OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Botha, Elsamari"

Browsing by Author "Botha, Elsamari"

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Open Access
B2B brand engagement in social media: The employee's perspective
(2017) Pitt, Christine; Botha, Elsamari
Brand engagement, or the process of how customers and other stakeholders form emotional or rational attachments to brands has garnered considerable attention in the marketing literature in recent years. Brand engagement is important because it is a construct strongly related to brand equity, or in simple terms the "value of the brand". Recently, the nature of brand engagement has also changed significantly because of the advent of social media. Not only do users of these social media share personal information with each other, they also comment on, contribute to, and share opinions on the brands that engage them. While the literature is extensive on brand engagement and social media, most of the emphasis is on customers, rather than other stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, and investors. Moreover, the research focuses almost entirely on consumers, the customers of business-to-consumer firms, rather than on the industrial and organizational customers of business-to-business (B2B) firms or their stakeholders. Only very recently have scholars begun to explore both customer and employee engagement and their effects on firm performance in both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business arenas. The research presented in this dissertation attempts to grow the literature in two ways. First, it focuses on brand engagement in business-to-business firms rather than business-to-consumer; second, it does this by studying a stakeholder group other than customers, namely, employees. Moreover, it does this through the employee lens, rather than the lens of the firm; in other words it explores how employees engage with firms rather than how firms engage with their employees. The study utilizes an exploratory research design focusing on qualitative data. The data consist of job reviews posted by employees of B2B firms on the social medium Glassdoor.com. Glassdoor.com collects company reviews and real salaries from employees of a range of organizations and displays them anonymously, and users are also able to rate their employees on a five-star scale. The firms chosen were based on a ranking study by the research firm Brandwatch, and were split into two groups, namely the 30 top ranked firms, and the 30 bottom ranked firms. These reviews were then analyzed, using Hart's theory of word choice and verbal tone, in DICTION, the content analysis software. The results indicate that there are significant differences between top ranked and bottom ranked firms, and also between top rated and bottom rated firms. Employees of top ranked firms are significantly more optimistic in their reviews, while employees of bottom ranked firms express significantly more certainty, activity and realism. There are no significant differences with regard to commonality. With regard to firm ratings, the employees of highly rated firms are significantly more optimistic, while employees of low rated firms score significantly more on all the other dimensions of word choice and verbal tone. The employees of top ranked firms are significantly less insistent in their reviews but display significantly more embellishment, variety and complexity. Similarly, in the case of firm ratings, highly rated reviews are significantly less insistent, but exhibit significantly more embellishment, variety and complexity. The thesis contributes to academic knowledge in four ways. First, it is the first study to consider brand engagement in the business-to-business environment from an employee perspective. Second, the study contributes by providing a perspective on brand engagement from two sides, namely highly ranked B2B companies and low ranked B2B companies, as well as highly rated B2B companies and low rated B2B companies. It highlights the differences between these two groups with regard to brand engagement. Furthermore, it permits a focus on the differences between employees who rate an employer brand high versus those that rate it low, regardless of how the brand is ranked independently. Stated differently, in a brand engagement context, the study identifies specific dimensions or calculated variables that distinguish high and low rankings and ratings. Third, this is the first study that examines employee brand engagement using Hart's theory of word choice and verbal tone. This means that it employs a robust means of comparing pieces of text, or in this particular case, the text resulting from an employee's review and rating of an employer, as a proxy for employee brand engagement. Fourth, this study is the first to use the DICTION content analysis software to examine employee brand engagement in a business-to-business context. It demonstrates DICTION's ability to operationalize Hart's five dimensions of text, and the calculated variables, as well as confirming DICTION's capacity to handle very large text files. The study also has implications for marketing managers, and for brand executives in the business-to-business arena specifically. First, it enables managers to identify the most important dimensions of brand engagement according to Hart's theory, when employee reviews are posted on social media. When managers are able to discern which dimensions figure prominently in the most highly regarded brands according to employees, they can begin to formulate strategies that might enable them to develop these dimensions in their own environment. Likewise, when they are able to distinguish the dimensions that mark the least highly regarded brands, or the dimensions that occasion negative reviews, they will be able to develop strategies that enable their firms to overcome these effects. Second, the use of data such as that available on Glassdoor will allows managers to compare the nature of their brand engagement to others, such as competitors or firms they wish to benchmark against, and to develop strategies that will enable them to shift their level of brand engagement over time. Third, the results of the study reinforce the notion that brands and human capital are more important and interlinked than most managers acknowledge. The management of these two assets therefore requires more than occasional attention; rather, they should become part of regular organizational brand strategy.
Open Access
The effect of negative user-generated content on consumer-based brand equity : comparing brand loyal versus non-loyal customers in the luxury wine market
(2016) Wouters, Claire; Botha, Elsamari
With the rise of user-generated content (UGC), negative UGC could have disastrous consequences for brands: One single post could easily spread like a virus, might even go viral and brand managers have no power in limiting the damage. Negative UGC contributes towards an overall negative brand perception, which harms the process of building long-term consumer-based brand equity (CBBE). CBBE is especially relevant for luxury brands, where decisions are heavily reliant on brand perceptions, and perceptions contrary to or different from exclusivity could be established. Luxury wines, in particular, are complex products in the mind of the consumer: wine customers are overwhelmed by too many choices in wine brands with very few objectives decision cues. While CBBE is critical in an extremely competitive wine market, little research has been done on CBBE of luxury wines. This study therefore questions whether CBBE is affected through negative UGC, and if that effect is different for brand loyal versus non-loyal customers. The "love becomes hate" argument proposes that loyal consumers are more impacted by extreme negative UGC, because betrayal in brand trust leads to strong CBBE damage. The "love is blind" argument, on the other hand, proposes that loyal customers are more forgiving towards negative UGC because of their relationship with the brand. Moreover, non-loyal consumers are more influenced by negative UGC, since they exclude brands more easily in a decision-making process after consuming negative UGC. Previous researches regarding CBBE have not found evidence yet of how negative UGC impacts the perception of brand loyal and non-loyal wine consumers. This study therefore attempted to better understand this phenomenon in the luxury wine context. In order to truly understand the impact of negative UGC on CBBE, use is made of Aaker's four-asset CBBE model. This model proposes that CBBE consists of brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. This study used an experimental research design and 154 respondents participated in a quasi-experimental design that tested the effect of fictitious negative UGC, that appeared on Facebook, on CBBE. This study found that negative UGC reduces CBBE and customers' perception of the luxury brand is damaged after exposure to negative UGC. Brand loyal customers' CBBE had the greatest decrease, which supports the 'love becomes hate' argument. Marketing managers therefore need to understand the risks of UGC on CBBE and set up an online brand strategy in order to know how to act and react on negative UGC to prevent CBBE from being damaged. They also need to pay particular care in managing loyal customers' exposure to negative UGC.
Open Access
Evaluating an androgynous brand extension: the gender identity/ gendered brand relationship and influencing factors
(2015) Ringas, Astrid; Botha, Elsamari; Reyneken Mignon
Gender identification behaviour has altered drastically within the last decade. Consequently, there has been a noteworthy rise in the amount of androgynous individuals. Gender identity congruity theory posits that individuals display more favourable behavioural outcomes towards brands that possess similar images or identities to their own. Further, contemporary consumers express their identities via their brand choices. Thus, there is a strong implication that introducing an androgynous brand could prove to be a lucrative strategy for marketers. However, gendering brands as either masculine or feminine prevails as the most commonly employed strategy to differentiate a brand and appeal to target audiences. Introducing androgynous brands through a brand extension could prove to be less risky and costly than introducing such a brand as a novel, stand-alone offering. This study examined gender identity's potential influence on the evaluation of an androgynous brand extension. Further, it investigated the potential influence of three key factors on this central relationship: self-concept, product category and the gender of the parent brand. With regard to these moderators, it was posited that first, if the brand's image aligned with one's self-concept the evaluation of the androgynous brand extension would be more favourable. Distinction was made between actual and ideal self-concept. Second, a distinction could be made between functional and symbolic product categories with regards to the influence that gender identity exerted on brand extension evaluation. And third, that the gender of the parent brand would influence the evaluation of the androgynous brand extension. Subsequently, a 2 x 2 factorial design experiment was administered to a quota-controlled non-probability sample of Generation Y consumers. The findings demonstrated that gender identity influences the evaluation of an androgynous brand extension. Furthermore, self-concept moderated this relationship between gender identity and brand extension evaluation. The product category wherein the androgynous brand extension was implemented was evidenced to affect individuals' evaluation of the brand extension, with the one introduced in the symbolic product category receiving more favourable evaluations than the extension introduced in the functional category. The gender of the parent brand exerted no influence on brand extension evaluation, where androgynous brand extensions from both feminine and masculine parent brands were evaluated similarly. Self-concept also exerted an effect on brand extension evaluation, with ideal self-concept exerting a stronger influence than actual self-concept. Lastly, individuals were shown to prefer an androgynous brand to a masculine or feminine one. The principal inference resulting from this research is that marketers should strongly consider introducing an androgynous brand extension should they possess a feminine masculine brand within the clothing, deodorant, or similar products categories. Respondents evaluated the androgynous brand extension favourably across both assessed product categories and regardless of whether the brand extension was introduced from a masculine or feminine parent brand. This was observed for all gender identity segments. It is imperative that managers take gender identity and self-concept into account as these identity aspects exert noteworthy influences on individuals' consumption behaviours. However, managers should take note of the evidenced interaction between gender identity and self-concept. Where individuals perceive there to be a high level of congruence between their self-concept and the androgynous brand extension, individuals with high levels of masculinity should not be targeted as they displayed negative evaluations of the brand extension.
Open Access
Exploring the signalling potential of mega-sporting events : an analysis of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa
(2016) Jenkins, David; Botha, Elsamari; George, Richard
Mega-sporting events such as the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil have been observed to serve as highly influential tools for the promotion of positive media impressions surrounding the host destination. Drawing from the field of existing knowledge surrounding the sociology of sport, the media and media content analysis, this study reports on a media content analysis conducted on the local news coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in selected South African newspapers. Monitoring coverage over and eight-year pre- and post-event period, the analysis identified five principal themes: stadiums; safety and security; Bafana-Bafana; social-impact; and economic-impact. The findings indicated a cyclical-type shift in conversation, where focus was placed on impressions of host-nation capabilities and readiness in the lead up to the event, to profound euphoria, unity and pride during the hosting stages of the event, and finally onto critical impact and legacy evaluation in the post-event phase. The sentiment of the coverage was largely balanced across all periods, with the total number of positive references only slightly exceeding that of negative references. These findings serve as critical insight to the work of event organisers, media managers and policy developers alike, whom all hold a vested interest in managing the perceived impressions of mega-sporting events. Practical implications for these stakeholders include: i) establishing greater clarity with respect to the overall signalling benefits of mega-sporting; and ii) informing media management campaigns to reinforce the power of mega-sporting events as a positive reference point - especially in the post-event legacy period.
Open Access
The moderating effect of time-perspective on the intention-behaviour relationship
(2014) Wickham, Bradley; Botha, Elsamari
Self-report measures of intentions are widely pursed in marketing research and are based on the premise that they are reliable proxies for actual ensuing behaviour. Although research supports this assumed relationship between intentions and behaviour, mounting empirical evidence suggests that the strength of this relationship is often modest at best. The inconsistency between what is said and what is done on the part of respondents results in a so called "intention-behaviour gap", which impinges upon marketers' ability to accurately explain and predict consumer behaviour. Gaining insight into factors which may potentially narrow this gap is of utmost importance to guard and/or enhance the value of marketing research. Despite offering considerable insight, the current state of the literature leaves as much as two-thirds of the discord unexplained. This study aimed to contribute to this stream of research by identifying a further variable which may offer additional explained variance; namely time-perspective. This novel psychological construct has been shown in the fields of psychology and behavioural economics to exert a profound influence on behaviour, particularly in so far as individuals failing to follow through on stated intentions. This study investigates whether time-perspective exerts a similar effect on consumer behaviour, particularly the extent to which such considerations enhance the predictive accuracy of selfreported intentions. The results of this study should assist marketers to arrive at more accurate measures of intentions, thereby improving the value of their research output.
Restricted
Perceptions of South African practitioners on the structuring and tasks of marketing and communication managers within organisations
(2010) Botha, Elsamari
The structuring of marketing and communication management within key organisations in South Africa is changing. These changes are affecting the relationship between marketing and communication practitioners, as well as the key tasks they are responsible for within the organisation. Globally, companies are downsizing, restructuring and eliminating hierarchy. This article investigates how key South African companies have responded to these changes, by looking at how the marketing and communication functions are structured within the organisation. Marketing and communication managers from top South African companies were interviewed telephonically. Findings from the study indicate that the two functions are progressively moving towards an integrated approach. However, a commonly agreed organisational structure is still not pervasive. Each organisation structured the marketing and communication functions differently, and various perspectives existed on the key tasks of both marketing and communication managers. From these findings, it is evident that the relationship between marketing and communication, as well as the role and tasks of marketing and communication managers, is still very diverse in the South African context.
Open Access
Relationship antecedents that impact on outcomes of strategic stakeholder alliances
(2010) Botha, Elsamari
The research aims to measure the reliability of applying the three-stage model to strategic alliances and to propose relationship antecedents that may impact on the outcome of strategic alliances. Four relationship outcomes were used to measure strategic alliances and were adopted from the seminal work by Grunig and Huang (2000): ‘Trust’ relates to the reliability and integrity of relationship partners; ‘Commitment’ results from relationship partners’ effort to maintain the organisational relationship; ‘Satisfaction’ encompasses both affection and emotion and is conceptualised as a response to the reinforcement of positive expectations and ‘Control mutuality’ refers to the equality of power and decision-making practices that take place within an organisational relationship. An electronic survey from a sampling population of 2,500 members of The Institute for Procurement and Supply, South Africa (IPSA), materialised in only 154 workable questionnaires (n = 154). This study investigates the impact on the outcome of the types of strategic alliance, the industry, the size of the partnering organisations and the duration thereof. Results indicated that the antecedents did not have a significant influence on the outcomes of strategic alliances. This introduces directions for future research into whether and which antecedents impact on the outcome of organisational relationships.
Open Access
Social media performance of user generated content and its relationship with conspicuous consumption: through the lens of the expectation confirmation theory
(2016) Ferreira, Caitlin; Botha, Elsamari
Early theories of conspicuous consumption proposed a framework in which individuals attempt to imitate the consumption patterns of others that maintain a higher social status. This results in individuals ostentatiously displaying their consumption patterns in order to reinforce their social status. The advent of social media has provided individuals with a new platform on which to display their conspicuous consumption. All consumption now has the possibility to become conspicuous consumption, displayed to a large network of friends and followers online. When individuals post content on social networking sites (SNSs), referred to as user-generated content, they hold some initial expectations regarding the response that their content will receive. This response (for example Likes and Comments on Facebook) is referred to as Social Media Performance in the current research. While research has been conducted, albeit minimal research, into measuring the performance of brand-generated content, no academic research has considered the perceived performance evaluation of individual user-generated content. Previous research has identified a link between online performance, referred to as Social Media Performance in the current research, and conspicuous consumption. This link has however been suggested to be moderated by three variables, selfesteem, social media usage and emotion, tested separately as positive and negative affect. The current research sought to evaluate the moderating influences that selfesteem, social media usage and emotion exerted on the relationship between Social Media Performance and conspicuous consumption. This was done through the lens of the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), as Social Media Performance is posited to follow an Expectation Confirmation Theory framework, in which SNS users are either satisfied or dissatisfied depending on their subjective evaluation of performance. A conclusive, causal research design was implemented; making use of a nonprobability sampling technique that achieved a sample size of 282 respondents. The target population consisted of young adults, between the ages of 18 and 29 years, due to the adoption of SNS usage amongst this age cohort. The results found a negative correlation to exist between self-esteem and conspicuous consumption and a positive correlation to exist between social media usage and conspicuous consumption. Furthermore, self-esteem, social media usage and negative affect were found to moderate the relationship between Social Media Performance and conspicuous consumption. In particular, in the presence of negative Social Media Performance, higher levels of social media usage and lower levels of negative affect exerted a greater influence on this relationship. Whereas in the presence of positive Social Media Performance, lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of negative affect exert a greater influence on this relationship. This research has also confirmed the positive relationship between social media usage and conspicuous consumption.
Open Access
South African management literature over the past fifteen years: content analysis of the three top South African management journals
(APM, 2011) Botha, Elsamari; Lilford, Neil; Pitt, Leyland
This article analysed 15 years, from 1996 to 2010, of research published in the three leading South African business management journals. The three journals chosen were the South African Journal of Business Management, the South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences and Management Dynamics. Content analysis was used to compare five broad themes in the journals: firstly the nature of authorship was examined, and then the most published as well as most prolific authors were identified. Thirdly, the most prominent universities and departments were identified whereafter the research themes and disciplines of the articles and authors were analysed. Lastly, various manuscript characteristics were investigated. This article provides a clear picture of the evolution of South African management literature over the past fifteen years.
Open Access
Understanding the role of emotion in viral marketing
(2013) Chohan, Raeesah; Botha, Elsamari
Using the Internet to share content online is not only a daily activity for many people, yet a means to share their experiences and emotion with others. This study aims to answer why Internet users in South Africa share content online and to better understand the role of emotion in viral marketing. There are three main objectives of this study: to determine what encourages people to share content online, to investigate the role of emotion in sharing content online and to determine whether there is a difference between sharing content that elicits positive emotion versus sharing content that elicits negative emotion. The findings assist marketers in conducting viral marketing campaigns that appeal to consumers. Using a two-stage research design, qualitative and exploratory research was conducted. The first-stage is netnography, which is a derivation of ethnography, and was based on YouTube. The second-stage consisted of semi-structured interviews that included two viral video marketing campaigns. This study found that people share content online when content that appeals to people is relevant. Whether people find content relevant or not can depend on their age and/ or gender. People share content online to be altruistic, for self-benefit and social capital. An additional reason for sharing content online is when the content is emotionally appealing. Particularly, it was found that content that elicits positive emotion is more likely to be shared than content that elicits negative emotion. This study addresses gaps in literature in the following ways. Firstly, viral marketing is a growing concept that requires updated research about to provide an understanding of viral marketing that is consistent with its changes in its practice. Secondly, the model provided in this study defines what sharing means in terms of viral marketing, which no other study has done. Thirdly, where previous authors disagree about the difference between sharing content that elicits positive emotion versus sharing content that elicits negative emotion, this study contains updated findings which show that content which elicits positive emotion is more likely to be shared. Additionally, this study shows how the Social Sharing of Emotion theory can be applied to a viral-marketing and online context. The contribution that this study makes is that literature can benefit by understanding that content is king and relevance is important in encouraging people to share content online. Additionally, marketers should focus on creating content that is useful or makes the sender look good socially. Most importantly, to encourage people to share content online, the content should be emotionally appealing and focus should be placed on ensuring the content elicits positive emotion.

Browsing by Author "Botha, Elsamari"

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