You are asked to include the following elements in your outline: (1) A clear working title for your proposed study and a short introduction, (2) A clear research aim, (3) A brie

Research Philosophy and Practice– C11BU Coursework Two: Research Outline

Your second assignment for this course is to write a Research Outline. Your assignment

should be submitted through Canvas only, in Week 15 (Date and Time to be confirmed). Details of how to do so are provided on the ‘Assessment on this Course’

module on Canvas. Submissions must be uploaded via Canvas. Your assignment should

be 1,800 words ±10%. The word count excludes the list of references at the end of

the document. In-text citations, however, are included in the word count. Documents

must be submitted in Word (.doc/.docx) format.

Your task:

The Scenario

You plan to conduct a research study on a topic of interest to you. You discuss your plans

with a potential research mentor, and they ask you to put your ideas down on paper and

present them in the form of a research outline. Your mentor expects your research outline

to be succinct and rigorous and present a clear idea as to the WHAT, WHY and How of

your research plan. You are asked to include the following elements in your outline:

1. A clear working title for your proposed study and a short introduction

A Short overview explaining what this study is about and why it is important and

interesting [250 Words].

2. A clear research aim

Make sure to state your research aim(s) which summarises what you want to

achieve with the entire study [50 Words].

3. A brief literature review

From your initial and engaged reading of the literature, what previous research has

been carried out in your chosen area of research? Specify and discuss which

theoretical body of knowledge you are basing your study within [500 Words].

4. A consideration of the methods that you may be adopting for data collection

and analysis

Explain the methods you expect to use. Are they qualitative or quantitative or a

mixture of both? How are you getting your data and which tools for data collection

are you using? [700 words].

5. A Note on research ethics

How will your research comply with the principles of ethical research? [300

words].

6. References

References should be cited appropriately throughout to help support the Research

Outline and to demonstrate that you have read and understood the work of

others. In doing so, students are expected to use Harvard Style referencing

accuracy. This relates to both the in-text citations and the reference page.

Information on Harvard Style referencing can be found on Canvas.

Concluding Notes

Students are expected to demonstrate understanding of and ability to apply the research concepts they have learned in this course. This assignment will enable you to explore and reflect on the process of developing a research plan (and eventually a proposal) as you progress to the next stage in your studies.

N.B. CW2 is not marked in reference to CW1; they are marked independently. Therefore, students are free to either keep their topics from CW1 and take forward into their CW2 or to make changes to their topics when working on CW2.

Please refer to the Coursework Two rubric on Canvas for the weighting of each section.

Title and Introduction

The impact of Instagram influencers on brand awareness and purchase intentions.

A case study of the beauty industry in Dubai.

Over the past decade, the upsurge in social media platforms has resulted in the growth of social media

influencer marketing, with outstanding opportunities for brands to communicate and bond with their

consumers (Glucksman, 2017; Lou & Yuan, 2019). Social media influencers are not only performing an

integral role in educating and engaging beauty consumers, but also act as a means of empowered female

customers (Euromonitor, 2019). There has been an exponential growth in the beauty industry, wherein

experts at the Euromonitor credit a substantial increase in these sales to social media marketing, with a

combined consumer spend of US$24.2b in 2018 in the MENA region alone (Beauty Business Journal, 2019).

A recent beauty survey revealed that 1 in 7 customers attributed their choice of cosmetics to social media

marketing (Euromonitor, 2017). Research supports these statistics by suggesting that the value of the

content generated by the social media influencers in terms of entertainment and information is

instrumental in positively influencing brand awareness and purchase intention for the brand they promote

(Dehghani et al., 2016; Sheldon and Bryant, 2016).

Statistics suggest that 90% of marketers believe that Instagram is the most effective advertising platform

with its innovative features and shoppable Instagram functionalities for influencer marketing activities,

with nearly 5m sponsored posts and 2.38b worth of global brands investment in 2019 (Mediakix, 2019).

Therefore, beauty brands use Instagram as the preferred channel to create awareness, through brand

mentions and enhance positive customer attitude and purchase intentions amongst their target audience.

Research that evaluates the effects of influencer marketing from the perspective of branding is scarce,

especially about Instagram (Hollebeek et al., 2014). This research contributes to prior literature by

presenting a comprehensive study of how Instagram influencers impact brand awareness and purchase

intention. This study will also explore an under investigated context, Dubai’s beauty industry.

The Research Aim

This research aims to explore the impact of Instagram influencers on brand awareness and purchase

intentions in Dubai’s beauty industry.

Literature Review

Social media has transformed the style and technique of how brands content with consumers (Jones and

Williams, 2021), and is an ideal approach in developing brand awareness (De Vierman et al., 2017). Social

media offers an opportunity for consumers to engage with a brand, accumulate information, and draw

inspiration upon which to build their purchase decisions (Evans et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2012). Social

media sites, such as Instagram, are currently experiencing a continuous rise in active-users, with beauty

posts being amongst the most prevalent and aspiring forms of content, luring massive audiences and user

engagement (Sokolova & Kefi, 2020; Statista, 2019). With the marketing transition from traditional WOM

to eWOM, influencer marketing emerged as a new phenomenon associated with social media marketing

(Brown and Hayes, 2015). This marketing strategy utilizes the influence of key individuals with expertise

and experience as a stimulus to enhance brand awareness and stimulate purchase intention (Lin et al.,

2018; Sokolova & Kefi, 2020). The social media influencer is an online personality that creates distinctive

content and impacts consumers within their online communities (Breves et al., 2019). Their reach may be

assessed with the number of their followers and engagement; that includes comments, likes and active

traffic (De Veirman, 2017). They build interactive relationships with their followers and then, using their

capability, exert a meaningful impact on the consumer's attitude and purchase behaviour (Delia & Maria,

2019). These social media influencers are deemed to be trustworthy, unbiased and relatable; as their style

of endorsing brands is seamlessly woven into their routine personal narratives, using Instagram features

of stories, posts and IGTV (Kim and Kim, 2018). There is extensive evidence of these myriads of

characteristics discussed above in the literature for the source-credibility theory, that has revealed the

essential attributes of source credibility as trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness (Dedeoglu, 2019;

Ohanian, 1990). These qualities are used as a benchmark to validate the credibility and effectiveness of

the brand endorsed. Therefore, most studies have established that high credibility of the source who is

the Instagram influencer in this context, leads to a positive brand attitude, and enhanced behavioural

compliance of the consumers (Icha and Edwin, 2016).

One of the principal objectives of influencer marketing is brand awareness, which subsequently plays a

mediating role in purchase intention (Macdonald and Sharp, 2000). Brand awareness is one of the critical

building blocks of brand equity that includes two important aspects: brand recall and brand recognition

(Zaif and Alina, 2018). Brand awareness is imperative for brand knowledge and ensures that the brand is

incorporated into a consumer's consideration set while making a buying decision (Aaker, 1992). It

demonstrates the strength and forte of the brand in the consumer memory, such that it is immediately

recalled and preferred among its product category (Barreda et al., 2015). Literature also suggests that a

product with high brand awareness will enjoy improved quality assessment and enhanced brand

preference, particularly for low involvement consumer goods (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2012 Social media

influencers have a charismatic style that subtly creates brand awareness, as they use their individual styles

to share their authentic experience (Uzunoğlu and Kip, 2014).

Purchase intention precedes actual purchase behaviour and has a significant association with social media

influencer marketing and brand awareness (Fitri, 2018; Siti et al., 2019). Purchase intension is the

likelihood of a favourable purchase decision and genuine interest for a specific brand, dependent upon, a

positive attitude for the brand (Lim et al.,2017; Spears and Singh, 2004). According to literature, this

attitude comprises of the interaction of three elements: cognitive, affective and conative (Ajzen and

Fishbein, 1980). The influencer plays an integral role in providing insights and knowledge about the brand,

that forms the cognitive component (Siti et al., 2019). Additionally, through their credibility and social

power, they influence customer's emotions and feelings to form the affective component (Ngai et al.,

2015). Lastly, the conative component is the probability of purchase intention. However, engaging with

social media influencers for endorsements comes with its challenges (Spry et al., 2011). Marketers have

limited control over the way the source disseminates brand information and the mediums used, compared

to traditional media (Keller, 2009). Moreover, the growth in fake followers and bots pose as another trial

for the source-credibility model (Wang et al., 2017).

There have been limited studies that investigate the role of social media influencer marketing on brand

awareness and purchase intention, since it is still a relatively novel concept, especially using Instagram.

However, similar studies have explored a car manufacturer MINI on Facebook (Hutter, 2013). Moreover,

multiple research papers have studied these concepts independently, and in association with brand equity

(Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Pappu et al., 2005;). Research papers have also studied the role of social media

influencers in different countries like Romania, Germany, Indonesia, Greece, Cyprus and contexts like the

airline and tourism industry (Delia and Maria, 2019; Putri and Purwanti, 2018; Chatzigeorgiou, 2017). This

paper aims to expand the existing knowledge on these vital literature concepts and study them in

conjunction, to focus on the Dubai beauty industry.

Methods: Data Collection and Analysis

In line with the interpretivist paradigm outlined in the previous section, this study will embrace a qualitive

methodological approach. A qualitative approach, ‘adopts a holistic view that seeks discovery from

involvement in the actual experiences and aims to provide an in-depth understanding of social

phenomena by exploring and interpreting collected data’ (Ragab & Arisha, 2018, p.7). In qualitative

studies, researchers can use a number of data collection tools such as interviews, focus groups, and

observations (Baxter et al., 2008; Saunders et al., 2012). For this study, interviews will be conducted.

Interviews can be structured, unstructured or semi-structured. In order to allow for flexibility and to

collect rich textual data on the subjective understandings of the participants, this research will employ

semi-structured interviews. With the use of an interview guide, the researcher will direct the flow of

conversation with pre-determined open questions, while also allowing for sufficient flexibility so

participants can discuss issues which are important to them (Johnson and Christensen, 2008). This

interview guide will contain questions based on the theoretical underpinnings of the research. Although,

the questions may be adapted, or new questions added if any new data that is of interest to the research

is discovered (Lochrie et al., 2016). The key questions and prompts can be derived from previous studies

done on similar topics related to Instagram influencers, brand awareness and purchase intentions. If the

participants permit, the interviews will be recorded so that interpretation becomes easier (King, 2015).

The benefits of conducting interviews are manifold, and it is applauded for being an ideal method to

assimilate multiple realities of the case, because of its nature of free flow interaction (Flick, 2018).

However, there are limitations with this qualitative approach (Flick, 2018). For example, this approach

may potentially be exposed to the researcher's bias. Furthermore, the lack of generalizability of qualitative

research is suggested to be a limitation (Wildemuth and Zhang, 2009).

For successful interviews, it is critical to find the right people. Therefore, sampling is crucial because these

potential candidates influence the credibility and reliability of the study (Alsaawi, 2014). In this study,

judgement sampling will be used and is defined as ‘a type of purposive sampling in which the researcher

judgementally selects elements to conform to some criterion’ (Herbst & Coldwell, 2004, p. 81). This

approach outlines that the researcher believes that they can produce a representative sample through

good judgement (Saunders et al., 2012). Approximately 20 interviews will be conducted, and before

initiating each interview, participants will be briefed about the objective and goal of the interview

(Castillo-Montoya, 2016).

After substantial volumes of data has been collected, in the form of interview transcripts and recordings,

the next step is to reduce the data for analysis through coding (Brooks et al., 2015). The coding technique

that will be embraced for this research is template analysis, which is a system of thematic analysis that

reiterates the use of hierarchical coding. It organizes data in the form of codes and emerging themes that

are meaningfully clustered (King, 2004). These new themes, also known as posterior, may also be further

investigated in the subsequent interviews; perhaps it is highly recommended to perform coding at the

earliest to allow for this opportunity (King, 2012).

The template analysis technique will be initiated with some priori themes, that will be identified in

advance and drawn out from the literature according to their relevancy to the research (Crabtree and

Miller, 1992). The initial template will be applied to further data and modified as posterior themes are

incorporated as and when the investigation moves forward, and existing themes may also be revised.

These posterior themes are integral to the research, as they add a plethora of new and valuable

information. Perhaps, the predefined template will be formulated and articulated with careful

consideration to ensure that there is no restriction in the investigation (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

Moreover, the data will be coded and analyzed manually as it best fits the interpretivism paradigm. The

analysis involved in template analysis does not stipulate a fixed sequence or delineated stages, it is an

iterative process that offers the flexibility of moving back and forth between stages before the analysis is

accomplished (King and Brooks, 2016). Once the data has is coded, a conceptual model will be established

to accumulate related themes, organize them as higher-order codes and lower-order codes, and theorize

relationships relative to the data. Additionally, the concerns related to reliability and validity of this

qualitative research, to augment its generalizability will be improved by using the triangulation of

researchers as a validation strategy (Denzin, 2012). The use of multiple researchers and sources of

information will help to eliminate bias and its associated risk on the quality of the study (Carter et al.,

2014).

Research Ethics

It is vital to address the ethical aspects of the research to ensure that the research is deemed credible.

Some ethical concerns are anticipated, but more often, they emerge as the research unfolds. Therefore,

ethical issues will be assessed at each phase of the research, from before initiating the research, until the

research is published (Kanuka and Anderson, 2007). This research will employ the ethics of care approach,

wherein ethical decisions are principally based on compassion and consideration towards the participants,

who are central to the research (Wiley, 2012).

Some of the prevailing ethical norms include avoiding partiality with a neutral tone, maintaining the

confidentiality of participants, obtaining consent, safeguarding privacy and elimination of risk for harm.

(Scheyvens et al., 2003). Confidentiality will be maintained by anonymizing the participants; instead, they

will be presented as p1, p2 (Lincoln, 2009). Further to the potential risk of identity breaches, is the risk of

harm; physical, mental, financial, social or monetary that will be consciously diminished as the participants

will be reminded that their support is voluntary and they can retract from the interview whenever they

desire, without any pressure or consequence (Hughes, 2008). Additionally, written consent will be

obtained to safeguard evidence, using a consent form that will include critical information, such as the

genre and purpose of the research and how the participants’ responses will be recorded and

disseminated, supported by consent to agree/disagree to being recorded, option to agree or refuse to

participate, amongst others (Collier, 1995). Furthermore, to protect and honor reliability on both sides,

the researcher will maintain honesty during the discussion with the interviewees in terms of all

information provided to them (Roberts, 2015). Lastly, as an additional measure of addressing all ethical

apprehensions, this research will adhere to the ethical approval required by Heriot-Watt University before

conducting the interviews.

Reference Page

Students must incorporate an accurate reference page.

Harvard Style referencing must be used