Faculty of Management Sciences
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Item E-consumer awareness of digital consumerism concerning free data resource exploitation(2024-05) Serubugo, Ayub; Penceliah, DarryThe ubiquity of digital technology with powerful smart equipment has transformed digital marketing, paving the way for digital consumerism. Electronic consumer data is being freely exploited at an exponential rate through constant company surveillance for the purpose of predicting profits. E-consumer online behavioural data is progressively becoming a valuable asset for precise, granular online targeting. However, e-consumers are oblivious to the fact that their digital traces are being monitored in the process of navigating the internet. Additionally, e-consumers are unaware that their autonomy is being eroded by unfair, capitalistic digital surveillance and profiling technology. The aim of the study is to assess e-consumers awareness of the influence of digital consumerism on free data resource exploitation. A cross-sectional mixed method research design using a validated Likert-type scale questionnaire survey was administered to a non-probability convenience sample of 400 respondents. Thereafter, interviews were conducted using purposive sampling of participants until sufficient data was collected based on the point of saturation. The saturation point was reached after interviewing 20 participants. Online survey data was analysed by SPSS 28 computer software for descriptive and inferential statistics and AMOS was administered for structural equation modelling (SEM). The data from the interviews was analysed using NVivo pattern matching and content analysis. The results reveal that while some e-consumers are aware of free data exploitation, most e-consumers do not notice that their online behavioural data is being harvested and exploited by online retailers. The findings may assist digitalised companies to initiate loyalty programmes by compensating e-consumer data resource input. Further studies should be undertaken to explore the remediation models for free data exploitation. A remediation strategy by online retailers to recognise e-consumers data input is paramount with the current, rapid growth of digitalisation in today’s data-driven economy. A cross-sectional mixed method research design using a validated Likert-type scale questionnaire survey was administered to a non-probability convenience sample of 400 respondents. Thereafter, interviews were conducted using purposive sampling of participants until sufficient data was collected based on the point of saturation. The saturation point was reached after interviewing 20 participants. Online survey data was analysed by SPSS 28 computer software for descriptive and inferential statistics and Amos was administered for structural equation modelling (SEM). The data from the interviews was analysed using NVivo pattern matching and content analysis. The results reveal that while some e-consumers are aware of free data exploitation, most e-consumers do not notice that their online behavioural data is being harvested and exploited by online retailers. The findings may assist digitalised companies to initiate loyalty programmes by compensating e-consumer data resource input. Further studies should be undertaken to explore the remediation models for free data exploitation. A remediation strategy by online retailers to recognise e-consumers data input is paramount with the current, rapid growth of digitalisation in today’s data-driven economy.Item Fortification of food products : a consumer perspective(2019-04) Serubugo, Ayub; Penceliah, Darry S.The prevalence of malnutrition and hidden hunger in developed but largely in developing countries, has led to the introduction of mandatory food fortification for the purpose of overcoming micro-nutrients malnutrition. Consumers have inadequate knowledge and are not aware of the relevance of food fortification. It is important for consumers to be conversant with fortified food products in order to make healthy food choices in a bid to overcome the phenomenon of micro-nutrient deficiency. The purpose of the study was to assess consumers’ level of awareness of food fortification in South Africa. A sample of n=400 consumers in the Durban central region was selected to participate in the survey. Non-probability convenience sampling was applied to nominate the participants in the study. The positivist cross-sectional study was undertaken using a quantitative paradigm to assess the various factors responsible for consumers’ inadequate knowledge of fortification. The measuring instrument was a five-point Likert scale questionnaire that constituted twenty-five questions and one open ended question. The results were captured on excel spreadsheet and analysed using SPSS version 25.0 software package. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were utilised to summarise and analyse the results respectively. The study established that most of the consumers are not familiar with food fortification and its importance. The findings indicate further that there is a positive relationship 𝑝 < 0.05 between knowledge of the benefits of fortified products and motivation to buy fortified food products. On the other hand, it was also found that, there is a significant relationship between the shortcomings of food fortification and barriers for fortified food purchase intention. Therefore, there is a need to develop intervention strategies that can create awareness of food fortification basing on the findings of the study.