Journal of Business and Retail Management Research

         Interpersonal relationships among employees in the global workplace are facing challenges that could adversely affect employee performance. The retail sector of the South African economy is one of the largest employer of labour in the country. Employees in the South African retail sector found in a ‘rainbow’ environment are not excused from arduous interpersonal relationships, which positions them to be in need of social support. Although organizations realise that employees need social support, few studies have examined the role that supervisor/subordinate social support plays on an employee’s performance in the South African retail sector.
        This article investigates the presence or otherwise of interpersonal relationships through available support among categorized employees and its effect on their performance at work. A non-experimental research design was adopted and concurrent transformative mixed method research approach was used to examine bivariate connections among the variables. 163 supervisors and 147 subordinate employees in 4retail companies in South Africa were sampled. The findings of the quantitative data revealed that there was no significant connection between social support and employee performance, but the qualitative data findings unveiled the reasons for the dissociation between support and performance.
         The findings further indicated that supervisors’ and subordinate workers’ relationships were at low levels of relational attachment and social interaction. This validates the position of previous studies on social support. Participants purported that communication, training, teamwork, friendliness, respect for individuals, and information sharing were important factors that should assist employees to improve interpersonal relationships at work. The understanding of the knowledge of social support has been deepened by this study as it points to the possibility of mediation in future studies.

          In South Africa, social media has become a popular public relations research topic in non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This is because NGOs are increasingly integrating social media into their public relations strategies in an effort to engage with the variety of stakeholders by using communication platforms such as Facebook and Twitter that social life takes place, people communicate and share information. This study reviews the current uses, benefits, and limitations of social media in public relations among NGOs and analyses how South African public relations practitioners are experiencing these uses, benefits and limitations of social media in NGOs. Based on theoretical guidelines for social media public relations communication the empirical study employs a qualitative research using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with public relations practitioners in NGOs.
          The results provide a holistic view of their experience in social media. The key benefits of using social media were identified as theincreasing public relations interactions with audience, improving the accessibility of public relations communication, increasing the speed for feedback and input, social/peer and emotional support, potential to influence the public, improving the long-term cost effective relationship of public relations communication, reaching youth and other audiences on specific issues. The limitations were identified as quality concerns, confidentiality and private information leaking to the public, and the reliability of information.

          The township market makes the largest contribution to liquor sales in South Africa, but growth, sustainability and success of this market is unsatisfactory. The sector needs assistance to improve their performance. This paper aims at identifying the critical skills and knowledge specific to township liquor retailing.
        Data was collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews; participants included representatives from provincial government, the top three liquor manufacturers and distributors, and forty liquor retail owners from Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain townships.
          The findings reveal that skills and knowledge (customised to suit township are the foundation for better management of these businesses). The critical skills and knowledge are Operating Capital, Operations Management and Human Resource. Township liquor retailers fail as a result of mistakes that could be avoided through acquiring the right skills and knowledge. The current government and supplier skills and knowledge programmes should be improved and tailored to suit the profile of these entrepreneurs.

          Information services based on Big Data analytics require data governance that can satisfy needs for corporate governance. While existing data governance focuses on data quality but Big Data governance needs to be established in consideration of a broad sense of Big Data services such as analysis of social trends and predictions of change. To achieve goals of Big Data services, strategies need to be established with alignment to the vision of the corporation. For successful implementation of Big Data services, there is needed a framework to enable initiation ofa Big Data project as a guide and method. We propose the Big Data Governance Framework to facilitate successful implementation in this study.
           Big Data governance framework presents additional criteria from existing data governance focused on data quality level. The Big Data governance framework focuses on timely, reliable, meaningful, and sufficient data services. The objective of Big Data services is what data attributes should be achieved based on Big Data analytics. In addition to the quality level of Big Data, personal information protection strategy and data disclosure/accountability strategy are needed to prevent problems.
          This study conducted case analysis about the National Pension Service (NPS) of South Korea based on the Big Data Governance Framework we propose. Big Data services in the public sector are an inevitable choice to improve quality of life of people. Big Data governance and its framework are essential components for the realization of Big Data services’ success. In case-analyses, we identified vulnerabilities or risk areas, and we hope that these case studies will be used as major references to implement Big Data services without problems.

          With regard to the trade sector, information and communication technology (ICT) is seen as a tool that not only helps to promote productivity, but also improve trade competitiveness. Previous studies have shown significant and positive contributions of ICT to trade, however such evidence may not necessarily be true for countries that have relatively lower level of ICT uptake, particularly those at the undesirable end of digital divide. This paper assesses the impact of ICT on trade measured in terms of merchandise and services, on 42 upper middle income countries (ICT haves) and 21 low income countries (ICT have-nots), separately, from 2007 to 2014. Using panel OLS and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation methods, findings revealed that ICT has no significant impact on either type of trade in low income countries, whereas more advanced forms of ICT namely, mobile cellular and the Internet emerge significant for upper middle income countries. These results suggest that level of ICT may still be at infancy in low income countries, while the ICT-enabled trade in upper middle income countries is already showing increased merchandise trade and service trade from the use of modern technologies.

          Online brand community refers to a specialized, non-geographically bound, online community, based on social communications and relationships among brand’s consumers. Consciousness of kind, rituals and traditions, and moral responsibility are the three markers of brand community. The present study tested the effects of online brand community by modeling the three community markers as formative indicators of online brand community. The effects of online brand community on four value creation practices, social networking, impression management, community engagement, and brand use, and the mediating effects of community loyalty were tested. Participants (N=370) of this study were members of online brand communities. A survey-based empirical study was conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Test results showed that,among the three brand community markers,consciousness of kind and rituals and traditions are formative indicators of online brand community while moral responsibility is not. The effects of online brand community on all four value creation practices were revealed.
          Test results showed that online brand community has the strongest effects on social networking, moderate effects on community engagement and brand use, and the weakest effects on impression management practices. Community loyalty was found to fully mediate the relationship between online brand community and value creation practices. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

          This study aims to examine the relationship between executive’s compensation and firm performance in the banking industry in Indonesia. This study also determines the impact of remuneration and nomination committee (RNC) on executive’s compensation (EC) and firm performance. The samples are listed bank in Indonesia during 2006 – 2015. The regression uses two stage least square (2SLS) with unbalanced panel data. The findings reveal that performance on pay and pay on performance are valid in Indonesia. However, the performance is only for accounting-based performance but not for market value–based performance. Furthermore, in examining the role of remuneration and nomination committee (RNC), the findings reveal that the RNC has a negative relationship to the executives’ compensation (ES). It seems the role of the RNC is preventing the overpaid of the EC. Finally, regarding the ownership structure, The state banks have the similar behavior with the main findings in this research. However, only in the state bank, the RNC has a real impact on both accounting-based performance and market value-based performance. While ownership concentration (BO) variable which is used as dependent variables in this study reveals the possibility of the agency problems or inactive block holders condition that make ineffective monitoring role of the corporation since the findings show that the more BO, the more EC, and the worse firms performance.

          Advertising is experiencing rapid technological changes that have led to digitalization of media, consequently resulting in the emergence of new media types, such as mobile phones. This has facilitated the easy spread of advertisements among consumers and allowed interaction with them in an easier manner. However, to fully utilize the potential of the mobile phone as an advertising channel, marketers must understand its unique and relevant characteristics and the different approaches that consumers use to interact with this channel. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between message relevance, information value, message receiving time, and consumers’ permission to receive advertising messages as independent variables and consumers’ acceptance of mobile advertising and subsequent effect on purchase intention of promoted products or services using mobile advertising. Based on the information obtained from 205 respondents of Saudi Arabia, the present study attempts to examine the relationship between message relevance, information value, message receiving time, and consumers’ permission to receive advertising messages on consumers’ acceptance of mobile advertising and subsequent intention to purchase of promoted products using mobile advertising.
           The findings of the study indicate the positive relationship between informational value, receiving time and consumer permission in consumers’ acceptance of mobile advertising. The present study recommends that marketers should pay attention to drivers and obstacles of mobile advertising as a significant marketing tool that influences brand image, competitiveness, and long-term success.

          Higher education is critical to economic success and long-term sustainability of Indonesia; a country in the South-East Asia region that is facing several challenges of economic growth and human capital capability, by employee engagement term. This study aims at determining the impact and the influence of the organizational climate on employee engagement. The study was from 50 educational staffs (staff, managers and school administrator) in the School of Business and Management.The employees are in the engaged state, whether they have deliver best performance, put out the best ideas, have a sincere commitment to the success of the organization and are willing to stay with the organization in the long term. The methodology used in this study is a mixed method, which to obtain more comprehensive objective analysis.The results show that organizational climate is one of the determining factors of employee engagement. Meanwhile, when it addresses partially from the eighth dimension that is in the organizational climate, there are the dimensions of rewards and punishments, risk-taking and identity of the organization that have a significant effect in creating employee engagement.

          This paper discusses the role of the BRICS countries as strong players in the global economy and is aimed at identifying major obstacles to their economic growth. It examines money and debt capital markets in the BRICS and their attractiveness to foreign investment in 2006–2016. The research methodology is based on a comparative analysis of financial market indicators.
          During the period 2006–2007 the BRICS countries were becoming increasingly attractive for foreign direct investment, mostly due to their natural and labor resources. Modernization reforms, carried out in the 80s, also stimulated competition and enhanced standards of living. The BRICS countries achieved higher GDPs, promoted production growth and achieved a positive balance of payments. Since 2007 the BRICS have not only attracted investment, but have been investing in the developed economies.
          However, the analysis also revealed some fundamental economic weaknesses, originating in the global economic crisis. The most serious of these are increasing financial risks and the destabilization of the money markets. The post-crises period is characterized by the struggle for stability and the creation of new infrastructure (New Development Bank and Pool of Contingent Reserve Arrangement).

          The main objective of this study is to empirically examine the effect of Market Orientation (MO), Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Learning Orientation (LO) on Microfinance Institutions’ (MFIs) performance in the context of Yemen. It also examines the mediating effect of LO on the link between MO and EO in Yemeni MFIs’ performance. A survey questionnaire approach was employed in which 166 branch managers of MFIs across the country participated. A total of 125 usable questionnaires was obtained and used in the data analysis. The measurement model and structural model analyses were performed using partial least square structural equation modelling, Smart PLS 3.0. The results proved that both EO and LO, but not MO, have direct significant effects on MFIs’ performance. This study also found a mediating effect of LO on the link between both MO and LO with MFIs’ performance. These findings suggest that LO plays a significant role in MO, EO and MFIs’ performance. The results of the study are of great value for academicians, policy makers and practitioners.

          The phenomenon of the proliferation of retail business in Indonesia would be coupled with a very tight competition among them. Retailer has forces to create the right strategy in attracting consumers' buying. This research is analyzing the factors that influence impulse buying which measured by variables as visual merchandising, store atmosphere and private label product. The data is obtained by distribute questionnaire to 125 respondents. The hypothesis is tested using Structural Equation Models (SEM) with Partial Least Square (PLS) as statistical tools. The result revealed visual merchandising which is measured by windows display, mannequin, floor merchandising and assortment has positive and significant effect on impulse buying. Attractive store atmosphere has positive and significant effect on it which is measured by lighting, layout, visual communication (color) and scent on the store. The mount of impulse buying can also be affected by creating private label product. The unique packaging and low price really diluted by consumers. These three aspects proved become determinant factors affecting impulse buying.

          A Retail store is now a prevalent concept in Bangladesh offering a wide range of necessity goods for household and daily living. Within the last one decade, superstores have developed positive perceptions among customer and this is the attractive business to many investors. As retail shop business is based on service sector, customer satisfaction and service delivery are keys to the success where having satisfied employees are essential. Hence, to achieve sustainable organizational development and higher organizational performance in this competitive market, the need of having a special emphasis on effective internal marketing practice is worth mentioning. Viewing employees as an internal customer is essential and vital in internal marketing that contributes to job satisfaction.
          This paper aims to analyze the relationship between internal marketing factors and employee job satisfaction in the retail sector of Bangladesh. The essential assumptions in the research are internal marketing components namely training and development, organizational support, pay and rewards, and retention policy influence job satisfaction. A multiple regression analysis was used as an efficacious method to test the effect of internal marketing practices on employee’s job satisfaction. The adjusted   is .751 which suggests that the four internal marketing elements explain close to 75.1 percent of the variance for the dimension of employee’s job satisfaction.
          The results of the multiple regression analysis elucidate that there is variation in the effect of internal marketing factors on job satisfaction. So, it can be deduced that the stronger the internal marketing practice; the better will be the level of employee satisfaction. Organization should treat employees as an internal customer and give them opportunities for developing themselves. The company should ensure that they have the promotion opportunity and frequent feedback along with ensuring a healthy working environment. A company should induce financial rewards by providing bonus, commissions etc. to increase the satisfaction level. Since internal marketing practices act as a precursor to higher organizational performance and job satisfaction, special attention has been given in this paper to focus the importance of internal marketing practices.

          Service quality is no doubt one of the criteria used by existing customers or potential customers to make decision of their continued patronage or choice of service provider. However, knowledge gap of regulatory requirements cum standards among bank employees especially the frontline personnel have been reported as a factor which has contributed to inconsistent service quality delivery and service delivery failure to bank customers in Nigeria. It is against this background that this study assessed the extent to which knowledge of banking services among the frontline personnel is significant to quality of service delivery in the Nigerian Commercial Bank.
          The study employed survey research design through which primary data were collected from four hundred and seventy-two (N=472) bank customers of Union Bank Nigeria Plc. in Lagos State. Data was obtained through structured questionnaire. The data gathered were analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that service quality delivery remains significant in the commercial bank and that there is a significant relationship between knowledge of banking services among frontline personnel and quality of service delivery in the Nigerian commercial bank. Based on the findings, the study concluded that knowledge of banking services among frontline personnel significantly influenced banking services delivery to customers and that the adequacy of the knowledge in banking services are significant to ensuring efficient quality service delivery in commercial bank. It was subsequently recommended that management of the banks should always train their staff while frontline personnel should promote

          This study examines the influence of social entrepreneurship pedagogy on the behavioural outcomes of the Nigerian universities’ students; regarding their attitudes, intentions and behaviours towards social venture creation. The Nigeria university system is producing graduates as employees rather than employers of labour. Insights were drawn from the theory of planned behaviour and theory ‘U’ in this inquiry. The principles of quantitative and correlational methods were combined in an explanatory research design. The multivariate statistical analyses used in this study are exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modelling as well as model fit indices. The results point to a significant positive relationship between social entrepreneurial pedagogy and students behavioural outcomes in the Nigerian universities. Results also show that pedagogical contents exert the greatest influence on students’ intentions towards creating social ventures. Students’ attitudes mediate the relationship between social entrepreneurial pedagogy and students’ behavioural outcomes in Nigeria.

         The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of managerial ability towards earnings quality with audit committee as the moderation variable. The research data is secondary data, which is data from the audited financial statements of 53 go public manufacturing companies in Indonesia with 159 units of analysis for the period of 2014-2016. Data is obtained from the Indonesian Capital Market Directory. The results show that (i) managerial ability has a positive and significant effect towards the earnings quality; (ii) The macro condition represented by the interest rate has a negative and insignificant effect towards earnings quality; (iii) The audit committee strengthens the effect of managerial ability towards earnings quality. This research contributes to enrich the earnings quality literature, especially about the role of managers, which is managers are not the absolute profit management actors, but capable managers create efficiency and improve earnings quality.

          The main objective of this study is to examine strategic alignment and implementation perspective of manufacturing based of SMEs in Nigeria. The study established the strategic match between firm’s growth strategy, competitive strategy, and performance. Specifically, this paper aims to investigate the effects of market penetration strategy, market development strategy and cost leadership strategy on performance. Hence, this study employed cross-sectional survey design; SPSS and PLS-SEM were used for preliminaries and hypothesis testing. 277 usable questionnaires were collected from owners-managers of manufacturing based of SMEs. The findings of this study indicate that market penetration strategy and market development strategy significantly influence the firm performance of manufacturing based SMEs in Nigeria. Also, the result shows that market penetration and market development strategy have a significant impact on cost leadership strategy, which enhances firm’s competitiveness and competitive advantage. However, the result of mediating role of cost leadership strategy was established. The findings suggest that cost leadership strategy exert the relationship of market penetration & market development strategy and performance alignment. Therefore, owners-managers of manufacturing based of SMEs possibly make decisions considering their strategic orientation perspective collectively to integrate growth strategies and competitive strategy to sustain competitive advantage, improve competency and achieve superior performance.

          The aim of this study is to determine the competitive advantages of Kazakhstan in trading with other countries based on revealed comparative advantages, in which the interlinked commodity exchanges will be developed in the medium-term. This research applies the index of comparative advantages. The paper presents an empirical analysis of the competitive advantages of Kazakhstan export products. The Balassa Index was proposed for Kazakh six-digit HS product category level, the choice of which was due to their modest design of calculation and simplicity in interpreting the results.
          The main results reveal that Kazakhstan shows a comparative advantage in a number of sectors; the product groups with a strong competitive advantage show a significant variation in comparative advantage. The results can be applied to assess Kazakhstan’s export competitiveness and the restructuring of its domestic trade policy.

          Managing risk is important. Organizations are starting to see the value of, or asking for strategic solutions to managing the risk. Risk refers to a deviation from what the organization plans or expects. Risk has an upside (opportunity), as well as a downside, the potential negative impact to an asset. This type of risk (loss) can prevent companies from achieving strategic goals. Organizations can turn risks into opportunities through effective risk management.
          For public companies which have subsidiaries in many countries, one of the risks should be managed is country risk. Country risk is defined as the risk a foreign government will default on its bonds or other financial commitments. Country risk also refers to the broader notion of degrees to which political and economic unrest affects the securities of issuers that do businesses in a particular country.
          In this research, we analyze the effect of country risk on company performance. Moreover, we employ linear regression to model the effect and the result shows country risk has a significant negative influence on Return on Equity (ROE). We also build nine models to predict country risk ratings based on country risk reports by utilizing machine learning algorithms. Furthermore, decision tree algorithm has the highest accuracy 31.25% on our dataset. Finally, our results show that, firstly, international companies who have overseas subsidiaries can benefit from using country risk as a tool to measure returns. Secondly, decision tree algorithm should be utilized to help decision makers determine country risks based on country reports; however, the effect of time-series data set into the machine learning algorithms still needs more investigations.

          The relationship between the oil price and the real exchange rate of the U.S. dollar is a topic of great interest and wide discussion in economic literature. This paper is aimed at analyzing this relationship. The currencies that were used for the study are the U.S. dollar, British pound, Swiss franc, Swedish Krona, Japanese Yen, and Canadian dollar. In order to actualize this analysis, we developed and used a model based on a monetary approach to exchange rates; the model includes such variables as real money balances, real GDP of countries, differences between domestic and foreign interest rates, and the real price of oil. Monthly time series data from 1995 to 2015 was used to make an econometric analysis of the topic. Before testing the model, the data was tested to be stationary and the data series found to be in order of integration. An error correction model was used and the determinants of the exchange rate were estimated. The results of the final model showed that an increase in oil price, caused a minor appreciation of dollar against the currencies included in the work.

          This study discusses electronic brand community (e-brand community), especially Xiaomi online community in Indonesia. The goals of this research are (1) to analyse the influence of e-WOM attractiveness on e-brand community trust, (2) to analyse the Influence of e-brand community experience on e-brand community trust and brand loyalty, (3) to analyse e-brand community trust on brand loyalty. The research samples are 139 members of Xiaomi online community in Indonesia. The analysis used in this study is a structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS version 21 to process the data. The results show that only e-brand community experience is able to improve brand loyalty. E-WOM attractiveness is unable to improve e-brand community trust. Other results show that e-brand community experience has negative and insignificant influence on e-brand community trust, while e-brand community trust has positive but insignificant influence on brand loyalty. The research implications are: first, focus on building website in which there is an interactive forum. Second, strive to build an active participation of online community members. Third, as an effort for e-WOM attractiveness to raise online community members’ trust, the company needs to actively engage in any opinions made by the leaders of renowned ‘figures’ in  community members and be actively involved in communication with this product communities.

          All retailers are obliged to compete in an environment which is characterised by increasing competition, uncertain economic conditions and the increasingly sophisticated desires of consumers. In response, retailers have been prompted to improve not only the ranges of products which they offer, but the quality of their service as well. Some food retailers, however, have gained a reputation for the poor quality of their service. By contrast, those food retailers which consistently provide their customers with service which is perceived to be of high quality are usually rewarded with high levels of both satisfaction and loyalty among their customers, which tends to minimise the likelihood of customers defecting to competitors and ultimately results in the retailers concerned maintaining their profitability in a sustainable manner. On the assumption that the youth represents a significant market for any retailer, it is a central tenet of this paper that retailers which are able to attract and muster support among the youth would inevitably increase both their viability and their sustainability. Accordingly, the study upon which this paper is based sought to gauge the perceptions of the youth of the importance of receiving high quality service from the large food retailers which they patronised most.
          A quantitative research approach was adopted to gather the data from a final research sample of 176 first year students who were enrolled to study towards the National Diploma in Retail Business Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Students who were studying towards this particular qualification were purposively selected because it was assumed that they would be familiar with retail concepts and be acutely aware of concerns pertaining to service quality. A self-administered questionnaire was considered to represent the optimal means of gathering relevant and appropriate data. The findings suggest that although large food retailers were generally perceived as successfully providing high quality service in some respects, in others they were generally less successful. It was evident that the respondents perceived, to a very significant degree, that the physical attributes of large retail food stores were the most important determinants of service quality. Attributes which pertained to convenience received particularly high ratings from the respondents, as did the quality of the products which were offered by retailers. Those determinants of service quality which pertained to interactions with the sales staffs of the retailers received the lowest ratings. The fact that the respondents rated the quality of the products which were offered as being of greater concern than their prices suggested that they would be inclined to remain loyal to large food retailers which met their perceived requirements for overall quality, which would include that of the service which they received from the retailers concerned, even if their prices were higher than those of their competitors.

          The main purpose of the study is to present the characteristics of risk associated with the lending policies of banks, with particular focus on mortgage loans in Poland. Risk is concomitant with any economic activity, regardless of the sector in which it is conducted. It is also an unavoidable element in the banking sector and its lending activities, including granting mortgage loans. The study contain an analysis of the current situation of the mortgage loan sector, which is largely based on variable interest rates. It is one of the main potential sources of system risk in the banking sector in Poland.  It also demonstrates the opportunities for a wider introduction of fixed-rate mortgage loans onto the Polish market. Fixed-rate mortgage loans have benefits for both the client and the bank. Increasing the number of fixed-rate loans would strengthen the Polish banking sector while also providing greater stability and security to borrowers.

          The emergence of evolving path to purchase leads to gaining a clearer understanding of revolutionized digital channels. Customer engagement in today’s electronic word is happening through interactive media contact points. This study investigates various interactive media contact points in context of fashion market. This research was based on qualitative approach using sequential incident technique to understand all contact points and episodes encountered during the customer journey. The study presents detailed analysis of semi-structured interviews. The findings uncovered forty interactive media contact points. The results highlight areas of online customer journey and provide comprehensive understanding of relationship between different stages of an online customer journey. The findings contribute to the growing area of interactive media marketing research. The study provides direction for scholars and practitioners to design interactive media contact points map for fashion brands.

          The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of brand experience and brand trust to enhancing brand commitment and brand loyalty. The data of the study collected by survey method. The sample in this research is the students from three cities in Indonesia as Yogyakarta, Semarang and Jakarta. The analysis of this research uses SEM.  The results of testing four hypotheses of the study as significant. Brand experience support to brand commitment. Brand trust support to brand commitment. Brand commitment support on brand loyalty. The unit analysis is also a less in this study due to the current laptop products are no longer a luxury product but they shifts as commodity that are commonly used by university students.