Tinashe Ndoro

Purpose: Drawing on the business-to-business (B2B) relationship perspective, this study reconceptualises satisfaction as both an antecedent and an outcome within micro-enterprise banking relationships. Specifically, it examines how economic satisfaction influences non-economic satisfaction through the relational mechanisms of trust and commitment and assesses the mediating roles of these constructs. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data through testing the proposed relationships. Data were collected from a sample of 381 micro-enterprise business banking customers in South Africa. Findings: The results indicate that economic and non-economic satisfaction play distinct roles in shaping relationship quality. Economic satisfaction significantly predicts trust and commitment, whereas non-economic satisfaction is influenced by both trust and commitment. Bootstrapped mediation analysis further shows significant indirect effects of economic satisfaction on non-economic satisfaction through both trust and commitment. As the direct effect of economic satisfaction on non-economic satisfaction remains significant when the mediators are included, the findings indicate partial rather than full mediation. Thus, economic satisfaction influences non-economic satisfaction both directly and indirectly through relational mechanisms. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited by its cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling. Future research could adopt longitudinal and comparative approaches across industries to validate and extend these findings. Practical implications: Banks serving micro-enterprises should focus on enhancing customers' economic satisfaction (e.g. competitive pricing, business growth support) to build trust and long-term commitment. The findings suggest that economic satisfaction contributes directly to non-economic satisfaction and indirectly strengthens it through trust and commitment. Banks should therefore combine the delivery of economic value with relationship-building initiatives that foster trust and commitment, thereby enhancing emotional and relational satisfaction, loyalty and relationship continuity. Originality/value: This study extends B2B relationship theory, commitment-trust theory and social exchange theory by empirically demonstrating the dual role of satisfaction and the partial mediating roles of trust and commitment in an under-researched context, specifically financial services for micro-enterprises in an emerging market context. It provides novel insights into relationship dynamics characterised by economic and non-economic exchanges between micro-enterprise customers and financial service providers in an emerging market context.

Due to the rapid advancement of new technologies in business, marketers’ dependency on usergeneratedcontent (UGC) is rising. This study therefore seeks to elucidate the importance of usergeneratedcontent in creating sales and establishing relationships with customers. Conveniencenon-probability sampling was adopted in selecting 330 participants. In addition, structuralequation modelling was used in testing proposed hypotheses. Findings reveal that there is apositive relationship between the use of UGC, brand trust and purchase intention. However, itis observed that subjective norms, information quality and source credibility affect the use ofUGC for decision making. The main recommendation is that it is imperative for marketers to becognisant of their online audience and engage with customers online. Overall, this study will aidmarketers in the comprehension of the factors associated with brand trust and purchase intentionin relation to UGC advertising.

Twitter as a communication medium has revolutionised the way in which messages are sent and received due to its immediacy and reach. This study investigated the extent to which Twitter was utilised as an effective communication tool for raising tuition funds at a selected university in South Africa. The research was quantitative in nature, adopting the survey methodology, were willing, randomly selected participants completed a questionnaire on campus. Non-probability sampling was used in selecting these participants due to the difficulty of obtaining a sampling frame. A total of 380 surveys were returned and used for analysis and insights. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling were conducted to generate results using SPSS 25 and AMOS 25 respectively. A key finding established that ‘perceived ease of use Twitter’ and ‘perceived usefulness Twitter’ were the most correlated constructs regarding its effectiveness in raising funds. Based on the findings, implications emerged as well as interesting insights into how students perceive Twitter as a viable tool for raising tuition fees. The limitations of the study were highlighted. Lastly, further research suggestions were proposed.

Orientation: There is a growing prevalence of entrepreneurial activity by immigrant entrepreneurs in different sectors of various economies across the world. Immigrant entrepreneurs seek to identify opportunities to grow and sustain their businesses in hostile business markets. Immigrant entrepreneurs use an array of channels of communication to gain insight of the opportunities in the market.Research purpose: The study sought to investigate the communication channels used by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs to identify opportunities in the host community market.Motivation for the study: The study was undertaken given the dearth of research on the role of communication channels in enabling the identification of opportunities by immigrant entrepreneurs.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research design was adopted in which purposive and snowball sampling were adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs operating small businesses in the South African context.Main findings: The results indicate that the immigrant entrepreneurs identified opportunities in the business environment through establishing channels of communication that manifested as networks with family members, customers, local employees and competitors. Building relationships through networks was key for the process of identifying opportunities.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides evidence that information about opportunities in the market is identified through dynamic channels of communication characterised by networks with different stakeholders.Contribution/value-add: Communication channels are pivotal in enabling the identification of opportunities in the business environment. Immigrant entrepreneurs actively create and sustain their relationships with various stakeholders in the business environment to be able to identify opportunities in the business environment.