Southern African Business Review

Selected Psychological Factors Predicting Customer Citizenship Behaviours: An Environmentally Friendly Context

Estelle van Tonder — 2024-06-18

Purpose: Viable business opportunities may be lost when customers revert to unsuitable brands owing to the misreading of brand label information or a lack of understanding of the quality and value of the focal business’s green product offering. Accordingly, this research seeks to advance understanding of selected psychological factors influencing customer citizenship advocacy and personal initiative behaviours in an environmentally friendly context that may aid fellow customers in making more informed and responsible purchase decisions.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A research model was examined, assessing the influence of green attitude, consumer self-confidence, and self-control against criticism on customer citizenship advocacy and personal initiative behaviours in an environmentally friendly context. Survey research was conducted among customers in South Africa who had previously advised others to avoid products that may be harmful to society. Structural equation modelling was applied in the assessment of the research data and to conclude on the hypotheses formulated.

Findings: All hypothesised relationships were supported, except for the relationship between self-control against criticism and personal initiative behaviours.

Originality: Novel insight is provided into the extent to which green attitude, as well as psychological factors relating to how customers perceive and regulate themselves during their interactions with other customers, may influence customer citizenship advocacy and personal initiative behaviours in an environmentally friendly context. Accordingly, the model offers a starting point for green manufacturing businesses and policymakers to develop programmes that may facilitate the desired customer citizenship behaviours, which could contribute to fellow customers purchasing quality green products.

Student Entrepreneurship Support at South African Public Universities: An Ecosystem Perspective

Riyaad Ismail — 2024-06-05

Purpose: It is widely agreed that student entrepreneurship can play a vital role in changing the economic landscape of developing countries. However, the effectiveness of university-based student entrepreneurship support (SES) has been questioned. Our study aimed to gain greater insights into SES in a developing country context by taking an ecosystem perspective on SES offered at South African public universities.

Methodology: A multiple case study strategy was adopted, and data was collected through online semi-structured interviews. Fourteen key informants, holding various positions at eight South African universities, were carefully selected to participate in the study.

Findings: Several types of SES are commonly aimed at developing entrepreneurs, promoting entrepreneurship as a career, and establishing job-creating businesses. To increase the effectiveness of this support, creative spaces, business advice from experts, top management buy-in and funding were regarded as very essential to enhance the interaction and collaboration between different elements in the ecosystem.

Practical implications: As creating a conducive environment for student entrepreneurs cannot occur in isolation, universities’ top management buy-in and financial backing are recommended to establish and offer a broad range of support internally and through external collaborations.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the limited research on SES and responds to several calls to research elements within university-based entrepreneurial ecosystems in a developing country context.

Central Bank Independence, Inflation and Money Growth: Evidence from South Africa

Cobus Vermeulen — 2024-04-29

Purpose: This article evaluates the impact of the de jure independence of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on the credibility and discipline of domestic monetary policy. Credibility captures the extent to which economic agents trust the SARB to pursue its price stability mandate and is measured by the relationship between the SARB’s independence and domestic inflation. Discipline relates to the effect of independence on money growth rates, while independence is associated with a more disciplined central bank and moderate money growth rates.

Methodology: A simple autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) econometric specification and Granger causality tests are employed. Following the extant empirical literature, existing indexes of central bank independence (CBI) are regressed on annual rates of inflation and M2 money growth.

Findings: A statistically significant negative relationship is established between both i) CBI and inflation and ii) CBI and money growth for the South African economy. This suggests that the SARB’s legal independence plays an important role in containing inflation (credibility) and limiting excessive money growth (discipline).

Contribution: This article fills a gap in the extant literature by being the first attempt at formalising the empirical link between de jure CBI, inflation, and the rate of money growth in the South African economy.

Transition Experiences from Student to Business Owner: A Narrative Analysis among Nascent Entrepreneurs

Ruth Soda — 2024-05-31

Purpose: Given the high unemployment rate in countries like South Africa, a need exists to understand the experiences gained during the transition from student to business owner. Such an inquiry aids the further development of a new generation of entrepreneurs. The study’s objective was to explore the factors and challenges of transition by nascent entrepreneurs using individuals who had been students as a sample in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through interviews with 22 participants who had made the journey from students to first-time business owners, utilising narrative analysis. The three levels of meaning-making were used to analyse the data.

Findings: The findings of this study position three salient narratives. First, the motivation to become an entrepreneur is largely influenced by the experience of coming from a context of hardship. Second, the challenge of transitioning from student to entrepreneur is influenced by resourcing and capability challenges. Third, in experiencing the motivator and ensuing challenges, the nascent entrepreneurs relied on more informal networks of support than formal channels.

Practical implications – Based on the research findings, the researchers have recommendations that can assist universities and students, those who are already in the entrepreneurial space, and the government.

Originality/value – This study is a pioneer in exploring the transition experiences from student to nascent entrepreneurship within the South African context, illustrating this through narrative analysis.

Facilities Tangibility and Patients’ Satisfaction in Selected Primary Health Centres in Odeda Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Olayinka Shodiya — 2024-06-11

Background: Primary health care is widely acknowledged as the most economical means of achieving universal health coverage and addressing all types of health needs in close proximity to people's homes and communities. Nigeria’s high and growing rate of extreme poverty and illiteracy increases the urgency of the need for a primary healthcare system that is effective and sustainable.

Purpose: This study examines the effect of the facilities tangibility on patients’ satisfaction in selected primary health care centres in the Odeda local government area of Ogun State. It investigated the effect of physical facilities on patients’ satisfaction; assessed the influence of personnel’s appearance on patients’ satisfaction; and examined the role of the hospital’s equipment quality on patients’ satisfaction.

Methodology: The study used a cross-sectional survey research design and a questionnaire as the research instrument. A convenient sampling method was used to select 320 respondents from primary healthcare centres. Three hundred and twenty (320) copies of the questionnaire were administered to respondents, and 300 were received and analysed. The study used both descriptive and inferential statistics.

Findings: The findings reveal a negative correlation between physical facilities and patients’ satisfaction (R = -0.101, N = 300, p > 0.05); a negative correlation between personnel’s appearance and patients’ satisfaction (R = -0.112, N = 300, p > 0.05); a negative correlation between equipment and patients’ satisfaction (R = -0.157, N = 300, p > 0.05). The study concluded that facilities tangibility had a negative influence on patients’ satisfaction. These findings imply that patients attending primary healthcare centres in the Odeda local government of Ogun State are dissatisfied with the facilities tangibility. It was recommended that hospitals’ management ensure that they have up-to-date facilities, an appealing physical environment, and modern-looking equipment to serve patients better and ensure they are satisfied.