Mapula Hildah Lefophane

By Mapula Hildah Lefophane

This study examines the willingness of rural consumers to pay (WTP) for online grocery delivery services during COVID-19, as well as the factors affecting their WTP. To achieve this, the contingent valuation method was used to examine WTP, as it measures consumers’ WTP for services without having directly used or paid for the service. Given the ordinal ranking of the WTP variable, the ordered probit model was used to examine factors affecting WTP. The descriptive findings showed that most of the rural consumers were aware of online grocery delivery services and WTP for online grocery delivery services during COVID-19. However, there were mismatches between what rural consumers prefer and the services that are offered by the food retailers. The empirical results showed younger consumers, and those with higher levels of education, higher levels of income, and larger household size are more likely to be WTP amounts higher than the premium amount. This implies that the food retailers should target high-income earning young consumers with higher levels of education and larger household sizes. Overall, the findings provide information on consumers’ awareness, preferences, and WTP, which would assist the retailers in developing marketing, pricing, payment, and delivery strategies that are appropriate for the rural consumers.

Part of the book: E-Service Digital Innovation

By Mapula Hildah Lefophane

This chapter serves to examine the extent to which the policy responses undertaken by the South African government have achieved the objectives of growing the economy and creating employment. A synopsis of the macroeconomic, sectoral/industrial policies and sector-specific programmes indicates that the manufacturing sector as a whole, and certain manufacturing industries, were earmarked as one of the sectors and industries with the potential to achieve these objectives. Despite these efforts, South Africa’s manufacturing sector is faced with four main challenges, which hinder its ability to drive economic growth and create jobs as envisioned. These challenges were identified as high input costs, labour market rigidities, mismatches between education and skills and high import penetration. To overcome these challenges, it is recommended that the government should adopt a multi-prolonged approach involving a variety of policy strategies. The trends in labour productivity, employment and wages were explored to determine the extent to which labour productivity determines wages, and affects employment. Overall, the labour productivity-employment-wages nexus is influenced by various factors, which require the implementation of a combination of policy strategies.

Part of the book: Unemployment - Nature, Challenges and Policy Responses [Working title]