Mercy Makhitha | Management and Accounting | Best Research Article Award

Prof. Dr Mercy Makhitha, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa

Prof. K. Mercy Makhitha is an accomplished academic leader and marketing expert currently serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). With over two decades of experience in higher education, she has held pivotal roles including Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing and Retail Management at the University of South Africa (Unisa). Her research spans diverse areas such as consumer behaviour, online shopping, green marketing, and entrepreneurship intention among university students. She has introduced innovative academic programmes and led curriculum transformations that reflect market needs and technological advancement. Prof. Makhitha is a published researcher with contributions to journals like Sustainability, Springer Nature, and Journal of Contemporary Management. Her leadership, research excellence, and community engagement reflect her commitment to advancing knowledge and developing future business leaders in South Africa and beyond.

Publication Profile

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🎓 Education

Prof. K. Mercy Makhitha holds a PhD in Marketing Management (2013) from the University of Pretoria, where her doctoral research focused on organizational buyer behaviour among South African craft producers. She completed her Master of Commerce in Business Management at the University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University) in 2001, with a dissertation exploring marketing strategies employed by SMMEs within the tourism sector. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree from the University of Witwatersrand in 1992. This strong educational foundation has been instrumental in shaping her research pursuits in marketing strategy, consumer behaviour, online shopping, green marketing, and entrepreneurship. Her academic qualifications reflect her dedication to bridging theory with real-world business practices, ensuring relevance and applicability in both research and teaching.

💼 Experience

Prof. K. Mercy Makhitha serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (from April 2025). Before this, she spent a decade at the University of South Africa (Unisa) as Full Professor in Marketing and Retail Management, also holding leadership roles such as Chair of Department and Acting School Director. Her administrative contributions included managing teaching and learning portfolios, overseeing 180 staff members, handling research, innovation, community engagement, finance, and stakeholder relationships. As Head of Department, she successfully led curriculum transformations and introduced new programmes, including MCom and BCom Honours in Marketing Management. Her leadership has been pivotal in fostering quality assurance, programme reviews, and academic citizenship within the institution. She continues to inspire students, staff, and the academic community with her dedication to educational excellence and research-driven solutions in marketing and retail management.

🏆 Honors and Awards

Prof. K. Mercy Makhitha has been recognised for her outstanding research contributions with numerous awards throughout her career. She received the prestigious Research Achievement Award from the Vaal University of Technology in 2011, followed by the Excellence in Research Award in 2012 and 2013 from the same institution. At the University of South Africa (Unisa), she earned departmental research awards for high per capita research output in 2016, acknowledging her prolific scholarly productivity. These honors highlight her consistent commitment to high-quality research and her impactful contributions to the field of marketing and retail management. Prof. Makhitha’s accolades reflect both the volume and the significance of her academic work, reinforcing her reputation as a leader in her discipline and a role model for upcoming researchers in South Africa and internationally.

🔬 Research Focus

Prof. K. Mercy Makhitha’s research interests lie at the intersection of consumer behaviour, online and green marketing, retail management, and entrepreneurship education. She explores factors influencing township consumers’ recycling behaviour, perceived risks in online shopping, and adoption of augmented reality in high-involvement product shopping. Her research also delves into technology acceptance models within e-learning, the influence of hedonic values in retail settings, and the motivations driving shopping apathy or purchase intentions in emerging markets. She has extensively studied South African township consumer markets to provide insights on sustainable consumption practices and entrepreneurial inclinations among university students. Prof. Makhitha’s work contributes not only to academic literature but also to policy and business practices, emphasizing sustainable development, digital transformation, and innovation in retail and educational environments. Her multidisciplinary research has a strong socio-economic relevance, particularly within the context of South Africa’s developing market landscapes.

📚 Publications

📝 South African township consumers’ recycling engagement and their actual recycling behaviour – Sustainability Journal (2025)

📝 Recycling behaviour of township consumers in South Africa: An explanation based on the theory of planned behavior – Springer Nature

📝 Drivers of online augmented reality shopping adoption for high-involvement products in South Africa – SA Journal of Information Management (2025)

📝 Perceived Risk Mediation of Website Quality in Online Clothing Shopping in a South African Township – The African Journal of Information Systems

📝 Exploring the influence of clothing store attributes on satisfaction and loyalty among emerging market consumers – Journal of Contemporary Management (2024)

📝 The application of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to determine students’ intention to adopt online teaching and learning in South Africa – International Journal of Education Economics and Development (2024)

📝 Perceived hedonic values affecting students’ satisfaction and repurchase intention at SMEs retailers in Lephalale, South Africa – International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2024)

📝 The mediation of self-efficacy on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship intention of university students in South Africa – International Journal of Education and Practice (2024)

📝 Factors determining the entrepreneurship intention of university students in South Africa – International Journal of Education and Practice (2024)

📝 The effect of shopper motivation on shopping apathy: The moderating role of time spent in the clothing retailers in SA – Journal of Contemporary Management (2024)

📝 Effect of Perceived Risk in Online Shopping Intention: Does Attitude Mediate the Relationship? – Expert in Marketing (2024)

📝 The Effect of Green Purchase Intention on Emerging Market Consumers’ Clothing Purchase Behaviour in South Africa – International Journal of Management and Sustainability (2024)

📝 The Influence of Perceived Risk Factors on Emerging Market Consumers’ Attitude Towards Shopping for Clothes Online – Studies in Media and Communication (2024)