Orientation: There is much research on extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction in organisations. However, empirical evidence on how such factors affect employees in public organisations in developing countries is lacking.Research purpose: To examine the relationships between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction amongst employees in a public organisation.Motivation for the study: Labour strife is an endemic phenomenon in South Africa’s public sector as evidenced by the high incidences of industrial action and labour turnover. This study contributes to this subject by identifying the extrinsic factors that could be optimised with a view to enhancing job and life satisfaction amongst government employees.Research approach, design and method: The study used the quantitative research survey approach: a questionnaire was administered to 246 employees in a South African public organisation. Extrinsic motivation factors were identified using principal components analysis. Mean score ranking was used to compare the relative importance of all factors. The conceptual framework was tested using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis and linear regression analysis.Main findings: Statistically significant relationships were observed between job satisfaction and four extrinsic motivation factors: remuneration, quality of work life, supervision and teamwork. The relationship with promotion was insignificant, but a statistically significant relationship was established with life satisfaction.Practical/managerial implications: The findings may be used to implement strategies for enhancing employee performance and industrial relations within public organisations.Contribution/value-add: The study provides evidence of the interplay between extrinsic motivation, job satisfaction and life satisfaction for public servants in developing countries.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of packaging, price and brand awareness on brand loyalty.Rationale: The study sought to extend empirical evidence on the association between brand loyalty and product-related factors: packaging, price and brand awareness.Methodology: The study adopted a quantitative survey approach and was conducted in a paint retailing environment. Data were elicited from a conveniently selected sample of 212 consumers who purchased various brands of paint. Regression analysis and the one-way analysis of variance test were conducted to investigate the impact of packaging, price and brand awareness on brand loyalty.Findings: Packaging, price and brand awareness showed significant positive relationships with brand loyalty, which implied their significant predictive influence on brand loyalty. The results suggest that management should, inter alia, initiate and implement effective packaging, pricing and brand awareness in order to enhance consumers’ brand loyalty to the company’s products.Value of research: The research provides valuable insights to managers of companies on the need to continuously enhance their products’ packaging with competitive pricing strategies in order to improve brand awareness and brand loyalty and remain competitive in the market. The study also provides evidence of the relationship between brand loyalty and packaging, price and brand awareness in a South African context.Conclusion: The marketing success of businesses depends on their ability to continuously enhance their products’ packaging with competitive pricing and brand awareness strategies in order to improve brand loyalty. Future studies should be extended to other retailing environments and product categories.

Orientation: There appears to be a dearth of literature that addresses the relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance in South African public organisations. Motivation for the study: This study attempted to contribute to the discourse on the influence of human resources to organisational performance.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance in a public sector organisation.Research design: A three-section survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a conveniently recruited sample of 272 members of a South African government department. Pearson’s correlation test as well as a regression analysis were employed to test the existence of a relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational performance. The mean score ranking technique was used to compare the impact of the individual employee satisfaction factors on organisational performance.Main findings: Positive correlations were observed between organisational performance and all five employee satisfaction factors, namely working conditions, ability utilisation, creativity, teamwork and autonomy. Amongst the five factors, teamwork had the greatest impact on organisational performance, followed by ability utilisation, creativity, autonomy, with working conditions exerting the least influence.Practical and/or managerial implications: Strategic interventions involving positive adjustments on the five employee satisfaction dimensions examined in this study may be initiated and applied to improve overall organisational performance in public organisations.Contributions and/or value add: The study endorses the notion that a satisfied workforce could be the key to enhanced organisational performance.

Background: The implementation of green supply chain management activities as a business strategy remains unfamiliar to many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries such as South Africa. Setting: Implementation of green supply chain management activities by South African SMEs is necessary, given both the high failure rate of such enterprises in the country and the proven ability of such activities to promote the success of businesses. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between green supply chain management activities, operational performance and supply chain performance in manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. Methods: Data were collected from 219 manufacturing SMEs operating within Gauteng. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of measurement scales. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Results: Four green supply chain management activities, namely green purchasing, reverse logistics, environmental collaboration with suppliers and green manufacturing, exerted a positive influence on operational performance. Environmental collaboration with suppliers exerted the highest influence on operational performance when compared to green purchasing, reverse logistics and green manufacturing. In turn, operational performance exerted a strong positive influence on supply chain performance. Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that manufacturing SMEs in developing countries could benefit by adopting green supply chain management activities, with improvements being realised in terms of increases in both operational and supply chain performance.