scholarly journals Are Customers Satisfied With Healthier Food Options At South African Fast-Food Outlets?

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1199
Author(s):  
Michael C. Cant ◽  
Ricardo Machado ◽  
Melanie Gopaul

Fast-food consumption has been a staple for many people; however, due to rising health concerns, there has been an increasing interest in the consumption of healthier food both in South Africa and elsewhere. Many consumers are demanding better quality foods that offer nutritional benefits. This global trend has led to fast-food outlets adding healthier food options to their menus. Limited literature exists on customer satisfaction with regards to the food quality of these healthier food options. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to determine the level of customer satisfaction with the food quality of healthier food options available at fast-food outlets in South Africa. The study followed a mixed method approach, whereby a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students at a residential South African University. The results indicate that South African consumers are highly satisfied with the food quality of the healthier food options at fast-food outlets.

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-329
Author(s):  
Oghenenyerhovwo Inoni ◽  

Service quality is a major determinant of customer satisfaction and consequently a repurchase decision in the fast food restaurants’ (FFRs) industry. Nevertheless, prompt and efficient services alone may not guarantee a restaurant a place in today’s hyper- competitive marketplace. Therefore, this study was conceived to examine the impact of food quality (FQ), service quality (SQ), perceived value (PV) and restaurant environment (RE) on customer re-purchase decision, mediated by customer satisfaction (CS). Data for the study were obtained from a sample of 320 consumers drawn from 12 FFRs in three major towns in Delta State, Nigeria. Multiple and hierarchical regressions were used to analyse the data generated. The findings indicated that FQ, SQ, PV and RE exerted positive and significant effects on CS and re-purchase decision. The results also showed that CS fully mediated the relationship between SQ and repurchase decision, but the meditational influence was only partially for FQ, PV and RE; implying that FQ, PV and RE have their own direct influence on RPD besides through SQ. Given the impact of FQ, SQ, PV and RE on CS and repurchase decision, restaurants’ managers need to continually improve on the quality of their services, environment and offerings to sustain the patronage of their clients in order to survive in today’s hyper-competitive marketplace.


2021 ◽  
pp. 163-183
Author(s):  
Siti Aminah Hasbullah ◽  
Umme Umaimah Amin ◽  
Norhafizi Nordin ◽  
Nurul Asmida Abd Razak

The high demand from customers for quality services and competitive environment in the fast food industry give rise to the need to improve customers’ satisfaction that will increase the restaurant’s revenue. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors effecting customers’ satisfaction in fast food restaurants namely the price, service quality, and food quality of fast food restaurants in Arau, Perlis. The fast food restaurants selected for this study are Marry Brown, KFC, Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza. A quantitative method was applied using online questionnaire to collect data from customers. The respondents consisted of customers who had experienced purchasing at these fast food restaurants. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between customers’ satisfaction and the price of the foods. However, the study indicated insignificant relationships between food quality, service quality of fast food businesses and customers’ satisfaction. For future studies, it is recommended that the study area is expanded to involve various samples of the population, for broader results. To obtain more precise and reliable results, a similar study considering other factors that influence customer satisfaction in fast food restaurants could be added as variables.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Steyn

Green, Sonn, and Matsebula's (2007) article is useful in helping to establish and develop whiteness studies in South African academia, and thus to shift the academic gaze from the margins to the centre. The article is published in the wake of three waves of international whiteness studies, which successively described whiteness as a space of taken-for-granted privilege; a series of historically different but related spaces; and, finally, as part of the global, postcolonial world order. Green, Sonn, and Matsebula's (2007) contribution could be extended by more fully capturing the dissimilarity in the texture of the experience of whiteness in Australia and South Africa. In South Africa whiteness has never had the quality of invisibility that is implied in the ‘standard’ whiteness literature, and in post-apartheid South Africa white South Africans cannot assume the same privileges, with such ease, when state power is overtly committed to breaking down racial privilege.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Maroun ◽  
Harvey Wainer

Whistle-blowing can play an important role in enhancing the effectiveness of corporate governance processes. In particular, legislation mandating that auditors blow the whistle on their clients’ transgressions can assist in overcoming agency-related costs and improve confidence in external audit. This is, however, only the case if regulatory reform enjoys cohesion. The Companies Act No. 71 of 2008, by introducing a definition of ‘reportable irregularities’ different from that in the Auditing Profession Act No. 26 of 2005 (APA); excluding ‘independent reviews’ from the scope of APA; and effectively exempting the majority of South African companies from the requirement either to be audited or reviewed, may materially undermine whistle-blowing by auditors in South Africa. In turn, this begs the question: for how long will South Africa rank first globally for the quality of its auditing practices? 


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Soomro Dr. Raheem Bux ◽  
Brohi Noor Ahmed ◽  
Memon Khair Muhammad ◽  
Gilal Rehman Gul

The culinary business is being increased rapidly in Pakistan. Usually, Pakistani consumers prefer to eat meals at homes cooked by female members owing to cultural, social and religious reason. In order to bridge up the gap in existing hospitality literature, the objective of this research manuscript is to find out the relation among dimensions of quality (food quality, service quality and quality of physical environment), customer satisfaction, restaurant image, behavioral intentions and customer perceived value in casual restaurants in Sukkur city. Data for this research study have been collected from customers of restaurants located in Sukkur city through convenience sampling. SPSS (24) and Smart PLS (3.0) versions were used for data analysis. Service quality dimensions of causal restaurant were found important determinants of the restaurant image and customer perceived value followed by physical environment and service quality; whereas, the physical environment quality was not found to be a significant factor of perceived value of customer. Additionally, food quality is measured as an important restaurant’s product. Another outcome of the present study exhibited that quality of physical environment holds a substantial positive effect on restaurant image. The findings indicate quality in food and service is highly important to satisfy customers and make their behavior positive about casual restaurant. Further, as an average temperature remains above 400 in Sukkur city, internal environment of the restaurant is significant as it will affect the mood and perception of customers when they dine in the casual restaurant.


Author(s):  
Esteban Colla-De-Robertis ◽  
Sandro Navarro Castañeda

Purpose The paper aims to study the role of local institutions in the establishment of fast-food outlets in urban districts of Peru. In most urban districts, there are no fast-food outlets. The authors, therefore, study the effect of institutional quality on the presence or absence of these outlets and the number of outlets if these are present. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework in which this paper is based on is the theory of agglomeration, which establishes that firms benefit from being close to each other. In particular, the paper builds on a model of market entry and competition in geographically independent local markets. An explicit expression was found for the equilibrium number of outlets (including zero) as a function of exogenous determinants of the demand for fast-food in each market, available infrastructure and institutional quality of the district’s government. Principal component analysis was used to construct measures of institutional quality based on administrative and organizational characteristics of district’s municipalities. These measures were incorporated as explanatory variables in a zero-inflated Poisson model, which is appropriate to handle count data and to accommodate excess zeros and which also allows the specification of different models for the zero part and the positive part. Findings Institutional quality mainly affects the presence of fast-food outlets in a district. The quality of urban development management and use of information systems are relevant. An institutional variable particularly relevant in explaining the number of outlets is the presence of an investment programming office in the municipality. The authors confirm the general hypothesis of the paper: institutions have a role in explaining both the presence and number of fast-food outlets in a district. Overall, the results of this paper suggest that institutional quality of a municipal district is related to better infrastructure, which lowers the costs of establishing outlets. Research limitations/implications Limitations in the availability of data at the regional and urban district level did not allow the authors to analyze other factors that affect entry decisions in the fast-food industry in Peru, such as controls to prevent corruption, legal uncertainty or crime. Another limitation was the lack of data on entry costs for each franchisee in each urban district. This forced the authors to use public infrastructure characteristics of the district as (imperfect) proxies of the entry costs. Practical implications The instruments of urban development management and information systems can be effective at attracting investment to a district. These tools operate partly through an indirect effect, namely, the improvement of district infrastructure, which is necessary to reduce the costs of establishing companies. There is also synergy between national government’s programs to attract investment and the good institutional quality in local governments. On the contrary, poor local institutions can be an obstacle to the successful implementation of those national programs. Social implications Foreign direct investment has a positive impact on the economic development of a country through knowledge spillovers. Therefore, any administrative reform to make local government practices more efficient can have an indirect impact on development. Originality/value Principal component analysis is a statistical tool that can be important in building good measures of institutional quality by allowing the combination of different observable characteristics into one component that can be interpreted as an operational restriction. The count model allows the use of the primary, easily observable, dependent variable, namely, the number of outlets. Finally, the two-part model makes it possible to discern the effect of institutional quality on the presence or absence of outlets and the number of outlets if these are present.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 19-41
Author(s):  
Elfrieda Fleischmann ◽  
◽  
Christo van der Westhuizen ◽  

As Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have only been included in the curriculum in the last decade, many educators globally struggle to integrate GIS practice into their teaching strategies. Following the global trend, South African educators might feel ill equipped as they did not receive formal GIS training in a higher education institution. This paper highlights key global and South African challenges regarding GIS integration. To compare the challenges that South Africa faces with those experienced elsewhere, this mixed method study gleaned data from student educators (n=78) who completed a questionnaire regarding their GIS FET Phase education, followed by in-depth interviews with FET Phase educators (n=10) and two provincial heads of Geography for the Department of Basic Education (DBE). Results from this study indicate a clear global and national pattern of barrier categories.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 587-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Gerhardus J. Nortje ◽  
Daniel P. Bredenkamp

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse and discuss the identification of a generic investigation process to be followed by the commercial forensic practitioner in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a cross-sectional design that commenced with a review of the current available literature, highlighting the different approaches, processes and best practices used in local and international forensic practices. The methodology includes primary data collected with questionnaires from commercial forensic practitioner (N = 75) process users. Findings This paper identifies the following five distinct categories in the forensic investigation process, with sub-processes, namely, initiation, planning, execution, reporting and reflection. Research limitations/implications The study focuses only on the South African members of the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners (ICFP) fraternity in South Africa as the ICFP is a leading body that, through membership, offers a recognised professional qualification in commercial forensics. Practical implications An investigation process for commercial forensic practitioners in South Africa could be used by the ICFP that would provide a governance structure for the ICFP. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in setting out of an account of forensic accounting processes and best practices nationally and internationally. The missing knowledge is that no such research is known to have been conducted in South Africa. Currently, to the authors’ knowledge, no formalised investigation process exists. The contribution of the study is that by using an investigation process, it may enhance the quality of forensic investigations and contribute to the successful investigation and prosecution of commercial crime in South Africa that will be beneficial to all stakeholders.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulla Plenge ◽  
Romy Parker ◽  
Shamiela Davids ◽  
Gareth L. Davies ◽  
Zahnne Fullerton ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Encouraged by the widespread adoption of enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) for elective total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) in high-income countries, our nationwide multidisciplinary research group first performed a Delphi study to establish the framework for a unified ERP for THA/TKA in South Africa. The objectives of this second phase of changing practice were to document quality of patient recovery, record patient characteristics and audit standard perioperative practice. Methods From May to December 2018, nine South African public hospitals conducted a 10-week prospective observational study of patients undergoing THA/TKA. The primary outcome was ‘days alive and at home up to 30 days after surgery’ (DAH30) as a patient-centred measure of quality of recovery incorporating early death, hospital length of stay (LOS), discharge destination and readmission during the first 30 days after surgery. Preoperative patient characteristics and perioperative care were documented to audit practice. Results Twenty-one (10.1%) out of 207 enrolled patients had their surgery cancelled or postponed resulting in 186 study patients. No fatalities were recorded, median LOS was 4 (inter-quartile-range (IQR), 3–5) days and 30-day readmission rate was 3.8%, leading to a median DAH30 of 26 (25–27) days. Forty patients (21.5%) had pre-existing anaemia and 24 (12.9%) were morbidly obese. In the preoperative period, standard care involved assessment in an optimisation clinic, multidisciplinary education and full-body antiseptic wash for 67 (36.2%), 74 (40.0%) and 55 (30.1%) patients, respectively. On the first postoperative day, out-of-bed mobilisation was achieved by 69 (38.1%) patients while multimodal analgesic regimens (paracetamol and Non-Steroid-Anti-Inflammatory-Drugs) were administered to 29 patients (16.0%). Conclusion Quality of recovery measured by a median DAH30 of 26 days justifies performance of THA/TKA in South African public hospitals. That said, perioperative practice, including optimisation of modifiable risk factors, lacked standardisation suggesting that quality of patient care and postoperative recovery may improve with implementation of ERP principles. Notwithstanding the limited resources available, we anticipate that a change of practice for THA/TKA is feasible if ‘buy-in’ from the involved multidisciplinary units is obtained in the next phase of our nationwide ERP initiative. Trial registration The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03540667).


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