The growth of fast fashion retailers, availability of knockoff fashion apparel, and proposed apparel copyright law prompted this study. Fast fashion retailers are expanding rapidly and producing knockoffs fashion apparel in a matter of weeks, but current U.S. copyright laws do not protect apparel. The primary purpose of this study was to identify prominent visual fashion apparel attributes that could determine perceived copyright infringement. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of fashion apparel attributes on perceived copyright infringement, perceived risk, and purchase intention. A sequential exploratory mixed method approach was used to explore the relationship between: Attributes, perceived copyright infringement, perceived risk, and purchase intention. This study consisted of a: Study one, study two, and study three. Twelve hypotheses were proposed, and five were supported. Quality significantly affected both perceived copyright infringement and purchase intention. Performance, social, and asset significantly affected purchase intention of knockoff fashion apparel.

Magister Curationis - MCur / As South Africa continues to experience the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS globally, co-occurring mental illness poses challenges for public health. Mental illness has increased among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), as infected individuals succumb to the psychological stress and trauma of the disease. Key research issues, not yet well established, relate to whether professional nurses, working in psychiatric hospitals in South Africa, are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to provide effective mental healthcare services, given the increase in mental illness of PLWHA. An increase in mental illness translates into an increase in demand for psychiatric services by PLWHA. There is a paucity of research on HIV/AIDS knowledge of professional nurses working in psychiatric hospitals in South Africa, despite the established acknowledgement of the increase of mental illness amongst PLWHA. The aim of this study was to assess the HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude and perceived risks of professional nurses working in a psychiatric hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa. A quantitative, descriptive survey design, using an all-inclusive sampling method, was used to select 121 professional nurses employed at a psychiatric hospital in Western Cape to participate in the study. The objectives of the study were to: describe professional nurses’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS; describe the attitudes of professional nurses towards PLWHA and mental illness; and determine professional nurses’ perceived HIV risks in a psychiatric hospital.

This research explores the relationship between the cognitive variables perceived risks, perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy, and perceived hazard experience with farmer support for adaptation and the agreement between farmer perceptions with observed climate conditions of drought and excess precipitation. Climate conditions were evaluated using monthly Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) values from 1950 to 2014. The remaining variables were measured using a closed ended survey of corn and soybean farmers (N =276) in the Iowa-Cedar Watershed. The relationships were evaluated using Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation (), frequency distributions, and probability analysis. Perceived barriers were found to be a significant predictor of support for adaptation. Transformational adaptations were less supported by farmers than incremental adaptations. Farmers expressed more concern for finances than any other risks or barrier. The majority of farmers reported low to moderate risks to drought and precipitation with high efficacy to cope to future impacts. Lastly, climate conditions indicate that there were more frequent and extreme precipitation events than drought events and that farmer perceptions of climate are consistent with observed climate conditions. However, while climate change projections indicate increased weather extremes in the future, farmers perceive no change in risks. It is unclear whether or not farmers are actually equipped to handle future threats to their crops. Future research should address this problem by conducting a longitudinal study to observe farmers’ perception prior to and after experiencing extreme events.

The use of online personalized advertisements has drawn attention among firms, in efforts of acquiring and maintaining competitive advantage. By collecting individual consumer information, firms are able to personalize advertisements to specific individuals in online contexts. The collection and use of individuals’ personal information have given rise to privacy concerns among consumers. However, contemporary research displays disparate conclusions regarding the extent to which these privacy concerns influence the effectiveness of online personalized advertisements. In order to provide insights regarding this discrepancy, this study explored the theoretical foundations of consumer perceived benefits and risks, upon which contemporary research was based. Two focus groups were conducted to explore how consumers perceive benefits and risks of online personalized advertisements. Using pattern matching, the interpretation of the empirically gathered material implied that consumer perceived benefits, in form of perceived relevance, appears to be insufficient in appealing to the interests and preferences of consumers. Instead, consumers’ perceptions of relevance appear to be dependent on several elements. Furthermore, the findings imply that consumers are aware of the risks through personal information disclosure, yet appear to be unconcerned by them. Instead, consumers seem to possess a sense of hopelessness in online environments, that attempts to restrict the availability of their personal information are pointless.

Technology innovation is one of the defining attributes of the 21st century. The banking sector amongst other key sectors has embraced the use of new technologies to offer electronic banking (e-banking) services. E-banking has been introduced in various economies of the world as a way of delivering effective and efficient banking services. Despite the several benefits of e-banking technologies, many individual bank customers in Nigeria have not adopted most of the available channels. ATM has remained the most patronized compared to other channels such as the point of sales (POS), online banking and the mobile banking. Promotional offers and various publicity for these platforms by commercial banks as well as the introduction of the cash policy which made the use of these platforms mandatory have not yielded substantial outcome. Therefore, the researcher set out to carry out two interrelated studies in a bid to explore the levels of e-banking adoption by individual bank customers in Nigeria. Firstly, a comparative analysis of the starting conditions of e-banking in Nigeria and the UK was carried out using secondary sources of data. The second part of the study examined the significance of an extended model of Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT) on e-banking adoption in Nigeria. This extended model entails the addition of "cost variables" to the mix of Rogers’s five attributes of innovation diffusion (i.e. Relative Advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Trialability and Observability). Cost variables according to this study are the three types of switching costs, the available complementary assets and the usefulness of available services. Based on this DIT extended model, adoption levels of five e-banking platforms: ATM; POS; Online banking; Mobile banking and telephone banking services were investigated. Data for this study were obtained from both the service providers (the commercial banks) and the service users (individual customers). NVivo 10 was used to analyse the qualitative data while ordinal regression modelling was utilised to analyse the quantitative data obtained. According to the findings of this research, the security of the platforms, need for a strategic enlightenment campaign as well as infrastructural development (i.e. internet and electricity) are the three key factors that are fundamental to increase adoption of e-banking platforms in Nigeria. Findings also reveal the peculiarity of each of the e-banking platforms as different variables significantly predict uptake of individual platforms while Compatibility, Observability, Gender and Education emerged as significant predictors of ATM. Compatibility, Trialability Procedural Switching Cost and Gender predict POS patronage. For online banking, Compatibility, Procedural Switching Cost, Gender and Education emerged as significant predictors of this platform while Financial Switching Cost, Relational Switching Cost, Age and Education significantly predict the use of mobile banking. Telephone banking is not currently available to individual bank customers in Nigeria and as such further discussions on the quantitative output were discontinued. Following the expert witness feedback of these key findings, the researcher concludes that it is imperative to critically assess the availability of the enabling mechanisms/structure before introducing an innovation such as e-banking. The importance of this assessment is to evaluate and carefully direct the approach to that which fits such innovation. Underestimating or ignoring the impact of these fundamental structures usually have a negative impact on adoption as evident in the findings of this research which pointed that the current level of infrastructure of the country does not support the uptake of this innovation. This study also concludes that, the security of the platforms, the development of e-banking enlightenment campaign and infrastructural inadequacies should be addressed. Furthermore, attempts to unify or adopt a singular approach to increase e-banking patronage will not yield a significant result because each platform is unique. Thus, subsequent governmental policies and the CBN dictates on e-banking adoption should be formulated or modified based on the consideration of the enabling mechanism. Banks should adopt specific strategies towards increasing the patronage each platform.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore and analyze perceptions and attitudes of Facebook users as consumers and merchants; investigate which perceived risks, if any, function as adoption barriers of f-commerce. Methodology: The study adopts a mixed method approach. It uses the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation technique (ZMET method) and focus groups to explore consumers’ perceptions and their mental maps. In-depth interviews with SMEs were also part of the qualitative design. A survey was conducted among consumers based on the qualitative findings to construct a perceptual map of f-commerce, which denotes the perceived-risks that were transferred from Facebook and e-commerce.  Theoretical perspective: The study builds on prior literature of perceived risks as adoption barriers in e-commerce and social networks, brand extension and product sequence attributes transfer. Further, theories on perception and attitudes, categorization, values and mental maps were used in order to apply the ZMET method and the perceptual map.  Empirical data: Data was collected for four weeks via sixteen ZMET interviews, two focus groups and a survey with two-hundred and sixty four respondents from a sample of three-hundred and eighty existent and potential consumers. Further to this, ten in-depth interviews and one ZMET interview were conducted with existing and potential merchants. Conclusion: Perceived risks such as performance, social, privacy, physical, psychological, security, time and financial were identified in consumers as adoption barriers of f-commerce, and transferred from Facebook as a parent brand.  Overall lack of trust towards apps, brand pages and f-commerce is a latent aspect for consumers, where privacy and safe processing of credit cards are crucial factors. Category-product risks were concerns in general but not substantial. When it comes to merchants, they share the same perceived risks than consumers except for privacy, which was not an important factor to them. Besides, the dependence of internal and external changes of Facebook was perceived as a network externality risk, in terms of investment threat.

This research is focus on how store image affects perceived risks and purchase intention in different private label brand (PLB) products. Because of 7-Eleven¡¦s positive store image and diverse product categories, this research takes 7-Eleven as the example to explore the difference among its PLB products. The conclusions as follow¡G 1. Positive store image is a necessary condition to develop PLBs. 2. Product category is a success factor to PLBs. 3. Consumers perceive different perceived risks when facing different products. According to the conclusion, suggestions are as bellow¡G 1. Keep maintaining and improving store image. 2. Focus on the products which are highly-related to the store image. 3. Managing perceived risk as a marketing strategy in diverse PLB product categories.

The market for off-grid solar solutions in Kenya has developed rapidly the recent years. The growth has required capital and access to finance, which has been mainly provided by foreign investors. This thesis examines the perceived risks on the market for off-grid solar solutions in Kenya through a series of interviews with actors engaged in the market. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the access to capital and highlight the perceived risks that might constrain a continued positive development of the market in Kenya. The findings of this thesis categorize the perceived risks on the market as political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (see full report table 2 in section 8 for sub categories). The companies engaged in the market for off-grid solar solutions should be differentiated based on their business model. This since their different value chains entails specific in risks. This study uses two modified value chains to highlight the differences in retail and distribution between the two defined market segments: product and utility. The product segment includes small-scale solar products often referred to as PICO-products and Solar-Home-Systems (SHS), which by being sold on installment now provides basic electricity to a growing number of people in Kenya. The utility segment includes minigrids with solar energy as power supply. This segment is subject to specific regulations regarding installations and operations, which is one of the main contributing factors to the difference in risks compared to the product segment. The other main factor is the way the respective segment distributes and retails their products/electricity. The distribution for the product segment is done by regular land transportation and customer interaction through sales agents, providing basic access to electricity. While the minigrids uses a local distribution grid to provide access to electricity. This leads to specific risks within the categorizes social, technological and legal risk. This study shows that the lack of understanding of the different market segments and their context specific risks, pose a risk to the market reputation and the local actors access to finance. The absence of knowledge about the difference in risks causes generalizations to be done, both from financiers who might place their funding elsewhere, and the customers who might choose other solutions than solar to fulfill their energy needs. The uncertainty of the future development and the position of the national regulations on the market together with the two segments creates barriers for future access to finance. Access that is required to build and boost the market even further.

Online shopping is rapidly expanding across the globe including developing markets. The consumer is under the perception of different types of risks associated with online shopping which may damage him. For that matter, researchers have continuously made efforts to investigate different types of perceived risks to establish and correct for consumer and societal benefits. After review of the research articles, some gaps were observed; 1) previous studies treat buyers and non-buyers in the same way as a single unit and there is no comparison among them, 2) most of the studies are quantitative thus focusing on the measurement of the responses yet there is a lack of qualitative work which may express how these people are affected, 3) there is a lack of documentation of personal bad experiences of online buyers (non-buyers), 4) customer service and complaint handling are not exposed to existential confirmation and research in academic studies, and 5) most of the studies reviewed for this research are based on a ‘special segment’ of students aged 18-34, contributing from 65% to 93% of responses which give biased results. To do the research the theory of Perceived Risks was used as a frame of reference to develop an analysis model with Consumer Behavior Theory in the context for online shopping.This study took on these areas and a Quasi-qualitative approach was used including Quasi-statistics by making a purposeful sample based on convenience and snow-ball techniques to fulfill the purpose of the study. A total of 11 one-on-one interviews were made to conclude seeing saturation level. Study shows that i) buyers and non-buyers are two different units of the population with different but comparable attitudes ii) despite perception of risks, buyers continue to keep shopping online, iii) non-buyers have either a bad subjective experience or have technological problem and they are aged more than 30, iv) the bad experiences of buyers and (currently) non-buyers tell about card hacking, bad product, non-delivery, and theft, v) customer service and complaint handling both, are areas which have poor quality and bad coordination, and vi) a new construct of perceived risks, ‘dream-damage’ is found in the context of online shopping.

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