augment their service delivery. In view of this, the current study aimed to research into social media concept in South Africa, to highlight its trajectory pros and cons, and investigate why it is not being adopted by these clients, in addition to measuring the continuance intention of those who have accepted banking through social media. It was discovered that, social norm (β=0.579), perceived trust (β=0.510) and user satisfaction (β=0.332), in that order, stood out as the most influencing factors impacting on user acceptance and continuance intention (β=0.384) of social media usage for banking. Perceived behavioural control made no significant impact on users to adopt social media for financial services. As the banking industry keeps investing in the marketing potentials of social media tools for banking, in order to gain competitive advantage in customer service delivery, this social media usage could make a lot of difference when well researched into and managed. In some countries, banking customers are able to do their banking through social media sites, but little is known in South Africa (according to research), regarding the usage of this tool for banking purposes.Item Socio-psychological factors influencing continuance intention of participants using online social networks to buy(Virtus Interpress, 2015) Assensoh-Kodua, AkwesiThe purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of perceived trust (PT), social norm (SN), user satisfaction (US) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) from the perspective of online social networks (OSNs) and how these factors influence continuance intention of OSN particpants who have ever been influenced to buy on this platform to continue buying from OSNs. Online survey was used to collect data from people who have ever used OSNs to buy, at least once. The WarpPLS 4.0 was used to analyse measurement and structural models resulting in significant evidence in support of PT, SN and US as predictors of OSN continuance intention, different from the traditional web-based transactions. For instance, trust in OSN is revealled to be based mainly on the degree of the social relations that users have with their vendors because they are members on the network, on top of their experiences of Web service use. US were influenced by PBC, while US also influenced SN and PT with PT exhibiting a strong relationship with SN. These results have practical implications for individuals desiring to engage in commercial activities on OSNs.Item Habit as a moderator and exogenous predictor of social networks : the case of online social networking(Virtus Interpress, 2015) Assensoh-Kodua, Akwesi; Ngwane, Knowledge Siyabonga VusamandlaThis paper tests the factors likely to impact continuance intentions through the medium of online social networks (OSN) for business transactions. The expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) from the consumer behaviour literature is made use of; to forward a set of theories that validate a prior model from IS usage research. Eight research hypotheses, after a field survey of OSNs participants for business transactions were conducted are empirically validated. 300 useable responses from LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms users for business transactions were analysed with the WarpPLS 4.0 bootstrapping technique. The study results provide significant evidence in support of perceived trust and user satisfaction, as determinants of the continuance intention of people using OSN platforms for business transactions. Above all, the research model was tested for the moderating effects of usage habit, which was found to impact relationships between continuance intention and perceived trust, resulting in an improved predictive capability of (R2=0.55) as compared to base model of (R2=0.52). The moderating result indicates that a higher level of habit increases the effect of perceived trust on continuance intention.Item Mobile banking in South Africa : a systematic review of the literature(Business Perspectives, 2016) Assensoh-Kodua, Akwesi; Migiro, Stephen; Mutambara, EmmanuelMobile banking in South Africa recently has undergone rapid growth, and research on it is on the increase. This paper seeks to improve authors’ understanding of the current state of knowledge of mobile banking in South Africa by pro-viding a systematic review of the existing literature on the phenomenon. The literature review shows that research to date has centred on small academic models with a high level of practitioner involvement, consequently, narrowing research issues of greater concern. Thus, issues of assessing mobile banking needs, factors imparting continuance usage, and the measurement of impact have been comparatively neglected. A future direction for research and practice within the mainstream of mobile banking and financial services is suggested to remedy this imbalance and to contribute to mobile banking applications in South Africa.Item Factors that determine the continuance intention of people to use online social networks for business transactions(2015-01-15) Assensoh-Kodua, Akwesi; Olugbara, Oludayo O.Social computing researchers are devoting efforts to understand the complex social behaviour of people using social networking platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, so as to inform the design of human-centered and socially aware systems. This research study investigates the factors of perceived trust, user satisfaction, social norm and perceived behavioural control, to develop a model for predicting the continuance intention of people to use online social networking for business transactions. In order to validate the predictive capability of the model developed, an online survey was used to collect 300 useable responses from people who have used LinkedIn and Twitter social networking platforms for business transactions at least once. The Partial Least Square (PLS) mathematical analysis tool was thereafter used to perform confirmatory factor analysis, analysis of measurement and structural models. The study results provide significant evidence in support of the factors of perceived trust, social norm and user satisfaction, as determinants of the continuance intention of people using online social networking platforms for business transactions. Perceived trust was found to exhibit a strong relationship with social norm and explains a variance of (R2=0.47). In addition, social norm explains a variance of (R2=0.44) and user satisfaction explains a variance of (R2=0.42), resulting in the model predicting (R2=0.56) continuance intention. In addition, the research model was tested for the moderating effects of usage habit, which were found to significantly moderate relationships between continuance intention and perceived trust, PBCand social norm, resulting in an improved predictive capability of (R2=0.89). The moderating result indicates that a higher level of habit increases the effect of perceived trust, Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) and social norm on continuance intention. This result confirms the theoretical argument that the strength of user satisfaction to predict continuance, is strengthened by usage habit. The results of this research study generally have practical implications for individuals who desire to offer commercial services on online social networking technologies, to seriously consider building trust and maintaining user satisfaction to sustain their businesses. They should also think of strategies embedded in peer pressure, to attract, retain and establish trustworthy relationships with customers.