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Consumers’ intentions to participate in the sharing economy have received much attention from researchers in recent times. However, little attention has been paid to consumers’ actual participation in the sharing economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that drive customers in Ghana to use Uber.

The authors used surveys as the research design. There were 500 participants who were users of Uber. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires.

The findings of this study show that trust, customer return on investment and search convenience are the key factors that contribute to riders’ usage of Uber service. Furthermore, this study shows that consumers’ need for prestige and social connection do not play a significant role in consumers’ (riders’) usage of Uber services.

Studies investigating consumers’ participation in the sharing economy from an emerging economy context using the social exchange theory is limited. This study identifies elements of the economic and socio-emotional dimensions of the social exchange theory and the strength of their impact on people’s participation in the sharing economy.

Marketing researchers have usually studied consumers’ attachment to brands from an emotional bonding perspective. However, the purpose of this study is to show that attachment to objects is not only limited to bonding. Thus, the authors conceptualised the attachment theory from two perspectives: bonding-based and identity-based attachment. In addition, the study further seeks to identify the elements of each component and examine how these elements drive customer engagement on a brand’s Facebook page while assessing some consumer-related outcomes of customer engagement on Facebook.

Using an online survey, the authors examined antecedents of customer engagement on Facebook and the outcomes of engagement behaviours among 649 respondents. Structural equation modelling was used in analysing the data.

The results of the study show that consumers’ attachment to a brand drives them to engage the brand on the brand’s Facebook page. The results also show that the consumer engagement of brands on Facebook results in positive user-generated contents and consumer involvement.

Managerially, the attachment theory provides value for marketers in terms of evaluating customer–brand relationships and how such a relationship can yield positive results.

This study expands how the attachment theory has been conceptualised and applied in the marketing literature. The study shows that consumer attachment to brands is identity-based in addition to being bonding-based.

In recent times, there has been a growing research interest in customer engagement; however, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the drivers and outcomes of customer engagement such as brand loyalty. Furthermore, the customer engagement and brand loyalty literature have paid little attention to trustworthiness, even though it has the potential of explaining customer engagement, brand loyalty and their relationships. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the drivers of customer engagement and its relationship with brand loyalty in the context of retail banking in Ghana.

The authors employed the survey research design. The authors collected data from retail banking customers in Ghana using the intercept approach. There were 385 respondents. The authors analysed the data using the structural equation modelling approach.

The results show that trustworthiness drives customer engagement which results in brand loyalty. The findings reveal that trustworthiness is defined through integrity, benevolence and ability while customer engagement is defined via emotional engagement, cognitive engagement and behavioural engagement.

This study examines the impact of trustworthiness on customer engagement and brand loyalty. It shows the mediating role of customer engagement in the relationship between trustworthiness and brand loyalty.

Despite the recognisable importance of nation brand websites, they have seemingly not been the focus of dialogic communication interrogations of marketing and communications scholars. This paper is one of the initial attempts to address such research lacuna. The paper aims to examine the dialogic potential of the Brand South Africa website and its effect on the country’s image, as well as the impact of this image on consumers’ (tourists) visiting intentions.

Drawing from the dialogic communication and impression management theories, the authors applied partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse data solicited from 672 participants via an electronic survey.

This paper demonstrates that the dialogic communication principles of the Brand South Africa website have positive influences on the image impression of South Africa. Country image impression was also found to have a significant effect on intentions to visit.

This study is of potential benefit to researchers, government agencies and those responsible for nation branding.

This study contributes to marketing and tourism literatures, by drawing on theories of dialogic communication principles and impression management, to fill the gap regarding the effect of nation brand websites on country image impression and visiting intention of consumers (tourists).

This study investigates the effect of product quality and price fairness on consumer cause-related marketing (CRM) participation and also the moderating role of donation-related customer predispositions (i.e. empathy and cause importance) on this relationship.

Data for the study were obtained from 240 respondents. A structural equation modelling approach was used in analysing the data.

Results from the analysis indicate that fair pricing and product quality affect CRM participation. The findings also provide insights into the moderation role of empathy and cause importance.

Prior research studied the effect of promotion on CRM participation; however, this study examines the effect of product and price. The findings offer insight into issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities in developing countries, respectively.

The purpose of this study is to explore the indigenous business incubators with special emphasis on the Kente weaving industry. The study highlights the formation, incubation, challenges, opportunities and strategies for success based on the Kente indigenous business model. The Kente subsector is in the clothing industry and accommodates small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. The study adopts a qualitative and descriptive case study design with five SME Kente shop owners as respondents. Findings reveal that some owners inherited their business, whilst others established them themselves. Owners incubate their business via shared services, ad hoc business advice, financial management, family support, employee relationship management and prayers. The challenges often encountered were inadequate financial backing, lack of government support and business competition. The opportunities harnessed were technology, growing market demand and innovation.

Finally, in respect of the knowledge of Kente weaving, it was found that the weavers learnt from their elders that weaving is the skill of a spider, a prestige to Asantes. The chapter concludes that Kente business has the potential to contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana and Ghanaians. It is recommended that SME owners invest in individual, team and organisational learning and build capacity for technology implementation. The study also provides recommendations for business actors in the textile industry to engage in collaboration with owners of SME Kente businesses to address the challenges.