Diarios y cuestionarios

The netnography contributes to the existing e-WOM literature by conceptualising the impact of service delivery e-WOM as a method for developing trust and brand reputation through e- SME social media communities.

The findings suggest that e-SMEs operate under the assumption that product-related messages received from, or endorsed by, consumers are much more likely to be accepted by fellow consumers. The notion here is that ties between the message recipient and all members of their network should be stronger than those links between the recipient and online community members outside the Friend Network; therefore the persuasiveness of positive e- WOM communication should increase. The netnography findings showed e-SMEs establish and facilitate social network platforms and encourage consumers to join these communities in order to trust the brand. Therefore key interview areas shall review:

 The reliability of e-SME social media posts

 The strength of personal or random consumer recommendation

167 4.9 Part Three-Conceptual Development Core trust and reputation constructs 4.9.1 Social Media Trust Summary

This section discusses e-SME brand social media community trust and reputation in relation to the findings from the netnography and the current literature. Whilst many of the constructs defined in this section of the research are aligned with the existing trust and reputation constructs in the literature, a number of differences have emerged for value co creation and service delivery. These constructs will be further analysed in the interview section of the research to add further credibility to the proposed conceptual models. Following the findings from the netnography data, an update to Figure 4.1 (Overview Core online consumer brand trust constructs from the literature) is provided in the form of Figure 4.19.

Figure 4.19: Social Media E-SME Trust and Reputation Constructs

The analysis and interpretation of the netnography led to the development of a conceptual model illustrating the constructs of social media e-SME trust and reputation as shown in Figure 4.19. The model reveals established relationships between the e-SME’s reputation that is developed through their SMBC and the trust formation constructs; Credibility, Value Creation, Visuals, Incentives, Service Delivery, and Security.

168

4.9.2 Chapter Summary

Objectives one and two in this thesis aimed to identify the constructs that develop consumer online trust and reputation for e-SME brands using social media platforms. The existing literature typically defines online trust through two core constructs i.e. credibility and benevolence. However, this section of the research finds e-SME trust to be defined through seven core constructs with 22 sub constructs (see Figure 4.19). In adding to the current theory, this part of the research has found e-SMEs to collectively develop trust through a number of constructs which together provide a holistic view of the consumer and social media community considerations involved. Although, the netnography findings support previous online trust constructs research this research makes an important contribution to knowledge highlighting the importance of visuals, incentives, and co creation of social media value for consumers to develop e-SME brand trust through social media platforms.

However, rich insight from the consumer and corporate perspective is still required to further validate these constructs. The development processes highlighted in the proposed models now require further exploration, in order to determine how the key informant perception of social media trust and engagement compare with consumer perceptions, which was obtained through empirical interview based evidence and reviewed in chapters 7 and 8. Therefore this section of the research also informs the interview sections of the research (see Table 4.16), by highlighting key development areas as well as valuable contributions to theoretical knowledge.

169 Table 4.16: Interview Areas

Theme Interview areas

Value Creation

 Consumer motivation for posting on social media

 Consumer value created when visiting e-SME social media platform  Emotion connected to posts

Credibility  Perception E-SME Product/Service expertise on trust development  Social media communication methods to demonstrate Product/Service

expertise

Reputation  The impact the amount of current community members has on trust  Personal relationships developed through social media community

membership and their impact on trust

 The significance of response time for reputation building Visuals

and incentives

 The impact and effectiveness of visuals to develop trust shall be analysed during the consumer and key informant interviews.

Security  E-SME’s security policies for consumers  The perception of responsibility for security Service

Delivery

 The reliability of e-SME social media posts

 The strength of personal or random consumer recommendation for service delivery

To summarise, the key discussion areas from this section of the research are outlined in Table 4.17.

170 Table 4.17: Key Discussion Areas

Theme Key Finding Theoretical Contribution Practical Contribution

Value Creation

Brand/product knowledge and

consumer experience are equally important core constructs in defining social media value creation to enhance brand trust

Proposed conceptual

model for value co-creation (figure 5.4), by developing the consumer experience construct to add to the existing theory, which

focuses on the

organisation providing

value in order to create trust (Chiu et al., 2010; Gefen et al., 2003).

In order to create value e- SMEs should encourage consumers to share their

experiences with the

brand and fellow

consumers.

Credibility Credibility can be promoted via the social media community by the joint promotion of expertise from the e-

SME and the consumer. The

organisations and consumers

expertise can be emphasised with

posts or blogs which provide

knowledge on product use or industry tips

Figure 5.9 highlights the

credibility constructs

evident from the

netnography which stem from the risk a consumer may experience before purchasing from an e-SME and using their social media channel to obtain purchase assurance

E-SME’s should highlight

their organisation’s

expertise and experience

when posting social

media content

Reputation Corporate reputation management in social media is a balancing act for e- SMEs incorporating internal and external potential constructs

Figure 6.0 Reputation constructs conceptual model

Organisations should implement social media guidelines for staff to develop the brand’s reputation externally

Incentives Financial incentives provided

significant engagement scores

Importance of images associated with financial posts

E-SME brands can use financial incentives to

create and establish

relationships.

Visuals By highlighting the importance of

images and their variation dependant on the type of post in developing trust (conceptualised in figure 6.3). Whilst this proved a popular method, it is also beneficial for e-SMEs to consider the subjective nature of images and the potential difficulties of controlling the effect or impact of the visual of video.

Figure 6.3 Visual Social Media Trust

Mindful of the importance of visuals, e-SMEs could develop an image policy for each type of post.

171

Theme Key Finding Theoretical Contribution Practical Contribution

Security Social media sites pose

considerations for consumers, as they may not be aware of all the e-SME’s policies, and they may not know that many social networking sites actively engage in sharing some of their member’s information to external organisations.

Figure 6.6 Security

Constructs, inductively sourced from the literature is comprised of 5 further sub constructs

E-SME brands may wish to allay any privacy and security concerns by sign posting their policy when

referencing financial

transactions within any social media posts.

Service Delivery

Service delivery can be defined as a continuous cyclical process for developing and delivering products or services to consumers. The findings indicate that by using social media, e- SMEs can implement and promote this process to customers in order to build trust,

The netnography

contributes to the existing e-WOM literature by conceptualising the impact of service delivery e-WOM as a method for

developing trust and brand reputation through e-SME social media communities (figures 6.7 and 7.0)

E-SMEs must reinforce their service delivery standards by promoting satisfied customer posts as well as proactively and publicly handling delivery issues.

In summary, knowledge regarding the development of trust constructs on social media platforms for e-SMEs remains limited. The case netnography however provided insight into the current strategies that sports e-SMEs are undertaking in order to create and sustain trust, which has been conceptualised in Figure 4.19. This model adds to the existing theory for social media consumer engagement and developing trust and reputation online, and has provided a foundation for the consumer and key informant interview stage of the research.The next set of findings shall discuss the strategies used by sports retail e-SME brands to create consumer brand engagement in social media communities.

172

Chapter Five

Sports Retail e-SME Brands Social Media communication strategies to encourage engagement and develop trust, presentation of findings (In accordance with objective 3) - Presentation of Analysis.

5. Introduction

The findings in this section review the methods which the case e-SMEs are undertaking in order to create trust through engagement. This section conceptualises and then explains with rich evidence how e-SMEs can engage with non-customers and customers using social media brand communities. The chapter guide is conceptualised in Figure 5.1.

Figure 5.1 - Chapter Five Guide

The literature review (Chapter Two) identified seven drivers of engagement. This may be appropriate for large brands, but these drivers and subsequent strategies may not reflect the

173 multiple roles and activities which e-SME owners or employees are responsible for due to resource limitations. For this research, nine core themes were identified (Awareness, Financial Motivation, Connection, Value Creation, Commitment, Knowledge, Relationship, Satisfaction, and Loyalty) from a comprehensive analysis of social media engagement strategies in order to map the process. Conceptual development involved the establishment of nine core themes, which are then located within a framework for strategic consumer engagement based on the findings from the case netnography. Findings are then compared back against the trust constructs established in Chapter Four and a combined model of engagement and trust is presented. The conceptualisation sections will focus on developing engagement frameworks constructed through evidence from the case netnography. This chapter therefore covers the third objective of the thesis, which aims to provide insight into the constructs and strategies that e-SME brands undertake to create consumer brand engagement in social media communities.

A thematic analysis was conducted to map the presence of the themes for each e-SME which enabled analysis within the e-SME online sports retail sector. Findings and analysis are provided for each theme, which compares and contrasts with the existing literature (Chapter Two). The theoretical and practical contributions from this section of the research are provided in the form of a conceptual model of engagement constructs, which demonstrate a roadmap for the development of initial and continual consumer trust. The netnography findings indicate that engagement is a combination of cognitive aspects (e.g. being interested in an e-SME’s activities), behavioural aspects (participation in the e-SME’s activities), and/or emotional aspects (feeling positive about an e-SME’s activities). The level of engagement (i.e. low or high) is dependent on the consumer trust stage (Initial or continual) stating that customer engagement is a sequential psychological process that consumers experience in order to become loyal towards a brand, outlining the process by which e-SME brand trust and reputation can be developed for new and existing customers. The staged process framework put forward in this section of the research, provides an important contribution to knowledge by highlighting the consumer trust development and key competencies, which enable progression to the next engagement stage, differentiating it from traditional engagement and trust models such which do not include the trust stages alongside engagement concepts. This accordingly involves strategic activities to be conducted at each stage which emphasises the need for the e-SME to utilise their industry knowledge. The proposed model represents a nine stage process, with themes overlapping as trust develops across engagement stages. The new model developed from this research also incorporates the application of ‘value

174 creation’ alongside initial and continual trust themes in relation to engagement as this was identified by e-SMEs as a crucial strategy for trust development.

The framework further expands the consumer engagement process by arguing that the customer engagement process helps to examine the dynamic relationship consumers have with organisations and further understand how they drive the development of consumer trust. This analysis is based on evaluations of the trust themes developed in Chapter Four and argues that customers and non-customers have different antecedents and motives to follow and become engaged in an organisation’s social media community. Which is reflected in the stages within the model. The next section provides an overview and analysis of each core theme. This extends the concept of staged trust development into the e-SME social media brand community however to add further validity to this theory further investigation is required from the consumer perspective. The staged process shows the consumer developing trust and key competencies which enable progression to the next stage differentiating it from traditional engagement and trust models which do not include the trust stages alongside engagement concepts. This accordingly involves strategic activities to be conducted at each stage which emphasises the need for the e-SME to utilise their industry knowledge. Existing models assume seven stages to exhibit engagement however, as the model represents a process, themes overlap and trust develops across engagement stages. The framework also incorporates application of value and alongside initial and continual trust themes in relation to engagement as this was identified by e-SMEs as a crucial strategy for trust development. In the light of evidence from the case netnography, strategic options available to e-SMEs are also outlined in Table 5.1.

175

Table 5.1. Engagement Constructs