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Through the Association of African Central Bank Governors, in 2003, Africa committed itself to work for a single currency and common central bank by 2021. In pursuit of this grand objective, many regional trading blocs including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) are involved in various economic integration activities. Forming a monetary union is a serious endeavour that needs serious and deliberate consideration. Sufficient and sound economic basis, such as similar economic structures, should be in place. The purpose of this paper was to assess the feasibility of monetary union in the SADC and EAC by determining the similarities of the economic structures in the regions through business cycle synchronisation. This study uses annual real GDP of each country in the two regions for a period of 30 years. The results of ccorrelation analysis and T-Y Granger causality test suggest that there is overwhelming lack of business cycle synchronisation in the two economic regions, suggesting that it is not feasible to form a monetary union in these two economic regions as envisaged in the timeframe. The two economic regions, therefore, need to set and coordinate major macroeconomic policies to harmonise and achieve sustainable economic development goals in their respective regions.

The SADC and EAC are working toward developing monetary unions in their respective regions in the near future. Trade openness of an economy is a crucial characteristic in assessing the feasibility of a monetary union and the adoption of a common currency. Trade is usually regarded as the main channel through which the benefits from a common currency are enjoyed by member countries. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the feasibility of a monetary union in the SADC and the EAC through the analysis of trade openness within the two economic regions. Descriptive and comparative analyses are employed to achieve the outcomes of the study. Results show that, in general, most of the SADC member countries are open to external trade, meeting the requirement of the optimum currency area (OCA) theory in this regard. This may mean that they stand to benefit from adopting a common currency in as far as trade openness is concerned. However, the low intra-regional trade is expected to limit such benefits because most of the transactions are made with the rest of the world, using foreign currencies such as the US dollar and the euro. While the countries in the EAC region have shown some progress in opening their economies in the last 30 years, results show that none of them has attained the required criterion. Our findings suggest that the countries in the EAC region may not stand to benefit from adopting a common currency. Both economic regions need to significantly increase their intra-regional trade before the implementation of the envisaged monetary union.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measuring and modelling instrument of Internet banking service quality (IBSQ) for the South African banking sector. Snowball and convenience sampling, both non-probability techniques were used to recruit participants for the study. A total of 310 Internet banking customer responses were utilised in the analysis. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), eight determinant factors that explained IBSQ were extracted. Following this, the study determined the causal relationship amongst IBSQ, customer value, satisfaction and loyalty through correlation analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM). The proposed model indicates that IBSQ, comprising eight factors, positively influences customer value, satisfaction and loyalty. The model found customer satisfaction to be a predictor of customer loyalty in an Internet banking context. Contrary to the hypothesised model, the influence of customer value was limited to customer satisfaction. The influence of customer value on customer loyalty was found to be rather weak; it influenced customer loyalty only indirectly through customer satisfaction. Understanding the intricate relationships amongst service quality, customer value, satisfaction and loyalty will definitely enhance banks’ understanding consumer behaviour and decision making in this digital era. The model may assist bankers to measure, manage and improve IBSQ. Banks could utilise this measurement model to design and improve their Internet banking services.

MCom (Economics) at the North-West University Vaal Triangle Campus, 2016 The Association of African Central Bank Governors, in 2003, announced that it would work for a single currency and common central bank by 2021. Many regional trading blocs and economic communities in Africa including SADC and EAC are working towards this grand objective. As advocated by the optimal currency area (OCA) theory, lower transaction costs, stable prices, efficient resource allocation and improved access to goods, labour and financial markets are some of the benefits accrued from monetary unions. Relinquishing monetary and exchange rate policies are cited as the main costs of joining a monetary union. Forming a monetary union is a serious endeavour by any stretch of imagination that needs serious and deliberate consideration. It could have a devastating impact on the continent and may even worsen the socio-economic conditions of the people if it is not based on sound economics, therefore, serious consideration ought to be given to such a decision. In light of this problem statement, the primary objective of this study was formulated to analyse the feasibility of a monetary union in two African economic regions, namely SADC and EAC, in the envisaged time frame. Literature on feasibility of monetary unions is dominated by the OCA theory and setting certain crucial macroeconomic convergence criteria (MECC). The study employed two separate but complimentary methodologies to realise its objectives. Descriptive statistics such as the mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were utilised in assessing the feasibility of a monetary union in the two economic regions with regard to the MECC. Various analysis such as descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, Granger causality test, Johansen cointegration test and panel cointegration test were computed in assessing the feasibility of a monetary union in respect of OCA. The MECC analysis included inflation rate, budget deficit, government debt as a percentage of GDP, total reserves cover and GDP growth. Of the 14 countries in the SADC region, only eight countries were able to meet the inflation rate criterion, six countries the budget deficit, 10 countries the government debt, only one country foreign reserve requirement and none of the countries achieved the GDP growth rate criterion during the assessment period (year 2015). In the EAC region, out of five countries, only one country achieved the inflation rate criterion, while three countries the budget deficit criterion during the assessment year. All five members achieved the government debt requirement. However, none of the countries in the EAC region could achieve the foreign reserve requirement nor attain the required economic growth. Briefly, the analysis of the five macroeconomic variables of both economic regions suggests that member countries have serious challenges in meeting the macroeconomic convergence criteria. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that member countries are not at par with each other with regard to macroeconomic convergence criteria. This issue was more prevalent in the SADC region than the EAC region. Therefore, the study, based on the MECC, concludes that the said monetary union in both SADC and EAC is not feasible, at least in the envisaged timeframe. In accordance with OCA theory, degree of openness of the economies, synchronisation of business cycles and the generalised purchasing power parity (GPPP) were analysed for the two economic regions. In terms of trade openness, there is clear indication that, generally, most of the SADC countries are open to external trade, meeting the requirement of the OCA theory in this regard. This may mean that they stand to benefit from adopting a common currency in as far as trade openness is concerned. While the countries in the EAC region have shown some progress in opening up their economies somewhat in the last 30 years, none of them has attained the required criterion. The evidence from this analysis suggests that the countries in the EAC region may not stand to benefit from adopting a common currency. The results of correlation analysis and Granger causality test indicate that both economic regions lack business cycle synchronisation, therefore, do not constitute monetary areas. On the positive side, the analysis of the GPPP indicates that GPPP holds in two economic regions. Trace statistic and Max-Eigen statistic confirm that there is at least one cointegrating equation indicating long-run association of real exchange rates in the SADC region. The presence of cointegrating vector(s) is supportive of an OCA and can be interpreted as similarities of fundamental macroeconomic factors that derive real exchange rate in the region. The result also suggests the countries share similar real disturbance in as far as real exchange rate is concerned. This means the bilateral real exchange rate in the SADC and EAC region share a common stochastic trend in the long run. This evidence suggests that the two economic regions constitute an OCA. This finding also was supported by Pedroni’s panel cointegration test. The overall weight of evidence based on the MECC and OCA theory suggests that the proposed monetary unions in the SADC and EAC are not feasible in the envisaged timeframe. By establishing the feasibility of monetary union in the two economic regions, the study attempts to make modest contribution to the debate on possible economic and monetary union in Africa and particularly in those two African economic regions. Furthermore, the study seeks to assist and advise policy makers in their decisions - decisions that will affect millions of people across the continent. Among other things, the two economic regions need to increase macroeconomic coordination with regard to fiscal, monetary, trade and exchange rate policies is crucial in converging and smoothing asymmetries ahead of possible full-fledged monetary union in the future. Masters

PhD (Marketing Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015. The rapid advancement in technology-based systems, especially those related to the Internet and World Wide Web, has led to fundamental changes in how banks interact with customers. These developments have propelled banks to be innovative and use alternative delivery channels such as electronic banking with a view to attract more customers, create value for customers, enhance customer satisfaction and ultimately obtain customer loyalty. Within the South African context, a gap in research was identified that dealt with the conceptualisation and measurement of electronic banking service quality. Furthermore, no single empirical or conceptual study could be found that put up the four constructs identified in this study that tested the causal relationships of these constructs. Against this backdrop, the study‘s principal objective was to develop and validate a measuring scale of electronic banking service quality for the South African banking sector. The study also sought to determine the causal relationships amongst the four constructs of the study, namely electronic banking service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. To address these research objectives, the study applied a two-phase design in conducting the research in an effort of enhancing and maximising the outcome of this research endeavour. Phase I of this study comprised a literature review and focus group interviews (qualitative research). An extensive literature review was conducted as an inductive method to build the theoretical foundation of the study, generate the initial pool of items, and define and conceptualise the constructs. Using a deductive method, the focus group interviews were used to generate original items for the development of the scale. Phase II of the study comprised scale refinement and validation of the scale through various interactive statistical applications such as exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) (quantitative method). Using an exploratory factor analysis, eight determinant dimensions were extracted that constitute electronic banking service quality (EBSQ). These dimensions in accordance of their importance are reliability, system availability, privacy and security, website aesthetics, ease of use, functionality, efficiency, and contact and responsiveness. The Pearson‘s correlation coefficient between each of the eight dimensions and EBSQ was above 0.6 at p

PhD (Economics), North-West University, Vanderbijlpark Campus This study investigated circumstantial and durational urban poverty by adapting the UNDP MPI and developing a new multidimensional measure in Harare province. The study divided Harare province into 4 locations which are Harare rural, high density, medium density and low-density locations. The data used in this study was collected using a questionnaire employing a stratified simple random sampling across all 46 wards in all locations in Harare in order to investigate circumstantial and durational poverty in Harare. The study strove to objectively adapt the UNDP MPI and then generate a multidimensional poverty measure specifically for Harare province that can determine circumstantial and durational poverty for the city. Such a study has never done for Zimbabwe and Harare in particular and UNDP in general has not included durational aspect in its MPI. This makes the study unique in its contribution to both theory and practice. The study operationalised two broad objectives: theoretical and empirical objectives. The theoretical objectives were designed to critically review theories of poverty and their applicability in the context of Zimbabwe, to review and critique the existing measures of poverty and their applicability to Zimbabwe, to review theories on trends of poverty and how they contradict each other based on the different measures, to review and critique the existing durational poverty measures and their applicability in Zimbabwe and to review and critique literature on circumstantial poverty. The empirical objectives of the study were crafted to adapt the UNDP MPI and develop a multidimensional measure of circumstantial poverty, to determine the durational urban poverty for Harare province, to compare poverty among the locations in Harare using the developed multi-dimensional measure, to determine the perception of urban poverty in Harare province, to investigate the drivers of circumstantial urban poverty in Harare and ultimately offer recommendations on policies designed to reduce urban poverty in Zimbabwe. Quantitative research design was used and the data were collected using stratified simple random sampling from household heads or their spouses. To enable robustness of the study, a pilot study was administered at 11.4% of the sample target of 400 households. Open Data Kit (ODK) was used to collect data from the sample to the domain server of the study in real time. The study used UNDP MPI methodology to develop a new multidimensional poverty measure for Harare province. The multidimensional poverty measure that was developed for Harare uses household as a unit of identification. The study used 7 dimensions and 46 indicators to generate the multidimensional poverty measure for Harare. The dimensions and indicators used in this study were based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and various ongoing An investigation of circumstantial and durational urban poverty by developing a new multidimensional measure, the case of Harare province iii academic discourses on poverty measurement. The dimensions used are education, health, standards of living, economic security, empowerment and participation, environment and public infrastructure and food adaptation. The dimensions and indicators were allocated equal weights on the researcher’s strong convictions that all dimensions and indicators are equally important. Alkire and Foster (2011) methodology was used to arrive at the poverty head count and poverty intensity which are the seminal constructs of multidimensional poverty measure Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to ascertain results for the empirical objective of the study. The study first performed multicollinearity test using Variance of Inflation factor (VIF) values. Hosmer and Lemeshow test were subsequently performed to determine goodness-of-fit of the developed model of the study. This was done in order to determine whether the observed events produced by the model matched expected events. Perceptions of poverty were analysed using 14 indicators within 3 dimensions which are structuralist, individualistic and fatalistic. The overall Harare multidimensional poverty index developed for the study MPIoH was found to be 0.37, implying that 37% of people in Harare are multidimensionally poor. The multidimensional poverty index calculated for each location was Harare rural 0.50, high density 0.42%, medium density 0.25% and low density 0.16%. The results indicate that the highest multidimensional poverty is in Harare rural (ward 1) followed by wards in Harare high density locations, wards in Harare medium density and lastly Harare low density locations. When cut-off was changed (k=2, k=3, k=4, k=6, k=7), the multidimensional index produced the following results: 0.40, 0.40, 0.38, 0.37, 0.31, 0.19, 0.07 and 0.01 respectively. Analysis of multidimensional poverty when cut-offs are increased shows that multidimensional poverty decreases. The study reports that 73.8% of households that are currently not poor, are vulnerable to poverty at cut-off above 33% while 24% are vulnerable to poverty at cut- off ranging from 20% to 33%. The logistic regression found education, health, economic security, environmental and public infrastructure and food adaptability statistically significant in explaining circumstantial poverty in Harare province. Standards of living and empowerment and participation were found to be statistically insignificant. Increase in education was found to decrease probability of poverty by 0.3002 while increase in health was found to decrease likelihood of poverty by 2.019. Economic security improvement was found to reduce chances of poverty by 4.451. Environment and Public Infrastructure improvement would decrease the probability of poverty by 2.629 while Food security and adaptation increase the probability of reducing poverty by 3.139. An investigation of circumstantial and durational urban poverty by developing a new multidimensional measure, the case of Harare province Indicators that were found to be significant in explaining poverty are 5-16 years not attending school, school materials/needs affordability, distance (km) from nearest health facility, house size, primary source of cooking fuel, employment status of household head, employment of other household members, household asset ownership, land ownership, nature of roads infrastructure, pollution, skipping meals and borrowing food, or relying on help from friends. The overall poverty for education dimension was found to be 33.8% in Harare province, Harare rural was the most deprived of education at 57.4%. High density was found to be 32.2% education poor while medium density and low density showed intriguing results of 25.5% and 26.2% respectively. Durational poverty was found to be increasing in Harare province for the period from 2010 to 2020 when poverty head count (P0), poverty gap (P1) and severity of poverty (P2) was analysed for the same period. The highest poverty head count was recorded in Harare rural and lowest in low density. Individualistic, structuralist and fatalistic perceptions were significant in explaining poverty in Harare province. The significant indicators for explaining poverty perceptions for Harare province are: poverty is inevitable and it is part of life; the society lacks social justice; the poor live-in places with no opportunities; the poor are poor because they experienced bad luck and finally households are poor because they have encountered misfortunes. The drivers of poverty in Harare province were found to be dropout from school by children aged 5-16 years, non-affordability of school materials/needs, long distance (km) to the nearest health facility, small household house infrastructure, poor primary source of cooking fuel, unemployment of household heads and other household members, non-land ownership, poor roads infrastructure, pollution exposure and insufficient food hence skipping meals and borrowing food, or relying on help from friends. The empirical objectives of adapting the UNDP MPI and developing a multidimensional measure of circumstantial poverty is relevant as new dimensions and indicators were used in this study. Furthermore, the second objective which determined the durational urban poverty for Harare province is rare and has not been used in Zimbabwe and Harare in particular for measuring multidimensional poverty. Thirdly, comparison of poverty among the locations in Harare using the developed multi-dimensional measure provides an informed understanding of circumstantial poverty in the city. The principal objective of determining the perception of urban poverty in Harare province helped to comprehend what the residents of Harare think poverty is, and this is helpful in informing the An investigation of circumstantial and durational urban poverty by developing a new multidimensional measure, the case of Harare province right prescriptions required to fight poverty. The study found that lack of opportunities in poor locations, lack of social justice in the society, bad luck and misfortunate experiences formed perceptions of poverty in Harare province. The objective of investigating the drivers of circumstantial urban poverty in Harare generates information on what should be addressed in Harare in order to reduce poverty. Recommendations on policies that could be used to reduce urban poverty in Zimbabwe could allow policy makers to fine-tune overarching concerns and tame poverty. Academics and researchers’ policy recommendations gain additional epistemic horizons on poverty measurement. Doctoral

MCom (Risk Management), North-West University, Vanderbijlpark Campus The easing of regulations in the global banking industry has allowed entry to new financial institutions. This has led to an increase in competition since banks provide nearly identical products or services. Thus, granting bank clients with an opportunity to choose their preferred bank. As banking clients and depositors became more service- and price-conscious in their purchasing behaviour of financial services, their banking behaviour increasingly became prone to change. As a result, bank customers tend to switch banks due to underlying factors influencing their behaviour. On the other hand, banks strive to retain and attract more clients as this may increase future income and reduce the risk of liquidation. In South Africa, with more banking clients switching banks, only a few studies have explored bank switching behaviour. Therefore, against this backdrop a research gap was identified. The primary objective of this study was to examine the determinants of bank switching behaviour of depositors in a South African context. A quantitative research methodology was adopted to address the research objectives of this study. All South African depositors form part of this study’s target population. However, since the South African banking industry is highly concentrated, the sample frame comprised of only the top five banks’ depositors. The top five banks were utilised as these virtually represent the entire population in terms of the largest customer database (market share). The top five banks comprise of Absa, First National Bank (FNB), Nedbank, Capitec Bank and Standard Bank. Moreover, a non-probability purposive method was utilised for this study to meet the following sample criteria: living in Gauteng, older than 18 years, has some level of education, and earning an income deposited into a bank account. In this research journey, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has been employed to determine the important factors for bank switching behaviour of depositors in Gauteng. After conducting the EFA, five factors were extracted as a result. Based on their importance, these factors comprised of empathy that had items relating to cognitive and emotional feelings regarding the bank service quality. Bank switching, which had items relating to the reluctance of depositors to switch from their current bank to another. Reliability had items relating to accurate and timeous bank service performance. Responsiveness had items relating to skills and willingness to assist bank clients. The last factor, tangibility had items relating to tangibles such as technology, appearance, and physical facilities that can influence bank switching behaviour of depositors. All the factors indicated internal reliability, suggesting practical significance. The findings from this study have also shown that a positive relationship exists between bank perception of depositors and bank switching. Hence, bank perception of depositors influences their likelihood to switch banks. Age was the only demographical factor influencing the likelihood of bank switching. Education levels had a negative relationship with risk tolerance, implying that a higher level of education leads to lower levels of risk tolerance. On the other hand, behavioural finance biases such as representativeness, anchoring, gambler’s fallacy and overconfidence had a combination of negative and positive relationships with the demographical variables of the sample. The significant factors influencing bank switching behaviour of depositors include reliability of timeous and accurate bank service performance, customer satisfaction, and representativeness and loss aversion bias. Customer satisfaction was found to be the most contributing factor influencing bank switching behaviour of depositors. Several banks are attempting to find solutions and strategies on how to offer better quality services competitively to satisfy and retain their customers. Therefore, banks will benefit from the empirical findings of this study since they provide banks with an understanding of the factors causing the switching behaviour of depositors. Hence, banks can incorporate customer satisfaction-oriented strategies for customer retention to realise higher future profits and avoid liquidation problems. Banks will be able to reduce costs when they retain and expand their customer database. Regarding the empirical research findings of this study, recommendations and managerial implications were provided. Limitations form part of any research study and this study is not an exception. Future researchers can therefore use this study as a foundation to take on a new direction. Although the sample size of this study meets the sample adequacy for the nature of this study, it is recommended that future studies expand the sample size and consider the cultural and demographic implications of a particular region. As this study merely focused on Gauteng depositors, future researchers can investigate the changes in the significance of the determinants for bank switching behaviour. Masters

PhD (Risk Management), North-West University, Vanderbijlpark Campus, 2019 The central function of a bank inherently exposes it to various financial risks where each of these risks has the possibility to influence stakeholders’ perception. This perception, which is linked to the trustworthiness, credibility and performance of the bank, translates into the reputation of the bank. Depositors can be regarded as the primary stakeholders of a bank and hence their behaviour can influence the banks’ reputation. A banks’ reputation represents the intrinsic current value of a bank and its ability to create or erode future value. Reputational risk dominates the South African financial market as well the banking industry. Some banks regard reputational risk a result of pure reputational events while the rest of the banks regard it as a consequence of operational risk events. Although the financial markets reaction to operational risk events have been researched widely, very few researchers have explored its influence on reputational risk. The primary objective of this study was to model depositor behaviour during operational risk events to model reputational risk in banks. This study was conducted to provide a meaningful contribution toward literature and empirical research in the field of risk management. This study made use of a quantitative research methodology following a positivist research paradigm. The target population for the study comprised of all South African bank depositors in Gauteng. The sample frame included depositors banking at any one of the 28 registered banks in South Africa, Gauteng. Due to the extensive number of small, medium and large banks registered in South Africa, a decision was undertaken to only use only Gauteng depositors from the top five banks as these represents most of the population. The top five banks in terms of market share (largest customer data base) include: Standard Bank, Absa Bank, First National Bank, Nedbank and Capitec Bank. The sample further consisted out of the following characteristics: older than 18 years; bank depositor for more than five years; earns a monthly salary that is deposited into a bank account; and lives in Gauteng. During this research endeavour, various statistical analysis such as EFA, CFA and SEM was utilised in order to create a model to identify reputational risk after operational risk events specifically in Gauteng, South Africa. Based on the context of reputational risk within this study, a reputational risk definition was created in order to support the empirical objectives. The results from the empirical objectives found that all eight hypothetical operational events (internal fraud, external fraud, employee practices, damage to physical assets, client practises, business disruptions, execution and delivery and pure reputational events) were found to be reliable factors and indicated a significant influence on the reputational risk of a bank. Results from this study indicated that depositors’ behaviour is not influenced by their demographical factors. A positive relationship was found between how depositors form their perception of a bank and their willingness to withdraw during operational risk events. Depositors seem to react to operational risk events irrespective of the type of information source that made the information known. A negative relationship between depositors’ likelihood to withdraw and their risk tolerance level was also found. This indicates that depositors are more likely to withdraw their money from a bank if they are risk adverse. Reputational risk is significantly influenced by operational events, depositors who are subject towards the availability and regret bias, and depositors individual risk tolerance level. The empirical findings of this study will help banks to profile depositor behaviour during operational risk events in order to mitigate against large losses and possible bank runs. The SEM will enable banks to forecast the factors that will influence a banks reputation, which is a banks most valuable intangible asset. This will in turn enable banks to come up with better mitigation and management strategies for reputational risk. By minimising the exposure to reputational risk, banks will be able to take competitive advantage of the opportunities that the ambitious banking industry offers. Considering the theoretical and empirical findings of this study, a few managerial implications and recommendations can be offered. Much like any research endeavour, this research study had limitations of its own. Building on the foundation of this study, future researchers are recommended to use a bigger sample size and extend the region of the sample (to not only use Gauteng but also the other provinces). Since it was found that individuals do not always apply their minds when answering a questionnaire, it is also recommended that the level of financial knowledge of depositors should be investigated. The scope of the study can also be expanded to see whether a relationship between reputational risk and brand loyalty and trust exist in the banking sector. Doctoral

Retail banks are increasingly focused on maintaining a loyal customer base. This is because loyal customers translate into higher profits and increased market share. The Generation Y cohort, which comprises the youth of today, is an important current and future banking segment and its bank loyalty could have a notable effect on the profitability of retail banks. Understanding the factors that positively contribute towards this cohort’s bank loyalty will aid retail banks in devising appropriate marketing strategies for effectively targeting this market and maintaining their loyalty. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of perceived customer value, employee service quality, bank image and customer satisfaction on Generation Y students’ bank loyalty in a South African context. The study followed a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 271 banking students registered at two public university campuses in Gauteng, South Africa. The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability measures, correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis. The study’s findings suggest that South African Generation Y students’ perceived customer value, bank image and customer satisfaction has a statistically significant positive influence on their bank loyalty. However, their perceived bank employee service quality has a positive yet nonsignificant influence on their bank loyalty

MCom (Marketing Management) at the North-West University Vaal Triangle Campus, 2016 Impulse buying is regarded as an important phenomenon in the context of retail business and marketing. Impulse buying is regarded as an important marketing tool for maximising revenues for businesses as it signifies an extensive amount of products sold in the retail environment. This is because impulse buying has significant influence on consumer buying behaviour and consumer decision making. As a result, impulse buying behaviour has been identified as a key research concern amongst marketing scholars and marketing practitioners. Impulse buying behaviour is an often-arising phenomenon experienced by consumers when purchasing products. For example, in 2013, South African consumers spent, on average, R13.5 billion a month on impulse items. Most consumers buy impulsively at one time or another. The literature indicates that impulse buying behaviour is influenced by external and situational factors. External factors are defined as the attempts to entice consumers into a purchasing behaviour by marketing cues that are placed and controlled by the marketer or storeowner. External factors include in-store atmosphere, in-store browsing, in-store layout, salespersons, promotions and reference groups. Situational factors are defined as the actual or perceived time available for shopping and the amount of spending power of consumers. In other words, situational factors include time and money availability. The subjects of this study were Generation Y students. Generation Y consumers are an important marketing segment in the global marketplace, because they account for 40 percent of South Africa‟s total population of 55 908 000 in 2016. Generation Y students are aged 18 to 24 years. In particular, Generation Y students are spending more than the other generations in South Africa. The average student is spending R3 510 per month, which amounts to R42 120 per annum per student. Therefore, due to the population size of South African students, at approximately 938 000 students, together they have the potential to spend R39.5 billion per year, which makes Generation Y students an attractive segment to target. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence impulse buying behaviour amongst Generation Y students. The study employed a quantitative approach in realising its objectives. The target population of this study comprised of full-time undergraduate Generation Y students, aged between 18 and 24 years and enrolled at South African registered public higher education institutions (HEIs). The sampling frame comprised the 26 registered South African public HEIs. A non-probability judgement sample was utilised to select two HEI campuses, a traditional university and a university of technology, located in the Gauteng province, from the sampling frame. For the purpose of this study, the sampling method used was a non-probability convenience sample of 400 students (200 per institution). Convenience sampling was used to select the participants from two HEI campuses situated in the Gauteng province. The primary data were obtained by means of a survey method, using a self-administered questionnaire, which was hand-delivered to the contacted lecturers at each of the two HEIs. The questionnaire requested the students to indicate on a six-point Likert scale the level of their agreement and disagreement on 49 items designed to measure what factors they found the most influential, as well as to provide certain demographic data. Based on the statistical analysis done in this study, marketers and businesses should focus on in-store atmosphere, in-store browsing, promotions and reference groups influencing Generation Y students‟ affective response. Retailers could use the insights from the study when designing marketing strategies to increase revenue. Findings from this study contribute to the growing body of research on consumer shopping behaviour by highlighting factors influencing impulse buying behaviour amongst Generation Y students. Marketing academics and researchers could use this study to assist in further research. Although there were other studies in the topic of impulse buying and shopping behaviour, this study (determining the factors influencing impulse buying) was the first conducted in South Africa. This study could answer questions some retailers might have. Future research opportunities could consider using credit cards, which can play a major role in impulse buying behaviour. This provides an opportunity to determine whether credit cards can be a factor influencing impulse buying behaviour. Masters

Advancements in technology-based systems has resulted in banks using service delivery channels such as internet banking and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to interact with customers. To ensure a competitive edge in the marketplace banks' knowledge of the determinants of internet banking service quality is essential. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate consumer views and concerns regarding internet banking services in South Africa. A qualitative research approach using a focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from South African consumers of internet banking services. The Atlas.ti software was used in the content analysis of the interview transcripts. Four themes, namely internet banking service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, were identified as important facets of internet banking services that could improve the overall internet banking service quality at a consumer level.