The South African higher education landscape consists of 23 HEIs comprising 11 universities, 6 comprehensive universities and 6 universities of technology (CHE, 2009)77. The document analysis involved a content analysis of course outlines, and/or institution handbooks at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. All twenty-three (23) HEIs were considered for inclusion in the sample. However, this was subject to certain conditions being met.
76 Several advantages to document research include efficient method; availability of documents; cost-effectiveness; lack of obtrusiveness and reactivity as they are unaffected by the research process; stability as the researchers presence does not alter the research process; exactness and coverage of a wide source of events over various settings (Bowen, 2009, p. 31).
77 “Universities offer a mix of programmes, including career-oriented degree and professional programmes, general formative programmes and research master’s and doctoral programmes” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 36). Comprehensive universities offer programmes across the spectrum, from research degrees to career- oriented diplomas (Reddy, 2006, p.36).
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Firstly, the scope of this study focused on marketing curricula in mainstream programmes within universities. Courses were selected on the basis of them being part of the mainstream marketing programme and excluded retailing, tourism and sales degrees/diplomas78.
Secondly, leading on from the first condition, only schools or departments that offered these mainstream marketing programmes were considered. This would mean that business schools, other external departments and private HEIs were excluded from the study.
Thirdly, the availability of descriptions of courses within marketing curricula was deemed necessary to ascertain the existence of sustainability-related content. Documents should be assessed on the basis of their completeness and comprehensiveness or selectiveness in covering information as the level of detail or lack therefore should be taken into account (Bowen, 2009)79. Hence, where course information obtained from HEIs lacked adequate description, by presenting with only a name listing of the course, these were excluded from the study.
The sampling population included all 23 institutions. A total of 6 HEIs was excluded from the study due to inadequate description of course listings. As a result, the total sample for this part of the study included 16 HEIs. These 16 HEIs included, 10 universities, 3 comprehensive universities and 3 universities of technology. Additionally, mainstream-marketing courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level were considered.
The findings were that the courses offered at undergraduate level have a predominantly marketing management perspective. There was a strong emphasis on the foundational aspects of marketing, in particular the 4ps, which constituted product, price, place and promotion. The importance of branding and global marketing was also evident. There were only two institutions that featured modules with an ethical or societal context. These modules were specifically related to social marketing, ethics, governance, consumerism and ethical behaviour.
78 This decision was based on the assumption that these courses usually had small numbers and was not often part of mainstream university marketing curriculum.
79 Content of the document should fit the conceptual framework of the study and it is necessary to determine the authenticity, credibility, accuracy and representativeness of the selected documents (Bowen, 2009).
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At the postgraduate level, the marketing management perspective featured predominantly as well. Again, similarities were seen with the undergraduate modules where subjects such as Strategic Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, Advertising, Branding and Global Marketing are offered. In the case of postgraduate modules, there were only three institutions that included societal marketing, ethics in business as well as social and cultural issues. Consumer behaviour featured strongly in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As a subject area it does take into account some issues related to ethical and societal contexts, however the focus on those areas was minimal. The marketing curriculum as it appeared in phase 1, did not feature sustainability marketing as a subject area.
The data analysis for the first phase of the study involved a thematic categorisation of the various marketing courses offered at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. All the module descriptions for the marketing courses were compared across the institutions in the sample to identify the most common course offerings at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. A total of 113 postgraduate modules and 106 undergraduate modules were reviewed across 16 HEIs. This constituted a 52% representation for the former and a 48% representation for the latter.
The summary of the data in this phase of the study simply established that sustainability marketing was absent from or silenced in the marketing curricula at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The absence, sparseness or incompleteness of documents should suggest something about the object of the investigation or the people involved and might suggest that certain matters are given little attention or that certain voices have not been heard (Bowen, 2009).
As a result, a deeper level of probing was deemed necessary to uncover how and why the academic response to sustainability marketing presented in a particular way. The probing of the academic response to sustainability marketing was related directly to the second and third research questions and justified the use of case study portrayals to offer a critical perspective of the academic response to marketing. This is presented in the ensuing discussion.
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