SUNScholar - Browsing by Author "Boshoff, C."

Browsing by Author "Boshoff, C."

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Building long-term marketing relationships : new perspectives from B2B financial services
(AOSIS Publishing, 2013-12-31) Theron, E.; Terblanche, N. S.; Boshoff, C.
The focus of this study was on the relevance of trust, satisfaction and commitment in maintaining a long-term relationship (intention to stay) with an exchange partner in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context in the financial services industry. The perceptions of 238 B2B clients of a leading South African provider of development capital were investigated. Since support could not be found for the existence of trust, commitment and satisfaction as distinct individual dimensions, this study provides empirical support for the amalgamation of some well-established individual dimensions into broader, more holistic dimensions as drivers of long-term relationship building. Contrary to expectations, B2B banking clients participating in this study appeared to regroup individual dimensions, in a heuristic fashion, to form new dimensions that influenced their attitude towards staying in a B2B relationship. As a result, building long-term marketing relationships seems to be a less complicated process than previously thought. Against this background, the primary contribution of the study is that it highlights the need for marketing practitioners to reconsider their current relationship-marketing strategies. As the findings of the study are inconsistent with conventional wisdom, they also challenge marketing academics to reconsider the theoretical foundations of relationship building in a B2B context.
Can service firms overdo service recovery? An assessment of non-linearity in service recovery satisfaction
(AOSIS, 2012) Boshoff, C.
Owing to the human nature of service delivery service failures occasionally occur. Persistently poor service delivery will, however, have a harmful impact on the survival and growth prospects of service firms. Service failure thus calls for remedial action, better known as service recovery. A variety of remedies have been proposed over the years. These remedies or tactics include fixing the problem, apologising, compensation (financial compensation or other forms of redress), a timely response and offering an explanation. A general theme in the service recovery literature is that ‘more is better’. The validity of this contention has, however, not been adequately considered. In other words, in a service recovery context, is more always better? Can service recovery be over-done (known as ‘over-benefitting’)? If so, what are the consequences? Based on the results of two field-type experimental studies involving a sample of 12 800 respondents the conclusion is that over-benefitting can be counter-productive. Over-benefitting consistently produced satisfaction scores lower than service recovery that was more moderate in nature.
Consumers' perceived risks associated with purchasing on a branded web site : the mediating effect of brand knowledge
(AOSIS, 2011) Boshoff, C.; Schlechter, C.; Ward, S.-J.
Research concerning online consumer behaviour has found that consumers are more inclined to utilise the Internet for information searching rather than actual purchasing. One reason proposed for this state of affairs is that potential buyers perceive buying on the Internet as a risky endeavour. The unique purchasing decision in an online environment is different from a traditional purchasing environment and as a result online transactions differ from the traditional 'bricks-and-mortar' environment. These differences may lead to risk perceptions among potential purchasers that are unique to online purchase intention. This study assesses the impact of the perceived risks associated with intention to purchase online from a well-established, branded web site on purchasing intentions. A secondary objective of the study was to assess whether the consumer's brand knowledge (brand awareness and brand image) mediates the impact of risk perceptions on the intention to purchase from the web site. It was found that both Performance risk and Social risk exert a strong negative influence on Intentions to purchase on a branded web site. Personal risk, however, do not impact on intentions to purchase on a branded web site. Furthermore, it was found that Brand knowledge does act as a mediating variable between Performance risk and Intentions to buy on a branded web site. Brand knowledge, however does not mediate the impact of Social risk on intentions to buy on a branded web site.
Entrepreneurial women’s cognitive ambidexterity : career and cultural influences
(AOSIS, 2017) De Villiers Scheepers, M. J.; Boshoff, C.; Oostenbrink, M.
The purpose of this study was to examine how women’s career stage and Ubuntu (collectivist) values relate to their cognitive ambidexterity when pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives in multicultural South Africa. In this study individual cognitive ambidexterity was operationalised as using effectual and causal logic. More than three hundred businesswomen from diverse backgrounds were surveyed. The results revealed that career stage, self-efficacy and Ubuntu collectivism are important in women’s ambidexterity. Mature, efficacious women in their late career stage draw on their diverse networks and use effectual affordable loss, flexibility and causation when pursuing entrepreneurial initiatives. In contrast, younger, early-career women are more likely to use pre-commitment to ensure support from stakeholders. Women with Ubuntu values use their relationship skills to draw on resources from their networks and use ambidexterity (effectual and causal logic) in their entrepreneurial endeavours. The findings suggest that entrepreneurial women who develop their cognitive ambidexterity and draw on both effectual and causal approaches when initiating entrepreneurial initiatives are more likely to experience successful outcomes. These mental approaches can be developed by means of awareness, training and mentoring. This study extends the literature on women’s entrepreneurial decision-making in a culturally diverse society, demonstrating the influence of cultural values and career stage on effectual and causal logic.
The impact of culture-related factors on good governance in Greek family businesses in South Africa
(AOSIS, 2011) Adendorff, C.; Boshoff, C.
The size of the family business component of the South African economy suggests that it is the predominant way of doing business in South Africa. A large proportion of these family businesses are Greek-owned. More importantly it is estimated that approximately 95% of all Greek businesses in South Africa can be classified as family businesses. The sustainability of Greek family businesses requires that they maintain good governance practices that are both economically and environmentally acceptable to all stakeholders. It also requires that the next generation of Greek entrepreneurs effectively balance good governance of their businesses with their family commitments. The primary objective of this study was to identify and explore the internal, culturally-related factors that influence good governance to ensure the survival, growth and sustainability of Greek family businesses in South Africa. A theoretical model of good governance factors was proposed and tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The study found that perceived good governance in a South African Greek family business context needs to be managed in terms of three factors, namely risk control, the internal regulatory environment and the protection of the stakeholders? interest. The study found that needs alignment, cultural needs alignment, vision and ethnic entrepreneurial growth all impact directly or indirectly on perceived good governance in South African Greek family businesses.
The marketing of tourism services using the internet : a resource-based view
(AOSIS, 2009) Elliott, R.; Boshoff, C.
Taking a resource-based view of the business, this study attempts to identify the non-technology resources driving the successful use of the Internet for marketing tourism services. If these complementary resources can be identified, they can be used to leverage the use of the Internet for marketing, which in turn will contribute to a sustainable competitive advantage for small tourism businesses. Hypotheses are developed and then tested by making use of a large-scale empirical study. The results indicate that a network of effective alliances, the existence of a product champion in the business, and appreciation by the ownermanager of the broader business implications surrounding the implementation of the Internet for marketing, are important to the successful use of the Internet for the marketing of tourism services. The study makes a contribution to the literature by identifying and measuring the drivers of Internet marketing success, as well as by establishing how resource-based theory provides a valuable approach to consideration of how these factors can be managed.
The measurement of consumer satisfaction with selected elements the total retail experience : an exploratory study of fast food and supermarket retailers
(AOSIS, 2001) Terblanche, N. S.; Boshoff, C.
Although attempts have been made to identify some of the dimensions of retail shopping experience, these have been largely fragmented and uncoordinated. No attempt has yet been made to combine the efforts of many retailing students into a comprehensive model that accurately describes the total retailing experience. Also, very little is known about the relationship between the individual dimensions of retail shopping and customer satisfaction. This study attempts to reduce this gap in South African retailing literature by, first modelling the total retailing experience and, then, assessing the influence of selected individual retailing dimensions on customer satisfaction. It also investigates whether the impact of these dimensions of the retailing experience differs between fast food restaurants and supermarket retailers. The empirical results suggest a fairly consistent pattern of relationships between fast food restaurants and supermarkets.
Measuring customer satisfaction with some of the elements of the total retail experience : an exploratory study
(AOSIS, 2001) Terblanche, N. S.; Boshoff, C.
Total retail experience is, for the purposes of this study, defined as all the elements that encourage or inhibit consumers during their contact with a retailer. This article reports on the influence of three dimensions of consumers’ total retail experience on their satisfaction levels. The items used to measure the theoretical model demonstrate sufficient reliability and discriminant validity. The theoretical model is then tested using a structural equation modeling approach. Although not a test of a comprehensive model of the total retail experience, the study does shows that the personal interaction between retail employee and customer on the one hand, and physical cues on the other hand, impact strongly on customer satisfaction.
Measuring customer satisfaction with the controllable elements of the in-store shopping experience
(AOSIS, 2001) Terblanche, N. S.; Boshoff, C.
Evidence from various sources suggests that satisfaction with the individual components of an in-store shopping experience will result in customer satisfaction which will lead to customer retention and loyalty over the long term. It is argued that the in-store shopping experience (ISE) at store level consists of a variety of different dimensions that can be controlled by the retailer. This study reports on two phases of a long-term study on the controllable elements of the in-store shopping experience. Closely following the guidelines for multi-item scale development suggested by Churchill (1979) and based on the results of two empirical surveys, it is concluded that there are five dimensions of importance to consumers when assessing their satisfaction with an in-store shopping experience. These dimensions are merchandise value, personal interaction, merchandise variety, internal store environment and complaint handling. The proposed instrument in its current form demonstrates high levels of reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity and construct validity.
A motivational perspective on the user acceptance of social media
(AOSIS, 2016) Nelmapius, A.; Boshoff, C.
Social media is a unique marketing communication medium to engage with a new generation of consumers and it has become an essential element of many organisations’ strategic planning. On social media sites, consumers are engaging with and producing information, as opposed to traditional media where the marketer is in control of the media message content and information dissemination. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the intentions of users of social network sites to continue using social network sites in the future, by using a comprehensive, decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour. The results showed that Dispositional trust, Internet self-efficacy, Psychological risk, Perceived enjoyment and Perceived usefulness exert a statistically significant influence on the intention of individuals to continue to use Facebook in the future. This study provides insights that can guide marketers’ efforts to devise customised, multi-layered marketing offerings to encourage the use of social network sites for e-commerce purposes.
Online-mobile service cross-channel cognitive evaluations in a multichannel context
(AOSIS, 2015-09-30) Nel, J.; Boshoff, C.
Since the advent of mobile commerce, many firms have added a mobile (m-) service to their existing offline and online services. The adoption of an m-service in a multichannel context is not only influenced by factors directly associated with the m-service, but also by cross-channel cognitive evaluations emanating from other existing channels. These cross-channel evaluations can lead to evaluative synergies and dissynergies that can influence consumer decision-making. To explore empirically the impact of cross-channel synergies and dissynergies between the online service and the m-service offered by the same firm, against the background of expectation-transfer theory and status-quo-bias theory, data were collected from 666 online-service users. Consistent with expectation-transfer theory and status-quo-bias theory, the results of the study demonstrated that cross-channel evaluative synergies and dissynergies do indeed impact salient m-service beliefs. The results suggest that managers can leverage the cross-channel synergies emanating from online trust and ease-of-use beliefs to enhance the adoption of the m-service. The results also suggest that, to enhance wider adoption, the marketing managers of m-services need to mitigate the status-quo-bias effects emanating from online-service facilitating conditions, and lower online-service risk perceptions.
A psychometric assessment of an instrument to measure a service firm's customer-based corporate reputation
(AOSIS, 2009) Boshoff, C.
Over the years, marketers have been cautioned repeatedly about the use of measuring instruments that do not demonstrate sufficient evidence of reliability and validity, particularly construct validity. The use of marketing instruments that do not demonstrate sufficient evidence of construct validity can lead to invalid results and erroneous conclusions. In short, construct validity is not just a "nice to have" in marketing research - it is at the heart of marketing decision-making. This study assesses the psychometric properties of a recently published instrument by Walsh and Beatty (2007) to measure the customer-based corporate reputation of a service firm, and illustrates how, by using an approach proposed by Steenkamp and Trijp (1991) to assess the uni-dimensionality of the underlying dimensions of a multi-dimensional construct, one can enhance the construct validity of such an instrument. The result is a shortened, 17-item instrument with superior psychometric properties compared to the longer 31-item instrument.
Quality, value, satisfaction and loyalty amongst race groups : a study of customers in the South African fast food industry
(AOSIS, 2010) Terblanche, N. S.; Boshoff, C.
The retention of customers has become a key concern for many businesses. Various drivers of loyalty such as satisfaction, loyalty and commitment have, over time, been studied with the objective to improve customer retention. This study reports on the empirical findings in respect of the relationships between various dimensions of a loyalty model for the South African fast food sector and considers differences amongst race groups in respect of perceived quality, value, satisfaction and loyalty. Respondents in this empirical study were consumers drawn randomly from the seven major metropolitan areas of South Africa. The respondents are all customers of a national firm in the South African fast food sector and they were required to respond to items from (mostly) the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scales. The empirical findings provide support for the theoretical model proposed but there is not much difference in how the various race groups' loyalty intentions are shaped.
Sponsorship recall and recognition : the case of the 2007 Cricket World Cup
(AOSIS, 2008) Boshoff, C.; Gerber, C.
Millions of rands are spent on sponsorship in general every year, and on sports sponsorships in particular. Yet little is known about the effectiveness of this expenditure. In addition, sponsors are often not sure whether only their brands benefit from a sponsorship or whether competing brands in the same product category also benefit from their efforts. In this study an attempt is made to clarify these consideratio ns by comparing both the brand recall and the brand recognition of companies (and brands) who sponsored the 2007 Cricket World Cup. To determine whether brand recall and brand recognition increased during a sponsorship campaign, a quasi-experimental study was conducted by means of a one-group pre-test-post-test design. The data were collected using a convenience sample of 131 undergraduate students. The results seem to suggest that both the brand recall and the brand recognition levels of the sponsors increased significantly (α = 0,05), but that neither the brand recall nor the brand recognition levels of non-sponsor brands increased. The results therefore show that sponsorship does in fact increase brand awareness, by significantly increasing unaided brand recall, as well as increasing brand recognition and that non-sponsoring companies and brands do not benefit indirectly from their competitors' sponsorships in terms of brand recall and brand recognition.
Structuring effective copreneurial teams
(AOSIS, 2011) Farrington, S. M.; Venter, E.; Eybers, C.; Boshoff, C.
Despite growing numbers and increased research attention, few empirical studies have focused on copreneurial family businesses, and hardly any guidelines exist on how these couples should manage their marriage and business relationships. Against this background the primary objective of this study was to empirically assess the influence of selected structural-based factors on the effectiveness of South African copreneurships. The teamwork literature proposes that the success of a team depends on how the team is structured or set up, but the empirical findings of this study demonstrate that elements of structure are related to certain measures of success but not to others. More specifically, the results suggest that the success of a marriage between copreneurs is not influenced by the success of the business, but that the more structural elements such as Leadership, Needs alignment and Role clarity are in place, the more satisfied the spouses are likely to be with both their business and their marital relationship.

Browsing by Author "Boshoff, C."

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