Browsing by Author "Mathews, Ozayr"

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    Exploring the factors affecting employee motivation to be innovative on product development: A case study for Woolworths South Africa
    (2021) Truter, Tessa; Mathews, Ozayr
    The global business industry is greatly affected by revolutionised human knowledge that requires a continued understanding of human preferences, needs and wants. Motivation to innovate must be understood when marketers aim for business success. Business success is seen in customer satisfaction and employee performance. The starting point for success is the miraculous ideas of employees. These ideas can be anything from the creation of a product or service to the execution of that product or service. Exploring the factors affecting the motivation to innovate on product development may lead marketers to business success by increased profitability, a bigger customer base, and retaining motivated skilled employees with the ability to innovate. This research is based on the South African multinational retailer Woolworths, with the focus on food and design packaging. A qualitative research approach was followed where data was collected from 11 participants using semi-structured individual face-to-face in-depth interviews and structured questionnaires. This study followed a manual thematic approach in an inductive manner. The needs of the participants in this study were categorised into three sections: Need for power, need for achievement and need for affiliation. This study also introduced McClelland's extended needs, and the motive for self-expression stood out among the cohort, confirming their creative skills. With the aid of individual components, domain-relevant skills, intrinsic task motivation and creativity stimulants, the study was able to link the presence of creativity to motivation and innovation. It confirmed that once the creativity intersection combines with organisational components there is a motivational synergy that produces innovation. The results of the study further indicated that internal motivation factors had a greater impact than external factors. As per organisational components, business values were shown to have an influence on the development of a product design. Legislation policies were deemed beneficial to forced creative thinking, yet it was also regarded as a limitation that can be improved through creative flexibility. Other factors that emerged were organisational socialisation, aligned stakeholder communication, sufficient market research, and respecting the emergence of seasonal trends. Future research should explore ways of improving organisational components that act as external influences on individual creative thinking. Moreover, future research should explore how effective training can help stakeholders learn and acquire the rights needs together with the continuous support from the business.
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    Investigating the Factors That Contribute to In-App Purchases in Online Gaming:The Stimulus-Organism-Response Model
    (2018) Mathews, Ozayr; Botha, Elsamaria
    Advancements in online payment mechanics has revolutionised the monetisation of online games. One such method known as In-App Purchases (IAPs) - small purchases of virtual goods for real world currencies, has become a popular method of increasing the profitability of online games. In-App Purchases are made only by small percentages of players in a game and the reasons influencing players to make In-App Purchases vary. Exploring the influencers of players online purchase intent in online games may assist game developers in increasing players’ willingness to make In-App Purchases. The monetisation mechanics of games and consumers’ willingness to make online purchases are an important focus in the online gaming industry when determining the profitability of a game. Thus, coming to understand the monetisation mechanics of a game and the way it influences consumers online purchase intent can be useful to game developers and marketers when developing new games. The purpose of this study was, thus, to assist both game developers and marketers in understanding the influencers of online purchase intent in online games, in order to better create and market more profitable online games. The Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model was used to better understand InApp purchasing behavior, where Stimulus refers to game characteristics, Organism refers to gameplay experience that could lead to the Response resulting in Online Purchase Intent. The factors identified that contributed to this response include: Active Control, Reciprocal Communication, Social Identity, Skill and Challenge which constitute the Stimulus constructs of the S-O-R model; the factors which constitute Response include: Flow, Cognitive Involvement and Affective Involvement. The model was tested using an online survey and tested through the use of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling software. The results of the study provide support for the conceptual framework and indicate that Online Purchase Intent may be most influenced by the way players personally identify with a game, and how much of a challenge the game presents. The results also indicate that emotional involvement with a game has a significant positive influence on Online Purchase Intent and that online purchases may be impulse purchases. The findings of this study imply that game developers may be able to influence Online Purchase Intent by increasing the level challenge found in games. Additionally, marketers may be able to influence online purchases through the use of emotional appeals in game advertisements and by offering limited edition sales of InApp Purchases. Future research related to this study should explore which emotions are the greatest influencers of Online Purchase Intention, and how these emotions influence the willingness to make In-App Purchases.