IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/loceco/v32y2017i6p525-538.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector

Author

Listed:
  • John Foster

    (Varsity College, South Africa; Graduate School of Business and Leadership, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

  • Mihalis Chasomeris

Abstract

Car guarding is a distinctly South African informal sector employment activity. A car guard offers to guard vehicles in a public or private parking area for a donation. Car guarding enables an unemployed person to earn some income. The purpose of this study is to examine car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector. This study interviews 30 car guards at six different locations in Durban, South Africa. It examines their demographic characteristics, income, education and skills, risks and challenges faced, and the opinion of car guards regarding their livelihood. The average car guard worked six days per week and an average of nine hours per day. The average income per hour ranged from ZAR4.64 to ZAR30. Average daily incomes ranged from ZAR50 to ZAR350. Car guarding is a high risk activity that includes health risks, and risks of verbal abuse and violence.

Suggested Citation

  • John Foster & Mihalis Chasomeris, 2017. "Examining car guarding as a livelihood in the informal sector," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(6), pages 525-538, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:32:y:2017:i:6:p:525-538
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094217727990
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269094217727990
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0269094217727990?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Saunders, Stephen G. & Lynn, Michael, 2010. "Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 106-113, February.
    2. Hayley McEwen & Anthony Leiman, 2008. "The Car Guards of Cape Town: A Public Good Analysis," SALDRU Working Papers 25, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John RW Foster & Mihalis Chasomeris & Derick Blaauw, 2022. "‘This job is not part of my dreams, what do I leave my children? Nothing’. Livelihoods of Durban car guards at ticketed pay to park sites," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(5), pages 331-347, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Azar, Ofer H. & Yosef, Shira & Bar-Eli, Michael, 2015. "Restaurant tipping in a field experiment: How do customers tip when they receive too much change?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 13-21.
    2. Lynn, Michael, 2015. "Explanations of service gratuities and tipping: Evidence from individual differences in tipping motivations and tendencies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 65-71.
    3. Lynn, Michael, 2016. "Why are we more likely to tip some service occupations than others? Theory, evidence, and implications," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 134-150.
    4. Thrane, Christer & Haugom, Erik, 2020. "Peer effects on restaurant tipping in Norway: An experimental approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 244-252.
    5. Kang, Christine & Wooten, David B., 2020. "The Presenter’s Paradox in customer service interactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 94-102.
    6. Osman Ahmed El-Said & Hossam Said Shehata, 2017. "Tipping Motives in Egyptian Restaurants: Customers’ View," Tourism Research Institute, Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 16(1), pages 176-198, June.
    7. Hoover, Hanna, 2022. "Nudges as norms: Evidence from the NYC taxi cab industry," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Conlisk, Sarah, 2022. "Tipping in crises: Evidence from Chicago taxi passengers during COVID-19," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    9. Saunders, Stephen G. & Lynn, Michael, 2010. "Why tip? An empirical test of motivations for tipping car guards," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 106-113, February.
    10. Lynn, Michael & Jabbour, Patrick & Kim, Woo Gon, 2012. "Who uses tips as a reward for service and when? An examination of potential moderators of the service–tipping relationship," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 90-103.
    11. Lynn, Michael, 2015. "Service gratuities and tipping: A motivational framework," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 74-88.
    12. Medler-Liraz, Hana & Seger-Guttmann, Tali, 2021. "The joint effect of flirting and emotional labor on customer service-related outcomes," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Elif Aydin, Asli & Acun, Yüksel, 2019. "An investigation of tipping behavior as a major component in service economy: The case of taxi tipping," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 114-120.
    14. Lynn, Michael, 2018. "How motivations for tipping vary with occupational differences in descriptive tipping norms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-10.
    15. Lynn, Michael & Starbuck, Mark M., 2015. "Tipping customs: The effects of national differences in attitudes toward tipping and sensitivities to duty and social pressure," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 158-166.
    16. John RW Foster & Mihalis Chasomeris & Derick Blaauw, 2022. "‘This job is not part of my dreams, what do I leave my children? Nothing’. Livelihoods of Durban car guards at ticketed pay to park sites," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 37(5), pages 331-347, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:32:y:2017:i:6:p:525-538. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/index.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.