Editorial

Citation

Tiu Wright, L. (2012), "Editorial", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 15 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr.2012.21615aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Volume 15, Issue 1

The papers in this collection reflect a range of theoretical and methodological contributions from authors based in the UK and overseas. The discussion of brainstorming and the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) in the commentary paper from Clive Boddy is presented from both his practitioner and academic perspectives. Of value to marketers and management in general, “brainstorming” is a highly productive and cost-effective way of sharing information and distilling ideas, unlocking creativity and pushing boundaries. Effectiveness in applying NGT is defined within the work scenario. The author outlines a good case for managers and marketing researchers to improve upon such skills internally within their organisations.

Externally, the versatility of online social networks continues to provide much room for gathering useful data. The applicability of personal in-depth interviews with young social online networkers using the Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique is shown in a study by Zeljka Hadija, Susan B. Barnes and Neil Hair. The interviewees were college students, representative of the generation actively using online social networks. Amongst the findings reported were that online social networks mitigated the attractiveness of some advertisements with brand recognition seeming to be higher with advertisements created through other media channels.

With regard to brand identification and consumer attitudes towards brands the second paper by Erifili Papista and Sergios Dimitriadis offers an insight into how and why consumers form relationships in their minds with the cosmetics brands that they buy. Branding and relationship marketing form two distinct marketing streams. The authors’ arguments for the notion of brand relationship quality are supported in their qualitative research study of consumers. The authors put forth persuasive arguments about strengthening the notion of relationship quality and bridging a gap in the literature.

One of the mainstays of techniques found in the marketing research literature is the application of projective techniques. Nisachon Tantiseneepong, Matthew Gorton and John White in the third paper examined responses to celebrity endorsements using projective techniques. Their participants were shown advertisements for two leading perfumes followed by advertisements that included four contrasting celebrity endorsers. Their participants’ associations and reactions to these advertisements with and without celebrity endorsers were compared. What has been usefully pointed out in the paper is that advertisers require to be very careful in using celebrity endorsers in their advertisements to avoid crowding out the advertised messages about the brand.

An informative paper to understand behaviour change is provided in the fourth paper by Liz Logie-MacIver, Dr Maria Piacentini and Douglas Eadie. Complex issues such as those relating to personal health require sensitivity on the part of researchers when delving into people’s consciousness. The authors adopted Prochaska and Di Clemente’s (1982) Stages of Change model as their starting point. Their unusually qualitative, rather than quantitative, longitudinal study followed the concerns of groups of people categorized within the stages of change model charting their change patterns over 18 months. While the limitations of the model is acknowledged by the authors, the paper demonstrates how their qualitative study could make an important contribution in adding value to quantitative research.

The fifth paper examines the causes of conflict in relationships between franchisors and franchisees. The study is provided by Lorelle Frazer, Scott Weaven, Jeff Giddings and Debra Grace. Funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant, the research seeks to examine the causes of antecedent factors associated with conflict utilising a mix of qualitative techniques. A variety of themes such as trust and commitment are examined across a variety of franchise systems. This enabled multiple case studies to be built based upon discussions with franchisors and franchisees supported by the use of multiple techniques which gather viable sources of data.

In summary, the collection of papers in this issue has been thought provoking with its theoretical underpinnings and the range of qualitative techniques employed. Thanks go to the reviewers and authors for making this issue a success.

Len Tiu Wright