Pieter Conradie | Tshwane University of Technology (original) (raw)

Papers by Pieter Conradie

Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa

Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostlyassoc... more Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostlyassociated with Twitter. As an emerging trend in South Africa, parody accounts using cleverlywrittensatire attract a large and loyal following as social media communities enjoy the sharedpleasure of sharing funny content and the intense positive emotions felt when making fun ofbrands that they care about. Of particular concern is when audiences find parody accounts morehonest, entertaining and authentic compared to the official social media brand account. Moreover,user-generated parody accounts often misappropriate brand identities, thereby not only confusingunsuspecting social media communities but also satirising brand meanings. Correspondingly,social media management teams are faced with a reputational risk or paracrisis, since theemotional resonance of brand reputations are being hijacked. Too often, official responses toparody accounts are knee-jerk responses to take back control, such a...

The purpose of this study was to assess how internal (municipal employees) and external stakehold... more The purpose of this study was to assess how internal (municipal employees) and external stakeholders (community members) of a South African district municipality perceive the corporate reputation of that municipality. Generally, the issues that have been pointed out to the municipalities by the disgruntled stakeholders have reportedly been in the areas of dissatisfaction with service delivery performance, from media reports of protest action, which impacts negatively on the reputation of the local government. To address this problem this study therefore used the Harris-Fombrun Reputation Quotient (RQ) to investigate stakeholders' perceived reputation of the Fezile Dabi District Municipality, formerly known as Northern Free State District Municipality and includes two towns in each of the four local municipalities, namely, Kroonstad, Steynsrus, Heilbron, Parys, Sasolburg, Orangeville, Villiers and Frankfort. Forty employees were randomly selected in the offices of the different municipalities and 240 participants from eight towns were conveniently selected. Questionnaires containing items based on the Fombrun's six Reputation Quotient dimensions were used. Three fundamental questions were asked and addressed in this study. Firstly, what are the perceptions of external stakeholders (i.e. community members) with regard to the reputation of Fezile Dabi District Municipality (FDDM), as measured collectively in terms of the six dimensions of the Harris-Fombrun Reputation Quotient? Secondly, what are the perceptions of internal stakeholders (i.e. municipality employees) with regard to the reputation of Fezile Dabi District Municipality (FDDM), as measured collectively in terms of the six dimensions of the Harris-Fombrun Reputation Quotient? Thirdly, what differences can be observed between external stakeholders (i.e. community members) and internal stakeholders (i.e. municipality employees) in terms of their perceptions of the Fezile Dabi District Municipality (FDDM)? vi The findings indicate that community members did not trust or admire the municipality. Contrarily, employees trusted, admired and had a good feeling about the FDDM. When it comes to services/products, community members believe that the municipality does not provide high quality services. However, employees of the municipality believe that the municipality stands by its services and is being innovative. The findings indicate that community members were of the opinion that the municipality does not have excellent leadership, no clear leadership vision and does not recognise and take advantage of market opportunities whilst the employees believed the municipality has clear vision. Furthermore, the findings reveal that community members believe that the municipality is not well managed, is not a good employer and does not have good employees. On the other hand, employees felt that the municipality was a good employer and has good employees. The findings also indicate that community members are of the opinion that the municipality does not support good causes, is not environmentally responsible and does not maintain high standards in the way it treats its community. Employees on the other hand, were of the opinion that the municipality is environmentally responsible. With regard to financial performance, the community members were of the opinion that the municipality does not have a strong record of clean audit, does not outperform other municipalities, and does not show prospects for future growth. The municipality's employees were neutral/divided with regard to these issues. A t-test was undertaken to determine whether there was statistical significance between the mean scores of community members and employees of the FDDM in relation to the RQ dimensions. The results indicate that, statistically, community members and employees vii differed significantly in their perceptions of emotional appeal, services/products, vision and leadership and work environment, excluding social responsibility and financial performance. Thus, the municipality's reputation was perceived differently by the two groups of stakeholders and was also perceived differently in the various towns. In order for local government to build a good reputation with stakeholders, this study suggests that the municipalities should: i) Develop a deeper understanding of what constitutes good service delivery, ii) Improve community engagement in order to enhance stakeholder relationship, iii) Be involved in social issues, iv) Give priority to human basic needs and v) Provide excellent leadership by ensuring a clear distinction between politicians and officials. This study also suggests that municipalities should take note of community complaints relating to service delivery and to address them to ensure satisfied communities who will assess the reputation of the municipality as good. Furthermore, the study stresses the importance of leadership in municipalities.

Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa

Literature on the use of information and communication technologies(leTs) for developmental purpo... more Literature on the use of information and communication technologies(leTs) for developmental purposes at community centres refers to thesecentres in various ways, e.g. as telecentres, telecottages, communityteleservice centres, telecommuting centres, and community technologycentres. This article starts by examining this range of centres, and bydescribing the activities that typically occur at such centres throughoutthe world. An attempt is made to develop a typology of such centres.Of particular interest are community telecentres where leTs are used topromote development in rural areas. This is followed by a list of lessonslearned regarding using leTs effectively for development purposes atrural telecentres. These lessons are illustrated through specific SouthAfrican case studies involving leT usage at rural telecentres.

Proefskrif (M.Sc.) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 1970.Full text to be digitised and attached ... more Proefskrif (M.Sc.) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 1970.Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record

Health Information Management Journal, 2010

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions (e.g. e-health, telemedicine, e-educatio... more Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions (e.g. e-health, telemedicine, e-education) are often viewed as vehicles to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban healthcare centres and to resolve shortcomings in the rural health sector. This study focused on factors perceived to influence the uptake and use of ICTs as e-health solutions in selected rural Eastern Cape healthcare centres, and on structural variables relating to these facilities and processes. Attention was also given to two psychological variables that may underlie an individual's acceptance and use of ICTs: usefulness and ease of use. Recommendations are made with regard to how ICTs can be used more effectively to improve health systems at five rural healthcare centres where questionnaire and interview data were collected: St. Lucy's Hospital, Nessie Knight Hospital, the Tsilitwa Clinic, the Madzikane Ka-Zulu Memorial Hospital and the Nelson Mandela General Hospital.

Communicatio, 2003

Abstract The programme of the DoC-WILs is an initiative of the Department of Communication in col... more Abstract The programme of the DoC-WILs is an initiative of the Department of Communication in collaboration with Telkom, established through the Human Resources Fund to enable human resources development at historically disadvantaged learning institutions. The Telecommunications, 1996 (Act 103 of 1996) establishes a Human Resources Fund to promote the provision of adequately skilled human resources at all levels of the telecommunications sector in numbers sufficient for the telecommunications needs of the country. The Department of Communication Web Internet Laboratories (DoC-WILs) emphasise skills development through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in areas such as network management, creating Websites, use of e-mail and the World Wide Web, multimedia applications and Intranet development. It is, however, not known under what contextual circumstances this kind of ICT-usage will lead to interactive learning benefits and how the DoC-WILs should go about achieving them. This article therefore attempts to shed some light on the conditions under which ICT usage could impact on educational outcomes desired by the DoC-WILs and on how these DoC-WILs could best go about taking appropriate actions to improve the possibility of achieving desired interactive learning benefits. It is argued that the ability of the DoC-WILs to achieve desired benefits successfully is crucially dependent on contextual conditions, policies or processes that apply to the DoC-WILs or their users. This is in line with the social shaping of technology approach that local circumstances surrounding the deployment of ICTs in different sectors of society are more important in shaping the consequence of ICTs than technological variables.

Communicatio, 2003

Abstract The research described in this article can be described as an explorative study that foc... more Abstract The research described in this article can be described as an explorative study that focused on obtaining and analysing perceptions and attitudes of public sector officials in Pretoria regarding the possible introduction of teleworking in their working environment. The term teleworking was understood in the sense of using computers to work from home or working at a distance away from the office. The research question that was posed was: What perceptions and attitudes exist among public sector officials in Pretoria that could contribute to, or impede, the acceptance of teleworking in South African government departments? Specific attention was given to perceptions of possible benefits or other impacts of teleworking, indications of public sector officials' ability to use computers for teleworking purposes, attitudes toward computers and teleworking, and the behavioural intention to use teleworking in future. The questionnaire and results were structured along the lines of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis. It was found that there was firm support among the officials for public sector teleworking – especially in terms of those views and perceptions that served as indicators for relevant TAM constructs such as ‘perceived ease of use regarding teleworking’, ‘perceived usefulness of teleworking’, ‘attitude toward teleworking’ and ‘intention to use teleworking’.

COMMUNITAS, 2018

Social media holds important implications for the public relations profession. Researchers have i... more Social media holds important implications for the public relations profession. Researchers have identified many benefits that could be reaped when social media is used by organisations for public relations activities. However, there also are many challenges. According to Phillips' model of digital communication tools there are four variables associated with the benefits and challenges of using social media. This study investigated, by means of an online questionnaire survey, the perceptions of a randomly drawn sample of Gauteng-based public relations practitioners regarding such challenges and benefits. The results revealed that Twitter and Facebook are the most preferred social media for engaging with stakeholders. Further, it was found that when social media is used for purposes of public relations actions, public relations practitioners tend to perceive the possible social media benefits associated with the four variables to be more salient (or at least equally salient) than the possible social media challenges associated with the variables of this model.

Communitas

Over the past few years, crises at South African universities have become a regular occurrence. A... more Over the past few years, crises at South African universities have become a regular occurrence. A growing number of researchers have confirmed that Coombs' Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) assists in understanding how management generally responds to a crisis situation. This study used SCCT to investigate how the crisis communication activities at one South African university of technology was perceived by the staff of that institution. The study examined, through a survey among a stratified random sample of staff members, the respondents' perceptions of the communication channels and crisis response strategies that management used when communicating with staff during crises related to student protests at the University. The findings suggest that the University mainly used the justification crisis response strategy to communicate to university stakeholders, while rarely using the other strategies found in SCCT. The communication channels most preferred by staff for crisis communication were SMSs and WhatsApp messages, while the University website was perceived to have been used most by management. The article finally makes some recommendations, but also points out some limitations of the study.

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02500169408537981, Dec 4, 2007

This article focuses on the relatively new concept of disruptive innovation, which has proved to ... more This article focuses on the relatively new concept of disruptive innovation, which has proved to be a useful analytic tool for understanding how technological innovation can play an important role in shaping many industries in society. The impact of disruptive innovations is perceived as a serious problem by most traditional newspapers, and even as threatening the future existence of the newspaper industry in its current form. Also relevant is the so-called “Newspapernext strategy”, which is a four-step strategy found in the literature that was designed specifically for newspapers concerned about the impact of disruptive innovations. The first of the four steps for newspapers to follow to combat disruptive innovations consists of determining the information needs of a sample representing a potential new market for the newspapers. The study described in this article consists of an online survey of information needs, conducted amongst a randomly drawn sample of 1018 South African resp...

Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostly asso... more Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostly associated with Twitter. As an emerging trend in South Africa, parody accounts using cleverly-written satire attract a large and loyal following as social media communities enjoy the shared pleasure of sharing funny content and the intense positive emotions felt when making fun of brands that they care about. Of particular concern is when audiences find parody accounts more honest, entertaining and authentic compared to the official social media brand account. Moreover, user-generated parody accounts often misappropriate brand identities, thereby not only confusing unsuspecting social media communities but also satirising brand meanings. Correspondingly, social media management teams are faced with a reputational risk or paracrisis, since the emotional resonance of brand reputations are being hijacked. Too often, official responses to parody accounts are knee-jerk responses to take back control, such as aggressive threats and litigation, easily escalating into angry viral social media backlashes. The purpose of the study was to establish suitable paracrisis response strategies for parodied brands to maintain emotionally resonant reputations. Using a synergistic approach to mixed methods in a triangulation design, this study collected and analysed data from a purposive and snowball sample of 207 social media experts. Findings suggested that humorous, tongue-in-cheek banter with user-generated parody accounts intended for harmless fun optimise emotionally resonant brand reputations in the age of parody.

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02500167 2013 772218, Mar 1, 2013

ABSTRACT This article aims to help communication practitioners know which cultural dimensions are... more ABSTRACT This article aims to help communication practitioners know which cultural dimensions are associated with communication satisfaction. The meta-theoretical framework is the Excellence Theory of Public Relations and Communication Management (Dozier, Grunig and Grunig 1995, 35). The conceptual theoretical framework; cultural dimensions by Geert Hofstede (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005, 39) and communication satisfaction by Downs and Hazen (1977, 68) and Gray and Laidlaw (2004, 427) fit into the Excellence Theory of Public Relations and Communication Management. The research design was a quantitative survey with an online questionnaire as a data collection method distributed among a random sample. Validity was improved through pilot tests and the sampling technique. In terms of reliability this survey’s scores sufficed as accurate and consistent, scoring above the acceptable score of 0.7 (Van Heerden 2001); 0.72 for national culture and 0.83 for communication satisfaction. Regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship between cultural dimensions (independent variables) and communication satisfaction (dependent variable). The findings clearly showed that national cultural dimensions have significant relationships with communication satisfaction. The implication was that internal communication practitioners could now be informed about the dynamics of the interaction between the cultural dimensions prevalent among South African employees and internal organisational communication satisfaction.

Communicatio, 1994

... HC Marais, Pieter Conradie, Charles Malan & Gerard Schuring ... The authors would like to... more ... HC Marais, Pieter Conradie, Charles Malan & Gerard Schuring ... The authors would like to express their gratitude to the following persons for indispensable assistance in the preparation of this article: Dr Xavier Mugisha for the analysis of the interpersonal communication data; Dr ...

Communicatio, 2013

Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa

Health Information Management Journal, 2010

Communicatio, 2003

COMMUNITAS, 2018

Communitas

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02500169408537981, Dec 4, 2007

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 02500167 2013 772218, Mar 1, 2013

Communicatio, 1994

Communicatio, 2013