Value creation in consumption of whole-bean coffee
A qualitative study on value co-creation from a consumer perspective
Niels Østergaard
Master’s thesis
International Business Communication (Cand.ling.merc) Copenhagen Business School
Supervisor: Ahmad Zaki Faizi
Student number: 91976
Date of hand-in: 16-09-2019 Number of physical pages: 77
Number of characters: 173.151 (76,1 standard pages)
Abstract
The market for whole-bean coffee in Denmark has skyrocketed in the past few years. The product category has grown from a market share of 6,8% to a market share of 10,7% in the span of 2,5 years. This explosive growth has ultimately presented marketers of whole-bean coffee with a large number of new consumers they know little about. As such, this thesis investigates value creation in the consumption of whole-bean coffee and is investigated through the perspective of the consumer. The studied consumers are young males, in the age between 24 and 29, living in Copenhagen, which makes the thesis an urban study. The purpose of this qualitative and
empirically based thesis is to provide the reader with knowledge that will illuminate how value is created for and co-created by the consumer. A better and more thorough understanding of these consumers will help marketers to more easily accommodate these particular consumers. The thesis is positioned within social science research and contributes to the literature of Consumer Culture Theory in relation to how consumption creates value for the consumer.
The thesis gathers data through qualitative interviews in its quest to unravel how value is created through consumption of whole-bean coffee. Through thematic analysis of a focus group interview, with 5 participants, and subsequently of four in-depth interviews the thesis concludes that value is created and co-created in three phases of the entire consumption process.
Consumption and value creation are found to happen before, during and after the actual ingestion of the coffee. This contributes to the understanding that the consumption of whole-bean coffee not only creates value for the consumer when ingesting the coffee, but value is rather profoundly created in the processes surrounding the ingestion; the consumption phases before and after. The findings of the thesis also suggest that consumers are integral to the value creation process.
Marketers can put that knowledge to good use in their marketing efforts by viewing value as something the consumer is always a part of creating acknowledging the need to understand the whole-bean coffee consumers’ desires.
Acknowledgments
Writing this thesis had not been possible without the help of several people and I would like to extend my thanks to these individuals and acknowledge their contribution.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Ahmad Zaki Faizi, External Lecturer at the Department of Management, Society and Communication, for guiding me through this tough but rewarding process. Your help, especially in the initial phase of writing this thesis is greatly appreciated. Thank you for that!
There are also a number of other individuals I would like to extend my thanks to. First, my dear partner in life, Nicole. Thank you for your amazing support, your unconditional love, for cheering me on and for your help with everything from creating tables and figures to all of the great discussions we have had about my research project. Secondly, I want to thank: Martin, for his great help in the world of excel, and Patricia and Marie, for their proofreading and providing of valuable comments to the contents of the thesis. Lastly, I want to thank friends and family for your incredible support throughout this process.
Table of contents
Introduction ... 5
A cup of whole-bean coffee ... 5
Motivation & the research project’s raison d’être ... 7
On a personal note ... 7
Coffee and general coffee consumption in Denmark ... 7
The coffee market ... 8
Narrowing down the research field ... 9
Putting the consumer at the centre ... 10
Research Question ... 11
Delimitations and clarification of terms ... 11
Theoretical framework ... 12
Consumer Culture Theory ... 13
CCT research domains ... 13
Placing the thesis in the CCT research domains ... 20
Creation and co-creation of value ... 20
A change in the perception of value in marketing ... 21
S-D Logic’s foundational premises ... 22
Experiential consumption ... 24
Value creation in consumption of whole-bean coffee ... 25
Exploring co-creation of value in consumption of whole-bean coffee ... 25
Method ... 27
Philosophy of science ... 27
Qualitative research ... 29
Validity and reliability ... 29
Applied method ... 30
Grounded theory ... 31
Thematic analysis ... 31
Research design ... 32
Data collection ... 33
The interviews ... 33
Focus group interview ... 34
In-depth interviews ... 37
Methodological limitations to the data collection ... 38
Data analysis ... 39
Focus group interview ... 41
In-depth interviews ... 42
Findings ... 43
Whole-bean coffee = Endless possibilities ... 44
Experimentation with and control over the product ... 44
Larger end-product variation ... 46
Central takeaways relevant for marketers of whole-bean coffee ... 47
Being a coffee enthusiast ... 48
Whole-bean coffee as a hobby ... 49
My (brewed) coffee as a part of me ... 51
Central takeaways relevant for marketers of whole-bean coffee ... 53
Knowledge creates value ... 54
More information = more value ... 54
Being able to demystify the product ... 56
Central takeaways relevant for marketers of whole-bean coffee ... 57
An experience opportunity ... 58
Preparing coffee as a value-adding experience ... 58
Social occasion ... 60
The taste experience ... 61
Central takeaways relevant for marketers of whole-bean coffee ... 63
Discussion and implications ... 63
Value creation before ... 64
Value creation during ... 65
Value creation after ... 66
Moving from goods-centred to service-centred logic ... 68
Managerial implications ... 68
Conclusion ... 70
Future research ... 73
References ... 74
Introduction
A cup of whole-bean coffee
It is Monday morning and the sun starts to shine into your bedroom. You wake up well rested albeit still a bit groggy, but you get dressed and slowly walk out into your kitchen and feel ready to start your morning ritual. You look into your kitchen cupboard and grab the bag of whole-bean coffee you bought yesterday down at the store. It has just been sitting there, in the dark, behind the cupboard doors waiting for you to grab it since yesterday afternoon. The sound of the whole coffee beans inside the bag makes a rattling noise while you put it down on the kitchen table. You open up the bag and immediately an invigorating aroma from the bag of coffee beans begin to fill the kitchen air that surround you. You plunge your nose into the bag of coffee and take a deep smell, which is somewhat mild but definitely there, for now. You bring out the kitchen scale, grab the grinder basket for your coffee grinder and start weighing out the coffee beans. You weigh out exactly 30 grams of coffee, which is needed for your recipe to end up with 500 millilitres of coffee. You adjust your coffee grinder to the exact grind-size you want; medium-coarse, not too fine and not too coarse, just as you want it to be. You pour the beans in, place the grinder basket into the grinder and press the button. While the sound of the steel burr grinders, grinding away settles in and fills the room with a light noise that inserts itself into the otherwise quiet morning, you pour water into your electric kettle and push the button. While you are waiting for the coffee grinder to grind the coffee beans and the water to come to a boil, you pick up the bag and read, once again, about the product you just bought yesterday. You are reminded that the coffee is from Kenya, from the ‘Nyeri’-region, specifically from an area called ‘Muthuaini’. You looked the area up on the internet yesterday because you got curious as to what it was and where this was. You found out that the place is situated in a relatively narrow valley between Mount Kenya National Park and Aberdere National Park, one of the lushest parts of Kenya where some of the land’s best coffee comes from. You had never heard about Nyeri or Muthuaini, only Kenya and perhaps its capital, Nairobi. You read a bit more about the product while the grinder comes to a stop. It says the variety of the coffee is something called ‘SL-28’ and ‘SL-34’, that it has been through a process called ‘washed’ and that it was grown at an elevation of 1917 meters above sea-level. You do not know what this exactly means or what impact this has on your coffee, but you are definitely intrigued. At this point everything’s ready for you to brew your coffee. You take one last deep smell of the freshly ground coffee, which
is wonderfully intoxicating and intense. You pick up your pour-over brewing kit that allows you to hand-brew filter coffee. You insert a paper filter, add your coffee grounds and shake the filter basket so you get a nice even bed of coffee. You place the filter basket on top of your serving vessel and place the whole thing on your scale. You start a timer and slowly but steadily pour 93-degree Celsius hot water in circles, so you extract your coffee exactly right, for 2 minutes and 40 seconds until you have added 500 millilitres of water. You watch as the remaining water travels through the coffee and drips into your serving vessel and you are ready to enjoy the experience at hand. Your partner greets you with a hug and a smile. You immediately pour a cup of coffee and start telling all about the coffee – how you brewed it, where it comes from and what it may taste like – the bag states the coffee has notes of orange zest, bergamot and plums. You take your first sip and enjoy what you just made.
Consumption of whole-bean (WB) coffee stands in stark contrast to consumption of roast and ground (R&G) coffee where many of the choices you have when using WB coffee, has already been made for you. Especially the fact that grind size and thus applicability to certain brew methods are limited to function well with only a few brewing devices when using R&G coffee. Namely and most commonly the standard filter-coffee machines. The myriad choices consumers of WB coffee can make before they end up with a cup of coffee creates value for the consumer as well as making the consumer a co-creator of value. The value creation is threefold. First, it adds value to the perception of the product itself; second, it adds value to the mere experience the consumer has with the product, the preparation and ingestion of the coffee itself; and third, it creates value to the consumer itself by allowing the individual to make several choices regarding what type of WB coffee you drink and how you elect to prepare and drink it. This allows for the consumer, to a larger degree, to express themselves through the coffee they drink, by having the possibility to affect the outcome in a much more complex way than coffee drunk at home has allowed for in the past.
This Master’s thesis will investigate the value creation consumption of WB coffee provides for the consumer as well as how the consumer can be a co-creator of value and thus, will be very consumer-centric by looking into how and why young males living in Copenhagen are consumers of WB coffee and how this creates value. This should enable marketers of WB coffee to gain a better understanding of how they can accommodate these consumers’ desires.
Motivation & the research project’s raison d’être
On a personal note
One thing I feel is important to state, is that I have a significant interest in coffee. Both as something I enjoy delving into in my spare time, but I do also work with coffee on a daily basis. In my position, for the company I work for, I write, teach and talk about coffee on a daily basis. Gaining deeper insights into the consumer behaviour behind coffee consumption is something I believe can benefit not only me, but everyone working with coffee on a daily basis, be it WB coffee or not.
Coffee and general coffee consumption in Denmark
Warde (2005, p. 137) explains and defines consumption as: “a process whereby agents engage in appropriation and appreciation, whether for utilitarian, expressive or contemplative purposes, of goods, services, performances, information or ambience, whether purchased or not, over which the agent has some degree of discretion (…)”. Consumption is an endless part of people’s lives, from fulfilling the absolute basic needs such as eating and drinking to consumption of products whereby we can express ourselves more clearly such as the clothing we wear and the cars we drive.
Investigating coffee as a consumption product is particularly interesting as it has several functions for the user in everyday life, it is very widespread and consumption of it is rooted in culture. Coffee can be seen as a habitual necessity in people’s lives as the consumer builds up a slight need for caffeine, but if we look beyond this, coffee can provide meaning in people’s lives in many ways, both in the consumer’s private and social life. Especially, coffee can be used in more meaningful ways by constructing and communicating specific values. Coffee is generally seen as a low involvement product but can also be considered a high involvement product when the consumption of it has deeper meaning than simply a mere caffeine fix (Laaksonen, 2010). Nevertheless, coffee in general is consumed habitually which points to its importance and necessity.
Coffee as a commodity can be categorised as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), which refers to retail goods that are interchangeable and used very easily within a short amount of time.
Thus, the market for WB coffee should clearly be seen as precarious as one brand’s offering can easily be switched out with another brand’s offering by the consumer on a weekly basis. This makes understanding the WB coffee consumers on a deeper level very important as it would allow identification of what the consumer want. This could provide a better chance for a brand to hold on
to or attract consumers, if they know what desires they should accommodate. According to Laaksonen (2010) the Nordic consumers are the heaviest coffee drinkers in the world with Denmark clocking in at the world’s fourth most coffee consuming country per capita, which makes Denmark’s market for coffee particularly interesting to study (“Danskerne elsker kaffe,” 2019). The general trend in Denmark in the coffee category in general is a larger focus and demand for premium quality and organic and fair-trade products (Euromonitor, 2019).
The coffee market
The market for coffee in Denmark can be split up into four product categories. Namely R&G, instant coffee, WB coffee and portioned coffee.
Figure 1 below is based on numbers and market data I am fortunate enough to have access to through my job. The data comes from The Nielsen Company, a data analysis company, that provides the company I work for with market insights on the Danish market for coffee and Danish coffee consumers (See Appendix 9 for raw data). No eligible reference to the data from The Nielsen Company can be provided, as the data is procured on the request of the company.
Source: The Nielsen Company. Own creation (2019)
Figure 1: Evolution of the coffee market in Denmark from 3rd quarter 2016 to 1st quarter 2019
As you can see on Figure 1 above, the market for coffee in Denmark has been undergoing some change in the past few years. What is particularly interesting, is the amount of market share the WB coffee product category claims. From third quarter in 2016 and up until first quarter in 2019, the category has gone from a market share of 6,8% to 10,7% market share. In only 2,5 years, the WB coffee product category has seen an increase of roughly 57%, which is quite a fascinating amount of growth. It is by far the category that proportionately have gained most market share in this time period. Worth noting, the R&G category is slightly losing its grip on the market, even though it still is the largest and most popular product category. From third quarter in 2016 up until first quarter in 2019 the R&G product category has decreased its market share from 66,7% to 61,1%, which is roughly an 8% decrease. With such a change, especially in the WB coffee product category, this may suggest that the Danish market for coffee is undergoing change. The large increase in the WB coffee category do also mean that the market is dealing with a lot of new consumers in a very short amount of time. The knowledge we have of these new consumers figuring in the product category is thus very limited and is in need of examination.
Interestingly, the market for WB coffee in Denmark, especially in Copenhagen, can be difficult to assess and may be larger than what the numbers above suggest. It is commonly known that WB coffee is frequently bought in small stores and cafés for use at home, especially in Copenhagen. The market for WB coffee is posited to be even larger than what the numbers above suggest, as these numbers from The Nielsen Company does not include small coffee shops who sell a lot of WB coffee in urban settings. Therefore, more business opportunities for brands engaging in the marketing of WB coffee may exist.
Narrowing down the research field
Researching young men living in Copenhagen and their consumption of WB coffee is of great interest to marketers. First, Danish men drink more coffee than Danish women. In fact, 86% of Danish men drink coffee, whereas only 76% of women drink coffee. While the percentage of men consuming coffee is steady, the percentage of women drinking coffee is slightly decreasing (“Kaffe i tal,” 2019). Thus, researching men’s coffee consumption is more relevant for marketers, as the market that needs understanding is larger and is a larger market to ultimately sell a product to.
Secondly, young men were chosen to research and the basis for this decision lies in the fact that
individuals born between 1985 and 2000, part of generation y, makes up approximately a fifth of the entire Danish population, a number reaching 1.2 million individuals. Further, this is considered the largest group of consumers in Denmark and are responsible for one third of the entire consumption in Denmark (Branner, 2016). This makes it even more crucial to study this group of consumers and their desires, as understanding these consumers could mean life or death for companies who wants to survive in the market. Studying young males living in Copenhagen was also found to strengthen the relevancy of the present research. Reason being, 22% of all 20-34-year-olds in Denmark lives in the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg (Branner, 2016). According to Coop’s report ‘Danskernes Madvaner’ (Roland et al., 2016) the sale and consumption of R&G coffee and filter coffee is on the retreat in the Copenhagen area. Additionally, and more importantly the report also states that the sale of WB coffee is on the rise in the Copenhagen area. This strengthens the incentive to look into the consumption of WB coffee in the Copenhagen-area. These consumers are not only the consumers of said category today but also of tomorrow. Understanding these consumers, the drive behind their consumption and the value, consumption of WB coffee provides them with, is vital.
Putting the consumer at the centre
Putting the consumer at the centre of attention in the present research allows for an exploration of how consumption of WB coffee creates and co-creates value for and by them. Consequently, this would provide insights to what their consumption behaviour is driven by. The research advances from a Consumer Culture Theory perspective (CCT). CCT is a research tradition in consumer behaviour research that is influenced by anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies. CCT views consumption as a way for the consumer to construct and communicate meaning in society and it deals not only with what we consume but also how we consume it (Arnould & Thompson, 2005).
When identity construction and making sense of the world is seen to be something we can utilise consumption for, it is interesting to examine consumption of WB coffee from a consumer-centric perspective. CCT puts an emphasis on consumption as enabling consumer identity construction and argues that consumption can help a consumer establish a sense of belonging to a consumer community through consumption of shared symbolic meanings (ibid). It is therefore important to ask questions of managerial importance, that underlines the curiosity of the thesis, such as the ones
Arnould (2007) proposes: “…where does “value” come from and what makes that “value” worth coproducing?” and “…how do marketers manage to create “value” consumers recognise as such?
(p. 71). In advancing from these questions, the thesis seeks to contribute with theory relating to value creation in consumption of WB coffee. By answering the research question presented below, this thesis will contribute with theory to the CCT literature. Understanding the consumers of WB coffee on a deeper level, may enable marketers to create WB coffee products that appeal much more to these consumers. The thesis seeks to investigate value creation from a consumer perspective. The present research’s findings on value creation processes will inherently be used to discuss these consumers’ motivation behind their consumption of WB coffee.
It should be clear, based on the above, why this particular area is interesting to examine; the market for young men living in Copenhagen, their consumption of WB coffee and how this creates and co-creates value for them. By making a study such as this, marketers can gain a better understanding of how and why the consumer ultimately choose to buy WB coffee and what the consumer is driven by. This would produce indicative knowledge on what to focus on as marketers and brands as a whole when trying to persuade the consumer to choose their product over others.
Research Question
Moving forward from the initial curiosity in relation to value creation in consumption of WB coffee and how this could prove useful for marketers, the thesis will investigate the following research question:
From a consumer perspective, how does consumption of whole-bean coffee create value, what role does co-creation play in the value creation process and how is this interesting to marketers?
Delimitations and clarification of terms
The investigation of the research question is delimited to explore value creation through consumption of WB coffee in a Danish context from the perspective of Danish, young male consumers living in Copenhagen.
The focus in the thesis does also lie on consumers consuming WB coffee within the confines of their home or at least WB coffee they prepare from home. Meaning the research is not investigating
consumers consuming coffee drinks bought out-of-home, at a café for instance. The thesis studies value creation in the interplay between brands and consumers of WB coffee and looks to unravel how marketers can more effectively accommodate said consumers’ desires in relation to WB coffee products. WB coffee as a product category refers to a bag of coffee where the coffee beans remain whole until the consumer actively makes a decision to process them further in their use of the product. A central concept in the thesis that is used throughout is the creation of value. When discussing value, it refers to the mass noun, explaining “…that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth or usefulness of something” (Lexico, 2019). Additionally, when value is mentioned, it refers to a larger extent to value-in-use than value-in-exchange, as the thesis’ focus lies more on the intangible value WB coffee holds for consumers and not on the value it has in relation to its price, its monetary value exchange (Humphreys & Grayson, 2008). The intangible value being explored through the consumers’ perception of value creation takes an in-use, symbolic and social form.
Theoretical framework
In order to shed light on the approach to consumer research used in this thesis, an introduction to the theoretical field of CCT is provided. CCT is found to avert from a more common and traditional perception of brand-consumer/consumer-brand interaction and roles. The thesis sets out to investigate value creation in relation to the consumption of WB coffee and thus, the concept of value will be detailed and elaborated on. The Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic) is found to cohere well with the CCT perspective, which elicits the introduction of the theoretical concept of value co- creation. As CCT’s approach to understanding consumers is anthropologic in nature and the fact that the S-D Logic backs up the research question’s inherent pursuit of understanding value being co-created by the consumer, the two theoretical constructs are found to be suitable as the foundational theoretical contribution of this thesis.
Further, an account of experiential consumption is made as this theoretical contribution aids in illustrating how marketers should focus on highlighting the experience the consumer can get when using their product. Lastly, the theories and concepts in the present research’s theoretical framework are summed up in Figure 3 at the end of this chapter. This allows central theoretical points of interest with regards to value creation in consumption of WB coffee from a consumer
perspective to be presented. These key points will later guide the qualitative data collection together with making up the theoretical contribution in the discussion of research findings later on.
Consumer Culture Theory
The central aspect of CCT is the introduction of an anthropological approach to consumer behaviour that underlines understanding consumption as an active process in constructing individual and collective identities (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). CCT is considered a very inclusive perspective in its method of understanding consumer behaviour, making it the foundational perspective in the theoretical framework of the thesis. The inclusiveness stems from the fact that CCT literature explores processes of consumption where a macro-perspective to consumer behaviour is allowed in the investigation and explanation of consumption’s role in making sense of the world (Arnould &
Thompson, 2005).
According to CCT, consumption is not static, it is an ongoing dynamic process. Consumption of a product exists in both the pre and post stages of the actual purchase of the product or service and it continues through the consumer’s possession, displacement and disposing of the product or service (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Epp & Price, 2009; Turley & Donohoe, 2012). The approach’s inclusiveness is also apparent from its view on aspects that impact consumer behaviour. Arnould and Thompson explain this through its objective to “…address the dynamic relationship between consumer actions, the marketplace and cultural meanings” (2005, p. 868). Consumption is rather heavily affected by contextual, symbolic and experiential aspects of consumption instilled by a given culture or subculture as well as social relations and trends in the marketplace (ibid). According to the CCT, consumption is seen as an on-going value creating process and therefore, it diverts from the more traditional marketing perspective (Ellis et al., 2011). Instead of being embedded in a product, CCT looks to understand value as created in the consumption process itself by more actors than the company that provided the product (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Humphreys & Grayson, 2008).
CCT research domains
According to Ellis et al. (2011), Eric J. Arnould and Craig J. Thompson, are acknowledged as being very central to the CCT research field. They have been instrumental in putting forward the four
overall domains that summarise what CCT researchers explore. The four domains related to sociocultural processes and structures are presented as: “…(1) consumer identity projects, (2) marketplace cultures, (3) the sociohistoric patterning of consumption, and (4) mass-mediated marketplace ideologies and consumer’ interpretive strategies” (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, p. 871).
These four domains do not operate as single domains arguing their respective take on a subject matter. Rather, the holistic approach of the CCT research tradition emphasise that the four domains are interrelated and as such should not be interpreted as four separate domains. The interrelation of the four domains can be seen in Figure 2. In the subsequent paragraphs, an account of the individual CCT domains is made. The purpose of this is to illuminate how each domain can contribute to the comprehension of the consumption practices of consumers in the thesis yet also allow the thesis to be situated within one of the domains, while still acknowledging the inherent interrelatedness. It should be stressed that the thesis takes on the holistic understanding of the CCT domains in its approach to value creation in consumption.
Source: Arnould & Thompson (2007, p. 10)
Figure 2: The four CCT research domains
Consumer Identity Projects
In the CCT approach to consumption, consumers construct the narrative of both their individual as well as collective identity and sense of self through the use of physical and symbolic objects (Arnould
& Thompson, 2005). With this, it is evident that CCT scholars study identity equally as much through the individual as through the individual’s affiliation to consumer communities. Further, the construction process continues through the structuring influence of the marketplace, that
“…produces certain kinds of consumer positions that consumers can choose to inhabit” (Arnould &
Thompson, 2005 p. 871). Cova (1997) argues that these particular communities that consumers find themselves in can be seen as units for organising a dynamic and flexible belongingness of the individual within and between various tribes or communities. Much like social class did in the past, but more complex as the consumer has far more opportunities to express their affiliations with said tribes or communities. These tribes and communities are of interest to us and Bauman puts forth that we deal with two kinds of communities, which are: “…those of life and fate whose members
‘live together in an indissoluble attachment’ and communities that are ‘welded together solely by ideas or various principles’” (2004, p. 11). The latter is the type found interesting, as consumers here find themselves feeling a sense of belongingness based solely on affiliation to certain symbolic meanings and according to Cova (1997), this is where communities and brand tribes are established.
Though important to note, the sense of identity related to this type of belongingness is never final and can be influenced by myriad parameters (Bauman, 2004), which is a claim supported in full by the CCT literature (Arnould & Thompson, 2005).
According to Belk (1988) what we possess as consumers highly define our ever-changing and under-construction consumer identity. By introducing the view that you are the sum of your possessions, Belk (1988, p. 139) refers to Tuan who argues “our fragile sense of self needs support, and this we get by having and possessing things because, to a large degree, we are what we have and possess”. Possessions, according to Belk (1988), is inclusive in nature and the major categories of extended self can be summarised as “…body, internal processes, ideas, and experiences, and those persons, places, and things to which one feels attached” (p. 141). When viewing these possessions as extensions and parts of the self, their function qualifies “creation, enhancement, and preservation of a sense of identity” (ibid., p. 150). By merely possessing intimate knowledge of a
possession, be it an experience, a community or an object, that knowledge can become a part of one’s extended self, in tune with the CCT perspective (Belk, 1988). In extension, Belk (1988) puts forth three ways in which one can actively and intentionally extend the self through possession:
through appropriating or controlling it, by creating it or by knowing it. Further, Belk argues that
“…we make things a part of self by creating or altering them” (p. 144) and further argues that this is a universal human belief. In this process of creating or altering a ‘thing’ we invest ourselves and our identity in these objects and as Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton argues, we invest ‘psychic energy’ in objects we have directed our effort, time and attention to (Belk, 1988). The energy we have invested in the product of our efforts is regarded as a part of self because they have grown or emerged from the self (ibid.) According to Miller (1995) people are constantly struggling so as to have control over the definition of themselves and their values, and consumption is the main arena in which and through they struggle. Further, he posits that the social and cultural structures of society shape identities. With this, consumption can be seen as a way for consumers to gain control and power over their own identity construction. Moreover, in CCT research consumption of objects is seen as a strategy for consumers to make meaning of the world and according to Ellis et al.
“…[consumer] identities, then, come to be inscribed in objects and are meaningful to ourselves and others through shared codes of understanding” (2011, p. 181).
The notion that the identity of an individual is a constant on-going narrative construction influenced by consumption is quite interesting in relation to understanding how consumers perceive value creation in consumption of WB coffee. The process whereby the consumer invests time, effort and attention into the coffee they prepare, under and after the actual creation process of the coffee, becomes a part of the consumer.
Marketplace Cultures
In the traditional anthropological view in cultural studies, people and artefacts are bearers of culture, but within this domain of the CCT perspective scholars are mostly interested in how consumption produces culture (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). When consumers are viewed as culture producers, the inclusiveness of the CCT perspective is evident in its approach to the consumption phenomenon.
Consumption in this respect should be understood broadly, as it embraces consuming all things from physical objects, to pieces of pop-culture texts to symbols and other intangibles, which are found in the consumer’s close environment. Consumption becomes a way for consumers to negotiate their belongingness to tribes and communities and with this, the community thought is reflected within this domain. In extension, when consumers blue-print behaviours and attitudes, it enables them to create the narrative of their “…collective identifications grounded in shared beliefs, meanings, mythologies, rituals, social practices, and status systems” (ibid., p. 874). It is worth noting that these are all qualities, which guide social class but CCT scholars argue that community membership has now gone beyond this (Cova, 1997; Arnould & Thompson, 2005). Within this domain, it is also argued that marketplace cultures, of which consumers within a spectrum do or do not belong to, define their symbolic boundaries through “…an ongoing opposition to dominant lifestyle norms and mainstream consumer sensibilities” (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, p. 874).
Arnould and Thompson (ibid.) argue that in-group social status is obtained through displays of
‘localised cultural capital’ i.e. particular forms of knowledge and skills valued in the group, as well as skill in combining, reworking, and innovating the pool of symbolic resources that are shared by group members. This particular aspect is interesting in relation to the consumption of WB coffee as knowing how to work with the coffee, making certain choices, to obtain a better cup of coffee is a display of skill that can help the individual in obtaining status. Thus, expressing this localised cultural capital becomes a way of expressing social status for the postmodern coffee consumer. Further, research in this field shows that negotiating belongingness to a certain consumer cultures is complex, and hierarchies of social status exist within these communities. It is the perceived cultural capital that organises these hierarchies (ibid). So, possession of cultural knowledge can have an impact on the consumer’s perception of affiliation to a certain community and can be said to be part of the extended self, thus making it part of identity construction (Belk,1988). By consuming culturally embedded goods, it becomes possible to show affiliation to a community with specific cultural values (McCracken, 1986). Marketplace cultures can then help us understand how social linkages and cultural capital in consumer communities have the capacity to influence the perception of value of an object being consumed, in this case, WB coffee.
The socio-historic patterning of consumption
According to Arnould and Thompson this domain deals with “…institutional and social structures that systematically influence consumption, such as class, community, ethnicity, and gender” (2005, 874). As found in the case of social class, these underlying structures influence consumption.
Communities retain traditional markers of community, while aspiring to be cross-geographical, and are characterised by explicit attempts to build community through consumption of brands or symbols (ibid). This is in line with what was discussed before about cultural capital within a community. As cultural capital can be seen as a way for consumers to distinguish themselves within a community, Georg Simmel distinguishes between what he calls superordinates and subordinates.
He explains that these are referred to as imitation occurring between various societal classes (Simmel, 1998). The concept of super- and subordinates can be transferred to the notion of consumption practices and production of cultural capital in a community even though we acknowledge the diminishing role of social class in defining identity in contemporary society. These super- and subordinate groups are only in existence on the actual basis of cultural capital, not despite of it. The superordinate group’s behaviour and the trends that are made herein will slowly and eventually sieve down to the subordinate group for them to attain (ibid). This system of social classes is inherently filled with cultural belongingness as with time, the subordinate group will mimic and imitate, and thus consume objects the group of superordinates have produced (ibid).
The function of this domain in the thesis is that of illuminating how societal structures may affect the individual consumer’s perception of value creation in consumption of WB coffee. This is found useful and will be utilised in the discussion of the present research’s findings.
Mass-mediated marketplace ideologies and consumers’ interpretive strategies
What inherently lies in the fourth and final domain is the consumption of popular texts that aid consumers in making sense of the world (Hirschman & Thompson, 1997). Once again, we are met by the inclusiveness of the CCT perspective as consumption of said popular texts, which can be music, movies, advertisements, books, and so on, happens both in the concrete consumption of e.g.
a book but also in the rejection of it, so both in consumption and in non-consumption. This refers to the domain’s mentioning of consumers’ interpretive strategies of mass-mediated consumption.
This domain also deal with how consumers are viewed as interpretive agents who, in their efforts
to make meaning of the world, range from either embracing the dominant representations of consumer identity and lifestyle ideals most often portrayed in advertising and mass-media to consciously deviate from or reject these ideological instructions (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). The domain views consumers as active and reactive entities in the marketplace making them interpretive agents, not puppets to be controlled by the marketplace (ibid). Those meanings and values embedded in mass-media messages are here investigated in order to understand how the forces of media try to instruct consumer behaviour. Message-sending from brand to consumer is very tricky, as these consumers are exposed to messages that each individual interpret according to their own lifeworld and life projects (Mick & Buhl, 1992) making the encoded message decoded in myriad ways unique to each consumer. Thus, each message would be understood differently (Hirschman & Thompson, 1997). The sociologist and economist, Thorstein Veblen argues in his theory how cultural capital can be reinforced by the consumption of messages (Veblen, 2007).
When discussing status symbols, he states that the meaning of an object is inferred and not decoded by the consumer (ibid). Meaning, when a consumer consumes or rejects e.g. a book, the symbolic messages sent to the public are inferred with symbolic meaning by the actual consumer as well as by other consumers. If we recall how consumers are active agents in constructing the narrative of their self through consumption, this can be found interrelated with the importance of cultural capital (Cova, 1997; Arnould & Thompson, 2005). Then, consumers come to make meaning of the world they live in based on their social affiliation and shared codes of understanding of these objects of inferred symbolic meaning.
To sum up the four domains, the goal of the CCT perspective is to shed light on and understand consumers in their quest to make sense of the world through consumption of market-made products and services and in addition also the consumption of symbols, subcultures and the like.
Further, it shows us that consumption of symbolic messages and shared codes are a central aspect of the identity construction process that also enables consumers to actively engage in communities and show their affiliation or non-affiliation. This highlights the interrelatedness of the four domains, and these are found useful in the need to study factors surrounding the holistic approach to the consumer’s perspective on consumption of WB coffee.
Placing the thesis in the CCT research domains
Inherent to the CCT research tradition, the four domains show how consumers are viewed as active agents in producing value, culture, meaning and identity. This is essential to the thesis as it shows how consumers of WB coffee can take part in the process of value creation. This being in stark contrast to a marketing perspective that views consumers simply as receivers of company-produced value (Ellis et al., 2011).
The perceived inclusiveness of CCT is also apparent, and its approach to value creation, belongingness to communities and identity is of great interest to the research project. The three aspects’ interrelation is here emphasised as through consumption, value is created, individual identities are formed, and community and group affiliation are shown. Lastly, a need to consider social relations or social aspects in the present study is found as CCT scholars suggest value being created through the social sphere with value being inferred with meaning through consumption (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Veblen, 2007).
The present study’s investigation of value creation in consumption of WB coffee is primarily situated in the domain of marketplace cultures, as the domain suggests the importance of cultural capital and the display of it in the process of consumption. Further, the domain, consumer identity projects aids in explaining how possessions allow consumers to extend their self through what intimate knowledge they possess, what they are in control of and what they are able to create or alter. It should be noted that, due to the interrelation of the four domains, the thesis draws comprehensively on theoretical concepts proposed by the domain, consumers’ interpretive strategies in the mass-mediated marketplace, as well. As stated earlier, the fourth domain, socio- historic patterning of consumption, contributes to the understanding of how consumption practices may be influenced by societal structures, but will not be extensively included in the thesis.
Creation and co-creation of value
Traditional marketing takes a different approach to value creation in consumer research than CCT.
The former looks at how you can increase tangible exchange value while the latter explores ways to produce intangible use value (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; Humphreys & Grayson, 2008). It is important to note that the way value is used in this thesis related to consumption of WB coffee is that of the intangible kind and as value-in-use, which reflect the novel stream of research on value production
inherent to the study (Humphreys & Grayson, 2008) The research method is ultimately affected by this intangibility as a qualitative method allows for much deeper insights and interpretation of the interviewees’ responses. A quantitative analysis would then be found less effective in understanding deeply rooted personal and contextual factors influencing the subjects’ perception of value in its usefulness or worth to them.
To support the CCT’s perspective on value, this thesis explores value through the foundational premises of the S-D Logic as notions were found to correlate well with that of perspectives on the matter closely related to the CCT research perspective (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; 2008). To support this, Akaka, Schau and Vargo (2013) argues the S-D Logic approach to be a natural ally to CCT and as such, the following section will explain how and why these two approaches to the examination of value creation and co-creation work well in combination with each other.
A change in the perception of value in marketing
Vargo & Lusch (2004) underscore that it is only natural for the field of marketing to evolve with time passing. They also emphasise that with change you need a new terminology to assist the developments in expressing the gist of it and to help it become integrated in the field of marketing research and in society too. One other academic who accentuates the need for change in terminology is Arnould (2007) who describes the need for a change in the terminology of consumers and consumption in academic articles. One distinct contribution he puts forth is the need to change
“needs, wants, motivations” to “intentions, life projects, and desires” (ibid, p. 67). With this he highlights the notion of the consumer taking an active role in the value creation process and is thus not simply looking to satisfy a need. Burr (2003) argues, in regard to the understanding of the term
‘value’, that “language does not reflect a pre-existing social reality but constitutes and brings a framework to that reality for us” (p. 52). With this, it is evident that the framework of language utilised to describe value needs to be changed for us to perceive the concept of value differently.
By shifting the goods-centred terminology to service-centred, Vargo and Lusch (2004) do exactly that.
Within this line of thought, a discussion of operand and operant resources is found necessary.
In the marketing management approach, resources are seen as finite and called operand. This type of resource hold value because of that finiteness but for it to be valuable to the consumer, this
resource has to be acted on (Vargo & Lusch, 2005). On account of this, these operand resources are entrenched with value through knowledge, which is categorised as an operant resource. Therefore, operant resources, such as knowledge or skills (ibid.), hold value in their capacity to act on something. In the present research’s exploration of value creation in consumption of WB coffee, value is perceived in relation to worth and usefulness and is not monetary. This perception of value is closely related to the perception found in CCT research and inherent to the S-D Logic where in both, value is created or co-created on the basis of the consumer’s operant resources (Vargo &
Lusch, 2004; Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Grönroos, 2008). Vargo & Lusch (2004) talks of the goods- centred or goods-dominant logic, which perceives value, seen as utility-value, as embedded in a product from economics and thus something not created by other beneficiaries than the firm itself.
With this, value is seen to be produced only by the mere provision of a bag of WB coffee as well as the consumer’s perception of price to quality in the exchange between buyer and seller. Operand and operant resources are noteworthy in relation to the thesis’ research question, as going beyond the perception of value creation being economic in nature, to value creation relying on infinite, operant resources, facilitate the consumer to take an active role on the creation and co-creation of value.
This change in perception of value within the S-D Logic comes with ten foundational premises to support it. In the following section, these will be accounted for and five will be emphasised as these are considered particularly useful in the support of CCT to make up the theoretical framework’s foundation.
S-D Logic’s foundational premises
Inherent to the S-D Logic, eight foundational premises (FP) are presented by Vargo and Lusch (2004).
These make up the basis for the rising service dominant logic, but four years later they present two additional premises (Vargo & Lusch, 2008) to make the FP’s consist of 10 in total. These are all in support of the change from the aforementioned goods-dominant logic to the S-D Logic, through the change in terminology regarding value. The FP’s are found, just as with the CCT research and its inherent domains, to be interrelated. They function as a holistic contribution. All ten FP’s are not found of equal importance, rather five have been found more relevant than the others in relation to the subject matter. The five FP’s are: FP5, All economies are service economies, FP6, The customer
is always a co-producer, FP7, The enterprise can only make value propositions, FP9, All social and economic actors are resource integrators and FP10, Value is always uniquely and phenomenologically determined by the beneficiary that are viewed as units for contribution to the investigation of how value is created through consumption of WB coffee.
Competitive advantages, according to the S-D Logic, are achieved through infinite and operant resources, which is expressed in FP5 “All economies are service economies”. By originating in knowledge, service is considered an operant resource. FP6 reminds us of its relation to CCT literature as Vargo and Lusch state that in the “…service-centered view of marketing […], the consumer is always involved in the production of value” (ibid, p. 11). In continuation, the constant on-going consumption process, integral to the CCT, obtains support from Vargo and Lusch. They put forth the consumption act of the consumer to continue the marketing, consumption, value creation and delivery processes (2004). Central to the S-D Logic is the notion that customers are operant resources which is in stark contrast to the goods-dominant view, where customers are finite resources where the only aim of the company is to hold as big a share of them as possible (ibid.).
FP6 is thus significant in our quest to explore value creation in consumption of WB coffee from a consumer perspective, as it supports the view CCT holds on continuous consumption and that consumers are able to create value. In support of this, FP7 state that companies can only make value propositions meaning they do not have the capacity to embed value in tangible goods for them to increase any sort of exchange value (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). It is important to consider is what Vargo and Lusch point out in the following passage: “If a tangible good is part of the offering, it is embedded with knowledge that has value potential for the intended consumer, but it is not embedded with value (utility)” (2004, p. 11). Thus, a bag of WB coffee can be embedded with knowledge, as to how the company have treated the coffee beans, the story behind the product and so on, and this holds a value potential for the beneficiaries as they can use this embedded knowledge to further create and co-create value, for themselves and others. In FP9 it is expressed that not only companies being economic actors can integrate operant resources and therefore, along with FP10, it is found that value creation from consumer to consumer is highlighted (Vargo and Lusch, 2008), which is in support of the combination of the S-D Logic and CCT. FP9 and FP10
demonstrate not only the resourcefulness of consumers but also the importance of perceiving value
as contextually created. Research on consumers’ interpretive strategies is shown to be in support of this (Arnould & Thompson, 2005).
A distinction is crucial to make at this point. When employing the inherent theory of the S-D Logic it is to understand the logic behind a company’s offerings as more than just a product, in our case a bag of WB coffee, and its utility-value for the consumer. The S-D Logic in this regard focuses on what goes beyond the mere fact that a bag of WB coffee is, well, coffee. Additionally, the theoretical contribution of the S-D Logic and the CCT will be applied to the consumption of WB coffee in a rather novel way and will be utilised in the discussion of the present study’s findings.
Experiential consumption
Among other things, a central aspect to that of consuming WB coffee is the sensorial experience that is created in the use of the product. It is interesting to explore how hedonic benefits related to the consumption process surpasses the importance of the functional benefits drinking coffee carries with it (Mossberg, 2008). Campbell (1995) state that modern consumption can be viewed as
‘imaginative hedonism’ as the post-modern consumers crave extraordinary experiences through their consumption, such as what WB coffee can provide for the consumption of the otherwise habitual ingestion of coffee in general. Then, the essential activity of consumption is not founded in the selection or purchase of the product, but rather “…the imaginative pleasure-seeking to which the product lends itself” (ibid, p. 115). Mossberg characterises individuals of the post-modern world as “…seeking hedonic benefits, which refer to the aesthetic, experiential and enjoyment-related benefits of consumption offerings” (2008, p. 198). Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) support this, as they argue consumers to be experience-seekers and led by hedonistic and sensory aspects in relation to consumption. In accordance with this, WB coffee as a consumption offering, should thus be acknowledged to be able to provide hedonic and extraordinary experiences to the consumer transcending the mere ingestion of it and the caffeine kick it gives off. Arnould and Thompson (2005) argue that it is not as much the physical product, in our instance the bag of WB coffee, that instils as much emotion or a feeling of adherence to a community of consumers, as it is the experience of the product, and the contextual factors that stimulates these emotions (Mossberg, 2008). This is in line with the present research’s perception of the consumer. Consumers are viewed as experience- seekers and thrive when they can actively engage with products, especially when the consumption
allows them to apply their culturally embedded knowledge in producing a cup of WB coffee. This involve and influence the consumers’ interpretive strategies, that consequently affect how they make meaning and create value of the consumed product (Cova, 1997; Arnould & Thompson, 2005).
Value creation in consumption of whole-bean coffee
Through the understanding of value creation viewed from the S-D logic perspective, Grönroos describes the perception of value co-creation from a consumer and customer-service perspective as “…[when] using resources provided by a firm together with other resources and applying skills held by them, customers create value for themselves in their everyday practices” (2008, p. 299). As the research is positioned within the consumer-centric, customer service logic, it supports the theoretical outset from the CCT approach. As a final remark, the thesis understands value creation as actively occurring in the interaction between product and consumer in the consumption of WB coffee and the inherent experience the consumer is involved in generating through applying their operant resources to the firm-given operand resources.
Exploring co-creation of value in consumption of whole-bean coffee
Before moving on to the next section, a sum-up of the different theoretical contributions is found fitting in an attempt to underline how the different aspects contribute to the understanding of value co-creation in consumption of WB coffee.
The contribution of the CCT perspective is that of highlighting how consumers co-create value during the entire consumption process, and value is thus not restrained to be created only in the monetary transaction between company and consumer. Instead, consumption is perceived as a constant activity and allows the consumer to make meaning of the world through consumption of symbols and products. Additionally, CCT academics view consumers as producers of culture through consumption and community membership, and this cultural capital is seen to outrank social class in consumer identity projects (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). Vargo and Lusch’s (2004; 2008) articles on changing the dominant logic in marketing from goods-centred to service-centred, are found to support the notion of the consumer as a co-creator of value. CCT and the S-D Logic are found to correlate as they both perceive the consumer to have an active role in value creation (Akaka et al., 2013; Arnould, 2007). Both theoretical traditions argue that value is created by resource integrators
and activated through the actual consumption of an object, in this instance WB coffee, in contrast to value being embedded in an object (Arnould & Thompson, 2005; Vargo & Lusch, 2004; 2008).
Exploring value from a consumer-centric view is backed by Grönroos (2008) when he argues that firm-provided resources in combination with other resources and skills held by the consumer creates value for the consumer in their everyday practices. This relates to consumers acting on firm- given operand resources with their own operant resources, in the form of knowledge and skills (Vargo & Lusch, 2004; 2008). Additionally, it acknowledges that the consumption process should be viewed as socially and contextually bound (Arnould & Thompson, 2005). When the concept of value- in-use is accepted as foundational to value creation, consumers can be viewed as value co-creators (Grönroos, 2008), which resonates with what both the CCT and S-D Logic suggests. The theoretical framework can be found illustrated in Figure 3, below.
Figure 3: Theoretical framework
Source: Own creation (2019)
Having positioned consumption of WB coffee within the theoretical foundation the CCT and S- D Logic provides, two themes for further exploration are highlighted. The main theme; Marketplace cultures, which consist of cultural capital, social relations and identity projects, and the sub-theme;
experiential consumption. The research employs a clear consumer-centric approach by advancing from the customer service logic (Grönroos, 2008).
Method
Philosophy of science
The present research is carried out within the area of social science, which, according to Young and Collin (2004) is found in a paradigm where attempts at understanding expressions of life instead of explaining them is in focus. The focus of a research paradigm lies in answering three crucial questions that can illuminate the basic beliefs of the study’s inherent scientific philosophy and state through which lenses this paper is constructed. The three questions pertain to the ontology, epistemology and methodology of the research (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). The methodology is affected quite heavily by the ontology and methodology, revealing their interrelatedness. While epistemology deals with how knowledge is created and who is able to participate in that knowledge creation, ontology describes how the world is seen by the scientific philosophy (Nygaard, 2013). The methodology seeks to explain how the researcher “…can go about finding out what he or she believes can be known…” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 108). In this regard, within social science research, the thesis admits to the social constructivist paradigm. The term social constructionism and its inherent view is drawn upon in the following paragraph as social constructivism and constructionism are closely related (Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Burr, 2003). Throughout the paragraph, the term constructivism is used.
According to Nygaard (2013) there are four overarching paradigms within social science research that are most often established in contemporary research. These are: Positivism, Hermeneutics, Critical theory and Constructivism. Critical theory is found to divert from the constructivist paradigm in how it understands the individual’s role in reality perception to be limited by implicit ideological values and power relations in society. Additionally, it adheres to the view that knowledge creation is shaped by historical and culturally embedded constructions (Nygaard, 2013).
The constructivist’s ontology is neatly summarised in Guba and Lincoln’s account for its understanding of the world as being “…apprehendable in the form of multiple, intangible mental constructions, socially and experientially based, local and specific in nature […], and dependent for the form and content on the individual persons or groups holding the constructions” (1994, p. 110-
111). Added to this, constructivism acknowledges that all understanding of the world is relative to cultural and historical constructions. Burr (2003) then states that through constructivism, it is stressed that something cannot be studied without considering its context. Nygaard (2013) defines social constructivism to invoke a relativistic ontology as what is perceived to be true and real depends on alterable social, cultural and linguistic perspectives influenced by interactions in a given context. Further, Burr (2003) posits that in social constructionism there is not one version of reality, but many, just as each individual’s identity can be seen to vary. With this, a connection between the theoretical foundation in CCT research and the scientific philosophy is clear.
The epistemology of social constructivism is subjective, as knowledge of the world is invoked by only a particular interpretation of it and created through social transactions (Nygard, 2013). Burr states that knowledge creation is derived through “…the daily interactions between people in the course of social life” (2003, p. 4). In accordance, Burr (2003) argues that “…knowledge is […] seen not as something that a person has or doesn’t have, but as something that people do together”
(Ibid, p. 9). Burr also discusses the importance of language and argues that when people talk to each other, the world is constructed (2003). The epistemology of social constructivism can be seen to both affect the researcher as well as what or who is researched, and this highlights the present research’s findings to literally be created as the examination of the subject matter unfolds.
According to Nygaard (2013) constructivism’s methodology is founded in language as language is a fundamental part of social constructions. Integral to constructivism in its research methodology is how the examined individuals talk about a matter and even how the researcher talks about it.
Here, it is evident that constructs of reality are created between the interactions of the researcher and what is researched. As argued by Guba and Lincoln (1994), conventional hermeneutic methods such as the hermeneutic circle, can be used in constructivism’s methodology. Here, emphasis is on the understanding that a phenomenon is constructed through a cyclical process, that helps knowledge become more sophisticated (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). This suggests that reality is in constant change, relative and is influenced by the intricate knowledge manifested in each individual.
This can be seen as evidence that the ontology of constructivism is related to the hermeneutic circle.
By accepting that knowledge stems from looking at the world from one perspective or the other it is implicitly found that there is not only one truth out there, but many (Burr, 2003). Knowledge then comes to be produced through an examination of social practices situated in a cultural context,
where language functions as a way for the interviewees to express their grasp of reality (ibid.). Thus, the thesis’ theoretical framework does not claim to be the absolute truth. Expanding on that, it makes way for an investigation of the research topic using a dialogical approach enabling the thesis to create new knowledge about consumption of WB coffee, from a consumer perspective.
Qualitative research
With a methodology based on hermeneutical and dialectic grounds (Guba & Lincoln, 1994), and in order to analyse the interviewees’ accounts for value creation and co-creation in consumption of WB coffee, an interpretive approach is taken. This is evidenced through the way the thesis takes on a dialectical approach to the emerging data findings and the theoretical framework granting a better understanding of the researched theme (Tracy, 2013).
A qualitative study’s level of quality is determined by three vital concepts presented by Trace (2013): self-reflexivity, context and thick description. ‘Self-reflexivity’ refers to the researcher being aware of the influence he or she has on the research by possibly being biased, personally or through the approach taken in the research. Guba and Lincoln (1994) argue that the hermeneutic approach supports this in its inherent quest to refine what is currently known on a given subject by creating new knowledge. ‘Context’ describes how observing and seeking to understand the social world can produce social theories by recognising the interrelation of social contexts and emerging theoretical constructs. Lastly, ‘thick description’ revolves around the researcher being able to account for data as accurately and comprehensively as possible. This is done by presenting information regarding the research site, the context of the interviewee, information given before-hand and other details found to give as full a picture of the scene in which the data is collected (Tracy, 2013). These concepts are comprehensively dealt with in order to enhance the reliability and validity of the findings.
Validity and reliability
A reliable research design refers to the “…stability and consistency of the researcher, research tool, or method over time” (Tracy, 2013, p. 228). Therefore, in pertinently reliable research designs, employing the same methods to the same data should give another researcher the same results. In qualitative research, it should be duly noted that a data set is gathered and produced at a specific time of investigation and are thus realistic representations of that exact time frame (Saunders et al.,
