Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences
School of Management Sciences
Department of Marketing and Communication Management
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Consumers increasingly display concern about intrusions on their privacy by marketers and insist on the protection of the confidentiality of their personal information. This research identified the information privacy concerns of South African consumers in a commercial environment. Data was collected through telephone interviews with 800 consumers. The measurement instrument was purified by means of exploratory factor analysis, reliability measurement and confirmatory factor analysis. Four information privacy concerns were identified, namely concerns about privacy protection, information misuse, solicitation and government protection. Main conclusions indicate that government and organisations have a responsibility to communicate how they will use consumer information to ensure that consumer privacy is protected.
Contact person: Dr Y Jordaan.
In today's competitive arena businesses are driven to attain a distinctive and valued brand position in the minds of customers and potential consumers, and to build brands through consistent communication messages. To reinforce the single-minded positioning of the brand a qualitative exploratory research study was conducted to engage the opinions and attitudes of leaders in the South African marketing and communication industry on the use of unconventional and unexpected points of brand contact. The key finding of the study supported the central proposition, namely that the outside-in brand contact approach can break through commercial clutter and impact on consumers in a positive manner. The study also culminated in the design of a Conceptual Model to Alternative Brand Contact Planning.
Contact person: Prof EJ North.
Organisations need to re-evaluate the way in which the communications function was previously organised and structured, and focus on a more integrated approach that will ensure maximum effectiveness. The primary objective of this research was therefore to investigate empirically how successful South African organisations are addressing the issue of integrated communication in terms of organisational structures. This, together with an extensive investigation into the relevant literature, was used to develop a framework for structuring the communication function within South African organisations to encourage integration and enhance organisational effectiveness. The research study was exploratory in nature. The measuring instruments consisted of a self-administered questionnaire, selected in-depth interviews and a content analysis of the websites of participating organisations - the top 250 South African organisations were selected. The major findings were that marketing and public relations are mostly considered to be equal and separate, but with overlapping functions, with marketing being the dominant function, and successful South African organisations do not integrate dialogic public relations through their websites. A framework for structuring integrated communication was developed, the validity of which needs to be tested in follow-up research.
Contact person: Dr L Ehlers.
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