Masters Degrees (Business Management)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Business Management) by Subject "Antecedents"

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    An assessment of the antecedents of church commitment
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12) Van Tonder, Steven Paul; Theron, Edwin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The conception of relationship marketing has led to an increased interest in organisations developing long-term relationships with their members or clients. The emphasis has shifted from a transaction-based marketing approach to a relationshipbased marketing approach. This shift has resulted in an increased need for research in the field of relationship marketing in for-profit as well as non-profit organisations. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess the dimensions through which South African churches can manage commitment with their members. These dimensions are regarded as antecedents to commitment and were identified through a literature review. The literature review identified 11 antecedents of church commitment, which were classified into antecedents that are specifically relevant to churches, and those with a broader appeal. Furthermore, churches were classified whether they can be viewed as traditional or non-traditional. An empirical investigation followed the literature review and included a pilot and a comprehensive empirical study among the total student population of Stellenbosch University, as in 2011. After the pilot study was conducted the number of antecedents was reduced to eight, while three antecedents had to be renamed. The final empirical study provided support for two antecedents of church commitment, namely ‘small-groups’ and ‘reliability’. In addition, significant differences were found between traditional and non-traditional churches in respect of the confirmed relationships. Consequently, a framework was developed by which churches can manage commitment with their members. This study makes a valuable contribution to the relationship marketing literature, since no formally published study could be found in which relationship marketing was used to identify the antecedents of church commitment.