Towards reputation-as-a-service
- Authors: Hillebrand, Channel , Coetzee, Marijke
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Trust , Reputation
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:6122 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/12419
- Description: Reputation is used to regulate relationships of trust in online communities. When deploying a reputation system, it needs to accommodate the requirements and constrains of the specific community in order to assist the community to reach their goals. This paper identifies that there is a need for a framework to define a configurable reputation system with the ability to accommodate the requirements of a variety of online communities. Such a reputation system can be defined as a service on the Cloud, to be composed with the application environment of the online community. This paper introduces the concept of RaaS (Reputation-as-a-Service) and discusses a potential framework for creating a RaaS. In order to achieve such a framework, research is conducted into features of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) components, user requirements for trust and reputation, and features of current reputation frameworks that can be configured in order to support a reputation service on the Cloud.
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Contribution of online corporate communication to brand reputation among Millennials in the Vaal region
- Authors: Oksiutycz, Anna , Kunene, Sibongile
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Brand reputation , Online communication , Reputation
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/260460 , uj:27426 , Citation: Oksiutycz, A. & Kunene, S. 2017. Contribution of online corporate communication to brand reputation among Millennials in the Vaal region.
- Description: Abstract: Over the past few years the Internet has become one of the most powerful communication tools. This has led to the evolution of the public relations discipline in keeping up with trends, embracing new opportunities and using diverse and effective communication mediums to engage with different stakeholders. This article looks at the contribution of online corporate communication to brand reputation amongst Millennials in the Vaal Region and the effect it can have on the perceived reputation of an organisation. This was done though ascertaining ways in which Millennials in the Vaal Region use different online corporate communicate tools to engage with brands, looking at the nature of their online engagement with brands and factors of online communication influencing corporate reputation. This quantitative study used a crosssectional descriptive research approach. Two hundred questionnaires were collected from Generation Y members between the ages of 18-35 in the Vaal Region. The findings indicate that the Millennials in Vaal region use online communication as a main source of brand information and brand engagement.
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TrustCV : supporting reputation-based trust for collectivist digital business ecosystems
- Authors: Isherwood, Donovan Anthony
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Software ecosystems - Africa , Small business - Africa , Trust , Reputation , Social networks
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:11706 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/11427
- Description: M.Sc. (Information Technology) , In Africa, the economy is largely dominated by SMMEs that represent 90% of private businesses and contribute to more than 50% of employment and GDP. However, these SMMEs struggle to sustain their businesses in the current economic climate. To address this, advancements in mobile and cloud technology introduce new possibilities such as digital business ecosystems to support environment where small, micro, and medium enterprises can interoperate. The fundamental challenge for SMMEs in a digital business ecosystem is the selection of transaction partners. SMMEs are interested to transact with other SMMEs that will benefit their business through successful transactions. This leads to the sustainability and growth of SMMEs and consequently the economy. However, not all SMMEs behave as predicted and therefore, being able to trust another SMME in the digital business ecosystem is important. Trust is an essential part of business and personal life. The social nature of trust makes trust very personalised and for each individual, trust is interpreted, understood and perceived according to past experience and social behaviour. These factors are largely influenced by cultural norms and behaviours that individuals conform to. In African and some other regions, collectivist cultural norms and behaviours are common whereas in Westernised regions, individualist cultures are common. Therefore, it is not enough to just consider trust from a technical perspective but also from a cultural perspective. For small businesses in Africa and other regions in the world, this is especially true. Compared to larger companies in developed economies, SMMEs in Africa are more informal and operate in a more personal manner. This implies that trust decisions are largely influence an owner or employee’s cultural norms and behaviour. The research conducted in this dissertation proposes a trust model, known as Trustcv that supports the cultural norms and behaviours of collectivist cultures for trust in a digital business ecosystem. Digital business ecosystems, trust, culture and social network analysis provide the literature foundation for Trustcv. The effectiveness of Trustcv is measured through simulations of a digital business ecosystem in Africa, which provides interesting results compared to an existing trust model. The results indicate that Trustcv could be used to support trust in collectivist digital business ecosystems used by collectivist cultural SMMEs.
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The role of internal marketing in building corporate reputation in South African retail banking, particularly ABSA
- Authors: Mokgoatlheng, Jacob Elias
- Date: 2012-06-05
- Subjects: Banks and banking , Corporate image , Communication in organizations , ABSA Bank , Reputation
- Type: Mini-Dissertation
- Identifier: uj:2459 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/4916
- Description: M.Comm. , Many authors perceive corporate reputation as one of the important intangibles for organisations. It is therefore important that organisations manage corporate reputation effectively. There are several ways by which organisations can build and maintain corporate reputation. One such way is through using internal marketing. This study intends to explore the research problem that is presented in the form of a question. What is the role that internal marketing can play to help Absa as a retail bank in South Africa build its corporate reputation?
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