Media & Business

Communicating Diversity Online

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Allag, R.

Subject to demographic changes and strong internationalization, more and more multinational corporations claim to have diversity management policies and are offering diversity sections within their corporate websites. This thesis critically analyses the online content of 25 multinational corporations considered as the best workplaces in 2012. By analysing their online communication strategy on diversity, the purpose is to understand how they define diversity and in which ways they communicate about it. Findings show that only one corporation actually defines diversity but that several dimensions of diversity are covered within the online content of the multinational corporations. Some companies appear to communicate more or equally on less-‐-‐-‐visible differences, which seems to show a deeper understanding of diversity, while some others strongly rely on the social justice case. By analysing and comparing those contents on diversity, the study reveals how defining and communicating ‘diversity’ is complex as the quality and attention given to it varies among the companies. It also shows that mind-‐-‐-‐set influences the way diversity is approached. Overall, this study extends and builds on existing scholarship in diversity management in general and corporate communication in particular.

The fall from grace of a 'super athlete'

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Jong, S.J. de

From 1998 to 2005, Lance Armstrong was the winner of the Tour de France and one of the most loved and hated cyclists ever. From the beginning people suspected Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs and as these suspicions got bigger, Armstrong had to defend himself more and more against the allegations. This thesis has critically evaluated the statements made by Armstrong between June 2012 and January 2013, with the use of the image repair discourse theory of Benoit (1997b). The findings indicate that Armstrong used several image repair strategies, however his strategies are evaluated as being mostly ineffective.

From broadcasting to internet distribution

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Knaven, J.

This research examined how television broadcasters can innovate their business models in order to differentiate themselves in the over-the-top television industry. Television broadcasters need to respond to recent shifts in competitive forces in this industry to increase their competitive advantage and to create a durable strategic position. This research examined the business models of five successful platforms by conducting interviews with high-level employees of these platforms. Also, interviews with eight experts were conducted in order to put the findings of the case studies in a broader perspective. The comparison of the case studies and the expert interviews enabled the distillation of several significant findings. Over-the-top television platforms should improve the value of their content, experience and distribution. This can be done by attaching importance to the following business model elements: aggregation, localization, exclusiveness, content recommendation, data utilization, third-party distribution and multiplatform distribution. These findings show that the role of the consumer has become very significant in this industry and that over-the-top television platforms should attach great importance to the creation of value to their users.

An incredible investigation

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Balgobind, S.V.

For the last two decades, the notion of nation branding has received abundant attention among academia and practitioners. The consequence concerning the former mentioned group has resulted in an increase in the amount of academic publications, while the interest generated by the second group implies concrete promotional material broadcasted by countries in order to (re)brand themselves. One country that jumped on the nation branding bandwagon is India. In 2002, the Indian government initiated a multimillion dollar nation branding endeavour which received the name ‘Incredible India’. This particular research study replies to a call from Kerrigan et al. (2009), who conducted a research on the notion of nation branding in light of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign. As a consequence, the researcher of this study answers this call by focusing on the international variant of the second phase of India’s branding journey. Nine video clips were selected and presented to sixteen participants. Consequently, a dialogue was created in which questions were posed about various content related elements. In conclusion, it can be noted that this research study has been conducted to illustrate and elaborate on the relationship among identity, nation branding and image. The result of this relationship is inextricably linked to reputation management. Since the domain of nation branding recently stepped out of its infant shoes, the researcher of this study desired to outline this particular relationship. Moreover, investigating the multimedia material tailor made for this nation branding endeavour is an incredible voyage on its own.

Equity Film Financing

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Jacobson, O.M.R.

Film financing exists in many different forms that come and go. Film slate co-‐ financing with outside investors is one of the more recent developments in Hollywood. Hofmann (2012) analyzed movies that were financed in this fashion. He found that Hollywood studios are very eager to welcome outside investors. In fact, Hofmann warns new investors to be careful about being exploited by the studios. But Hofmann only considered one side by scrutinizing the situation of the studios and financiers in Hollywood. He showed that the present situation is a semi-‐public market where only very wealthy investors are active at the moment. This study looks at the future of film slates financing focusing on the perspective of individual investors. Crowdfunding is currently a big hit in the film industry, but it might not be sustainable and could disappear when the hype is over. With that in mind, I started exploring a more viable business model and tested if individual investors are likely to venture into the realm of film, to take over the position of crowdfunders and bring in considerable amounts of capital. The general response towards equity investment in film slates was relatively positive and a sizable portion of the respondents pledged that they would invest if that were a real possibility. A shorter investment time frame was preferred, despite that it would be less profitable given the features of the investment proposition. The main conclusion is that there are a considerable amount of prospective investors for film slate equity, but these people are in need of proper guidance to protect their interests.

Online Social Media and Expatriate Adjustment

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Theemling, R.C.

This qualitative study sought to identify and understand the ways that expatriates living in the Netherlands use social networking sites (SNS) and other online platforms during the adjustment and integration process. Grounded in the Sense of Community (SOC) theory, the study incorporated semi-structured interviews with 12 expatriates who originated from countries outside of the European Union (EU). Not only was the goal of the study to identify the ways that expatriates use SNSs, it also sought to understand the perceived influence such use had on adjustment and integration. The study investigated five distinct areas of interest: the use of SNS to meet and socialize with others; meeting others who share common interests; maintaining social connections with those in the host country; developing and maintaining friendships with colleagues; and using various platforms to acculturate. The study revealed interesting results. First, it was discovered that many participants have used various virtual communities to meet and interact with others. Furthermore, many participants reported developing friendships as a result of such use. In many cases, developing these friendships has positively influenced adjustment. Second, while many participants reported having hobbies and interests, only a few reported using SNS and virtual communities to meet others who share their interests. However, many participants reported being partial to meeting and befriending others who share their nationality. These participants felt that engaging in such interaction positively influenced adjustment. Third, many reported that using SNSs and other online communicative platforms played a particularly important role during the adjustment and integration process. Fourth, it was discovered that many participants actively meet and socialize with colleagues in settings outside of the work environment. Many of these events are planned via virtual communities and were found to positively influence adjustment. Finally, for some participants, the use of SNSs and different online platforms was found to be highly beneficial during acculturation.

he New Customer Service in the Age of Social Media

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Terzic, T.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how has customer service changed in the current age of social media. Have customer service practices, especially dealing with complaints, changed due to social media? This research will be approached from two different perspectives; the Dutch retail companies that are active on social media platforms and the online customers and/or the social media fans. Four Dutch companies and nine online customers/fans served as subjects for this research. There is a lot of past research about social media customer relationships, online interaction between customers and companies, and online business opportunities. However, due to the evolutionary character of social media platforms, companies constantly need to develop new customer relationship strategies and possibilities that improve interaction and customer satisfaction. Modern technology is changing consumer complaints from a private matter to a public phenomenon (Ward & Ostrom, 2006). This phenomenon is definitely frightening some companies (Gregory, 2009).Different aspects are contributing to the changing character of customer complaining. This study focuses on the business opportunities that Facebook offers to companies, the changing role of Facebook fans, the role of customers and the importance of their needs and expectations, the social customer relationship management complaint-management process, customer complaints on social media, critical fans, the retail industry and the electronic word-of-mouth part (eWOM). Data for this research was collected through semi- standardized interviews. For this research, the selection of unit analysis is purposively selected. The findings support some previous studies, but they also highlight the importance of companies’ Facebook pages and the role customer services have on these pages. This research introduces a new finding that existing literature doesn’t cover. Dutch retail companies are embracing “like” and “share to win”- contests. The three interviewed companies are using these contests as engaging tool for their customers. Also, the majority of the interviewed companies’ Facebook fans enjoy the “like and share to win”- contest. The other interesting finding is that the majority of respondents chooses to visit the Facebook page of a company instead of the official website of the company. This demonstrates the importance of the presence of Facebook for these companies. The social media environment is constantly changing and adapting to these new developments. For many companies, Facebook is not the official tool to solve customer complaints. Nevertheless, this study shows that customer service is definitely on the way of becoming an official part of companies’ Facebook pages.

Diplomacy as screen narrative

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Nicola, M

Romania's perception abroad has been influence by the stigma of one of the harshest communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The experience of communism has created a general scare on any government involvement in shaping the country's image, on one hand. On the other hand, the work on complying with the EU membership requirements had a strong internal focus and the external perception was often overlooked. In the midst of all of this, one particular area of Romanian culture, its cinema, gained more and more popularity. The real break-through came in 2005 when Romanian films started to become a fixture in the programmes of the major festivals, such as Cannes and Berlin- not only being selected, but also awarded. But once the initial thrill has passed several important questions have arisen: Is this development sustainable? Can it compensate for a national film industry? Asked less often, but equally important is the issue that this paper is trying to help clarify: What do they bring to the country? Can their success be capitalized on- from a cultural diplomacy perspective or otherwise?

Through the maze of comparative advertising

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Venderbos, P.

A planning advertising grid tells you how to advertise certain products, it gives recommendations and tells you what you might want to consider. This is all based upon brand attitude and an advertising grid representing four different types of products. Comparative advertising is being recommended for one type of product. However, the practice shows that comparative advertising is being used for all kinds of products, and with success. This raises the question whether these advertising planning grids are complete. The theory also shows that comparative advertising as a concept is more extensive than suggested in this advertising planning grid. The assumption here is made whether these different types of comparative advertising could have a positive outcome for these different types of products. And thus the research question reads: to what extent is brand attitude, for different types of products, influenced by different types of comparative advertisements and does this calls for a change in the advertising planning grids? To answer this question, concepts as comparative advertising, the advertising planning grids, brand attitude and the hierarchy of effects models were all discussed and related to each other and this research in order to come up with different hypotheses. These were all based upon the different types of comparative advertisements and the different types of products distinguishable within the advertising planning grids. The three types of comparative advertisements are: a comparison made based on one dimension, a comparison made based on a unique feature absent with the competitive product, and a complete comparison made between the products by two brands. To find out whether these different types of comparative advertisements could have a positive effect on brand attitude for the different types of products an experiment was conducted among 140 participants. Each participant was asked to rate five items based on a brand. These items together ranked the brand attitude. The participant was asked to do this once again, but after seeing one of the twelve comparative advertisements belonging to that brand. This made it possible to find a possible shift of brand attitude after encountering a comparative advertisement. It turned out that three out of the six tested hypotheses had a significant positive result. Using a comparative advertisement which emphasizes on a unique feature of a product which is absent with the competitive product does have a positive outcome on brand attitude for two types of products: products which are low involved and informational, and products which are low involved and transformational. The last positive relationship found was for products which were high involved and informational. These product could benefit from comparative advertisements in which all the features of the own product and the product by the competitor are presented.

Ageing and Technology

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Overdijk, S.N.

This thesis aims to explore whether Dutch middle aged internet users, in this study referred to as Dutch mediors, have different behaviour, needs, preferences and motivation when going online compared to older and younger internet users. Even though Dutch mediors were not born as digital natives, the current digital era might be forcing them to increasingly make use of computer and internet technologies in order to keep up with society. Although older internet users are often perceived as less active users who experience both physical as cognitive difficulties when trying to make use of new technologies, middle aged users might be more experienced and active internet users regarding their place in the work force and their close bonds with children and teenagers. In many societies the middle aged part of the population is increasing, creating a large and economically strong market for many products and services, including e-business. The central question in this study is: “Do Dutch mediors have inherently different behaviours, needs and perceptions when making use of the internet than digital natives or older internet users in this information and social media age?”. By combining quantitative research methods (online survey) with qualitative research methods (focus groups), both general patterns in the behaviour and digital needs of Dutch mediors are explored and explained by retrieving in-depth information about their preferences and motivations. This study reveals that Dutch mediors in general are very practical internet users, mostly explained by their mainly utilitarian approach towards this type of technology. Remarkably, even hedonic features of the internet such as shopping online and communicating with friends and family through social networking sites are by Dutch mediors perceived as a practical internet activities. In order to appeal to the needs and preferences of Dutch mediors, websites should be mainly utilitarian with clear directions, a logical structure and valuable and newsworthy information.

Reinventing Online Video Ads

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Saram, K.S.D. de

Previous authors have suggested that advertising can be seen as stand-alone media content that could bring value to consumers in various ways (O’Donohoe, 1994; O’Keefe, 1981). In search of a value proposition, this study looks for attributes of online video ads that could influence consumers’ willingness to watch them. An online survey of 211 respondents was conducted to investigate if internet users can experience any personal value from online video advertising. A factor analysis revealed nine value elements: product interest, creative enjoyment, incentive, pastime, knowledge seeking, product comparing, negative emotions, product relevance and social. These value elements were all found to influence the willingness to watch an online video ad. Based on these factors, a cluster analysis was conducted to see if different customer segments perceived value in different ways. The results of the cluster analysis showed that there were two customer segments to be identified. Both segments indicated an increased willingness to watch an online video ad if it contained the element of creative enjoyment and/or the product relevance element.

Corporate social responsibility in the information technology sector

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Bartscht, M.

Following the 2008 economic crisis, consumer trust has significantly declined across many industries—with exception of the information technology (IT) sector. This provokes a number of interesting questions: is consumer perception of corporate behavior undergoing change? And if so, why does this—seemingly—not apply to the IT industry? By drawing on data from three in-depth focus group sessions, the author interrogates European consumer perceptions and attitudes regarding corporate social responsibility in the IT sector. Fundamentally, the thesis attempts to answer three key questions: (1) how do European consumers feel about CSR? (2) How do they view the behavior of IT companies? And (3), what, if any, is the difference in European consumer perception of CSR in the IT sector compared to other industries?

Responsible Beauty

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Roermund, N.J.A. van

Due to challenges in today’s age companies are increasingly engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in order to differentiate themselves and gain competitive advantage. This study explored the role of CSR in the cosmetic industry and the influence on customer-organization relationships by the use of a content analysis and a survey. Overall, cosmetic customers find CSR important and it seems to influence relational and transactional outcomes. Customers want to pay a higher price for socially responsible products, are more loyal and give better brand recommendations. However, these factors are not most important in their buying decisions, and quality and previous experience are more important. Furthermore, there seems to be a discrepancy in what cosmetic companies communicate and what customers want to hear. Therefore, these companies might miss out on strategic benefits. Next, awareness appears to be a moderator, which implies that aware customers have a better relationship with brands. Furthermore, the results imply that direct communication from the organization is most effective, because customers do not have to search for this information themselves.

Fyra

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Veld, M. in het

December 2012 was the start of the new high-speed train, Fyra, connecting Amsterdam to Brussels. Unfortunately, the trains coped with many technical problems from the beginning onwards. Those technical issues set in motion a chain of unfortunate events that eventually caused the suspension of the service on January 18, 2013. Due to this suspension, reputations were at risk, NS, NMBS, and AnsaldoBreda faced a difficult crisis to manage. This thesis analyzes the organizational statements of the NS, NMBS, and AnsaldoBreda within the framework of Benoit’s (1997) Image Restoration Theory in order to investigate the attempts of the image repair discourse of each of the three organizations. Company statements in press releases and Dutch newspapers were selected in a specific time frame. Qualitative content analysis was used as the method. It was found that NS has used four strategies intertwiningly (defeasibility, mortification, shift of blame, and bolstering) while NMBS was more straightforward and used only two strategies (shift of blame, and bolstering). In contrast, AnsaldoBreda used five strategies over time to repair its image (simple denial, mortification, minimization, bolstering, and victimization). Overall, this thesis extends and builds on existing scholarship in crisis communication in general and image restoration in particular.

NGO‘s and the case of "KONY 2012"

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Schön, Lisette

This thesis documents a critical narrative analysis of the discourse surrounding the ―KONY 2012‖ campaign and video as found in texts, documents, and artifacts stemming from NGO‘s Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Invisible Children. A critical narrative analysis was done to better understand the areas of comparison and contrast between these NGO‘s on the subject of ―KONY 2012.‖ Texts, documents, and artifacts were examined in order to uncover these areas of comparison and contrast, and resulted in three themes: 1) online mobilization, 2) formal authority and discursive legitimacy, and 3) the solutions to the Joseph Kony/ LRA problem. Knowing this contributes to a better understanding of how mobilization has changed, and the formal authority and discursive legitimacy of NGO‘s in the representation of issues and solutions.

Designing successful ICT for education projects in developing nations

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 00:00:01 GMT

Geerlings, A.J.

The field of ICT in education has gone through exciting changes in the recent past. Wider availability, lowered costs and increased capabilities have increased the potential utility of ICTs in education in developing nations. Next to that, large private parties have leaped in and have brought on new developments in discourse, strategies, practices and expertise. However, widespread success among ICT4E project is yet to be attained. Throughout this study, an effort is made to establish the different elements that amount to a successful ICT4E project model in developing nations. The analysis of literature and three policy documents indicate that various key elements such as sustainability, scalability and monitoring and evaluation drive the likelihood of success of ICT4E projects in developing nations. These elements are not isolated entities within a project, but extremely interconnected and dependent on each other. Through critical discourse analysis, some of the more problematic key concepts in the field are scrutinized: how are these concepts defined, framed and utilized within the policy documents. Other findings of the critical discourse analysis include a perceived reluctance of policy organizations to embrace recently popularized conceptions to include more business-oriented practices within ICT4E. The conclusion that is drawn is that not one, complete blueprint model with specific activities exists for ICT4E projects, but instead the road to widespread success of ICT4E projects in developing nations lies within a meticulous approach that looks at specific tools and practices that encourage success. Among others, these practices include a strong monitoring and evaluation regiment, and a larger emphasis on the project’s scalability and sustainability. The analysis of an ICT4E project provided insight into actual working practices to boost sustainability and scalability within the field, which include strong strategical alliances, low total cost of ownership, scalable technological infrastructures with low fixed costs, the deployment of affordable technology and scalable monitoring and evaluation systems.

Popularization of luxury fashion brands on social media?

Thu, 26 Jun 2014 00:00:01 GMT

F. Goyarts

This thesis explores the tensions that occur, when traditional luxury fashion industry, which is elitist in general, confronts the popular space of social media. Luxury fashion brands are often hesitating to fully embrace social media as a marketing tool because of the uncontrolled relationship with an expanded public, which does not seem to fit with the exclusive and elite character of high-end fashion brands. However, one company that is considered by a lot of researchers and journalist as the agenda setter for luxury brands in the field of social media, is Burberry. The British brand is investing wholeheartedly in online marketing and with several innovative social media campaigns, it became “the most technological savvy of its peers” (The Economist, 2013, p. 60). It will be examined how Burberry leverages on this popular and commercial space, yet maintains its elite character. Memory and nostalgia as a marketing tool will serve as the angle of approach. The harnessing of nostalgia and sentimentality has served the fashion industry well and is now taken to a new level in this digital era. Not much research has been done on the use of memory in social media campaigns, although there is explicitly stated that memory should be conceived as a movement within a cultural discourse. This stresses the importance of investigating the topic via such an approach. By inductively analyzing two of Burberry’s social media campaigns, ‘The Art of the Trench’ and ‘Burberry Acoustic’ via qualitative content analysis, an answer will be provided on the research question ‘How does Burberry leverages on memory to reach an expanded public on social media platforms and at the same time remain an exclusive luxury brand?’ In this study, it is examined, as well as critiqued how new media alters the relation between memory, fashion objects and affect through its participatory digital medium. Results show that Burberry is building a new kind of branding space, in which the lines between amateurs and professionals are becoming more circulatory, and where nostalgic feelings are played upon by combining nationalistic memories (the British heritage the brand is embedded in) with current cosmopolitan expressions. This study extends the existing literature in terms of the leverage of memory as a marketing technique through these new digital branding spaces. Besides, it expands on work that delves into the fostering of particular digital cultures by luxury fashion brands for profit gain and specially, the luxury industry’s relations with their consumers.

Cruise Control? Exploring the role of new media in crisis management

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:00:01 GMT

Vries, Emilia de

The influence that new media has obtained in the last years has altered organizational communication as well as crisis communication. Using a case from the cruise industry, this thesis extends the perspective on organizational crisis communication by examining crisis perception from the audience viewpoint. It has built on the groundwork of Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), but it has expanded its scope by including analysis on medium and message effect. Specifically, this thesis analyses whether there exists a relation between medium exposure and the perception of a crisis. Moreover, it provides insight in which elements of the rebuilding strategy are most important for the public receiving the message (message effect), how certain new mediums are used and perceived for corporate communication purposes, and how consumer characteristics such as age, gender and cruise experience impact both medium usage and crisis perception. Hence, by focusing on the audience perspective, this thesis departs from existing scholarship that has privileged the organizational voice, providing an insightful take on the ‘other’ side of crisis communication.

Abandoning Facebook: Understanding Teens’ Perception and Engagement of Online Privacy on Social Platforms

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:00:01 GMT

Meertens, Joep

Teens are one of the most prominent users of social media platforms. However, they seem to abandon Facebook, which is still the most popular social network. These teens are moving to other social platforms, such as Whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat. Therefore Facebook acquired both Whatsapp and Instagram and tried to buy Snapchat. This study examines if Dutch teens are actually abandoning Facebook and which elements play a crucial role in this process. Parents friending teens on Facebook seem to be important factors in this process, since teens could see this as an intrusion of their privacy. On the contrary, parents are often worried about third parties having access to their children’s’ data. Teens’ perception and engagement related to privacy is therefore key in this study. In this paper it was found that teens primarily care about social privacy and not so much about informational privacy, which related to third party access. For younger teens, parents are a big influence in their social privacy and for older teens, friends are important elements in that specific privacy. They have created many privacy protection strategies, but those are useless for third party access, which makes it just an illusion of control. In this research a survey was conducted to partially replicate studies by Miller (2013) and Madden et al. (2013) and focus groups helped two give deeper insights on the given topics, presented by the survey. Finally a minor qualitative content analysis helped to get a notion of the participants’ actual online behavior and privacy management.

The female game player revisited:

Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:00:01 GMT

Kalan, Yasemin

This research aimed to explore how female game journalists construct their identity as female gamers through an Actor-Network (ANT) approach. By gaining an understanding of the processes involved in identity construction, as well as the influences of technology on personal identity development, the following main research question was explored: “How do female game journalists construct their identity as female gamers?”. The research method consisted of a mixed qualitative methods analysis technique. Firstly, in-depth interviews were conducted with female game journalists within the Netherlands to gain an understanding in how they construct their identity as female gamers. Secondly, online articles written by the same female game journalists were also analyzed for exploring constructed identity online. Both methods were combined and processed through thematic analysis. The main findings in these research stated that discrimination is still ongoing within the gaming industry towards females. Hereby, female gamers as well as female game journalists have experienced stereotyping and social exclusion from male gamers and/or male peers within the gaming industry. However, an increase in acceptance towards female gamers and female gaming professionals was also expected and/or already sensed by the interviewees. Moreover, in-game storylines were indicated as impacting sense of personal morale as well as empathy towards in-game characters. Additionally, sociality through gaming enabled interviewees to explore their identity both inside groups, such as clans or guilds, as well as outside groups with strangers through MMOs and/or family and friends. These results overlapped with the explored online constructed identity from the interviewees as well. However, online interviewees voiced female gamer related topics in lesser extents compared to the interviews as a result of company restrictions in topics for articles. Ultimately, all interviewees indicated gaming as part of their everyday lives. They implemented all aspects of gaming into their daily routines and engage their personal environment with their interest in gaming as well. However, as female gamer identity construction has not been widely covered in female gamer studies, more attention is needed towards how identity construction emerges and how it is situated within relationships amongst human and nonhuman actors.