Contenidos

Data analysis followed a four-part protocol that linked to the research objectives and guided the analysis.

Analysis Part One: Sample Overview, Meanings and Constructs

The first stage of the analysis addresses research objective 3, which was to analyse the current strategies sports retail e-SMEs employ to create online consumer brand engagement in social media communities. In order to ground the context of the cases, this involved preparation of an e-SME sample and products overview. Details of the case companies and social media channels can be seen in Table 3.2. In order to develop an understanding of the e-SME engagement strategies, the next level of analysis involved thematically coding the data into meanings for trust, engagement and reputation according to criteria social media experts perceived as important. Social media activity and transcripts were analysed to extrapolate the constructs and types of communication that create trust and develop reputation (objectives 1 and 2). Constructs were then tabulated and a qualitative thematic analysis conducted to categorise the activity.

Part Two – Driving Engagement Communication Constructs

The next stage concerned reviewing the communications constructs that effectively encourage consumer engagement with an e-SME brand. Transcripts were analysed and thematically coded in order to attain objectives 3 and 4. Core constructs were outlined by consumers and key informants as critical drivers for social media engagement, and a comparative thematic matrix analysis of the transcripts was undertaken to display the prevalence of each theme. Themes were positioned into concepts, which were then examined in order to determine the incidence of social media activity and engagement success.

Based on the overall prevalence of each theme across cases, a hierarchy of concepts was developed. Categories were then utilised to organise the data and determine the nature of the constructs and any relationships between them (Tiessen et al., 2001). The findings were then conceptualised into an e-SME brand social media map for consumer engagement to develop trust and build brand reputation with potential and current customers. The aim was to visually demonstrate engagement perceptions regarding what drivers for trust and reputation formation were. Concepts which emerged from the netnography and interviews were then compared with existing and emergent themes within the literature (Gummesson, 2006), to either contrast or confirm existing theories, as well as contributing new theories.

129 Parts Three and Four: Conceptual Framework Development

In part three, data were analysed in order to conceptually develop an understanding of the way corporates perceive the value of using social media to acquire and retain customers in order to achieve objective 5.

Finally, part four of the data analysis involved using the analysis framework to sort the interview data so as to review social media engagement strategies in order to satisfy objective six. Objective six involved developing a conceptual framework for e-SMEs to demonstrate how effective use of social media communities can potentially create and develop brand trust and reputation through online consumer brand engagement. Aspects were identified and incorporated into the previous analysis findings to create the final stage of the conceptual model. Findings were conceptually developed, and, as Gummesson (2005) stated with regard to qualitative research, if the aim is theory generation then the study must provide conceptualisation and condensation or the researcher has not contributed interpretation and meaning to the phenomena.

In summary, a multiple case approach has been adopted in this thesis to generate theory. Given that saturation of evidence was achieved across multiple cases and interview respondents, the findings are positioned to assist in understanding the complexities of consumer trust and reputation development through e-SME social media engagement. Considering the strong ecological and participant validity in this thesis, the findings may teach general lessons to a wider domain, in line with Barnes et al. (2004), McCracken (1988) and Carson et al. (2001). Justification is also provided by Burr (2003), who argues that social constructionist research is sufficient so long as there are recurrent themes to identify members as belonging to the same group.

3.11 Chapter Summary

This chapter has outlined the ontological and epistemological approaches to this thesis, which centres on a social constructionist research philosophy in order to explore e-SME social media consumer engagement and how this method of communication can develop trust and build brand reputation with potential and current customers. A case study research strategy adopting a netnography for the e-SME sports retail sector, in-depth semi-structured interviews with consumers and social media experts to the point of data saturation was deemed suitable. Both face-to-face and telephone interviews were employed to gather data. In order to claim validity and credibility for the research, triangulation procedures were undertaken to

130 consolidate the rigour within the study (Gummesson, 2000), such as multiple qualitative methods, and also saturation of cases. The research design used for this thesis ensured that the findings ofthis study have emerged from understandings of e-SME social media strategy and, as a result, this thesis satisfies the demands for theory building in qualitative research in accordance with Carson et al. (2001) and Barnes et al. (2004).

In order to claim trustworthiness in social constructionist research, several validity or credibility procedures were undertaken to establish rigour in the process (e.g. Creswell and Miller, 2000; Gummesson, 2000), including the saturation of cases, social media tracking, peer review, maintaining rich descriptions via e-SME social media examples and insertion of excerpts from transcripts within the thesis, via qualitative thematic analyses, to explore perceptions of phenomena related to consumer trust and e-SME reputation development, through social media engagement. For this research to claim credibility and trustworthiness, its follows the recommendations of Fontana and Frey (2000). That is, it should have some structure and that it establishes a social setting, identifiable cases and discernible interviewees. In the context of this thesis, structure is present, guided by the initial research; and there is a ‘social setting’ and identifiable cases (the e-retail social media netnography), as well as discernible interviewees (key informants and a consumer perspective). The cumulative experience of the participants also adds credence to the interview approach advocated by Johnson and Weller (2002). The next chapter will discuss the findings of the research. The data from the netnography cases and the consumer and key informant interviews are presented in the form of excerpts to enable the representation of a number of themes and key perceptions in order to develop an understanding of the phenomena. Advocates of this ‘frame-grabbing’ technique, who include Gummesson (2000) and Silverman (2006), argue that highlighting rich direct quotations allows the data to emphasis the key areas. This method is used throughout the remainder of the analysis chapters. To summarise, the findings presented in this thesis are generated from multiple sources, which include e-SME social media activity, key informants (i.e. social media practitioners) and consumers, collectively representing an in-depth understanding and considerable cumulative experience in the e-commerce and social media domains. This satisfies the requirement for respondents to have full-time experience in the topic under consideration and current involvement in the activity in order to add credence to interview studies (Johnson and Weller, 2002; Creswell and Miller, 2000).

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Chapter Four

4. Presentation of the findings and analysis for the constructs that develop consumer trust and build reputation for e-SME brands using social media platforms, from theoretical integration of the literature and case netnography.