· Briefly outline your key research questions.

· A discussion of data – what data are you planning to use & how to collect them?

o Primary data – if you decided to collect primary data, we expect a clear identification of a target group including tactics for establishing contact and ensuring sufficient number of replies as well as a preliminary sectioning for interviewing/survey questions or concrete example questions. 

o Secondary data – to extract data from existing databases, you need to state clearly the variables that you would like to collect, their frequency, and sample period and source of the data. It is important to check if you will have the access to these databases. 

· What methodology will be used to analyse your data? 

o You need to identify the appropriate methods that are suitable to analyse your data from the prior studies.

o You need to justify the choice of your chosen approach(es).

· What is the structure of the final work? 

· Initial bibliography i.e., review of key studies. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………..

2

2.

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………. 2

3. Aim ………………………………………………………………………………. 2

4.

Objectives …………………………………………………………………………2

5. Theory ……………………………………………………………………………. 3

6.

Context …………………………………………………………………………….4

7. References …………………………………………………………………………5

ABSTRACT

This study will be explaining how celebrity endorsement in the sports industry has an impact on the buying intentions of the customers. It explains how sport marketers use celebrity endorsement to their advantage to promote and create the brand image for the product/brand.

INTRODUCTION

What is Celebrity endorsement? It can be well-defined as a person who is famous among customers, used for the marketing strategy or an advertisement for bringing up the name or image of the brand (Mc Cracker, Grant,1989).

Globalization is one of the main aspects that have led to the evolution of the sports industry around the world, exclusively with the rising status of brand image, brand creation, brand identity, brand awareness and brand equity (Howard & Sandeep, 2010). Sports marketers and advertisers believe that celebrity endorsements are the best marketing and advertising strategy to attract their customers to their product/brand (Pitts, B., & Stotlar, D. 2009). Sports marketers are mostly forced themselves to become more entrepreneurial as this will help them to create a greater competitive benefit for their company/brand and give a good relationship value to their customers (Bush, A.J., Martin, C.A., & Bush, V.D., 2004). It is very evident in this world that customers that follow their favorite sports personality or any famous personality, will be following or moreover get attracted to the brands they appear in and have more tendency in buying the product or the brand. Considering this, the sports marketers around the world have taken this opportunity to get it to their advantage by applying marketing strategy ie, celebrity endorsement to set the brand image and the brand identity which will possibly attract the customers to their brand.

The rate at which celebrities getting involved in advertisements associated with a brand has increased rapidly over the years. Celebrity endorsement has tend to be an significant and inevitable component of advertising for a brand in general. Sports marketers believe that the use of famous personalities or sportsperson will increase the reliability, desirability and the credibility of their brand to the eyes of their customers (Erdogan, Z. B, J.M. Baker, 1999).

In today’s world, we can see almost all the companies in the sports industry have a famous sportsperson as their brand ambassador and many more famous personalities linked with their brand, which will help them to set the company’s brand identity and brand image, which helps them to attract more customers to their brand/ product (Bauer, H., Sauer, N., Exler, S., 2008). Celebrity endorsement is not always a hit, there are many cases where it is just unwanted, unsuitable and inappropriate (Erdogan, 1999).

AIM

The aim of this study will be mainly to recognize how celebrity endorsement is used in the sports industry and how it is seen by the customers. It will be also focusing on how the customers see the brand ie brand image and their intentions on purchasing the brand/product.

OBJECTIVES

· To compare the advantages and disadvantages and to understand how good and effective it will be using the marketing strategy, celebrity endorsements

· To understand how much the celebrity endorsements, affect the brand image of a company

· To understand the different kinds of attitudes of the consumers towards the company’s celebrity endorsement

THEORY

The theory for this study will having its focus on the impacts on customers due to celebrity endorsement. It also will focus on how celebrity endorsement works

The following two models of source, meaning transfer model and match up hypothesis will elucidate, how the companies choose their celebrity and how these influence the customer from buying the brand/product from the company: –

The first model is the level of attractiveness that is given away by the celebrity to the brand or the product. This has a major effect as this can increase the message conveyed by the celebrity about the brand/product to the customer. Attractiveness differs in each celebrity, some are classy, some are elegant (Ohanian, 1990). So, it depends on the marketers to choose which one is suitable for their brand/product which will allow the customers to get attracted and have the tendency to purchase the product. This model comes into action when the customer tries to be like the celebrities they adore. For example, let’s say the customer is a football player, the customer is a big fan of Lionel Messi, so the customer will buy Adidas thinking he would be like how Messi is. Attractiveness can be mainly seen in a much broader version in terms of likeability, similarity, and familiarity. What does likeability mean? It is when the customer has an affection to that celebrity, they begin to show high standards for that product/brand. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in the ad of Nike’s new shoes, the customer who endorses him will have great opinions and standards for Nike’s shoes. Then comes similarity and familiarity, which is when the customer is familiar with the customer and he thinks he or she could be like them. For example, let’s say the customer is a tennis player and he or she is a big fan of Roger Federer, they will see that they are familiar with Federer and he uses Wilson and they feel the similarity between them and the player, so they would go for the brand Wilson.

The second model is the creditability of the celebrity. This model basically depends on the reliability of the celebrity who gives the message and the knowledge to the customer, which makes them believe and trust in purchasing the product/ brand. Trust is the main factor in this model. If the celebrity has a good background image and comes out as trustworthy, the customers tend to believe in them and leading to the purchasing of the product/brand by the customer (Friedman et al, 1978). Companies always hires a celebrity who has a good social image and with great credibility in society. This influences the customers into making their purchase decisions. This is basically internalization. It can be also defined in simple words as the process of influencing and trusting the views given by a celebrity (Erdogan, 1999). Credibility comes in action mainly when the customer has an adverse attitude towards the product/brand. This can change when celebrity endorsement, ie when the celebrity gives a strong message about the product the customers’ views towards the product/brand changes.

The next model is the meaning transfer model. This can be defined as the effect of the message conveyed by the celebrity to the customer and how effectively it has transferred from the celebrity to the customer. There are three stages to this model. Firstly, the personality is transferred from the celebrity to the brand/product he endorses. Secondly, how the customer has taken the message from the celebrity about the product/brand and lastly the decision or purchasing intentions made by the customer ie how the customer has transferred the product from the celebrity to themselves (McCraken, 1989). For instance, Cristiano Ronaldo is the brand ambassador of Head and shoulders, so his traits and personality is transferred towards the brand, then the customer sees the ad they feel the same as him, therefore the product is transferred to the customer.

The final one is the Match up hypothesis. It can be defined as the effectiveness of the fitting between the brand and the celebrity (Till and Busler 1998). The marketers and advertisers took up this step for effective marketing ie they choose celebrity according to their similarity with the brand/product. Researches have shown that if the celebrity isn’t fit or apt for the brand, customers tend to not buy the product/brand (Till and Shimp 1998). For example, Nike choose each celebrity for each sport, for basketball is Lebron James, for football is Neymar and so on. Sometimes when multiple celebrities are used for a product/brand, customers tend to forget the brand and just remember the celebrity, this is called the vampire effect (Tripp, Jensen, and Carlson,1994)

Nevertheless, celebrity endorsement is not effective to the customers who are familiar with this marketing strategy, they would choose their product/ brand according to their knowledge and awareness about the brand.

CONTEXT

Celebrity endorsement for this study will be mainly having its focus on the sports industry as celebrity endorsement has been having a huge growth in the sports industry over the years (Pitts, B., & Stotlar, D., 1997). The sports personalities in different sports have been idols of millions of people all over the world. Since sports are famous all over the world, celebrity endorsement has rapidly grown. Celebrity endorsement started in the sports industry in 1980 by Nike by sponsoring Micheal Jordan, who became the face of Nike for so many years. The topmost celebrity endorser in the world in the sports industry is Roger Federer (Tennis player) who earns $58 million just through endorsements. He is the face for more than 10 companies, which include famous reputed companies like Rolex, Benz, etc (Henry, 2019). A study on the hike of celebrity endorsements in the sports industry has hiked from 884 in 2006 to 1540 in 2014 (Dugalić, S., & Ivić, J., 2015). Sports is something that everyone in the world follows. Therefore, the fans and customers who see their idols in these advertisements as the face of the brand/product, they generally get the tendency for purchase of the product/brand (Schwarz, E. C., & Hunter, J. D., 2008). We can conclude this study by celebrity endorsement is one of the best marketing techniques used by marketers especially in the sports industry. Therefore, we can see many companies/brands choose celebrity endorsement as their marketing strategy to attract customers as it has more advantages than disadvantages for the brand image and purchasing intentions.

REFERENCES

1.

Bauer, H., Sauer, N., Exler, S. (2008). Brand image and fan loyalty in professional team sport: A refined model and empirical assessment. Journal of Sport Management, 22, 210-235

2.

Bush, A.J., Martin, C.A., & Bush, V.D. (2004). Sports celebrity influence on the behavioral intentions of generation Y. Journal of Advertising Research, 44(1), 118-128

3. Carison, B. D., & Donavan, D. T. (2008). Concerning the Effect of Athlete Endorsements on Brand and Team Related Intentions. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 17(3), 150-158

4.

Dugalić, S., & Ivić, J. (2015). The sports celebrity endorsement in the promotion of products and services. Marketing, 46(3), 55-69

5. Erdogan, B. (1999). Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review. Journal of Marketing Management, 15, pp.300-310

6.

ERDOGAN, Z. B, AND J.M. BAKER 1999. Celebrity endorsement: advertising agency managers’ Perspective. Cyber-Journal of Sports Marketing 3 (3)

7. Erdogan, B., Baker, M. and Tagg, S. (2001). Selecting Celebrity Endorsers: The Practitioner’s Perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 41, pp .40-45

8. FRIEDMAN, H. AND L. FRIEDMAN, L. 1978. Does the Celebrity Endorser’s Image Spill Over the Product. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 6, 191-210

9. Henry, A. (2019). The Top 10 Highest Endorsed Athletes And Their Brands. [online] Blog.hollywoodbranded.com. Available at:

https://blog.hollywoodbranded.com/the-top-10-highest-endorsed-athletes-and-their-brands

.

10. Howard F., & Sandeep, P. (2010). The dynamic of brand equity, co-branding, and sponsorship in professional sports. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 7, 45-50

11. MCCRACKEN, G. 1989. Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundation of the Endorsement Process. Journal of Consumer Research 16, 12- 20

12.

Mc Cracker, Grant (1989), “Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process, “Journal of Consumer Research, 16(3), 316-325

13. MILLER, G. R. AND J. BASEHEART 1969. Source Trustworthiness, Opinioned Statements, and Response to Persuasive Communication. Speech Monographs 36, 20-27

14.

OHANIAN, R. 1990. Construction and Validation of a Scale to Measure Celebrity Endorser’s Perceived Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Attractiveness. Journal of Advertising 19 (3), 40-56

15.

Pitts, B., & Stotlar, D. (1997). Fundamentals of Sport Marketing

16. Pitts, B., & Stotlar, D. (2009). Fundamentals of Sport Marketing.

17. Schwarz, E. C., & Hunter, J. D. (2008). Advanced Theory and Practice in Sport Marketing

18. TILL, B. D. AND T.A. SHIMP 1998. Endorsers in Advertising: The Case of Negative Celebrity Information. Journal of Advertising 27 (1), 67-82

19. TILL, B. D., AND M. BUSLER 1998. Matching Products with Endorsers: Attractiveness versus Expertise. Journal of Consumer Marketing 15 (6), 106-125

20. TRIPP, C., T.D. JENSEN, AND L. CARLSON 1994. The Effect of Multiple Product Endorsements by Celebrities on Consumer Attitudes and Intentions. Journal of Consumer Research 20 (4), 525-40

2

AssignmentTitle: The use of technology in the financial services industry in the UAE

The use of technology in the financial services industry in the UAE

Introduction

Financial services industry provides financial security and sustainability for society and occupies a major part of people’s life. Nonetheless, the changing times, and tough competition from highly innovative non-traditional rivals are the drivers of digital transformation occurring in most industries. To avoid becoming obsolete the financial industry is implementing financial technology. Fintech is viewed as a technology that would transform the traditional financial services industry. Furthermore, it has attracted worldwide attention as a technology that will allow institutions and businesses to effectively compete in the

2

1st century (Wonglimpiyarat, 2017).

This research proposal will familiarize the readers with the concept of fintech and interpret the changes resulting from the introduction of fintech. This will be done by using various methods and research strategy to perform the research accurately.

Research question

What are the perceptions of the customers and managers regarding financial technology in the United Arab Emirates?

Aims

The purpose of this research is to explore the impacts of adopting and incorporating financial technology in the routine operations of traditional financial institutions in the UAE.

Objectives

The objectives of this research are to gather information on the opinions of bank customers and managers by the means of questionnaires and interviews; to evaluate the information obtained and develop a clear structure of the research.

Methodology

Research Strategy

The research adopts the interpretivism philosophy, which is subjective and studies the phenomena in its natural environment. Interpretivism approaches accentuate an individual’s own background, decision making and expectations as a fundamental factor of behavior and the spectrum through which the reality is perceived (Packard, 2017).

The consideration of various perspectives in interpretivism brings about a more extensive insight into the topic (Morehouse, 2011). Accordingly, the participants’ recollections and interpretations regarding the implementation of financial technology will be evaluated (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.141). Interpretivism will greatly assist researchers in cases where thorough data is of higher value upon statistics. Bearing this in mind, the opinions of bank employees, managers and customers, who have varying socio-economic backgrounds will be evaluated in order to realize more distinct and versatile information regarding the use of technology in that field (Thanh and Thanh, 2015, p. 27).

The research is based on the primary data to explore the fintech phenomenon and further develops a theory, meaning that the research is using inductive reasoning. Research which adopted the induction approach is prone to be attentive to the environment of the arising events (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.145-147).

Nind and Todd (2011) concluded that the researchers adopting the interpretive paradigm primarily use qualitative methods, this research proposal is no exception. The approach is characterized by its small-scale sample. The main distinction of qualitative over quantitative approach is its ability to allow a thorough explanation as well as examination of a research topic, without restraining the range of the research and the essence of the respondent’s contribution (Collis & Hussey, 2003). Qualitative approach facilitates the investigation of social reality, which will grant a better comprehension of the use of financial technology in the routine operations of the business.

Survey strategy is best suited for this research, as it collects empirical material about experience, circumstances or views regarding a certain topic at a particular point in time by the means of questionnaires and interviews. The strategy is mainly used for exploratory research and can be characterized as a very cost-effective technique. It also greatly facilitates the inter-comparisons of the results. The research is cross-sectional, comprising of research of fintech at a particular point in time, mainly due to a time-constraint (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.181).

First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Commercial Banks are the biggest banks in the UAE, based on the total assets owned, and thus are the main financial service providers and command a significant market share. Accordingly, interviewing staff members from the mentioned institutions will provide an overview of the employee and customers behavior and their demand trends (Carter and Williamson, 1996, p 234).

Data collection methods

The employees, customers and managers of financial institutions will be interviewed to obtain primary data. The interviews are aimed at determining the expectations of the participants regarding the implementation of fintech and to comprehend how the fintech is embraced in the industry.

The main advantage of interviews is the engagement in face to face interaction between the interviewer and interviewees (Langkos, Spyros, 2014). This will help to realize the employees’ and customers’ attitude towards the modernization and first-hand information on how the industry is managing the fintech.

Further, customers will also be interviewed to gather information regarding their expectations and preferences. This will be done through a direct interview or online questionnaires. Semi-structured interviews will be used in the methodology, these include a certain number of topics and questions to be covered. The remaining questions may be raised depending on the nature of the respondents’ answer, or the organizational context. Furthermore, the interviews will be one-to-one non-standardized and will consist of a combination of telephone interviews, electronic interviews and telephone interviews (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.392).

The questionnaires will be easy to understand and quick to fill up and will mainly comprise of close-ended questions. Self-completed questionnaires are most suited for this type of research, as it offers a variety of ways this can be communicated to respondents. These questionnaires are disseminated by the internet, QR (quick response), delivery and collection. The fundamental advantage of this method is its capacity to engage with a relatively large number of respondents in a small period of time (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.439-440).

It is important to mention that survey strategy is known for not being as extensive as other research strategies due to the limited quantity of questions to be asked. Therefore, each question in the interview and questionnaire will be carefully evaluated. As the data will be collected by different means, i.e. interviews & questionnaires, the methodology will have incorporated data triangulation. This will, in turn, increase the reliability of the study. This term involves practicing several data collection methods and the use of multiple sources of information on the subject, which, in turn, will help to get a broader view of the research topic. The intention of triangulation is to capture diverse aspects of the same event (Guion, Diehl & McDonald, 2014). This will be done by considering the opinions of multiple stakeholders of the financial institutions, i.e. customers, managers & employees. Triangulation will be integrated into the research by the examination of data from separate interviewees but obtained by the same method. Every respondent shares their own special and credible viewpoint thus the interviewer’s job is to discover a pattern outside the individual practice (Quirkos, 2016).

Data analysis techniques

To begin with, the gathered material will be prepared for analysis, i.e. transformed from oral or handwritten forms to appropriate academic format. Then, thematic analysis techniques will be applied in order to interpret the data gathered by the interviews and questionnaires. In short, thematic analysis can be described as a systematic approach to analyzing qualitative data. The primary aim of this technique is to discover a possible trend in a dataset. This will be achieved by the coding of information gathered from interviews and questionnaires to recognize themes or trend for additional analysis in order to satisfy the research question (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016, p.572-579).

Ethical issues

The research is subject to numerous ethical issues. Ethics specifies guidance for the competent management of research. Research ethics encompasses requirements on everyday operations, preservation of the participants’ dignity and the disclosure of the research outcomes. Data collection method adopted in the research requires the individual or group participation. Respect for confidentiality, the right to claim anonymity and privacy are at the core of the methodology of the research, every participant’s rights regarding these issues will be secured. Furthermore, social responsibility & integrity will be followed while conducting the research (Fouka & Mantzorou, 2019).

Another major ethical issue concerned is informed and legal consent. It assures that the individual’s autonomy is protected. It also requires the participants of the study to be familiar with the research and to be aware of its aims, objectives and what is expected of the participants. Moreover, pros and cons of the research will be described to avoid further confusion, and to remain honest at every point in time while the research is being conducted (Jones, 2012, p. 10). The ethic of honesty heavily implies the prevention of deception (Orb, Eisenhauer and Wynaden, 2001, p. 93). Lastly, conscientious publication of the results will take place when finalizing and disclosing the research.

Structure of the research

Schedule of work

Timeline

Beginning date

Ending date

Duration (days)

Introduction

8th September 2019

18th September 2019

11

Aims, objectives

19th September 2019

24th September 2019

6

Literature review

25th September 2019

20th October 2019

26

Theoretical context

21st October 2019

1st November 2019

12

Data collection

2nd November 2019

20th November 2019

19

Data analysis and interpretation

21st November 2019

20th December 2019

30

Potential impacts of the research (including pros and cons)

21st December 2019

10th January 2020

21

Structuring and completing the first draft

11th January 2020

15th February 2020

36

Reviewing the final draft

16th February 2020

10th March 2020

24

Data chart

Structure of the dissertation

Chapter 1 will encompass an introduction to the subject, its context, and the closely related matters like digitalization and globalization will be connected to the main topic. Further, the research question, aims, objectives and structure of the research will be carefully explained. Chapter 2 will mainly comprise of literature review, in other words, it will rely on academic sources, the benefits and challenges of implementing fintech will be analyzed. Chapter 3 will be based on the previous chapter, and it will focus on a contextual framework, models, assumptions. Chapter 4 will focus on the methodology, which will demonstrate how the research was carried out, which approaches, strategy and data collection & analysis methods will be used. Chapter 5 will present and interpret the results obtained. Chapter 6 will evaluate the previous chapters and will form a suitable conclusion and recommendation. Chapter 7, the final chapter, will present the appendices and the reference list, therefore completing the dissertation.

References:

Carter, MP and Williamson, D (1996) Questionnaire Design. Staffordshire University Business School, Leek Road, Stoke on-Trent ST4 2DF, United Kingdom.

Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2003), Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Fouka, G. & Mantzorou, M. 2019 ‘What are the major ethical issues in conducting research? is there a conflict between the research ethics and the nature of nursing?’ Health Science Journal [online] Available at:

http://www.hsj.gr/medicine/what-are-the-major-ethical-issues-in-conducting-research-is-there-a-conflict-between-the-research-ethics-and-the-nature-of-nursing.php?aid=3485

(Accessed: 20 March 2019).

Guion, L. A., Diehl, D. C. & McDonald, D. 2014 Triangulation: Establishing the Validity of Qualitative Studies

Jones, R.H. (2012). Discourse analysis. Abingdon/New York.

Langkos, Spyros. (2014). CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Data collection method and Research tools. 10.13140/2.1.3023.1369.

Morehouse, R. (2011). Beginning Interpretive Inquiry: A Step- by-Step Approach to Research and Evaluation. USA: Routledge.

Nind, M, & Todd, L 2011, ‘Prospects for educational research’ International journal of Research & Method in Education, 1(34), 1-2.

Orb, A, Eisenhauer, L and Wynaden, D 2001, ‘Ethics in qualitative research’ Journal of nursing scholarship, 33(1), pp.93-96.

Packard, M. D. ‘Where did interpretivism go in the theory of entrepreneurship?’ Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 32, Issue 5, pages 536 – 549

Quirkos, (2016) Triangulation in qualitative research. [online] Available at:

https://www.quirkos.com/blog/post/triangulation-in-qualitative-research-analysis

(Accessed: 25 March 2019).

Saunders, M, Lewis, P and Thornhill, A 2016, Research methods for business students, 7th edition, Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh.

Thanh, N.C. and Thanh, T. T. (2015). ‘The interconnection between interpretive paradigm and qualitative methods in education’. American Journal of Educational Science, 1(2), pp. 24-27.

Wonglimpiyarat, J. (2017) “FinTech banking industry: a systemic approach”, foresight, Vol. 19 Issue: 6, pp.590-603.

Allocation of work

Days

Reviewing final draft First draft Potential impacts Data analysis Data collection Theoretical context Literature review Aims and objectives Introduction 24 36 21 30 19 12 26 6 11

2