The flip side of multi-level marketing: A diagnosis of factors leading to the mass uptake of unregulated pyramid schemes in South Africa

  • Received December 25, 2021;
    Accepted February 4, 2022;
    Published March 9, 2022
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/im.18(1).2022.12
  • Article Info
    Volume 18 2022, Issue #1, pp. 142-151
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

This study sought to diagnose the factors leading to the mass uptake of unregulated pyramid schemes in South Africa. The study adopted an exploratory and qualitative research design. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 respondents using a non-probability sampling technique known as purposive sampling. The respondents were drawn from the target population of individuals who have previously used unregulated pyramid schemes. Data were analyzed using the Nvivo framework matrix. The findings of this study show that individuals are motivated to join pyramid schemes because of the expected benefit or return, accounting for 40%, followed by current economic conditions (30%), friends and family recommendation (15%), desire to get rich quickly (10%), and past performance of the scheme (5%). This study has contributed to the literature on multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes in South Africa and the developing world in general. It will further act as a launchpad for designing policies in the financial services sector.

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    • Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics and profiles of the participants
    • Table 2. Framework matrix on the emerging themes and statements
    • Table 3. Comparison between gender and age group and factors leading to the uptake of pyramid schemes
    • Table 4. Comparison of the level of education and factors leading to the uptake of pyramid schemes
    • Table 5. Comparison of the monthly income and factors leading to the uptake of pyramid schemes
    • Conceptualization
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Data curation
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Formal Analysis
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Funding acquisition
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Investigation
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Methodology
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Project administration
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Resources
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Software
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Supervision
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Validation
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Visualization
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Writing – original draft
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa
    • Writing – review & editing
      Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa