Dear Students

My name is Kholu Mphutlane,  I am a registered  Master of Commerce in Marketing Management degree student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville campus). My supervisor is Mr Nigel Chiweshe.

I am cordially inviting you to consider being a participant in my study titled: Exploring  social media's role in shaping purchasing decisions of University of KwaZulu-Natal students. Your participation would be greatly appreciated and will provide valuable insights into this topic. The study is expected to enrol 381 participants from the 5 campuses at UKZN. This means that any student registered at UKZN can consider being a participant. It aims to shed light on the role played by social media in influencing the purchasing decisions of UKZN students. The expected duration of your participation is around 5 to 8 minutes.

Your participation in the study is voluntary, and you are granting the researcher permission to use your responses. You may  refuse to participate or withdraw  from the study at any given time with no negative consequences. Furthermore, please note that this study is not funded by an organisation/entitiy and will not pose any risks or discomfort that may warrant compensation or counselling.

The study is anonymous, the researcher and the school of Management, IT and Governance will maintain  your confidentiality. Your responses will not be used for any purposes outside of this study.

If you are interested in participating, please follow the link below to access the survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14cRV3y2NN8jSxadt-U3G90t7MESLczKfcqrlR3JeHZk/viewform

 Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at 216053644@stu.ukzn.ac.za or kdu.mphutlane@gmail.com

This study has been ethically reviewed and approved by the UKZN Humanities and social Science Research Ethics Commitee. Ethical Clearance Reference Number: HSSREC/00008389/2025.

Kindly find attached the Gate keepers' letter, Informed consent document and the Ethical clearance.

Kind Regards

Kholu Mphutlane

Supervisor's Email address: Chiweshen@ukzn.ac.za