Anthropologists and sociologists used ethnography to make the unfamiliar aspects of their respective groups familiar for others. In addition, accessing internal corporate online communication is difficult without the permission of the company. Kozinets, R. V., 2011. 3, pp. Leipmaa-Leskinen, H. (2011), Cultural analysis of dieting consumers construction of bodies and identities, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. Misopoulos et al. , It helps businesses learn more about their target market. Some studies were strongly focused on ethnography with some online elements (e.g. Users are much more likely to divulge sensitive details and honest, unfiltered opinions in an unsupervised environment. 148-160. Brown, S. (2014), Im buying Jack! This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. 32 No. Russell, C.A. 3, pp. Ethnography is a qualitative research method in which a researcheran ethnographerstudies a particular social/cultural group with the aim to better understand it. 4-12. There is, however, considerable potential for the use of netnography in other areas of business. Not ordering to the United States? This type of collection refers to the field notes of the researcher, about the exchange of information between the members of the communities, their interactions and interpretations, as well as the researchers own participation and interaction with the community. Ethnography (from Greek ethnos folk, people, nation and grapho I write) is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Netnography provides service researchers with tremendous opportunities to study this transformative process and its implications for customers and society. Roy, N., Gretzel, U., Yanamandram, V.K. 2, pp. Hence, this technique was applied in order to first gain an insight and later to, better grasp mothers' SoMe behaviour, habits and self-expression . 15 No. Netnography allows marketing researchers to collect rich, timely and continuous naturalistic data (Rokka, 2010). Gremler, D. (2004), The critical incident technique in service research, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 89-95. This paper is written in the spirit of other articles in the marketing discipline that investigated methodological issues and recommendations, such as agent-based modeling (Rand and Rust, 2011), critical incident technique (Gremler, 2004), visual methods (Pain, 2012) and structural equation models (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). As netnography provides guidelines for researching online phenomena, it has become a popular and successful research method for studying e-WOM. Larsen, H.G. Vargo, S.L., Wieland, H. and Akaka, M.A. (2017), researchers who adopt a passive non-participatory approach often miss opportunities for co-creating knowledge in online communities and social media spaces. 13, pp. In this volume, 34 researchers present . As illustrated in Figure 1, it took approximately 10 years after the first netnography publication for the method to become widespread. Netnography runs counter to the current trend to quantify social media, producing charts and graphs based on the many ways social media networking is monitored and analyzed. Rust, R.T. and Huang, M.H. Political Science and International Relations, https://methods.sagepub.com/video/what-is-netnography, CCPA Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Netnography is an adaptation of ethnography for the online world, pioneered by Robert Kozinets, and is concerned with the study of online cultures and communities as distinct social phenomena, rather than isolated content. 4, pp. However, there are many research approaches that have not yet been combined with netnography. (2013), Dark tourism motivations: simulation, emotional contagion and topographic comparison, Tourism Management, Vol. It often relies on participant observation through prolonged field work and may include other qualitative and quantitative methods. 24-40. Hollebeek, L.D. In addition to empirical research, there should be more methodological research on netnography. Starbucks Use of Market Research Propels the Brand. 1518-1541. 1816-1833. medical treatment or financial advice/negotiation), it is surprising that more service researchers have not seized this opportunity. (2014), Consumption compromises: negotiation and unification within contemporary families, Journal of Business Research, Vol. (1998), On netnography: initial reflections on consumer investigations of cyberculture, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. An exception is a study by Hernandez and Vicdan (2014), who explored blogs and video-gaming websites to gain deeper insight into the factors that influence the decision to pre-order new video games. Zaglia, M.E. Anthropologists and sociologists used ethnography to make the unfamiliar aspects of their respective groups familiar for others. Ethnography, simply stated, is the study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face-to-face interviewing. 12 No. 3, pp. 51-61. 1, pp. (2016), Tourism blogging motivations: why do Chinese tourists create little lonely planets?, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. Exploring brides online communities, Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, Vol. 17 - 20 The sampling frame . 10 No. 8 No. Netnography Robert V Kozinets 2019-10-14 Netnography is an adaptation of ethnography for the online . Ethnography allows us to study beliefs, values and behaviours. Second, netnography is an adaptable and flexible qualitative method that has proven useful in various research settings ( Kozinets, 2015 ). online streaming of entertainment, online storage space or online gaming). A key challenge for service researchers is, thus, to understand the guidelines of netnography and the ongoing debate about the diverse applications of netnography. As online communities have become more popular and diverse, the customer information that marketing researchers can elicit from them has increased. 36-44. (2011) used netnography to explore how brand communities emerge, and Ismail (2011) adopted netnography to develop measurement scales for a large-scale quantitative study of customer experience and its dimensions. Consumers use various ways to describe that. (2012), Collective authentication, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. and Smith, G.W.H. Izberk-Bilgin, E. (2012), Infidel brands: unveiling alternative meanings of global brands at the nexus of globalization, consumer culture, and Islamism, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. Sign up for a free trial and experience all SAGE Research Methods has to offer. 1, pp. Kozinets, Robert V. "What is netnography?." and Garcia, M.T. Next, service-related topics that have yet to be explored through netnography, and thus present opportunities for service researchers, are discussed. 32, pp. 5, pp. Youre spending your money in all the wrong places, Service portraits in service research: a critical review, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Systematic Reviews in Health Care: Meta Analysis in Context, As worlds collide: the role of marketing management in customer-to-customer interactions, Designing solutions around customer network identity goals, So whaddya think? 912-935. Qualitative and quantitative data are both instrumental in supporting existing theories and developing new ones. 1, pp. 303-318. McAfee, A. and Brynjolfsson, E. (2012), Big data: the management revolution, Harvard Business Review, pp. 545-561. More specifically, the analysis focused on: the research field within marketing to which each article belonged; the marketing topics that the authors had researched; and. (1997), Entry mode decision, the role of managers mental models, Journal of Global Marketing, Vol. 63 Nos 9/10, pp. However, netnography is not limited to textual online data, and many netnographic marketing studies also include pictures and videos. 44 No. 2, pp. It takes time to build trust with informants in order to facilitate full and honest discourse. 21 No. Kedzior (2014), for example, gathered all of these types of data from second life in his study on customers experiences of digital worlds. To avoid such problems, Kozinets (2002, 2015) recommended that researchers disclose their presence and obtain permission before quoting any specific postings. Kozinets, R.V. Finally, the decision to include only articles written in English and published in marketing journals means that interesting netnographic studies in conference papers, doctoral dissertations and book chapters and in other languages might have been overlooked. Podoshen, J.S., Venkatesh, V. and Jin, Z. Muiz, A.M., Jr. and OGuinn, T.C. (2003), Brand meaning negotiation and the role of the online community: a mini case study, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Vol. 1) Source Data: User Generated Content on Social Media, 2) Quantitative Analysis: The number of people talking about Listerine as compared to other brands in the same segment, 3) Qualitative Analysis: The qualities that make people buy Listerine as well as insights about the product. Mkono, M. and Markwell, K. (2014), The application of netnography in tourism studies, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. Finally, netnography can constitute a valuable longitudinal part of a traditional qualitative study or complement an offline longitudinal study. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. 1, pp. Croft, R. (2013), Blessed are the geeks: an ethnographic study of consumer networks in social media, 2006-2012, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. (2017), Charismatic authority and the YouTuber: unpacking the new cults of personality, Marketing Theory, Vol. 1, pp. The typical ethnography is a holistic study and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the terrain, the climate, and the habitat. 15 No. Hartmann, B.J. Sheth, J.N. ), Environmental Marketing, The Haworth Press, New York, NY, pp. and Lusch, R.F. 18 No. 1, pp. 33 No. The researcher can acquire all these details through observation alone! 404-412. An analysis of afterhours fans responses to the bands participation in the Sanremo music festival, Marketing Theory, Vol. (2010), Understanding consumer-to-consumer interactions in virtual communities: the salience of reciprocity, Journal of Business Research, Vol. Simmons, G. (2008), Marketing to postmodern consumers: introducing the internet chameleon, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. Another example is a study of what makes online shoppers delay their online purchases, indicating that delays result from negative attitudes and experiences of online shopping, perceived risk and price, locus of control and purchase task complexity (Negra et al., 2008). As Bou-Franch and Blitvich (2014) indicated, these online platforms offer researchers unprecedented access to the unfolding of conflicts. (2014), Brando communities based in social media: how unique are they? Since 2008, there has been a rapid increase in netnography publications in the marketing field. Considering that many online platforms facilitate following how service experiences evolve over time (e.g. (2010), Applying netnography to market research: the case of the online forum, Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, Vol. Eriksson, P. and Kovalainen, A. Unsurprisingly, common domains are online discussion forums and social networking sites (Broderick et al., 2003; Braunsberger and Buckler, 2011; Rosenthal and Brito, 2017). Muiz, A.M. and Schau, H.J. Bjrk and Kauppinen-Risnen (2012), for example, used TripAdvisors (the worlds largest travel site) discussion forum to explore how tourists perceive risks associated with four popular destinations. (2011), Mixed methods designs in marketing research, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. Although only studies that used the label netnography were included in this review, the sample contained a broad set of applications of the method. Netnography can also give service researchers insights into research topics beyond traditional services. 16 No. 18 No. (2002), Research on ending exchange relationships: a categorization, assessment and outlook, Marketing Theory, Vol. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Netnography : The Essential Guide to Qualitative Social Media Research by Robert Kozinets (2019, Trade Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! The strategic implications of virtual communities of consumption, The field behind the screen: using netnography for marketing research in online communities, Click to connect: netnography and tribal advertising, Netnography. Rokka, J. Podoshen, J.S. First, the method of netnography is briefly presented. It is defined as follows : Netnography is one of the latest online research methodologies which is generally used to understanding social interactions in an unsupervised environment. (2004), Online service quality dimensions and their relationships with satisfaction: a content analysis of customer reviews of securities brokerage services, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. However, conflicts also arise in such online communities (Sibai et al., 2014), and if researchers move out of these often tightly knit communities, online conflicts among customers become even more common. 325-350. Schouten, J.W. (2013), Unleashing the animal within: exploring consumers zoomorphic identity motives, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. Data from qualitative user research usually takes the form of quotes, anecdotes, observations, or narrative descriptions and is used to assess how usable a product is. Weijo, H., Hietanen, J. and Mattila, P. (2014), New insights into online consumption communities and netnography, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 1, pp. Traditional methods, such as focus groups, surveys and interviews, can often be leading and might not always be optimal for revealing the customers logic regarding the service in question (Heinonen et al., 2010, Heinonen and Strandvik, 2015). Key, T.M., Boostrom, R.E., Jr., Adjei, M.T. What marketing research topics have been researched with netnography? Why Do Cross Country Runners Have Skinny Legs? Finally, conclusions are drawn and discussed in the last section of the paper. Finding out insights about other products from Listerine. The various applications are presented in the order of how frequently they appeared in the reviewed articles, with passive observer being the most common role of the researcher, exploratory research the most common use purpose, and so on. Short-term studies are at a particular disadvantage in this regard. 122-132. What are the pros and cons of different online domains? Adjei, M.T., Noble, S.M. 1, pp. 14 No. 24 No. As the aim was to identify and present what opportunities exist for service researchers, the point of departure for the review and analysis was a service marketing perspective. 43 No. Yazcolu, E.T. Who should do the research, and who should be researched? (2011), How Brand communities emerge: the beamish conversion experience, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 6, pp. Even if companies rarely publish collected data, practitioners should still be as transparent as possible in any researched online environment. 9 No. Netnography is basically a behavioural analysis method which is gaining prominence recently. Similarly, Brown and Patterson (2010) included photos, podcasts and videos in the netnographic part of their study on the Harry Potter brand phenomenon. More than a quarter of these studies were carried out in a services context and about one-sixth involved a service perspective. Successful service innovation and development require a thorough understanding of customers explicit and implicit needs (Griffin and Hauser, 1993; Leonard and Rayport, 1997). The Netnography methodology provides an informed space in privacy. Anything that is qualitative can be assigned meaningful numerical values. 12180 Park Avenue South A literature review is an analysis of previous research now on your research topic. Ball, M.S. Hemetsberger, A. 705-723. 1156-1163. Exploring brides online communities, Exploring virtual worlds: success factors in virtual world marketing, Toward a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review, (Re)locating boundaries: a systematic review of online ethnography, Mediating tourist experiences access to places via shared videos, Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing, Service dominant logic: continuing the evolution, Innovation through institutionalization: a service ecosystems perspective, Green Capital and social reproduction within families practicing voluntary simplicity in the US, Cyber-ethnography and the emergence of the virtually new community, Ethnography, reality, and truth: the vital need for studies of how things work in organizations and management, Online communities and the sharing of extraordinary restaurant experiences, New insights into online consumption communities and netnography, Stories visitors tell about Italian cities as destination icons. and Berry, L.L. Andreassen, T.W. 17 terms. 8 Nos 2/3, pp. The review indicated that the use of netnography had increased substantially since the publication of the first articles in the late 1990s. 10 No. Should it be a one-time collection of data or a long-term longitudinal research process. Quantitative Ethnography views big dataand data more generallyas evidence about the discourse of particular cultures. Many of these marketing topics have been explored in service contexts or are relevant for service researchers in other ways. Lusch, R.F. To conclude, it is noteworthy that this study faced certain limitations. Kjellberg, H., Azimont, F. and Reid, E. (2015), Market innovation processes: balancing stability and change, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 4-23. and Vicdan, H. (2014), Modeling word of mouth vs. media influence on videogame preorder decisions: a qualitative approach, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 63 No. (2014), Service systems a broadened framework and research agenda on value propositions, engagement, and service experience, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 4, pp. Using Consumer Generated Content as a part of the advertising strategy. and Vargo, S.L. Thomas and Peters (2011), for example, explored the role of the popular wedding online community Brides.com in brides wedding dress purchase decisions. Takhar, A. and Chitakunye, P. (2012), Rich descriptions: evoking informant self-reflexivity in marketing and consumer research, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 279-288. , It helps increase scientists understanding of human behavior. 1 . and Ostberg, J. Product-related services optimize product use (e.g. 271-280. According to Kozinets (1990, p. 366), these social groups have a real existence for their participants, and thus have consequential effects on many aspects of behaviour, including consumer behavior.. 29 Nos 6/7, pp. An example of a service ecosystem is a network of health-care providers. Lugosi, P., Janta, H. and Watson, P. (2012), Investigative management and consumer research on the internet, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. This variation in netnographic studies shows a flexible qualitative method with multiple uses for marketing researchers. In 2018, with the amount of user-generated content being pushed into the web reaching new highs every day, the task is much harder. 360-373. Ethnography is a type of qualitative research that involves immersing yourself in a particular community or organization to observe their behavior and interactions up close. 375-390. 108-121. 2101-2117. Yet, there is wide recognition among marketing scholars that online forums, review sites, social media, mobile devices, smart services, wearables and similar options are increasingly changing the process of customer decision-making. What is netnography? A netnography of a B2B service providers intranet or internal chat could, for example, enable a deeper understanding of professional service managers mind-sets and internal marketing efforts. 55 No. Langer and Beckman (2005), for example, maintained that such guidelines make sense for studying private online communication, but are far too rigorous for researching publicly available internet forums. 1, pp. . Transcending nearly all geographical borders, the internet is an important tool for international market research. Keeling, D. and Laing, A. 252-264. Companies efforts to analyze and plan how customers perceive their brands have expanded in scope as internet usage has developed rapidly over the years (Christodoulides, 2009). Netnography In netnography, online observations and interactions are valued as a cultural reflection that yields deep human understanding. (2014), The use of Facebook to promote drinking among young consumers, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. These online forums enabled the authors to access rich details about Freegans belief systems and illustrate how these stigmatized individuals redirect stigma toward the normative culture as a stigma management strategy. 1858-1878. In order to carry out Netnography, there are three important phases to consider : Well, of course, you need to decide your end-goals and start making a plan based on your goal. 21 No. (2008), Service dominant logic: continuing the evolution, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. Leonard, D.A. As part of this you will look at: How they interact with one another, and with their social and cultural environment. Brand equity is strongly supported by consumer advocacy (Almquist and Roberts, 2000), a factor not lost on companies seeking brand lift. 16 No. While content analysis converts qualitative information into quantitative data, netnography seeks a qualitative understanding of the community or phenomenon in question. 657-679. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2017-0294. Book by Robert Kozinets: "Netnography is an adaptation of ethnography for the online world, pioneered by Robert Kozinets, and is concerned with the study of online cultures and communities as distinct social phenomena, rather than isolated content. 25 Nos 5/6, pp. and Schau, H.J. After hiding the tool, if you would like to re-enable it, just press CTRL+U to open this window. 30 Nos 13/14, pp. (2014), Netnography approach as a tool for marketing research: the case of dash-P&G/TTV, Management Decision, Vol. (2014), The emerging shanghai city Brand: a netnograpic study of image perception among foreigners, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Vol. 35, pp. Puri, A. Customers may become upset or feel that their privacy has been violated if companies use their online texts, pictures and discussions without securing their permission. Baka, V. (2016), The becoming of user-generated reviews: looking at the past to understand the future of managing reputation in the travel sector, Tourism Management, Vol. Patton, M.Q. McArthur, E. (2015), Many-to-many exchange without money: why people share their resources, Consumption Markets & Culture, Vol. 1. Advantages and Limitations of Netnography. Fller, J., Jawecki, G. and Mhlbacher, H. (2007), Innovation creation by online basketball communities, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 663-687. The influence of C2C communications in online Brand communities on customer purchase, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, How do you measure what you cant define? Yang and Fang, 2004; Pan and Zhang, 2011). To enhance your experience on our site, SAGE stores cookies on your computer. A main concern is the authenticity and quality of the data material (Xun and Reynolds, 2010). New digital technologies, including wearables, smart services and mobile apps, can generate valuable customer information for service researchers and practitioners (Wuenderlich et al., 2015). In this landmark third edition, Netnography: The Essential Guide provides the theoretical and methodological groundwork as well as the practical applications, helping . At the same time, the world is becoming increasingly globalized. 470-475. beliefs) and emotional (i.e. Have you created a personal profile? 3, pp. The internet, however, is not a one-way communication channel and encourages people to share experiences and opinions; this is particularly true for social media. Is Phenomenology qualitative or quantitative? The word "ethnography" also refers to the written report of the research that the ethnographer produces afterwards. Podoshen, J.S. 48 No. 8 No. Netnography offers several benefits over other research methods. (2006), Mixed methods in interpretive research: an application to the study of self concept, In: Belk, R.W. Today, customers are increasingly active online, and valuable information about their opinions, experiences and behaviors can be retrieved from a variety of online platforms. As the authors pointed out, the internet offers an interactive space for consumers to construct and display their subcultural identities. 27 No. 103 No. Hamilton, K. and Wagner, B. As the first generation of digital natives grows up to become the customers of tomorrow (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008; Thomas, 2011), the interest in, and need for, netnography among service researchers should continue to increase. In 1995, Robert Kozinets used coined the term netnography when he used this tool to analyze online fan discussions about the new Star Trek movies. At the same time, the mental models of business managers have attracted considerable research attention (Santos and Garcia, 2006; Maignan and Lukas, 1997; Gary and Wood, 2011). For example, ethnographic research (sometimes called participant observation) has been used to investigate gangs, football fans, call center workers, and police officers. 123-139. Scaraboto, D. and Fischer, E. (2013), Frustrated fatshionistas: an institutional theory perspective on consumer quests for greater choice in mainstream markets, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. Gummesson, E., Kuusela, H. and Nrvnen, E. (2014), Reinventing marketing strategy by recasting supplier/customer roles, Journal of Service Management, Vol. Based on the analysis of existing netnography literature, empirical, theoretical and methodological recommendations for future netnographic service research are presented. Grnroos, C. (2008), Service logic revisited: who creates value? On a daily basis, customers interact with service providers, such as retailers, restaurants, retail banks, health-care providers, government services, non-profit organizations and telecommunications companies (Anderson et al., 2013). 4, pp. A thesis. 66 No. 38 No. (2015), Netnography: Redefined, 2nd Ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. 67 No. 3 No. you can save clips, playlists and searches, Navigating away from this page will delete your results. When in time should the study be conducted? Luedicke, M.K. : the study and systematic recording of human cultures also : a descriptive work produced from such research. Dr Kristina Heinonen is a Professor of Service and Relationship Marketing at Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, and the Director of the Centre for Relationship Marketing and Service Management (CERS) at Hanken. Broderick, A., Maclaran, P. and Ma, P.Y. Hult, G.T.M., Reimann, M. and Schilke, O. The development of new technology not only creates new digital forms of service but also affects customers current service usage. 87 No. Originally developed as a response to customers increasing internet use (Kozinets, 1997), netnography is based on an ethnographic research approach to studying and understanding consumption-related aspects of customers lives online (Kozinets, 2006). 2, pp. Egger, M., Smith, G.D. and Altman, D. (2008), Systematic Reviews in Health Care: Meta Analysis in Context, BMJ Publishing Group, London, UK. 597-599. The answer to this question is not straightforward. 46 No. (2015), Innovation through institutionalization: a service ecosystems perspective, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. and Powell, I.H. 289-302. Quantitative Ethnography is a methodology that blends qualitative and quantitative approaches into a solution for overcoming the weaknesses of traditional methods when applied to big data.