User Generated Content and company strategies

Van Dijk, L.S. (2012)

Luc van Dijk

S1247352

Msc. Marketing Communication

User Generated Content and company strategies

A research proposal on how companies should react on negative UGC from a consumer

perspective


“Research proposal on User Generated Content and company strategies How should companies react on negative UGC from a consumer perspective?”


Inhoud 1A: Details of the Applicant ............................................................................................................... 4

1B: Title of the research proposal ..................................................................................................... 4

1C: Summary of the research proposal ............................................................................................. 4

1D: Keywords ..................................................................................................................................... 5

1E: Host Institution ............................................................................................................................ 5

2A: Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................ 6

2A.1 User Generated Content ............................................................................................................ 6

2A.1.1 Importance of UGC .......................................................................................................... 6

2A.1.2 Implications for managers ............................................................................................... 7

2A.2 Crisis management ..................................................................................................................... 7

2A.2.1 What is crisis management? ........................................................................................... 7

2A.2.2 Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) ............................................................ 8

2B: Research questions.................................................................................................................... 12

2C. Overview of the entire research project and time planning ..................................................... 13

2C. Description of the Different Studies for the Research Project .................................................. 14

2C.1 Research design ........................................................................................................................ 14

2C.2 Participants ............................................................................................................................... 15

2C.3 Instrument ................................................................................................................................ 15

2C.4 Procedure.................................................................................................................................. 16

2C.5 Statistical analysis ..................................................................................................................... 16

3. Societal and Scientific Relevance of the Research Project ............................................................ 16

4. Legal and Ethical Issues ................................................................................................................. 17

5. References ..................................................................................................................................... 17

6. Budget Proposal ............................................................................................................................ 18


1A: Details of the Applicant Name: Luc van Dijk Age: 23 Academic - Interest: new media, economics, consumer behavior LinkedIn: http://www.lucvandijk.com Student Master of Science Communication Studies, specialization in Marketing Communications. Owner marketing and communication research and consultancy company AeronAdvies. Research experience / quality Focus on qualitative research in the field of consumer behavior and new media. Research done for the university in this field and for my own company AeronAdvies. Publications Van Dijk, L. S. (2012). Internetgebruik: wat leerkrachten van

kinderen kunnen en moeten leren. (1st ed.). Enschede, Netherlands: Luc van Dijk. Van Dijk, L.S. (2012). Literature review on protecting children on the internet.

How can this be achieved without losing the benefits? (1st ed.). Enschede, Netherlands: Luc van Dijk.

1B: Title of the research proposal Research proposal on User Generated Content and company strategies How should companies react on negative UGC from a consumer perspective?

1C: Summary of the research proposal Nowadays social media and user generated content are important issues to deal with for corporate marketing managers. Messages generated by users can go viral and generate a lot of exposure, not only in the online but also in the offline world. Company reactions to UGC can make or break a company image and ruin or increase brand-reputation (Effectory, 2010) and in the end costs or brings a lot of money. There are many cases in which a reputation has increased by content generated by users. Dhar and Chang (2007) mention that “the volume of blog posts about an album is positively correlated with future sales”. There are also cases were a reputation by (the lack of) company response to UGC. In The Netherlands there is a well-known example of telephone company T-mobile which neglected to react on complaints spread by social media. It costed the firm between €200.000 and €300.000 (Effectory, 2010). This example proves that negative UGC can cause a (financial) crisis for a company (Effectory, 2010). There are many scientifically theories on dealing with a crisis through communication. Coombs (2007) for example gives serial solutions for managers how to deal with several types of crisis. This paper investigates if the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) can be used in an online setting to deal with potential crisis caused by negative user generated content.

http://www.lucvandijk.com/


However, how to solve a problem online through crisis communication is a new area of research. So it is interesting to research if current theories about crisis communication can be used in an online setting, namely to investigate if the current theories can be applied to deal with negative user generated content. Goal of the study is to find how companies should react on negative UGC from a consumer perspective. The study provides marketing communication managers with insights how to deal with negative user generated content about their company. The paper guides them with possibilities on strategies to follow when a situation appears dealing with negative UGC.

1D: Keywords User generated content, crisis management, SCCT

1E: Host Institution The host institution is the Twente University, Enschede, The Netherlands. The research will

commissioned by AeronAdvies.


2A: Theoretical framework This chapter is divided into two categories. Category one focuses on the aspect user generated content, what it is en why it could be important for marketing managers. Furthermore this chapter focuses on crisis management through communication strategies. The Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) stands central in the paragraph.

2A.1 User Generated Content Christodoulides, Jevons and Bonhomme (2012) give a general description about UGC: It “is made available through publicly accessible transmission media such as the Internet; reflects some degree of creative effort; and is created for free outside professional routines and practices” Consumers are being more and more in control of companies and brands, instead of managers (Christodoulides, Jevons & Bonhomme, 2012). People share their opinions about organizations frequently on sites as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Other (potential) consumers not only can read this data, but can also react on it.

In this chapter two aspects will be treated, first the importance of UGC for brand equity and second the implications for marketing managers.

2A.1.1 Importance of UGC

UGC has an enormous impact on the perception of a brand (Jun Cheong & Morrison, 2008). Not only the impact on corporate image is important, it can also costs companies a lot money when their goes something wrong in their online communication (Effectory, 2010). The possibility to deliver UGC has turned the passive consumer to an active one (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Nowadays consumers are more informed and more connected than ever before (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). Consumers can find their information about brands online and can share their thoughts about the brands even so. For instance negative UGC about a brand, created by “potential, actual or former customers” can be available to many peoples and institutions via internet (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh & Gremler, 2004). That this situation has a great influence on how companies should interact with consumers may be logical (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). The group that delivers most UGC, people with the age between 24 and 44, is also the group that are the most influential when it comes to purchase decision making (Christodoulides, Jevons & Blackshaw, 2012). As already stated this group shares their opinions online and also read others opinions. Li and Zhan (2011) also state that online word-of-mouth plays an enormous role in the perception of an organization in people minds, often more than other sources. More and more consumers are using online sources and references as important information sources (Li & Zhan, 2011).


2A.1.2 Implications for managers

The impact of UGC results in a shift in communication. It is nowadays more a many to many, interactive model than it is a oneway one-to-many model (Christodoulides, Jevons & Blackshaw, 2012). This means that organizations do not suffice with a simply television commercial but have to do more to reach their consumers but have to invest in interactive communication. Further UGC can be used as a manner to investigate what consumers think about a company product or service. Christodoulides, Jevons and Blackshaw (2012) mention that UGC is an important feedback mechanism to gain deeper customer insights and develop a product or service even more. For this reason UGC must be strictly monitored and analyzed (Christodoulides, Jevons & Blackshaw, 2012). A problem arises because many senior managers are not that experienced with UGC and the new media channels, but their possible target group (between age 24 and 44) is using the internet as a way of life and these are the most influential people in consumer purchase decisions (Christodoulides, Jevons & Blackshaw, 2012).

2A.2 Crisis management This chapter differentiates two subjects, namely the definition of crisis management and the model of Coombs, the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT).

2A.2.1 What is crisis management?

Coombs (2007) stated that it is a critical organizational function. In the worst case failure in this can lead to bankruptcy of a company, or it can lead to losses for the organization or otherwise harm to stakeholders (Coombs, 2007). Together with public relations and other parts of the management teams, there will be defined critical concepts to deal with crisis (Coombs, 2007) and save reputations. Reputations are widely recognized as a valuable, intangible asset. “Reputational assets can attract customers, generate investment interest, improve financial performance, attract top-employee talent, increase the return on assets, create a competitive advantage and garner positive comments from financial analysts” (Coombs, 2007). So there can be stated that crisis management is a way of strategic coping with emergencies for organizations.

There are mainly three objectives when it comes to guard reputations, these are: “shape attributions of the crisis” (Coombs, 1995); “change perceptions of the organization in a crisis” (Coombs, 1995). and “reduce the negative affect generated by the crisis” (Coombs, 1995). For a crisis manager any combination of these three can be chased (Coombs, 2007).


2A.2.2 Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)

How a crisis is framed will be important for the view of the public of the situation. All the strategies provide the organization with information to put the organization side of the story in the media. The frame of the media will also become the frame of the organizational stakeholders. A crisis can cause problems for an organization by disturbing the proceedings of the organization and also ruin a reputation. Managers can, by communication reactions, take care of damage control and damage repair. It depend on the situation what kind of reaction is appropriate and successful. Coombs (2007) found this situational approach and called it the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT). This theory provides managers with information how to react on a crisis to protect the image of an organization. The one who must deal with the crisis must first identify the type of the crisis. This is also a publics frame. A couple of things must be clear, such as the possibility as an organization to control the crisis and also who causes the crisis. After this a strategy should be selected which is most suitable to solve the problem. As an example: the more the crisis is caused by the organization, the more the public expects from the company. After selected the crisis responsibility, a crisis strategy will be chosen. In short the SCCT can be used as a mechanism to anticipate on how stakeholders would react to a crisis when it comes to the reputational threat of a crisis. Besides the theory suggests how people can react towards the crisis response strategies (Coombs, 2007). Managers can use the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) as a framework for

understanding the dynamic of how a reputation can be protected during a crisis through crisis

communication (Coombs, 2007). Coombs and Holladay (2002) have the following description: “the

SCCT provides managers with an evidence-based guide to assessing and responding to crises,

allowing them to make informed, strategic, and beneficial decisions”. An employee dealing with

crisis communication is better prepared when he or she know what kind of reaction fits with a

certain crisis situation (Coombs & Holladay, 2002).

There are three clusters to identify according to Coombs (2007): the victim, the accidental and the intentional cluster. Figure 1 describes the clusters in detail. 1. In the victim cluster the organization is viewed as victim and is not the cause of the crisis; 2. By the accidental cluster, just as the name suggest, the company is the cause of the crisis but in

general stakeholders will view it as accidental or unintentional; 3. With the intentional cluster the organization is the cause of the crisis and it happened

deliberately (Coombs, 2007).


Figure 1 SCCT crisis types by crisis clusters (Coombs, 2007)


Furthermore Coombs (2007) not only describes the crisis clusters, but also set up strategies how to react on crisis situations. Coombs (2007) describes in figure 2 two types of crisis response strategies, being the primary and the supplemental. According to Coombs (2007) there are three groups to differentiate in the primary responses to crisis: deny, diminish and rebuild. 1. Deny strategies

This strategy is helpful to create a certain crisis frame en disrupt the perceived connection between a crisis and the organization. This causes no reputational harm because the media and stakeholders accept that there is no crisis at all.

2. Diminish strategies With this strategy the organization takes distance from the crisis and claims that is has nothing to do with the situation. The strategy has as goal to lessen to relation between the organization and the crisis. However, this strategy needs credible sources or evidence. The public will adopt the most credible story of the crisis situation when conflicting stories arrive in the media.

3. Rebuild strategies With this strategy the organization takes his responsibility for the crisis and asks for forgiveness. The focus lies not only on the crisis anymore but also on the fact that the organization takes positive action.

Additionally there is a second type of responses to heal the reputation, namely bolstering crisis response theories, which aims at creating new information about the organization, and remembering others about past good work. Coombs (2007) wants to give a note: it should only be used as a supplement to the primary responses.

It seems that rebuild strategies will be most successful Coombs (2007). However it gives some annotations. Accommodative strategies are the most expensive ones for an organization. Also Coombs (2007) claimed that over time it is not more beneficial to the organization reputation

Figure 2 SCCT crisis response strategies (Coombs, 2007)


than other strategies. Or even worse: when it is not necessary to use a strategy like these the reputation can decrease. This is because it gives stakeholders a bad feeling, the situation should be worse than it seems because the organization reacts so aggressively (Coombs, 2007). Figure 3 gives guidelines when a SCCT crisis strategy should be used.

Figuur 3 SCCT crisis response strategy guidelines (Coombs, 2007)


2B: Research questions The main interest in this research lies on what strategy provides a possible good reaction to negative UGC from a consumer perspective and what strategy will be less useful for companies to use. The focus lies on the attitude of the consumer. An attitude helps to predict, explain and modify behavior and is a precursor of behavior (Gass & Seiter, 2011). Attitudes are directed towards an attitude object, such as a company. In this research we want to measure the following attitudes of the consumer: attitude towards the loyalty and trust towards the brand and the attitude willingness to share the UGC message. The independent variables which may influence the attitude towards these items are different strategies which companies can use to react on a negative UGC message. There is chosen for company crisis respond strategies of Coombs (2007) which can be used in an online setting properly. So some strategies such as the ‘scapegoat’, ‘justification’ and ‘compensation’ (Coombs, 2007) are left out of this research, because these are difficult to test in an online setting because of all the complexity in measurement. The goal of the research is to investigate which strategies of Coombs (2007) are successful by reacting on negative UGC. As a result to create a positive attitude towards loyalty to the brand, trust towards the brand and willingness to share the message. The central question in this research is: How should companies react on negative UGC from a consumer perspective? Coombs (2007) provides managers with theory about different types of crisis. For this research two types of crisis will be included as moderating variables. Based on the SCCT theory of Coombs (2007) the following hypotheses are developed: H1: An ‘attack the accuser’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the

perception of consumers towards the brand. H1a: An ‘attack the accuser’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the

willingness to share the UGC message. H2: A ‘denial’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a negative significant effect on the perception of

consumers towards the brand. H2a: A ‘denial’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a negative significant effect on the willingness to

share the UGC message. H3: An ‘excuse’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the perception of

consumers towards the brand. H3a: An ‘excuse’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the willingness to

share the UGC message. H4: An ‘apology’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the perception of

consumers towards the brand. H4a: An ‘apology’ strategy (Coombs, 2007) has a positive significant effect on the willingness to

share the UGC message.


2C. Overview of the entire research project and time planning The complete research will be spread over a period of seven months. In table 1 is mentioned what kind of activities will take place among the months. This planning agrees with the steps written down by Sherina (2005). Table 1 Time planning research

Year 2013

PROJECT (ACTIVITIES) F M A M J J A Planning of research X Literature search X X Development of questionnaire

X X

Pre-testing X Preparing researchers X X Data collection X X Data entry and analysis X X X Report writing and presentation

X X X


2C. Description of the Different Studies for the Research Project

2C.1 Research design A two by four design will be conducted. The independent variables will be the crisis response strategies, the moderator variable will be the type of crisis and the dependent variable will be the consumers’ attitude towards the brand. The model is shown in figure 1. By attitude the following is meant: the loyalty to the company, the trust in the company and the willingness to share the UGC message among their online friends and followers. The independent variables are different strategies to react on a crisis. The four chosen strategies based on Coombs (2007) SCCT strategy, are: 1: The attack the strategy. “Crisis manager confronts the person or group claiming something is

wrong with the organization” (Coombs, 2007). 2: A denial strategy. “Crisis manager asserts that there is no crisis” (Coombs, 2007). 3: The excuse strategy . “Crisis manager minimizes organizational responsibility by denying

intent to do harm and/or claiming inability to control the events that triggered the crisis” (Coombs, 2007).

4: The apology strategy. “Crisis manager indicates the organization takes full responsibility for the crisis and asks stakeholders for forgiveness.

The moderator variable crisis type is based on Coombs’ (2007) crisis types by crisis clusters. Two different clusters will be investigated: the victim and the preventable cluster. In the victim cluster is the organization viewed as victim and not as a cause of the crisis. Either in the preventable cluster the organization is the cause of the crisis. The following crisis types will be examined: 1: In the victim cluster: “Rumor: False and damaging information about an organization is being circulated” (Coombs, 2007). 2. In the preventable cluster: “Organization misdeed management misconduct: Laws or regulations are violated by management” (Coombs, 2007). The research design is an experimental design. The researcher will manipulate negative UGC reactions based on the two types of crisis and corporate reactions towards these reactions conform the four chosen strategies. The company which can be investigated is telephone company T-Mobile.


Figure 1 Research model LSVD 2012

2C.2 Participants The research can be done with all kind of participants with at least access to the internet. It will be valued for the research to use participants that make the most use of the internet. Jones and Fox (2009) state that the Y-generation, people born between 1977 and 1990, are the “Net Generation”. They intend that this generation is relatively most active on the world wide web. For this reason we want to investigate this group of people, which can be found on any university. The conceptual model is a two by four design. In total there are eight cells. Per cell of the research design, 30 participants are needed (Pallant, 2010). So 240 participants are required to do a reliable research.

2C.3 Instrument An attitude cannot be measured directly. Attitudes are inside people’s heads and therefore a researcher needs an indirect measurement method. There are various methods to measure attitudes. A good method to measure attitudes is to use self-report scales. Gass and Seiter (2011) mention that the Likert schale (questionnaire) method is still “the gold standard for measuring attitudes today”. “A Likert scale consist of a series of statements about some attitude object, followed by a continuum of choices ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. A respondent’s attitude is represented bby the average of his or her responses to all statements in the scale” (Gass & Seiter, 2011). To test the conceptual model, questionnaires will be used. The questionnaires will be prepared through a pretest.


Pretest Before the questionnaire can be used, a pre-test is needed to make sure the right items will be measured and the research can be done valid (Dooley, 2000). A pretest involves testing the research instrument, in this case the questionnaire, in order to check for glitches in wording or questions, lack of instructions clarity, etcetera. The pretest will check the ability of the instrument to collect valid data for the research. Actual study: The research will be performed by means of an online questionnaire. Advantages of questionnaires are the efficiency, the large sample sizes, it is cheap to do and anonymous for the participants, it is possible to treat lots of subjects and the results can be presented quickly (Dooley, 2000; Downs & Adrian, 2004). One of the opportunities to use questionnaires is the Likert method. The Likert method uses a five points scale were participants can select their opinion (Ten Klooster, Visser & De Jong, 2008). The advantages of the Likert method are that the method is quick and reliable, it is cheap en easy to analyze, and most people understand the Likert scale with as a result less mistakes in the research (Ten Klooster, Visser & De Jong, 2008). There are also some disadvantages of the Likert scale. The representativeness strongly depends on the size of the sample and the response to questionnaires may be low (Ten Klooster, Visser & De Jong, 2008).

2C.4 Procedure First of all the SCCT theory of Coombs will be prepared with a pre-test for the questionnaires. After this is done, the research among the target group can be taken. Dooley (2000) provides us with some steps to take to set up a questionnaire. First of all there must be defined a construct. Second an item pool must be generated. Third a pilot test should be done. Fourth the questionnaire should be taken and an item analysis should be done. Last the data must be validated and norming. Participants of the University of Twente will receive an invitation to join the research. As reward they have the possibility to win some gifts, provided by AeronAdvies.

2C.5 Statistical analysis For questionnaires the following is necessary: there must be done a factor analysis to be sure that a common factor underlies all of the items of the scale (Dooley, 2000). The Cronbach’s Alpha tests the homogeneity within a single construct, it should be at least 0,6 (Dooley, 2000). The initial data analyses will be performed in SPSS 17.0.

3. Societal and Scientific Relevance of the Research Project Lots of practical strategies have been written with the intention to follow when dealing with negative UGC as a marketing- or communication manager. But there is still a lack of scientific information about this type of strategies. How to solve a problem online through crisis communication is a new area of research. Interesting to know is if current crisis theories can be applied online to deal with negative user generated content. It is clear that UGC can have an enormous impact on corporate reputation (Effectory, 2010; Jun Cheong & Morrison, 2008), both positive and negative. The positive is that a small business such as a Dutch bakery can be a trending topic worldwide and generate a huge positive exposure for the new company (Bakkerswereld, 2011). For the negative sight: it is proven that insufficient reacting on online messages creates damage to a company (Effectory, 2010). There are theories how to deal with corporate crisis, for instance the SCCT model of Coombs (2007). Either it is unknown if these strategies also work in an online setting. Now the question rises if the SCCT can be used to react on


negative UGC messages, to prevent an eventually crisis. Maybe it is possible to stop negative UGC before it becomes a really big problem. For companies and their managers it is important to know what kind of strategies will work when dealing with negative UGC. This is important because negative UGC can result in a negative perception of the consumer by the brand. In this case the company turnover and profit can be in danger. It will safe companies lots of money when they deal in the right way. Goal of the study is to find how companies should react on negative UGC from a consumer perspective. The study provides marketing communication managers with insights how to deal with negative user generated content about their company. The paper guides them with possibilities on strategies to follow when a situation appears dealing with negative UGC.

4. Legal and Ethical Issues There are some ethical issues were a researcher should care about when doing the research. In this paragraph two important issues will be treated. Protection of participants Landsdown (2001) states that participation in a scientific research should be voluntary. A person should never be obligated to participate to a research. If a person wants to quit the research, he is entitled to do so, even without any reason given. The researcher should inform the participants about this rule. Also the researcher should ensure that the participant experiences no disadvantages from the research (Howitt & Cramer, 2007), this is called the principle of “doing well and do not hurt”. Protection of privacy Thomas and O’Kane (1998) state that the privacy of participations should be guaranteed. This means that the results should processed anonymous with as result that hunting down a personal view of somebody is not possible. So the obtained data from the research will made completely anonymous so that the results should not lead back to a certain participant. Not anonymous data will not be shared either in words or in writing. The researcher should inform the participants with this information, not only to be ethical right but also to reduce an eventual research biases (Dooley, 2000).

5. References Bakkerswereld - Stadsbakker social media kampioen. (2011, October 14). Bakkerswereld.

Retrieved October 2012, from http://www.bakkerswereld.nl/Nieuws/Algemeen/2011/10/Stadsbakker-social-media-kampioen-BAK008338W

Christodoulides, G., Jevons, C., Bonhomme, J. (2012) Memo to marketers: Quantitative evidence for change - how user-generated content really affects brands Journal of Advertising Research, 52 (1), pp. 53-64.

Coombs , W.T. (1995) Choosing the right words: The development of guidelines for the selection of the “ appropriate ” crisis response strategies , Management Communication Quarterly , 8 , 447 -476

Coombs, W.T. (2007) Protecting Organization Reputations During a Crisis: The Development and Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory, Corporate Reputation Review, 10(3), pp. 163–176

Coombs , W.T. & Holladay , S.J. (2002) Helping crisis managers protect reputational assets:


Initial tests of the situational crisis communication theory, Management Communication Quarterly, 16 , 165 – 186

Dhar, V. & Chang, E. (2007). Does chatter matter? The impact of user-generated content on music sales. New York University. Retrieved October 2012, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1281347

Dooley, D. D. (2000). Social Research Methods. (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Higher Education. Downs, C. W., & Adrian, A.D. (2004). Assessing Organizational Communication. Strategic

Communication Audits.New York: The Guilford Press. Effectory (2010, October 29). Wilt u imagoschade door social media voorkomen? - Effectory - Zet uw

organisatie in beweging! Medewerkers- en klantenonderzoek - Effectory - Maak uw succes !. Retrieved from http://www.effectory.nl/perscentrum/nieuws/wilt-u-imagoschade-door-

social-media-voorkomen.aspx Gass, R. H., & Seiter, J. S. (2011). Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining(4th ed.).

Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Hennig-Thurau, T., Gwinner, K. P., Walsh, G., & Gremler, D. D. (2004). Electronic word-of-mouth via

consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet? Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18(1), 38–52. doi:10.1002/dir.10073.

Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2007). Ethiek in onderzoek. In Methoden en technieken in de psychologie.(pp. 124-125). Amsterdam: Pearson Education Benelux.

Jones, S., & Fox, S. (2009). Generations Online in 2009. PEW internet project data memo. Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2009/PIP_Generations_2009.pdf.

Jun Cheong, H., & Morrison , M. A. (2008). Consumers' reliance on product information and recommendations found in UGC. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 8(2), 38-49.

Lansdown, G. (2001). Promoting Children’s Participation in Democratic Decision-Making. Florence: UNICEF Innocenti Research Center.

Li, J., & Zhan, L. (2011). Online Persuasion: How the Written Word Drives WOM. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 239-257.

Pallant, J. (2010). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS (4th ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill.

Prahalad, C. K. & Ramaswamy, V. (2004), Co-creation experiences: The next practice in value creation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18: 5–14

Sherina, M.S. (2005). How to write a research proposal? The Family Physician, 13(3), 30-32 Ten Klooster, O.M., Visser, M. & De Jong, M.D.T. (2008). Comparing two image research instruments:

The Q-Sort method versus the Likert Questionnaire. Food Quality & Preference, 19(5), 511-518

Thomas, N. & O’Kane, C. (1998). The ethics of partcipatory research with children. Children & Society, 12, 336-348.

6. Budget Proposal For this research no extreme costs will be made. The research can be done on the University of

Twente, so travel and transportation costs can be eliminated. Also no special equipment and

accessories are needed. The research will be done through an online questionnaire, so research

materials and supplies are not necessary. To trigger students to join the research some gifts will be

raffled. This costs about €200,- and will be recovered by AeronAdvies, the company of the

researcher. The time and effort will be unpaid, the researcher will earn, if the research is proper, a

master of science degree of the University of Twente.

User Generated Content and company strategies

Education

qualitative research

research questions

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entire research project

user generated content

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