BUSE Institutional Repository

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Theses and Dissertations completed by BUSE graduate students

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 9

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Online purchase intentions of affluent women: blending African beliefs, consumer vanity and luxury beauty products online purchase intentions
(Cogent Social Sciences, 2025) Jaravaza, Divaries Cosmas; Mukucha. Paul; Nhidza, Lucy; Mukudza, Forbes
With the growing popularity of online shopping and the increasing demand for luxury beauty products, understanding the underlying cultural factors influencing consumer behaviour becomes crucial for marketers and researchers alike. This study aims to investigate the influence of African social axioms on affluent women’s consumer vanity and luxury beauty products online purchase intention in Zimbabwe. Data was collected from 400 affluent female respondents in Zimbabwe through convenience sampling. The study used a structured questionnaire to gather information from affluent women in affluent suburbs and shopping centres. Data was analysed using structural equation modelling on SPSS AMOS. Findings of the study revealed significant negative relations between Ubuntu and consumer vanity. Other African beliefs of ancestral relevance and religiosity had positive relations to consumer vanity. Consumer vanity had positive relations to online purchase intentions of luxury beauty products. It was also concluded that individuals who place importance on their ancestral heritage and strong religious beliefs may be more inclined to prioritise physical appearance leading to a greater interest in luxury beauty products. However, individuals who uphold Ubuntu ethos are least concerned with vanity, hence, promotional messages and branding must incorporate Ubuntu to capture such consumers.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Role of gender matching in personal selling of embarrassing products: an empirical study in Zimbabwean fashion boutiques
(2025) Mukucha, Paul; Jaravaza, Divaries Cosmas; Dangaiso, Philip; Makudza, Forbes
Effective personal selling of embarrassing products, such as undergarments, seems to be a complex phenomenon in conservative societies, where sexuality is treated with higher levels of sacredness. This phenomenon is worsened by the gender mismatch between sales assistants and customers. Therefore, there is a need to determine whether gender matching between sales assistants and customers can improve customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversion. To achieve this objective, an observation of personal selling encounters was conducted in fashion boutiques in Zimbabwe. A sample of 400 encounters was recorded, and a chi-square statistic was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that gender matching has a statistically significant effect on customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversions. The findings of this study expanded the applicability of the role congruency theory to sales encounters for embarrassing products. The practical implications of this study suggested that gender matching should be considered when deploying sales assistants for embarrassing products so as to elicit customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversions. Customer-initiated sales interactions play an important role in generating sales conversions. Gender matching tends to provide some comfort to the customers of embarrassing products, leading to pleasant shopping experiences.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Role of gender matching in personal selling of embarrassing products: an empirical study in Zimbabwean fashion boutiques
(Management and Economics Review, 2025) Mukucha, Paul; Jaravaza, Divaries Cosmas; Dangaiso, Philip; Makudza, Forbes
Effective personal selling of embarrassing products, such as undergarments, seems to be a complex phenomenon in conservative societies, where sexuality is treated with higher levels of sacredness. This phenomenon is worsened by the gender mismatch between sales assistants and customers. Therefore, there is a need to determine whether gender matching between sales assistants and customers can improve customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversion. To achieve this objective, an observation of personal selling encounters was conducted in fashion boutiques in Zimbabwe. A sample of 400 encounters was recorded, and a chi-square statistic was used to analyse the data. The results indicated that gender matching has a statistically significant effect on customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversions. The findings of this study expanded the applicability of the role congruency theory to sales encounters for embarrassing products. The practical implications of this study suggested that gender matching should be considered when deploying sales assistants for embarrassing products so as to elicit customer-initiated sales interactions and sales conversions. Customer-initiated sales interactions play an important role in generating sales conversions. Gender matching tends to provide some comfort to the customers of embarrassing products, leading to pleasant shopping experiences.
Access status: Open Access ,
Waste material recycling: the horrors of informal waste material picking in Zimbabwe
(Journal of Responsible Production and Consumption, 2025) Mukucha, Paul; Jaravaza, Divaries Cosmas
Purpose – The transition from a linear to a circular economy has created unintended employment opportunities for marginalised communities in various developing countries. Informal waste picking, a prevalent occupation among recent migrants and individuals with limited education, highlights the complexities of informal employment. The phenomenon underscores the challenges faced by socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals in securing formal employment. Such individuals are confronted with a multiplicity of challenges that are delved into in the current study. Therefore, this study aims to examine the challenges faced by informal waste material pickers beyond what is already documented in the extant literature. Design/methodology/approach – The study used a sample of 42 (42) informal waste material pickers. The participants were drawn from several dumpsites in the city of Harare. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on the respondents within their workplace. The data was analysed thematically. Findings – The results revealed that informal waste material pickers are faced with ritualistic sexual abuses, scary encounters, territorial fights and are subjected to being sanctuaries for criminals. Research limitations/implications – The study highlights the challenges faced by informal waste pickers that need to be addressed by policymakers to bring sanity to the recycling efforts and municipal waste management systems. The study recommends that the public policymakers should look after the welfare of the informal waste material pickers, considering that they have a crucial role in sustaining the circular economy. Originality/value – The study reveals the horrors faced by informal waste material pickers as the key contributors to the circular economy through providing secondary material for recycling
Access status: Open Access ,
An Assessment of supplier development in the Zimbabwean cotton industry
(2024) Mukucha, Paul; Chari, Felix
Supplier development in the form of contract farming has become the main sourcing strategy in agro-processing industry. However, it is not yet clear from the extant literature how investments in contract farming contribute towards yield per yield. More specifically, this study sought to determine the effects of supplier development in contract farming investments on cotton yield in kilograms per hectare. It furthermore, seeks to unravel whether contract farming initiatives lead to the yield that exceeds 2000 kg/hectare as specified by the Zimbabwe regulatory authority’s target. The study uses secondary data obtained on average national cotton contact farming investments per hectare in monetary terms. The output yield per hectare is obtainable from several publications by the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA). The statistics cover the period between year 2011 and 2016. Statistical data analysis of the study is accessed through the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) using simple linear regression for the first hypothesis, and One-sample t-test for the second hypothesis. Supplier development initiatives’ impact on yield is found to be statistically significant indicating that for every one unit increase in dollar investments yield changes by 1.161 kg of harvested cotton seed. The results also show that the mean cotton yield in kg/hectare is by far below the national set target of two thousand (2000) kg/hactare. The study recommends that the levels of investments ought to be increased in order to impact positively on yield in order to attain the desired yield per hectare.