LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.8. Research Methodology
This research follows a qualitative inductive research approach which can provide insights into the subject rather than focus on quantitative studies of statistical synopsis. The research selectively chooses to adopt the Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) method by Charmaz (2006). The choice of method is consistent with the interpretivist paradigm used in this study (Alemu, Stevens
29
& Ross 2012). As per interpretivist paradigm, researchers and participants work together to co- construct meaning, rather than trying to objectively validate the substantive theory developed on the basis of the research results (Charmaz 2006). Therefore, it is argued that interpretivism and inductive approach support to go in-depth and formulate a value co-creation mechanism and its capture within a social interaction framework. The UAE has been selected as the field for the present investigation due to its developed hospitality sector and the extensive adoption of social media in the country (Global media insights 2021). The 6 luxury hotels (3 in Abu Dhabi - Emirates Palace, Sofitel Corniche Abu Dhabi, Fairmont Bab Al Bahar and 3 in Dubai - Sofitel Dubai the Palm, Rixos Premium Dubai JBR, and Jumeirah Beach) have been selected due to their active use of social media platforms ranked high by Hotel de Tech (2021a; 2021b).
The study employs 24 Semi-structured interviews performed face-to-face and via zoom for data collection. This sample size is reached through theoretical saturation. Multinational hotels that are using social media and engage in value co-creation have been selected for the present research.
The sample for the interviews consists of 24 experienced middle management and directors from six UAE hotels working at various departments who are directly involved in their organization’s social media, value co-creation processes and can therefore provide a holistic view on the research topic. This composition of the sample allows for reaching diversified opinions and theoretical sufficiency. The interviews are performed over the 6 months’ period between August 2020 and January 2021, through both face-to-face and zoom meetings with respect to the social distancing measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. In line with the adopted CGT research, the data collection and data transcription process flows simultaneously for better accuracy.
Furthermore, secondary data in the form of qualitative content analysis of social media posts from 6 UAE hotels, gathered from 12 different social media accounts (6 Instagram and 6 Facebook)
30
collected between January and June 2021 is also utilized to supplement the interview findings.
Social baker analytics is also employed as a credible source of social media usage data from the UAE hotel industry, in order to enhance the credibility of the research findings. The approach of combining social media analysis (namely Facebook) with Social Bakers Suite platform has previously been employed by Maresova, Hruska and Kuca (2020) and Cazorla Milla, Mataruna- Dos-Santos and Muñoz Helú (2020). These two social media – Instagram and Facebook have been preferred for the secondary data collection as the most popular social media platforms globally and in the UAE context, which is expected to provide rich information basis for the analysis (Global media insights 2021). As shown in Table 1.1 below, Sofitel Corniche Abu Dhabi and Fairmont Bab Al Bahr rank at the first two positions based on their Instagram activity. In addition to that, all the six hotels score well in both selected social media platforms among the 50 most active hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
31
Table 1. 1. Selected hotels – social media performance
Hotel Location Instagram
Rank
rank Sofitel Corniche Abu
Dhabi
Abu Dhabi 1 19
Fairmont Bab Al
Bahr
Abu Dhabi 2 33
Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi 9 7
Sofitel Dubai the Palm
Dubai 2 30
Rixos Premium Dubai JBR
Dubai 16 23
Jumeirah Beach Dubai 28 13
(Hotel de tech 2021a; 2021b)
In selecting large multinational hotel organizations with astute managers and directors, this research combined purposeful sampling (Patton 2017) with the theoretical sample (Charmaz 2006) to test the boundary conditions and ensure the overall validity of the results (Busse, Kach &
Wagner 2016). This research provides a case for the use of the CGT method proposed by Charmaz (2006) for qualitative research aimed at the value co-creation through social media platforms. The CGT approach is employed by authors like Muninger, Hammedi and Mahr (2019) and
32
Wünderlich, Wangenheim and Bitner (2012) in the investigation of the strength of social media in the value creation and VCC process. Even though CGT is not very popular in the business field, a recent publication by Troisi, Visvizi and Grimaldi (2021) presents another example of the adoption of CGT in the investigation of the value co-creation in the context of innovation and smart services for aerospace technology clusters. A qualitative inductive research approach is adopted in this research in order to provide insights into the subject rather than focus on quantitative studies of statistical synopsis (Charmaz 2006).
The researcher incorporates three staged coding represented by initial line-by-line open coding, focused coding and theoretical coding to simultaneously analyze the collected data to avoid mistakes and use it as a heuristic device (Bryant & Charmaz 2019). The initial line-by-line open coding is aimed at identification of critical issues in the semi-structured interviews’ transcripts.
The second coding stage - focused coding, is used to detect the main categories and relationships between the main categories, identified in the qualitative data. The last, theoretical coding stage ensures saturation of the detected categories. The social media posts collected in this research are also coded through the same three-stage coding procedure, composed of initial line-by-line coding used for breaking down the data into discrete excerpts and preparation of code labels, focused coding aimed at the categorization of the identified posts into meaningful categories, and theoretical coding connecting the developed focused codes to theoretical concepts (Johnson 2014).
Furthermore, the collected social media posts from the six hotel organizations are analyzed through content analysis and descriptive analysis following the approach proposed by Yost, Zhang and Qi (2021).
33 1.9. Thesis Structure:
The present thesis is divided into six separate chapters. As the noted, it starts with introduction of the thesis, which covers the research background, research context, research problems, research question, research aims and objectives and research methodology. The introductory chapter is followed by literature review aimed at providing a starting point to theoretically develop a VCC framework based on previous studies through the lenses of SDL and ACT. Also it addresses main concepts of value co-creation, absorptive capacity (acquiring new value, assimilate value and exploit value), online customer engagement, social media platforms (engagement platform). With several examples in real world, this chapter introduces the significance of co-creation in service organization. It allows creating an understanding and conceptualization of co-creation, customer activities in social media and their active participation in an engagement platform. A theoretical framework is developed to get a starting point of how we can target the sampling chosen (Charmaz 2019). The framework assists the researcher to have some starting point to go further from the existing literature and collect data. It developed through two steps: first develop a conceptual relationship in the reviewed literature of value-co-creation, second develop a conceptual framework of value-co-creation process in social media.
The Methodology chapter presents the research methodology employed in the performed research.
The study adopts a qualitative research approach a constructivist grounded theory as a primary research methodology. The research entails three (3) different features of data collection. First, the choice of active online interaction customer in service sectors as hotels. The second stage is primary data collection- semi-structured interviews, conducted with invited managers and senior executives to participate in the study. The interviews are designed as semi-structured to allow more extended exploration of co-creation in social media and enable an understanding of customer
34
engagement with a managerial perspective. Secondary data is collected in the form of social media posts and analytics.
The fourth chapter outlines the data collection process and presentation of the research findings.
It can be logically divided into two parts related to the primary and secondary data collection respectively. The chapter represents the qualitative data collection process and response rate, the theoretical saturation and sufficiency reached in line with the CGT approach in this study, as well as the data analysis process employed. The chapter continues with overview of the demographic characteristics and the three stage coding of the primary qualitative data gathered through the performed semi-structured interviews, entailing initial line-by-line, focused and theoretical coding. The theoretical coding presents the 5 main concepts and 15 categories identified in the interview data.
The secondary data analysis is represented, together with the content analysis process and the sampling procedure employed.
The fifth chapter presents discussion of the research findings. It presents the approach taken for triangulation of the findings from the primary and secondary analysis in the light of the extant literature related to the topic of the present thesis. The discussion of findings is organized around the key concepts outlined in chapter 4. The chapter continues with substantive theory related to VCC and value capture, customer engagement, social media platforms and organizational strategy, as well as situating the theory. VCC Social Media Maturity Framework for organizations, as well as theoretical framework developed on the grounds of the primary and secondary research findings is also presented in this chapter.
The final chapter of the present thesis exposes reflection and implications of the research. It begins with researcher’s reflection of the performed GCT research, followed by discussion of the
35
fulfillment of the research objectives developed in the introductory chapter. The substantive theory is evaluated in the light of its strategic implications for the business sector, practical implications for management and marketing specialist, theoretical implications for academics, as well as implications and areas for further investigation. The limitations of the performed research are also discussed in the final chapter of this paper. This structure of the present thesis provides logical flow of the narrative, discussing the opportunities for VCC through social media in the UAE hotel industry. The clear identification of implications and limitations allows the reader to clearly understand the logic of the performed research and the value of the research findings for the management and marketing theory and practice.
36
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Introduction:
This chapter addresses the fundamentals of developing a value co-creation framework through reviewing SDL, ACT, co-creation, social media, and engagement platforms. Specifically, in this chapter, the study aims to explore the mechanisms and processes within the organizations to achieve co-creation and value capture by recognizing the central concepts around social media and the co-creation literature. This chapter presents a critical argument of the role of online engagement to obtain knowledge towards value creation and competitive advantage to illustrate the significance of using social co-creation in the organization. Prior to developing the value co- creation framework, understanding the context of the key components of the framework is essential. Therefore, this chapter provides useful reviews on some of the critical topics of debate within the social media and value co-creation, including value, value creation, and value of experience and service dominant logic. Furthermore, a discussion of the present knowledge related to VCC in the context of the hospitality sector is also presented in this chapter. The business and strategic implications of social media for VCC and value capture is also reviewed with a focus on their implications on brand value and competitive advantage, as well as the capabilities of social media platforms and their role as a tool in the SDL. The questions of customer engagement, organizational arrangements, value capture and absorptive capacity theory are also presented in the review of literature. Eventually, in the final sections of this chapter is proposed a framework of the value-co-creation process in social media grounded on the conceptual relationship in the reviewed literature of value-co-creation are conceptualized in the review of academic literature. A summary of explaining the developed conceptual framework, and relevant propositions developed for the present research are presented in the end of this chapter.
37