South African universities have embraced a drive to internationalize in view of globalization. One of the widely adopted measures towards internationalization has been the recruitment of international postgraduate scholars. The rationale is to draw diverse knowledge and expertise from the international students. However, the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Westville campus has not managed to attract a significant number of international scholars. The trend suggests that the university is unable to meet the expectations of international postgraduate students with regards to service delivery. The suggestion is premised on the argument that the previous and current international postgraduate students have not been satisfied with the service quality to stimulate other foreign postgraduate student enrolments through positive word of mouth. The main objective of the study was to confirm the assertions while exposing the gaps between their expectations and perceptions of service delivery at the university. The SERVQUAL model was used to guide the assessment of service quality among the research participants. The study adopted quantitative methodologies and data was drawn from international postgraduate students who were enrolled at the institution during the academic year 2016. The findings revealed that the international postgraduate students were dissatisfied with the levels of service at the university. Specifically, the study exposed gaps across all the five dimensions of service quality, namely reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. It was concluded that the management at the university should institute deliberate measures to improve service quality, especially towards international postgraduate students.
Planned obsolescence has become a strategy adopted by large corporations, for products to be produced with surprisingly short useful life spans. These shorter than expected product life spans ensure that consumers make regular repeat purchases of their favorite items. The monopoly of obsolescence of products is no longer the producers' prerogative and this by itself leads to unplanned obsolescence basically led by the consumers choice. This research study looks into consumer's attitudes and perceptions of their favorite lifestyle brands. This is on the basis that less is known on unplanned obsolescence, which arises from the consumers conduct. This work also investigates why consumers replace products, even though these products are most often still seen as fully functional. This social constructivism study has adopted a quantitative approach through the use of self-administered questionnaires. The 300 participants of the study on which this article is based were selected from the Durban of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and were chosen through stratified random sampling. The study was further cross generational, in order to examine how consumers attitudes change as they become older. It was found that despite knowing the truth relating to the phenomenon consumers were willing to remain loyal.
The coronavirus pandemic took every sector of society by storm. The operational decisions taken by certain organizations led to a huge increase in the global rate of unemployment, especially youth unemployment. The millennial generation made up the majority of the youth unemployment statistics. Millennials have been the most economically impacted by the pandemic. The use of technology, the internet, and social media to generate an income has been a widely explored option for millennials. The monetization of social media activities has been mostly beneficial for small businesses, influencers, and content creators. A combination of the traits that millennials possess and their internet knowledge would be a good investment for the betterment of the global labour productivity post COVID-19. This chapter uses secondary data to review the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on millennials in the job market and reviews possible recovery plans for this generation.
The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 2008 was developed with the intention to protect consumers and promote fair dealings and responsible conduct of retailers in the marketplace. However, consumers continue to suffer in the marketplace due to defective products, unfair dealings, and poor service despite there being a CPA that was developed to protect their rights. Studies revealed a reduction in the number of registered complaints and an unchanged market environment for retail consumers pertaining to handling their consumer disputes. A quantitative study was conducted with a random sample of 95 retail furniture consumers who visited five furniture retail shops at Kwa Mnyandu Mall in the Umlazi township. Furniture retail consumers in Umlazi are aware of the CPA, however, they have reasonably less or no knowledge of the consumer rights contained in the CPA. Identified shortcomings in the use of the CPA to handle customer complaints is also explored. It was evident from the findings that retail consumers know that there is a CPA but they are unclear on how it is supposed to protect them when dissatisfied with a product.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted youth entrepreneurship in countries around the world. Developing countries have been negatively impacted the most due to the challenges confronting low-income countries. The youth in developing countries experience many challenges especially in start-ups and innovative businesses owing to lack of education, skills, funding, infrastructure, and other mechanisms of support.. These challenges therefore pose a significant threat on the youth in these countries in sustaining their new ventures and businesses during and after the crisis. This study focuses on a South African perspective and looks at the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth entrepreneurship in developing countries in comparison to developed countries. Nothwithstanding these challenges however, there are many opportunities that can be exploited in this crisis through innovative projects. This study was critical due to inadequate research been conducted on the impacts of the pandemic on entrepreneurship and youth entrepreneurship. A library and desk-based research was undertaken due to COVID-19 restrictions and time constraints. An inclusive literature review was done and thereafter findings reflected that the challenges that youth in African countries experience are due to the poor development of youth. Shutdowns of businesses and the protection of the elderly by staying home influenced their businesses. This impacted the youth negatively during the lockdown, but due to their innovative mind-sets, many African youth entrepreneurs utilized the lockdown as an opportunity to repurpose their businesses or embark on new ventures. Recommendations included creation of entrepreneurship hubs, availability of support initiatives, funding opportunities and creation of youth-friendly policies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.