Chapter 3 Research Methodology

Transcription

1 Chapter 3 Research Methodology 3.0 Research Methodology Preliminary Study Building the hypothesis Key Variables, Indicators and measurements Research Model Sampling 29 33

2 3.0 Research Methodology 3.1 Preliminary Study Initial information was collected through some interviews with selected service organizations. A guideline was used as on annexture-1 to search about industry opinion about effectiveness of internet marketing in Sri Lanka. The interviews done with industry experts to find out their thoughts and to built up some guideline for the research expecting to do the literature search. Preliminary data collection and review On the basis of preliminary interviews, seven service categories were selected namely Hotels, Education, Health, Air transportation, finance, IT & communication and Insurance. Other category is introduced to capture other services, which a user does not fall into. According to the selected categories the variables were decided in broader sense and then decide to what features fallen into each of category. According to the broad categories the hypothesis were built up. 34

3 3.2 Building the Hypothesis The hypotheses were developed in two categories focusing the service users and merchants. User category hypothesis. The user hypothesis built up on the following broad variables. 2. Web-Site Characteristics 3. Internet availability and accessibility 4. Benefits of internet transactions 5. Perception of the risks of internet transactions 6. Additional services provided through web site 7. User transaction habits According to the user variables five hypothesis were defined. These hypotheses were created to verify really the user interests and habits on internet transactions. Hypothesis 1 HU1 Web-site characteristics such as information quality, design of the web-site, Access and transmission speed, user friendliness and updated information attract the user browsing of websites. The web-site characteristics positively related the internet marketing. Marketing web-site characteristics positively related to the internet marketing. 35

4 Hypothesis 2 Availability to access internet is an incentive and opportunity to users to browse information rather than non-accessible users. Therefore higher the internet accessibility, higher the possibility of purchasing a service through internet. HU2 Internet access availability and accessibility positively related to the internet marketing Hypothesis 3 HU3 Saving of time, convenience, purchasing price reduction due to no intermediates, product quality and assortment are advantage to the customer in eventful world today. Therefore Benefits of internet transactions positively related to the internet Hypothesis 4 HU4 Fear about the product quality up to the expectation, Purchasing method risks like through a payment gateway, or payment risk like credit card, fear of hacking the transactions are some of the perception of the people about internet transactions. Perception of the risks of internet transactions inversely related to the internet marketing 36

5 Hypothesis 5 User buying pattern is one of the major component determinant of the internet marketing. HU5 User transaction habits positively related to the internet marketing. Merchant category hypothesis Hypothesis 6 Service Organizations like hotels, Financial services, Air transportation industry, Software services achieve their marketing objectives via their Web-sites. Therefore, HM1 Service Organizations achieve their marketing objectives via their web sites. Hypothesis 7 Since it is a one single location it can be maintain cost effectively. HM2 Internet marketing is a cost effective method for business. 37

6 3.3 Key variables, Indicators and measurements User variables, indicators and measurements Variable Indicator Measure Web-Site Characteristics 1. Web-site URL 2. Easier ness to find out the information 3. Proper guidance by the web-site 4. Up to date information 1. Eye catching /meaningful Web-site address 2. Web-site address is in the printed materials 3. Inclusion of website address in advertising media 4. Availability of Comprehensive FAQ 5. Multi-lingual facilities Internet availability and accessibility Interest on web-site characteristics Perceived benefits of internet transactions 1. Available access methodologies 2. Internet browsing frequency 3. Number of successful findings 4. Interest on browsing 1. Methodology of finding out web-site address 2. Available information search facilities 3. Nature of the information presented 4. Technological Advancement 1. Assortment 2. Product quality 3. Pricing Concerns 4. Time Saving 5. Convenience 1. User age group 2. Working pattern/ Industry 1. Deployment of popular search engines 2. On-line/Up to date information Collection of options to connect with the service. 1. Comparative quality with competitors 2. Comparative Price 3. Lead time for purchase 4. Traditional outlets 38

7 Variable Indicator Measure Perception of the risks about the internet transaction Additional Web services 1. Product performance Quality 2. Purchasing Method 3. Availability of trusted payment gateway 4. Fear of fast changing technology 1. Facilities to service ordering, Booking or special request 2. Quick response to E- mails 3. Tele-marketing support 4. Availability of query facilities 1. Delivery method 2. Number of IPGs Demographic of customer Time taken to respond for web queries Service time User transaction practices 1. Information search and purchasing On-line 2. Information search online and purchasing offline 3. Information search offline and purchasing online. 4. Information search and purchasing off-line Table 4 : User variables, Indicators and measurements 39

8 Service Merchant variables, indicators and measurements Variable Indicator Measure Pricing Strategy for on-line business 1. Marketing objectives 2. Target customers 3. On-line product pricing strategy 1. Focus customers on the basis of geographical and income-wise 2. Variance of online product pricing comparing to the off-line products. 3. Service marketer appealing factors Quality Strategy for on-line business 1. Merchant consent about product quality. 2. Merchant consent about advertising the product quality in the web-site 3. Merchant concerns about the customer satisfaction 1. Merchant rating about quality 2. Features/methods available for product query 3. Trust of the customer 4. Customer appealing factor Service delivery method of on-line business Cost advantages and its diversions 1. Delivery method 1. Way of the service delivery 1. Product advertising strategy 2. Maintenance of cost of on-line business 1. Web-site address method 2. Easier ness of product advertising 3. Reasons for cost 4. Effort taken to keep up to date web-site 5. Concern about the web-site security 6. Concern about the web-site speed related matters. Table 5 : Service merchant variables, Indicators and measurements 40

9 3.4 Research Model Research model was build up on information searching possibilities and considered how it influenced factors to purchase the service via internet. Therefore research follow up the user purchasing method follow on the influenced made by the site. According to some other reason consumer buying pattern may change in two ways as 1. Use internet to purchase a service 2. Purchase the service from out side the market Factors that Influence for buying a service through Internet Information Search Used the internet Search from outside Web-Site Characteristics Internet Availability and accessibility Benefits of Internet Transactions Perception of the risks of internet transactions Additional Web services provided User transaction habits Merchant Characteristics Price Quality Delivery method Cost Advantages Customer Buying Decision Service Purchase Method Use internet to purchase a service Purchase the service from outside market Fig 2: Research Model 41

10 3.5 Sampling The data for the study were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire and interviews with service entrepreneurships and observations. A representative sample was selected according to categorization of services. The data was collected in the age group of 18-69, assuming the most of service products were purchased through internet on this age group and considering the age of internet is ten years in Sri Lanka. A total of 149 questionnaires were received through and 145 were usable and thus coded for data analysis. The other 4 questionnaire was removed either they were returns blanks or were clearly not completed by the respondent selected. The clear data sample was distributed among selected service categories according to the following table. Selected Service Category Number of questionnaires collected Hotel 25 Education 24 Health 15 Air Transportation 28 Finance 15 Information Technology 20 Insurance 8 Other 10 Table 6 : Service category-wise respondents The sample was collected mainly from the metropolitan areas of Sri Lanka. It collected mainly from Colombo and small samples were collected from Kandy and Galle urban areas. 42