Exploring the attitudes and behaviour of

Gen Z students towards branded mobile

apps in an emerging market: UTAUT2
model extension
Shana Axcell and Debbie Ellis

Shana Axcell is based at Abstract

the Department of Purpose – With the increasing mobile activity of the Generation Z market (born after 1994), marketers’
Academics, UCFB interest in this social group is rising. This research paper aims to uncover the relatively unknown attitudes
Wembley, Wembley, UK. and behaviour of the youth market in an emerging market, South Africa, towards branded mobile
Debbie Ellis is based at the applications (apps). Previous studies on mobile marketing have focused on Generation X and Generation
Y and generally with a quantitative focus.
School of Management, IT
Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on the theoretical framework of the unified theory
and Governance,
of acceptance and use of technology model 2. The study used a qualitative framework with stratified
University of
focus groups, aged between 18 and 21 years old at a private tertiary institution in South Africa.
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban,
Findings – The findings indicate that these South African Gen Z participants mainly used WhatsApp,
South Africa. Instagram, Facebook, Uber and Snapchat. The participants had more positive than negative attitudes
towards mobile apps. The findings also showed that privacy was a major concern for the participant’s
attitudes and behaviour towards mobile apps. The findings supported the UTAUT2 model, but also
discovered new themes. As a recommendation, the issue of privacy and its effect on mobile app
adoption is a factor to be researched in the future. The research also provides recommendations for
marketers and app developers.
Research limitations/implications – This study was of a qualitative nature, and thus, the sample size
was smaller than that of a quantitative study. Future research could add to this study by increasing the
sample size and adding a quantitative method such as surveys.
Practical implications – Marketers of mobile apps targeted towards the Gen Z market should aim to be
convenient for their users, as well as be entertaining, functional, time-efficient while avoiding excessive in-
app adverts, being honest upfront about their pricing strategy, incorporate an element of connectivity into
the app and respect their privacy. This paper also provides practical recommendations for mobile app
developers (targeted towards Gen Z users) including minimising notifications and updates within the
app, developing a mobile app that requires less usage of data (due to the high expense of data in South
Africa for the price-conscious Gen Z market) as well as less usage of memory space on the phone and
incorporating universal symbols within the mobile app.
Originality/value – This study supported the UTAUT2 model effects of performance and effort
expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and habit on the
behavioural intention of users towards a new technology, i.e. GenZ students’ attitudes and behaviour
towards branded mobile apps in South Africa. However, an additional condition was discovered in this
study, i.e. privacy and its impact on the attitudes and behaviour of GenZ mobile app users. Therefore, this
study extends the UTAUT2 model framework. Furthermore, this study uses a qualitative design, which
has not been used in previous studies, with a focus on the under-researched Gen Z market, and in
particular in an emerging market, such as South Africa.
Keywords Privacy, Emerging markets, Mobile apps, Generation Z, Generation theory, UTAUT2,
Received 21 March 2022 Branded mobile applications, Consumer behaviour, Digitalisation, Mobile marketing,
Revised 18 June 2022 Smartphones and UTAUT
6 September 2022
Accepted 16 November 2022 Paper type Research paper

PAGE 184 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023, pp. 184-202, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1747-3616 DOI 10.1108/YC-03-2022-1491
 igitalisation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has changed the way

D companies are interacting and developing a relationship with their customers

(Cvitanovic , 2018 and Evans, 2020). Companies are shifting their marketing
investment from traditional channels which have become less effective, to online, mobile
and multi-channel options combining online and retail channels (Cvitanovic , 2018). The existing
academic knowledge on mobile marketing and digitalisation is largely limited to previous
generations such as Generation X and Millennials (Aksoy et al., 2013; Beneke et al., 2010; Bhave,
Jain and Roy, 2013). Generation Z (those born after, 1994), otherwise known as Gen Zers, are the
world’s largest demographic group currently (Hootsuite, 2022). Understanding their influence on
the digital universe will assist brands in obtaining a competitive advantage in the present and
future (Hootsuite, 2022). Generation Z is the first truly “digital native” generation of consumers,
with a worldwide population of 2.47 billion (32%) in 2019 (Spitznagel, 2020). Generation Z will be
the largest consumer base through to 2030 (Euromonitor, 2018). Asia Pacific is home to more
than half of the global Gen Zers; however, the Generation Z population has the highest country
population proportion in the Middle East and Africa, due to the region’s high birth rates and
youthful population (Euromonitor, 2018). In 2019, the Gen Z market accounted for approximately
46% of the South African population (Ventureburn, 2020) and contributed 40% of South Africa’s
spending power in 2020 (Pillay, 2020). As a member of BRICS, and one of the leading economic
forces in Africa (Duffett, 2017), South Africa represents a key developing nation, and with such a
large proportion of the population in the Generation Z cohort, this market is important to
understand not only for local marketers but also the growing number of international marketers
entering this market.
Existing research in South Africa on the Generation Z market and mobile apps is limited and
mainly of a quantitative nature (Duffett, 2017; Fernandes and Radebe 2018; Potgieter,
2015), and thus, there was a need for a qualitative study to further explore the factors
contributing to the attitudes and behaviour of this market with regard to branded mobile
apps. Furthermore, these aforementioned previous studies that have focused on the
UTAUT2 model, have not identified additional factors that may contribute to young
consumer’s attitudes and behaviour towards a technology such as mobile apps. This
study’s research problem is that the world’s largest demographic cohort (Hootsuite, 2022),
who is under researched as the literature review will demonstrate, is not well understood in
terms of the factors affecting their mobile app usage. Underpinned by the UTAUT2 model,
this research aims to investigate whether these factors contribute to technology acceptance
of young consumers and whether it is necessary to extend the model if there are additional
factors contributing to their branded app acceptance and usage.

Research question and objectives

The overall research question for this study was as follows:
RQ1. What are the factors affecting South African Gen Zers attitudes and behaviours
towards branded mobile applications?
This question was broken down into four main research objectives:

1. RO1. explore the attitudes of Gen Zers towards mobile applications, and what factors
affect these;
2. RO2. ascertain the behaviour of Gen Zers towards mobile applications and what factors
affected this behaviour;

3. RO3. ascertain the factors contributing towards Gen Zers downloading mobile
applications; and
4. RO4. identify any other conditions that affected the attitudes and behaviour of Gen Zers
towards branded mobile applications.

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 185

 Literature review
Mobile marketing and mobile apps
In 2021, an estimated 91% of the worldwide population was using a cell phone, with 7.1
billion people owning a mobile phone (Statista, 2021b). In South Africa, smartphone
penetration reached about 20–22 million people, being approximately a third of the
population at the end of 2020 (Statista, 2020a, 2020b). Of the South African population
internet users, 93% access the internet via mobile technology (Statista, 2020a, 2020b). Due
to the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile applications (apps) promoted
changes in the day-to-day lives of the user’s consumption of products and services (Kim and
Kim, 2020).
Chiem, et al. (2010, p. 46) define mobile apps as “programs designed specifically to add
functionality to mobile handsets and are able to interact directly with the technical features
of the phone”. Bhave et al. (2013, p. 64) define branded mobile applications as “those
mobile applications that are developed by companies in order to build the brand”. Often
these branded mobile applications display the name of the brand and the brand logo (Kim
et al., 2013, p. 53). The aim of branded applications is to engage with the current and
prospective consumer (Bhave et al., 2013, p. 65). Liu et al. (2019) found that app adopters
are more likely to buy, spend more and buy more often than non-adopters. Furthermore,
Tran et al. (2021) established a correlation between branded mobile apps and enhanced
brand equity for the organisation, in particular, enhanced brand loyalty, perceived quality
and brand awareness.
Gilman (2016) suggested three main benefits of mobile branded applications. Firstly, 85%
of users’ time spent on their smartphones is while making use of a branded mobile application,
therefore it is a popular medium for targeting consumers. Secondly, push notifications such as
in-app adverts have been shown to have a 50%–80% open rate within 3 min or less of being
displayed on the screen, therefore mobile apps have a higher advert viewing rate than email.
Thirdly, mobile applications allow users to share content from the app onto their social
networks, therefore maximising the reach of a brand. There have been a few research papers
discussing the factors contributing towards mobile application downloads. One such study by
Sözer (2019), was limited to three factors contributing to downloading mobile applications in
Turkey, i.e. entertainment, communication and networking. More recently, Gokgoz et al. (2021)
found that the following three variables were drivers of mobile app downloads: Platform-
controlled variables (such as appearance on featured lists and position in top app charts);
user-side variables (such as valiance and volume of word-of-mouth) and developer-controlled
variables (such as updates, price and discounts). However, this research by Gokgoz et al.
(2021) did not focus on a specific market or country, nor did they investigate the attitudes of
app-users, in particular the largest app user generational cohort, i.e. GenZ.
Bellman et al. (2013) suggest there are also challenges for mobile branded applications:
firstly, ensuring a mobile app gets noticed on the application stores such as Apple App
Store and Google Play; secondly, encouraging the mobile user to download the app; and
thirdly, getting the consumer to actively engage with the application such that it is on the
short-list of mobile apps that are used daily on their smartphone because of its usefulness.
Branded app abandonment (BAA) is the biggest challenge to marketers and can be
described as the inactiveness of the app user within a stipulated time period due to a
variety of factors (Mondal and Chakrabarti, 2021). Some of these factors contributing to
BAA include the following:
1) investment size and current alternatives available to users; 2) attractiveness of the offers to
new acquisition as well as reward and incentive to existing users; 3) onboarding experience and
gestation period during the initial stage that help users to become comfortable and intuitive
using a branded app; and 4), many factors that impact a typical technology product such as
functional quality, personalization, and value for time. (Mondal and Chakrabarti, 2021)

PAGE 186 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023

Generation Z and mobile applications
For the purpose of this study, 1994–2010 was the timeframe used for Generation Z, and
thus in 2021, they ranged between the ages of 11 and 27. Approximately, 55% of Gen Zers
use their smartphones 5 h or more a day and 26% use their phones more than 10 h a day
(99 Firms, 2022). Forbes (2022) stated that Generation Z made up almost 40% of all mobile
users worldwide. Talmon (2019) found that at least 75% of the Gen Z market own a
smartphone and spend on average 9 h a day interacting with apps on their smartphones.
Havich (2018) found that 59% of Generation Z in the USA, the UK, Australia and New
Zealand do not trust Facebook with their personal data, and 78% let some apps, but not all,
know their geo-location.
In contrast, Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, spend less than 5 h a day on mobile
apps (Forbes, 2022). Furthermore, Gen Z’s preferred mobile app category of social media
was not ranked as important for Millennials, who preferred to turn to music streaming,
games and navigation apps (Forbes, 2022). Curtis et al. (2019) further found that texting
and social media apps were Gen Z’s primary methods of communication, whereas for
Millennials it was email. Therefore, generational cohorts allow researchers to examine
differences in the views of cohorts (Dimock, 2019).
Even with Gen Zers being known as “digital natives”, in South African and globally, African
Gen Zers differ quite a bit to global Gen Zers and in particular those from developed
countries. Some of these key differences include large education disparities, unemployment
levels, urbanisation levels, population sizes, disposable incomes, distinctions in social
classes and most relevant to this study, mobile penetration (Duffett, 2017). South African
Gen Zers, of which there are 27.5 million people, i.e. 46% of the overall population (Moyo,
2021), are otherwise known as the “born frees” as they are unique in being born at the start
of an era of newly founded democracy in South Africa in 1994, after the apartheid era
(Duffett, 2017). A coined term “Black Diamonds” refers to the growing middle class of the
black population in South Africa whose children, Generation Z, have shown an incremental
growth in mobile penetration (Duffett, 2017). In 2021, South Africa’s mobile penetration was
60.71% and is projected to grow to 67.48% in 2026 (Statista, 2021a). In contrast, Northern
Europe have the highest mobile penetration rate of 98% and Western Europe at 94%
(Statista, 2022). South African Gen Zers are particularly more price conscious due to the
high unemployment rates and limited disposable income, resulting in these consumers
seeking value for money from brands, including branded mobile applications (Hanbury,
2019).
In South Africa, Duffett (2017) specifically investigated the South African teenager portion of
Generation Z to determine the effects of social media communication on their attitudes.
Details of mobile app attitudes and behaviours were not the focus and thus not included in
the results. Fernandes and Radebe (2018) focused specifically on Generation Z health-and
fitness mobile app users and found that allowing personalisation, providing a challenge and
creating positive emotions enhance the digital experience, which in turn, fosters loyalty
among GenZers.
A more closely related study in South Africa by Potgieter (2015) was a quantitative study on
mobile app preferences among South African university students that found that the most
popular mobile apps were Facebook and WhatsApp due to their usefulness. There was a
positive attitude towards branded mobile applications that were entertaining and
informative (Potgieter, 2015). Generally, the South African students had a negative attitude
towards paid mobile apps and would generally only buy a mobile app if it was considered
“vital” or superior to a free application (Potgieter, 2015). The current study differed to that of
Potgieter’s as her study was quantitative whereas this study was qualitative and sought to
better understand Gen Zers attitudes and behaviours towards branded mobile apps. A
more recent South African study on South African millennials’ acceptance and use of retail

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 187

 mobile banking apps by Thusi and Maduku (2020) also looked at the impact of the UTAU2
model on South African consumers; however, this study purely focused on banking mobile
apps and Millennials (not GenZ), and it was quantitative in research design.
Thus, Generation Z consumers are highly active users of digital technologies such as mobile
apps, but little is known about their usage in South Africa and even less about their attitudes
and perceptions about mobile apps in general. This study aims to fill this gap in knowledge.

Theoretical framework
The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model 2 (Venkatesh et al., 2012)
provided the theoretical lens through which the students’ attitudes and behaviours with
branded mobile applications were explored (Figure 1).
The first four factors, namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence
and facilitating conditions came from the original UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003),
while the other factors were added for the revised model, UTAUT2 (Venkatesh et al., 2012).
Performance expectancy is defined as, “the degree to which an individual believes that
using the system will help him or her to attain gains in job performance” (Venkatesh et al.,
2003, p. 447). This included factors such as the perceived usefulness of the new
technology (mobile apps) and the extrinsic motivation derived from the mobile app. This
study explored performance expectancy as a possible reason for Gen Zers attitudes and
behaviours towards mobile apps, including the adoption of branded apps.
Venkatesh et al. (2003, p. 450) defined effort expectancy as “the degree of ease associated
with the use of the system”. This study explored whether expectations about the effort required

Figure 1 Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model 2 (Venkatesh et al.,
2012, p. 160)

PAGE 188 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023

to use branded apps explained or affected attitudes and behaviour of Gen Zers towards apps.
Venkatesh et al. (2003, p. 451) defined social influence as “the degree to which an individual
perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system”. With regards to
social influence, this study explored the people and social factors that influenced Gen Zers
attitudes and behaviour towards mobile applications in South Africa. Venkatesh et al. (2003,
p. 453) define facilitating conditions as “the degree to which an individual believes that an
organisational and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system”. With regards to
facilitating conditions, this study set out to understand GenZer’s opinions on the general
perceived behavioural control, compatibility and support of the mobile application sector in
South Africa and how this influenced their adoption of mobile applications in the market.
The UTAUT2 model introduced hedonic motivation, described as “the fun or pleasure
derived from using a technology, and it has been shown to play an important role in
determining technology acceptance and use” (Venkatesh et al., 2012, p. 161). This study
explored whether hedonic motivation affects GenZers attitudes and behaviour with regards
to branded mobile applications. Price value is defined as “consumers’ cognitive tradeoff
between the perceived benefits of the applications and the monetary cost for using them”
(Venkatesh et al., 2012, p. 161). With regards to price value, this study explored whether
price value explains GenZer’s attitudes and behaviour towards mobile apps in South Africa.
The final construct of the UTAUT2 model was habit. In the context of the UTAUT2 model, habit
with a new technology becomes automatically performed because of learning (Venkatesh
et al., 2012). Venkatesh et al. (2012) believed that experience was necessary but not a
sufficient condition for the formation of a habit. Venkatesh et al. (2012) also proposed that
experience with a new technology will lead to differing levels of habit, dependent on the ease
of the technology and the interaction for the user. In other words, behaviours can be explained
by the fact that they have become habitual due to past learning.
Thusi and Maduku’s findings (2020) indicated that performance expectancy, facilitating
conditions, habit, perceived risk and institution-based trust were significantly associated
with millennials’ intention to adopt mobile banking apps in South Africa, and that facilitating
conditions, perceived risk and behavioural intention had a significant direct influence on
millennials’ mobile banking app behaviour. This study investigated if there are further
UTAUT2 model factors that influence South African Gen Z’s attitudes and behaviour
towards mobile apps in general, and not just the banking sector.
The model also includes the moderator variables of age, gender and experience
(Venkatesh et al., 2012). These moderating variables were kept in mind in exploring whether
the variables in the model helped to explain the attitudes and behaviour of the participants.
However, for the purpose of this paper, only the influences of the seven constructs of the
UTAUT2 model were investigated, i.e. performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social
influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and habit.
While this study does not use the UTAUT model as typically used to measure the effects of the
independent variables on intention and behaviours with technology use, the model does
provide a useful framework for understanding some of the factors which might explain and
provide deeper understanding to the factors contributing to the attitudes and behaviours, with
regards to branded mobile apps. A review of the literature also shows that there is some
application of the UTAUT2 model to mobile apps such as mobile banking apps in South Africa
(Thusi and Maduku, 2020), social media apps in Thailand (Puriwat and Tripopsakul, 2021),
mobile shopping apps in India and America (Chopdar et al., 2018), consumption-related apps
and gamification (Wut et al., 2021) and general mobile apps in South Africa (Potgieter, 2015),
however most have focused on the Millennial market and/or in a quantitative design and have
not explored the largest demographic in an emerging market like South African Gen Zers. This
therefore presents an opportunity to apply the UTAUT2 framework in that context, where, as
established earlier, the Gen Z consumer is different to those of other markets.

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 189

 Methodology
The research design chosen was an exploratory, qualitative study focusing on acquiring
new insight into Generation Z students in South Africa and their use of mobile applications.
The aim of this study was to better understand a phenomenon rather than make
generalisations. Focus groups were chosen as the most suitable data collection method
and a sample of 61 students was selected. The target population was the 18–21 year old
demographic, chosen via a stratified random sampling method from a private tertiary
institution in Durban, South Africa. The sample consisted of six focus groups, with each
group consisting of between nine and thirteen students. The sample was divided into
gender strata with 50% of the sample being drawn randomly from each stratum. Open-
ended, exploratory and interpretative questions were asked during the focus groups. This
study site was appropriate for this study as a university/private tertiary institution is a hot
spot for Generation Z students and specifically young adults (Potgieter, 2015). The
institution’s Research Office granted ethical clearance. Focus groups were recorded by
video and audio, through a video camera and a dictaphone app. Thematic analysis was
conducted on the focus group transcript data. Data analysis consisted of organising and
preparing the data, reading through all the data, coding, detailing and interpreting the data.
Quality control of the study was centred on credibility, dependability, confirmability and
transferability. Analysis involved increasing levels of abstraction from the original data, including
thick descriptions of participants’ feelings and attitudes, thematic analysis, discussion and
theorising. The themes that emerged were linked back directly to the seven existing drivers of the
UTAUT2 model, i.e. performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating
conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and habit. Any themes that did not fit within the
existing UTAUT2 model were suggested as an extension to the framework. Analysis took place at
each phase of data collection, i.e. during and after the focus groups.

Results, analysis and discussion

The study focused on the theoretical framework of the UTAUT2 model by Venkatesh et al.
(2012, p. 157) which aimed to establish the roles of social influences, facilitating conditions,
performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, price value and habit on
the attitudes and behaviour of Generation Z students towards branded mobile applications.
The UTAUT2 model allowed the researcher to code the data into themes linked back to the
framework. Finally, themes that emerged that did not fit the UTAUT2 variables, could be
suggested as extensions to the model.
The sample was nearly evenly split by gender with 51% of the participants being male and
49% being females. The majority of the participants (62,2%) were either 20 or 21 years old,
with 26.2% being 19 years old and 11.5% being 18 years old. Gender played an important
role in choosing the sample as the theoretical framework of the UTAUT model developed by
Venkatesh et al. (2003) proposed that gender and age were moderating influences in the
adoption of new technology. A limitation of this study is that it focuses on the oldest sub
segment of the Gen Z cohort thus it was unlikely that age related differences would be
evident.
The first and third objectives of the study aimed to explore the attitudes of Gen Zers towards
mobile applications and the factors contributing to these attitudes. The factors resulting in
downloading mobile applications (RO3) were similar to the positive attitudes towards apps
(RO1), and thus, the general themes were grouped together in Table 1 below.
The emerging themes showed that participants felt positively towards branded mobile
applications due to their convenience, connectivity, functionality, time advantages and
entertainment. The most positive theme mentioned by 24 participants was convenience, as
explained by one participant:

PAGE 190 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023

 Table 1 Themes related to the positive attitudes towards branded mobile apps in relation to the UTAUT2 model
Themes Keywords Frequency UTAUT2 influence

Convenience Makes life easier; accessible 24 Effort expectancy

Staying connected Staying connected; staying-in-touch; keeping up-to-date; 18 Social influence
communication; notified social media
Functionality of Organisation; functionality; navigation; news; storage; help; work 16 Facilitating
apps opportunities; reminders conditions
Time advantage Saves time; instant; time efficient; accessible; busy; quick 16 Effort expectancy
Entertainment Overcoming boredom; push time; try it out 15 Hedonic
motivation
Cost advantage Low-cost; price; saved money; free 5 Price value
Social acceptance Accepted by peers 4 Social influence
Stalking Stalking; find people 4 Social influence
Job opportunities LinkedIn; work opportunities 1 Performance
expectancy
Large variety Variety 1 Facilitating
conditions
Personalisation Personalise; adapt 1 Facilitating
conditions
Technical features Screen size; distorted images 1 Facilitating
of apps conditions

Apps are also convenient in the time that we live in, as it’s so much easier to socialise on apps,
than face-to-face. So it gives you a wide variety of things to do at one time.

This study supported the findings of the theoretical framework, the UTAUT model by
Venkatesh et al. (2003, p. 453) which suggested that effort expectancy was a determinant
of new technology intention and usage. In particular, apps that were easy to use, convenient
and enjoyable lead to a more positive attitude and increased behaviour of the participants’
usage towards the apps in this study. However, this study has identified in particular the most
important factor contributing towards young consumer’s (Gen Z) positive attitudes towards
branded mobile apps, i.e. convenience of an app. Furthermore, the participants recommended
that the apps be efficient in the way they complete their function as quickly as possible for the
user. This included having features such as simple instructions at login, simple and organised
layout and use of a universal standard of symbols within the app. These are critical factors to
consider when marketing a mobile app to young consumers.
Staying connected was the second highest mentioned benefit of mobile apps to the
participants. The participants felt that mobile applications made staying in touch much more
accessible and convenient. Particularly the social media apps were highlighted as the branded
mobile applications most used to stay connected. One of the participants felt that Facebook and
Instagram let:
You know what everyone is doing, posting up pictures of what you’re doing, saving your memories.

Staying connected with their distant or overseas friends and family through a mobile app
was also a communication benefit:
What I like about Snapchat and Instagram, like if you have friends that don’t stay near you, then
you can keep track on what they doing, how they doing. Especially with Snapchat as you know
what they doing on that day.

Often the participants remarked that they prefer connecting with their peers via mobile apps
as opposed to face-to-face contact. One participant stated:
Instead of going downstairs and knocking on my friend’s door, I can just WhatsApp her. So that
makes my life easier.

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 191

 This study therefore supported the findings by Ruiz-Del-Olmo and Belmonte-Jimenez
(2014) who also found that connectivity was one of the main benefits of mobile apps for the
youth in Spain. In addition, Puriwat and Tripopsakul (2021) established that social
influences had significant positive impacts on app users’ behavioural intention to use social
media apps for business purposes. Furthermore, this study supported the findings of the
theoretical framework, the UTAUT model, proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2003, p. 451), that
social influences impacted user’s attitude and behaviour towards new technology. The
biggest social influence that impacted the participant’s attitudes and behaviour towards
mobile applications were their family, followed by their friends, external influencers
(including salespeople) and their partners. This study establishes the most important
influencers to young consumers, in particular Gen Z, when choosing between different
branded mobile apps. This study reaffirmed that social media apps are the most popular
amongst the GenZ cohort.
The functionality of a smartphone and branded mobile applications was an important factor
for the Gen Zers while doing their day-to-day tasks. These findings supported the study by Chiem
et al. (2010) who also discovered that utilitarian mobile apps that provided functionality were most
preferred by consumers in Switzerland and Italy. One participant explained this by stating:
So I’m a super impatient person and I don’t like really dealing with people so if I want to go to
gym class, instead of calling the gym, I can simply just logon to My Virgin app.

With compatibility and functionality being some of the influences of facilitating conditions and
performance expectancy proposed by the UTAUT model by Venkatesh et al. (2003, p. 453),
all the participants of this study enjoyed mobile apps that were compatible and functional with
their student lives. This included banking apps, social media and storage apps. This was also
supported by Puriwat and Tripopsakul, (2021) and Wut et al. (2021) who found that facilitating
conditions significantly contributed to affecting actual app user behaviour. Therefore, this
study supported the findings of the theoretical framework the UTAUT model by Venkatesh
et al. (2003, p. 453) which suggested that facilitating conditions and performance expectancy
were determinants of new technology intention and usage. Even though social media apps
were most important to them, this study highlighted that apps that were compatible to the
everyday lives and tasks of young consumers were also favourable.
Many of the participants commented on the benefit of mobile apps saving them time for
day-to-day activities. For example, the following two quotes:
A banking app, you don’t have to go into the bank to make a transaction or pay for something.
You can do it right on your phone and it takes only a few minutes to do it.

Apps are more time efficient than going and buying a newspaper.

Once again, this supported the findings of the UTAUT2 model that effort expectancy, i.e. in
this study that time efficiency of mobile apps were a direct influence on the attitudes and
behaviour of the participants. Similarly, Puriwat and Tripopsakul (2021) found that effort
expectancy significantly positively impacted behavioural intention, for example, the use of
social media apps to do business was clear and understandable. Therefore, this study
highlights the importance of functional apps that are able to maximise young consumers’ time.
Finally, entertainment was highlighted as another major benefit of branded mobile
applications. Entertainment was also highlighted as a contributing factor to the popularity of
branded mobile apps by the youth in two separate studies, i.e. Potgieter (2015) in South Africa
and Ruiz-Del-Olmo and Belmonte-Jimenez (2014) in Spain. This also supports Hass et al.
(2021, p. 368) who found that university students have positive attitudes towards gamification
in mobile apps and Wut et al. (2021) who recommend adding gamification to “consumption-
related mobile apps to increasing usage behavior”. As one participant said:

PAGE 192 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023

 I like how they continuously innovating, making our lives easier and more entertaining at the
same time.

Mobile apps were downloaded to overcome boredom and keep participants entertained as
stated by two participants:
Apps are also a nice way to kill time. When you sitting somewhere and you bored, it passes time
quickly.

Just to push time. You know at sometimes at like 2o’clock when you have nothing to do, you just
play on apps to do something.

Of the participants who responded, 90,6% were more favourable towards fun and enjoyable
branded mobile apps, which would subsequently lead them to using the app more. One
participant suggested that fun and enjoyable apps were popular due to the short attention
span of Generation Z. Some of the branded mobile applications mentioned as being fun
and enjoyable were Facebook, Instagram, Picolo, Pinterest, Pokemon GO, Snapchat, Stick
Cricket and YouTube. Therefore, this study supported the findings of the theoretical
framework, the UTAUT2 model by Venkatesh et al. (2012, p. 174) which suggested that
hedonic motivation influenced new technology usage. However, this study contributes to
literature on the importance of fun mobile apps for young consumers in particular.
Although the 106 positive mentions outweighed the 57 negatives, there were some negative
attitude themes towards branded mobile applications. Some of these negative attitudes
included mobile branded apps being time consuming, having adverts that were annoying,
high usage of data, large memory space required for apps, high pricing and updates and
notifications. These findings also supported the study performed by Ruiz-Del-Olmo and
Belmonte-Jimenez (2014), who also found that mobile applications were disliked due to
their high usage of data, which was a financial burden on the users. In addition, Bhave et al.
(2013) also discovered that consumers become annoyed when an advert appeared while
they were actively involved with the mobile application, particularly when they were
communicating with friends or playing games (Bhave et al., 2013). However, the participants
expressed more positive attitudes towards branded mobile applications than negative
attitudes, thereby providing insight into the overall views of young consumers towards
branded mobile apps.
The second objective (RO2) aimed to ascertain the behaviour of Gen Zers towards mobile
applications and what factors affected this behaviour. The participants were asked to look
at their smartphones and call out the apps they presently had on their phones and this was
then compiled into a list on the whiteboard in the classroom. In total, 213 branded mobile
applications were recorded on their smartphones. The five most popular branded mobile
applications among the sample were WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Uber and
Snapchat. This supports the study by Potgieter (2015) who found Facebook and WhatsApp
to be the most popular branded mobile applications among university students in South
Africa. The number of branded mobile applications on the participant’s smartphones
ranged from 5 to 42. The majority (52.5% of participants) had between seven and ten
branded mobile applications on their phone. There were however, 21.2% of participants
that had more than 15 apps on their phone. These findings differ from the findings of CB
Staff (2014) who revealed that the average Generation Z student has more than ten
branded mobile applications on their smartphones. In this study, the most popular mobile
apps used daily (ranked in popularity) were WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook
and Facebook Messenger. Every participant in the focus groups had WhatsApp on his or
her smartphone.
The five most common factors contributing to participants deleting branded mobile applications
were: Lack of storage on the smartphone, when an app is no longer useful or relevant, when an
app is no longer entertaining, when an app becomes too addictive and when an app is used

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 193

 rarely. Ruiz-Del-Olmo and Belmonte-Jimenez (2014) also found that students who did not make
use of mobile apps attributed it to the lack of data due to financial restrictions. However, this
study found further reasons for young consumers to delete a mobile app, as mentioned
previously.
With all of the participants being students, price value was important, and many refused to
download mobile apps that had a price tag. This further supports the findings of Potgieter
(2015, p. 5) who found that young students in South Africa have a negative attitude towards
paid mobile apps and will generally only buy a mobile app if it is considered “vital” or if it is
superior to a free application. Of the participants who responded, 78,4% had not paid for
mobile apps. However, some participants felt that branded mobile applications that had a
price tag were more superior in quality compared to the free apps. Therefore, this study
supported the findings of the theoretical framework, the UTAUT2 model by Venkatesh et al.
(2012, p. 174) which suggested that price value influences technology usage.
Most often branded mobile apps would be deleted the same day as they were downloaded.
Some of these quotes around deleting mobile apps were as follows:
I delete apps when my phone hasn’t got a lot of memory left.

Well if I’m extremely bored I download an app just to try it out because it looks entertaining, but if
it’s not then I just delete it. Or if it’s not useful then I will delete it.

Me and Angry Birds kind of divorced, because it’s too addictive. You know how they say “too
much of a good thing is bad”, yeah well you just know. I need to study now.

This study supported the findings of the UTAUT2 model that also found that hedonic
motivation, such as entertainment of a new technology (like a mobile app) influenced
technology acceptance and use directly (Venkatesh et al., 2012 and Wut et al., 2021).
Furthermore, this study supported the findings of the theoretical framework, the UTAUT2
model by Venkatesh et al. (2012, p. 174) which suggested that habit influenced technology
usage. The participants in this study felt more favourable and used an app more when they
gained experience with the app and checked them regularly. This was of critical importance
to young consumers.
The fourth and last objective (RO4) aimed to identify any other conditions that affected the
attitudes and behaviour of Gen Zers towards branded mobile applications. This objective
was included to explore the research gap of the UTAUT2 model and if there were any
additional constructs that impacted the attitudes and behaviour towards a new technology,
such as branded mobile apps.
Privacy emerged as the main condition that impacted the attitudes and behaviour of the
participants towards branded mobile applications. Privacy was also found to be a factor
that impacted negatively on consumers’ attitudes towards mobile applications by Beneke
et al. (2010). Previously, Chopdar et al. (2018) also proposed privacy as an additional
element to the UTAUT2 framework, in relation to their study on mobile shopping apps in
India and the US. The UTAUT2 model did not include privacy as a variable that can
influence behavioural intention and use behaviour, and therefore, this study recommends
an extension of the UTAUT2 model to include privacy as an eighth component of the
UTAUT2 model. Some of these remarks on privacy were as follows:
The one reason why I don’t want Facebook is I don’t want everyone to know what’s going on in
my life, for example who I’m sitting with. So privacy is an issue.

On the negative side, like personal accounts being hacked on apps. Then you got to question
the app’s security. I wouldn’t put my personal stuff on an app that has been hacked six times in
the last few weeks.

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 WhatsApp recently had an update where they shared information with Facebook, so that had a
negative impact on me but luckily I managed to turn it off. So privacy is important!

There is a misconception that because young consumers, such as Gen Zers love social
media apps and sharing and connecting with others, that they do not regard privacy to be
as important as previous generations do or do that they do not have much awareness of
privacy (Musdalifah et al., 2021). However, this study disproves that perception by finding
that privacy settings of a mobile app represent the difference between them keeping or
deleting a mobile app.
Other issues that negatively affected the participants’ attitudes and behaviour towards apps
were the adverts, charging for an app, the large amount of data and memory space
required to run the app and notifications. Some participants also revealed that they felt
negative towards apps as they have led to anti-social behaviour among their friends and
increased cyber bullying. Furthermore, the participants felt that certain apps (such as
Facebook) were only available in some countries and this impacted their attitude and
behaviour towards those branded mobile applications, by not downloading them if they
could not be connected to their friends across the world. All of these additional influences to
the UTAUT2 model could be further researched in future.
When downloading apps, the participants looked at the media, reactions to posts, reviews
and ratings and trends when formulating their attitudes and behaviour towards apps.
Syncing of apps made participants more positive towards the apps. In other words, when
one post could be uploaded to three different apps at the same time (such as Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter). This saved time for the user and they enjoyed the apps more. An
additional issue that impacted the participants’ attitudes and behaviour towards branded
mobile application in a positive way was nostalgia. Pokemon GO in particular, was
downloaded due to nostalgia. The participant who had downloaded Pokemon GO had
watched the TV series when they were a child and thus they already had a positive attitude
towards the brand so they downloaded the gaming mobile app. One participant felt that the
reactions received on social media posts made them either like or dislike the mobile app.
Often when a user received many likes, positive comments and followers they liked the app
more and used the app more often. Lifestyle and personality were also factors mentioned
by the participants to change their behaviour around apps, by downloading certain apps
(such as sports and music apps) that matched their lifestyle. With regards to reviews and
ratings of an app, one participant mentioned they would examine the comments and
reviews before downloading a mobile app. Potgieter (2015) also discovered that reviews
and ratings of an app were deemed as an important issue connected to attitudes and
behaviour of mobile applications. A final factor discussed was that trends led to positive
attitudes towards branded mobile apps and downloading. For example, when most of their
friends started downloading Snapchat, it led to a participant downloading it because it was
a trend with the app having fun filters.

Theoretical implications
This study contributes to the existing literature by providing an extension of the UTAUT2
framework, with specific reference to privacy as a driver affecting attitudes and behaviour of
a new technology, with reference to branded mobile applications. This study showed that
young consumers are acutely aware of privacy issues and that the participants emphasised
that they would only download and keep mobile apps that were able to assure them of their
privacy. This study showed that young consumers were fearful of their personal profiles on
the apps being hacked. Thus, a key theoretical contribution of the study is that while the
UTAUT2 model seems applicable in a Gen Z context, it is advised that the model be
extended to include privacy as a determining factor. Furthermore, this study specifically
focuses on an emerging market, South Africa, with previous studies on branded mobile

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 applications limited mainly to developed or other emerging Asian countries (Puriwat and
Tripopsakul, 2021) and (Chopdar et al., 2018). This study also looks at branded mobile
applications broadly, as opposed to previous studies focusing on certain category of apps
e.g. gamification (Wut et al., 2021), fitness (Fernandes and Radebe, 2018) and banking
(Thusi and Maduku, 2020). Thirdly, this study researches the attitudes and behaviour of the
Gen Z market, an under-researched market who will be the largest consumer base through
to 2030 (Euromonitor, 2018), with most research focusing on previous generations such as
Generation Y and Millennials (Gokgoz et al., 2021 and Mondal and Chakrabarti, 2021).
Fourthly, this study uses a qualitative methodology, which is unique in that previous studies
on behaviours of mobile apps have mainly used surveys (quantitative) thereby not exploring
the actual reasons behind those behaviours (Chopdar et al., 2021; Duffett, 2017; Fernandes
and Radebe 2018; Potgieter, 2015; Puriwat and Tripopsakul, 2021; Thusi and Maduku,
2020 and Wut et al., 2021). The qualitative method allowed for this study to identify the
reasons why young consumers download certain mobile apps and not others. These
reasons included apps that were mostly convenient and made young consumer’s lives and
daily tasks easier; apps that kept them socially connected, apps that were functional and
saved them time in their day and also apps that were entertaining. Furthermore, this study
discovered that family, then friends were Gen Zers biggest social influence when choosing
which apps to download. Overall, this study also demonstrated the reasons why young
consumers view mobile apps as more positive than negative. Of the negative attitudes
mentioned in the study, young consumers mostly deleted apps that were taking up a lot of
storage on their phones, apps that were no longer useful, no longer entertaining, became
addictive and were used rarely by them. This study also highlighted price points that young
consumers were willing to pay for branded mobile apps.

Practical implications
This paper contributes to three industries: the marketer of branded mobile apps, the app
developers and researchers.

Recommendations for marketers of branded mobile applications

Convenience of branded mobile applications: The most important benefit of branded
mobile applications for the participants was convenience. Therefore, marketers need to
ensure first and foremost that their branded mobile application makes life easier for the
user. The benefits of the app need to be highlighted in their information section on the app
store, as well as within the app.
Entertainment within the app: Entertainment was in the top five most important features of
branded mobile applications in the study, with 90,6% of the sample agreeing that they felt
more favourable towards fun and enjoyable branded mobile applications. This could
include videos, images, photo filters, games or any other form of entertainment that would
capture the Generation Z user’s interest. Hemsley (2016) discovered that the average
attention span of the Generation Z student is 8 s, therefore brands need to ensure that their
entertainment within the app captures interest within 8 s.
Avoid excessive in-app advertising: Adverts were listed as the second most cited negative
feature of branded mobile applications and were often the reason for deletion of the app.
Pop-up adverts in particular, were mentioned as annoying features of a branded mobile
application for young consumers. Therefore, marketers need to avoid excessive in-app
advertising. If necessary, the occasional advert would be recommended, but not to the
point of it annoying the user and disturbing their entertainment within the app. Therefore,
adverts to the Generation Z market should focus on budget-saving offers or a benefit that
will add value to their life as a student.

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Be honest in your pricing strategy: If the app is free, app developers should not suddenly
expect payment after a “free” trial period. Marketers of apps should be honest and upfront
about their pricing strategy at installation of the app. Of the participants who responded in this
study, 78,4% had not paid for mobile apps. However, once established (such as WhatsApp), the
participants stated they were more willing to pay for apps. Furthermore, if the participants found
the apps with prices superior in value compared to the free apps, they would download them,
thereby supporting the UTAUT2 model of the influences of price value and performance
expectancy on the adoption of a new technology. Therefore, it is recommended that a new
branded mobile application should offer different versions, i.e. a basic, free version and then paid
versions with additional features. Functional apps that are established and have differentiating
features can charge but they need to be aware of the yield value of the Generation Z consumer.
In the study, participants were not willing to pay more than R50 for an app. Marketers need to be
ethical in their pricing strategy of branded mobile applications, to ensure acceptance of their app
among the Generation Z market.
Connectivity for the users of the app: Social influences, in particular family and friends
played an important role for the participants when downloading branded mobile
applications. Therefore, marketers of branded mobile applications to young consumers
need to ensure that the app has the added feature of connectivity with the user’s social
connections. Marketers need to encourage word-of-mouth once a user has downloaded
and developed a bond with a mobile app. This could mean a reward programme or
incentive offered to users when they recommend the branded mobile application to their
family, friends or partners.
Develop and market apps that are functional for GenZ: The most useful and functional
mobile apps downloaded by the participants were WhatsApp, Gmail, ABSA, Facebook,
FNB and Snapchat. Aside from the social, hedonic apps that were popular, two of the most
useful mobile apps listed were banking apps (ABSA and FNB). These apps were popular
as they saved the participant’s time and were user-friendly. Therefore marketers of brands
to Gen Z need to develop useful, functional apps. Aside from banking apps other industry
apps that would be useful to the Generation Z market would be travel, education, fitness,
news, telecommunication, entertainment and sport.
Make sure your app is time efficient for the user: Make sure the app is user-friendly and all
pages of the app are no more than three clicks away from the home page. The Generation
Z consumer wants instant gratification (Birkner, 2013).
Respect the privacy of the mobile app user: Privacy was mentioned repeatedly throughout
the study and played a role in the attitudes and behaviour of the participants towards
branded mobile applications. The participants listed invasion of privacy as a dislike and
reason for deletion of mobile apps. Permission marketing is of key importance when
developing and marketing a branded mobile application for the Generation Z market.
Beneke et al. (2010) recommended permission marketing as a means of overcoming the
mobile consumer’s fear of invasion of privacy, which involves obtaining consent from the
consumer to receive mobile advertisements. Permission marketing should not just involve
advertisement consent, but also geo-location consent. Furthermore, the marketers and app
developers need to work alongside each other to ensure that their app has the highest
protection of privacy for their users. This would include privacy of their profiles and their
posts.
The final recommendation that summarises all the above recommendations is to always
keep the Generation Z consumer in mind when developing and marketing the app.
The app developers and marketers of a branded mobile application should not work
separately but rather alongside each other to ensure the most effective app is developed for
the Generation Z market.

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 197

 Recommendations for app developers
Avoid bombarding the app user with too many notifications and updates: Notifications and
updates are a necessity for mobile apps, but they should not reach a point that they
bombard the user so much that they end up deleting the mobile app. Updates and
notifications were listed in the top five dislikes of mobile applications for the participants of
the study and would often be a cause for deletion.
Develop a mobile app that requires less usage of data: The second biggest dislike of branded
mobile applications among the participants was the large amounts of data the apps need to
function properly. This can also lead to deletion of a branded mobile application. App developers
need to innovate to produce apps that require less data, especially those apps targeted to the
Generation Z market that are money-conscious because of their student life.
Develop a mobile app that requires less usage of memory space: In addition to data,
certain mobile applications also take up a large amount of memory space on the
smartphone. One participant explained that some smartphones have limited memory space
so the user has to be selective in which mobile apps they have on their phone so as to avoid
reaching their memory space limit. Therefore, app developers need to ensure that branded
mobile applications do not require a large amount of memory space for the user. Mobile
apps should be more convenient than the desktop/website versions of the brand, therefore
apps need to be relatively small to avoid a user deleting the app version.
Use universal symbols within the app: Make sure the app’s interface is simple and uses
universal coding. Rodriguez (2015) suggested universal symbols such as emojis are most
suitable for the Generation Z market. Dupont (2015) further recommended shareable
content that included symbols, graphics and videos to complement the marketing story
aimed at Generation Z. Therefore, the branded mobile application must be user-friendly
and use symbols that are instantly recognisable to the Generation Z market.
App developers should work in conjunction with the marketers of brands. The participants
recommended that app developers should incorporate fewer notifications and updates and
develop apps that require less usage of data and memory space on the smartphone.
Furthermore, universal symbols should be used within an app so that all users are able to
quickly understand an app, making it more user-friendly.

Recommendations for future research

Privacy: Privacy was the main additional condition that affected the attitudes and behaviour
of the sample towards branded mobile applications. Therefore, future research should also
broaden the UTAUT2 model by including the direct determinant role of concerns about
privacy on the user’s intention to use mobile app technology.
Lifestyle and personality: The study also showed that lifestyle and personality were factors
that impacted attitudes and behaviour towards branded mobile application. This was shown
through students interested in downloading art apps such as DeviantArt (an online art
community), students interested in sport downloading the Premier League app and image-
conscious students downloading Candy Camera (a photo editing app with beautifying filters).
Future studies could observe the lifestyle and personality of the student and the influence it
has on the apps that they download. Therefore, lifestyle and personality should also be
included into future research on the UTAUT2 model as additional possible moderating factors
in the adoption of a new technology, such as branded mobile applications.
Methodological changes: This study was of a qualitative nature, and thus, the sample size
was smaller than that of a quantitative study. Future research could add to this study by
increasing the sample size and adding a quantitative method such as surveys. The aim of
the qualitative study was to better understand a phenomenon rather than generalise the
data to the population. The addition of privacy to the UTAUT2 model could be further tested

PAGE 198 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023

in future research of branded mobile applications using a quantitative study. Secondly, the
target population was 18–21 years old, which was limited in the age coverage of the
Generation Z market, which is currently aged 10–26 years old. Furthermore, the sample was
restricted to students, which is only one segment of the Generation Z market. Future studies
could explore the Generation Z market under 18 years old (including non-student markets),
so as to cover a wider range of the Generation Z market. Finally, the sample was taken from
a private tertiary institution in South Africa, which could be biased in terms of the experience
and income differences between the private and public sector. Therefore, future studies
could investigate the attitudes and behaviour of Generation Z students in the public
universities, to explore their experiences with branded mobile applications.

Conclusion
This qualitative study set out to explore the attitudes and behaviour of Gen Zers towards
branded mobile applications in an emerging market. This research was needed as there is
limited literature on the Generation Z market, as most mobile marketing studies have
focused on Generation X and Generation Y and on developed markets, yet Generation Z is
the largest consumer market, particularly in emerging markets such as Sour Africa. This
research makes contributions for marketers, researchers and app developers seeking to
innovate in a digital economy to create value for the youngest, but most digitally astute,
consumer cohort. Firstly, it extends the research of the UTAUT2 model and proposes
privacy as an additional direct determinant of new technology adoption. Secondly, it
provides valuable information to marketers on the relatively unknown Generation Z market
and the factors positively and negatively affecting their attitudes and behaviour towards
branded mobile applications. Thirdly, this research provides guidelines to app developers
on how to better create value through building innovative apps suitable for the youth of
South Africa. The consumer should be the focus of attention for both the marketer and the
app developer, to ensure a more positive attitude towards and increased usage of, the app.

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Further reading
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communication”, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 223-246.

Taylor, D., Voelker, T. and Pentina, I. (2011), “Mobile application adoption by young adults: a social
network perspective”, International Journal of Mobile Marketing, Vol. VI No. 2, pp. 60-70.

About the authors

Shana Axcell has over 13 years of teaching experience in higher education in South Africa
and the UK. She has also co-authored a marketing university textbook and guest lectured at
highly acclaimed universities in London. She has presented at the Academy of Marketing
conference in London and is presently a Member of the organisation. Shana is currently a
Sports Marketing Lecturer at UCFB and Programme Leader for the MSc in Football
Communications and Digital Marketing, based in Wembley Stadium. Her research interests
lie in digital marketing, sports sponsorship and marketing to the Generation Z cohort. Shana
Axcell is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: s.axcell@ucfb.ac.uk
Debbie Ellis is an Associate Professor in Marketing. Debbie is a Graduate of the University
of Cape Town, South Africa and KTH, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
She has 30 years of consulting, teaching, supervision and research experience. She has

VOL. 24 NO. 2 2023 j YOUNG CONSUMERS j PAGE 201

 performed the roles of Conference Chair, Editor, Exco Member, Track Chair and Reviewer.
She reviews for numerous marketing conferences such as the Academy of Marketing,
Academy of Marketing Scientists, the Australian and the New Zealand Marketing Academy
conferences. She is also on the editorial board and review panels for numerous journals
including the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of
Electronic Commerce in Organisations and the Journal of Strategic Marketing among
others. Her primary areas of research interest include young consumers, eco-consumers,
social marketing and consumer knowledge. Her work has been published in the
International Journal of Consumer Studies, Young Consumers, the Journal of Cleaner
Production, Sustainability Science, Business Horizons and the International Review of
Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, among others.

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