Interview Process

In the following subsections the different processes related to conducting, transcribing and analyzing the expert interviews will be described and discussed in detail in order to provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of the entire process.

5.3.2.1 Thematizing

When conducting interviews, the research approach of the study is an important

determinant in the planning of the interviews. A research that has a deductive approach relies completely on the chosen theory and derives interview themes directly from theory.

An inductive approach on the other hand is not based on theory, as the purpose of such study is to build theory. As the research of this thesis has an abductive approach, the chosen theoretical framework TAM was used to support, but not to completely guide (deductive approach), the designing of the interviews and interview questions (Saunders et al. 2016, pp. 569-570). In other words, the foundation of the interviews lies partly in TAM, while the rest is based on the conducted literature review. This said, the themes for the interviews were designed and chosen both based on TAM and existing literature.

From TAM, the derived themes used for the interviews were the main determinants of the framework, PU and PEU. The purpose of using these two determinants as themes in the interviews was to firstly confirm or deny the validity of TAM as a theoretical framework in the context studied in this thesis, and secondly understand the different factors that would be included in the model in case it would be confirmed. In addition to these, themes were also derived from the literature review based on the importance of different topics within each key concept of the study.

5.3.2.2 Designing

The interviews and thus the interview guides were designed based on the above mentioned thematizing. Each interview guide was built based on the inclusion of TAM and related questions, but also based on the interviewees field of expertise. This said, each interview

varied from the previous in terms of focus, as the interviewees were of course asked questions related to their expertise. However, each interview included similar questions related to the theoretical framework, as it was considered key to collect data from each interview concerning the theory, but also in order to confirm or deny the theory’s

applicability from the point of view of representatives of the different fields. In addition to themes what was considered in the designing phase of the interviews was the philosophy of science, pragmatism. The pragmatic approach was taken into account in terms of the type of questions that would be asked and also the way in which they would be asked. As pragmatism represents seeking to take action to solve problems within an area of research the interview questions in the interview guide were designed to support this, thus, to encourage the interviewees to come up with concrete suggestions and actions concerning the questions. Also, as pragmatism acknowledges and supports the existence of different realities, the interview guide was designed to support the interviewees in discussing and presenting their own perceptions of their realities towards the interview topics.

The actual interview guides can be seen in the Appendices 2-5 (pp.131). The way in which they are designed, is that they include not only the main questions for the interviewee, but also the research area and the purpose of each question. Including the research area and the purpose was done in order to ensure that the interviewee, but also the interviewers, would be reminded of the reasoning behind the question and the end goal with it, as in an interview situation, the purpose of questions might get compromised as a result of

discussion.

5.3.2.3 Selected Expert Interviewees

As mentioned previously in the data collection part, the interviewees were carefully

selected based on their relevance in terms of the topic of this study. The Table 4 below lists the chosen four expert interviewees and their field of knowledge.

Expert interviewee

Professional profile Area of expertise

Rasmus Fisker Managing Partner and Strategy Director at MediaCom Beyond Advertising

Social Media, Advertising

Morten Grubak Executive Creative Director at VICE / VIRTUE Northern Europe

Digital clothing,

Technology, Advertising Kim Felecia Sustainable Fashion Designer and Founder of The

Slow Fashion Movement Denmark by Kim Felecia

Fashion, Fashion Sustainability Josefine Silke

Ekelund

Writer within FashTech at Elektronista Media FashTech, Fashion Sustainability

Table 4: Outline of Expert Interviewees (self-made)

5.3.2.4 Interview Preparation

In the interview planning phase, the order of the expert interviews was carefully planned, starting from the most familiar field, and moving into the less known. This was done, as previously mentioned, by providing the experts with weeks within which they could self-decide the timing of the interview. The plan included to begin with the Digital Collection related interview with Morten, then moving to the social media part with Rasmus, after which Kim Felecia was interviewed for fashion sustainability, hence leaving FashTech as the last one. Furthermore, two interviews were planned per week, in order to make sure there was enough time between the interviews for initial data processing, such as arranging notes, listening to the interviews, transcribing and writing down key points of each

interview, so that the later processes of interview coding and analysis would be fluent. Also, leaving time between interviews was a means of ensuring that topics discussed in previous interviews possibly of value for the later ones would be left time for consideration.

(Saunders et al. 2016, pp. 571) As explained by Saunders et al. (2016, pp. 572), if the data collected is not analyzed in the process of collecting it, important ideas and points might be missed, if a researcher is too focused on collecting the data without interacting and

analyzing it.

The interviewees were informed that the interviews would take approximately two hours each, in order to leave enough time for proper face-to-face introduction of interviewees and interviewers, and to establish a comfortable and friendly atmosphere for the discussion. The beginning of each interview included a short recap of the course of the interview, which included for instance the interviewers presenting the way in which the questions would be asked: one interviewer would ask the main questions (pre-sent), while the other interviewer

had the role of an active listener who would ask follow up questions in case something was not clear, for instance. The interviewees were also re-informed that despite all the

interviewees being of Danish nationality, the interviews would be conducted in English – all four interviews except one, which was conducted in Danish from the interviewees request.