Personal trainers are responsible for the effective delivery of health and fitness programmes. Their roles are of importance to the fitness industry and therefore, the degree of job satisfaction they experience is of prime importance. The purpose of this paper is to identify the various factors that play a role in determining the job satisfaction levels of personal fitness trainers employed at commercial gymnasiums and self employed trainers. A total of 353 personal trainers from South Africa formed the target population for the survey. A structured questionnaire was sent to the entire population. A response rate of 85% (n=300) was received using the mail survey method. Key results revealed that the majority of the trainers at the commercial gymnasiums expressed low levels of satisfaction with their salary, opportunities for promotion and growth, commission structure, ranking system and working conditions. More importantly, a major finding was that self employed trainers experienced greater levels of satisfaction than commercially employed trainers.

Blended learning combines the strength of face-to-face learning with e-learning, which has become the catalyst for education reform today. Unfortunately there are many obstacles that can derail this format of hybrid learning before it can reach its full potential, especially at universities where budgetary constraints inhibit the development of the information and communication infrastructure. This study seeks to capture students’ perceptions regarding web-based activities at a rural university. Purposive sampling was used to generate the sample and a combined total of 380 second- and third-year students participated in this study. Second- and third-year students were selected as it is expected that they have experienced the university learning management system and its shortcomings, and are hence in a posistion to compare the learning management system with social media platforms. The data collection instrument was a self-administered questionnaire, which was analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings indicate that students at the rural university preferred to engage in blended learning through social networking technologies, as opposed to the learning management system, which they found was mostly unavailable or inaccessible at their residences.

Studies on consumer decision making styles largely focused on determining and replicating these to varying contexts. Literature remains limited on what underlying psychological variables lead to the manifestation of consumer decision making styles. The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of psychological antecedents and consumer innovativeness in determining consumer decision making styles of millennials in South Africa. A quantitative survey of 320 South African millennials through social groups was utilized. Non-probability convenience sampling determined selection of participants. Reliability statistics were applied to substantiate the effectiveness of this study’s questionnaire and data collection approach. Presentation and interpretation of data were achieved through descriptive and inferential statistics respectively. Findings of this study confirmed that psychological antecedents and consumer innovativeness pose either direct or inverse relationships on consumer decision making styles. Two classifications of consumer decision making styles (utilitarian or hedonic) were discovered to be directed by distinctive sets of psychological antecedents and consumer innovativeness. Findings of this study will assist marketers and mall managers in better understanding what aspects of shopping drive their patrons and how they can best serve them to ensure sustainability.

The attraction of the internet continues to grow, mobilising the attention of many users, and impressing especially adolescents globally. Whilst the internet has provided adolescents with many benefits, such as academic support; cross- cultural interactions; social support; and exposure to the world at large, there are serious risks associated with the internet. The parents’ role in this regard becomes pivotal in ensuring the safety of their children. The mechanisms used by parents in controlling their children’s use and access to the internet were the focus of this study. For this reason, the study aimed to determine the role parents play in regulating their adolescent children’s use of and access to the internet and how issues of control, censorship and cyberbullying are addressed. The study was based on Baumrind’s (in Grobman 2008) parenting styles which formed the theoretical framework. A quantitative approach was used to gauge the responses of parents who have adolescent children. Through convenience sampling, the respondents were selected to answer a questionnaire made up of closed-ended questions. The key findings that emerged from the study revealed that parents applied the permissive style of parenting when it came to male adolescents, whilst they applied the authoritative style of parenting to female adolescents.