As explained earlier, the premise of this research is that the phenomenon under investigation is constructed in the realities of two distinct entities comprising the customer-bank dyad. In order to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of how social media is perceived by each entity in the banking relationships, research needs to incorporate studies and methods that address the reality of each entity. Based on this rationale, research takes the inductive stance and incorporates multiple qualitative research methods in order to address the multiple realities constructing the phenomenon (Patton, 2002; Silverman, 2004).
The multi-method design provides several distinctive benefits for this research. Firstly, it enables to explore the role of social media in banking relations in the retail sector from the perspectives of different relationship stakeholders (the customers and the banks). Secondly, the multi-method design enables to obtain a versatility of outlooks on the importance of social media in contemporary bank marketing and to extract theorizations from these perspectives (Patton, 2002;
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Silverman, 2004). Finally, multi-method design employing several qualitative methods for the conduct of research allows for the methodological triangulation, as the construct for validating studies employing the qualitative approach (Guion et al, 2011). Such choice of the design ensures in-depth understanding of the examined phenomena through a deliberate exploration of concepts and themes, utilizing different instruments and research tactics (Guion et al, 2011). By employing versatile multiple qualitative methods, the research benefits from the triangulation and gradual building of the theoretical implications (Carson et al, 2001; Creswell, 2006). Furthermore, as justified by Denzin and Lincoln (2005, p. 5): “The combination of
multiple methodological practices, empirical materials, perspectives, and observers in a single study is best understood, then, as a strategy that adds rigor, breadth, complexity, richness, and depth to any inquiry”.
Research was designed to contain three distinct parts, with each part addressing a particular research question and a distinct perspective on the phenomenon under investigation. Figure 2 illustrates the multi-method design, how research questions and objectives shape the typology of each study and how the studies are interrelated.
The Observation Study was designed to address the question of the level and scope of the social media adoption among banks in the SEE region. The goal of this study was to provide the necessary background knowledge on the state of social media uptake among the retail banks in the SEE countries. This study was designed as a longitudinal observation research examining the presence of retail banks in popular social media sites, and analyzing the progression of the social media adoption trend across banks and countries in the region over the period of 3 years. Insights on the level and scope of social media uptake by the retail banking industry in the region provided context for the discussion of the findings of this research, which could not be obtained from the literature.
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The Case Studies were designed to address how retail banking organizations in the SEE region envision the role of social media in their marketing strategies and in their exchanges with clients in the retail segment. The goal of this study was to investigate the perspectives of banks on the importance of social media for their marketing strategies in the retail segment and the possible relevance to the relationship marketing initiatives. The design employed the qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, addressing the marketing rationale, strategies and practices of the specifically selected retail banking organizations from the SEE region. Insights Figure 2: Research design using multiple qualitative methods to address multifaceted reality.
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from this study allowed obtaining in-depth understanding of the rationale of the particular banks to adopt or abstain from the uptake of social media and the Web 2.0 tools in their marketing programs. Theoretical extensions to the knowledge on the role of social media in bank marketing and RM in the retail banking sector were built from the insights illustrating how and why banks in the SEE region adopt social media, as well as why some banking organizations resist the trend. These insights help construct the extensions to the current knowledge on social media in banking, help identify previously unforeseen concepts on the subject, and help uncover underlying ties between the concepts. Insights from this portion of research provided valuable contribution to understanding the underlying premises of the adoption and non- adoption of social media in bank marketing, and the relatedness of the social media phenomenon to the RM theory and practice.
The Focus Groups study was designed to explore how customers in the retail banking segment perceived the role of social media in their interactions with the banks. The goal of this study was to explore the consumer perspective on the premise of social media as mediating force in the relations with financial service providers. This portion of research employed qualitative method of focus group discussions with the bank customers, who are dedicated social media users. The insights from this study provided rich, constructive, and highly insightful customer narrative on the particularities of the relations with banks, and the role of social media in these relations. The insights from this portion of the research provided valuable consumer outlook on the premises of the value from the implementation of social media in banking.
A similar collection of the multiple qualitative research methods combining case studies, interviews and focus groups was incorporated in the past studies tackling issues of the RM and the online banking services (Kapoulas et al, 2002; Kapoulas et al, 2004; O’Loughlin et al, 2004; Stone, 2009). This provides support to the research design and the methods selection, and increases the likelihood of successfully achieving the outlined research objectives.
The collective insights from these three studies enabled understanding of the multiple perspectives on the role and the importance of social media for the relationship marketing in the retail banking setting. The combined insights from these
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studies comprised the final theorizations on the role of social media and the scope for its implementation in the RM strategies in the retail banking sector. The following sections describe in detail the methods pertaining to each study.
3.4 Observation Study