Research Proposal on Ethical Branding and Corporate Reputation

Research Proposal on Ethical Branding and Corporate Reputation

1. Title

Topic: Ethical Branding and Corporate Reputation

2. Literature Review

The literature review will cover the postulates of ethical branding and corporate reputation. The section will also incorporate previous studies concerning ethical branding and corporate reputation and establish the relationship between the two. Furthermore, the chapter will also involve the perception of consumers towards ethical branding and the general reputation. Lastly, how companies are integrating ethical branding as their marketing strategy.

Ethical Branding and Corporate Reputation

           Ethical branding refers to the process created to enhance sustainable means of production. In other words, an ethical brand confers to moral uprightness, care for human and animal life, and care for the environment (Fan, 2010). According to Fan (2010), a brand earns a definition by the motives behind its creation and the value it creates for the company. Hence the name ethical branding. According to Thompson (2011), ethical branding emerged in the 80s as a result of ethical consumerism. Thompson suggested ethical consumerism was introduced as a means to protect farmers from Europe from exploitation. Thompson (2011) reflected on the formation of the ethical Trading Initiative as a means to protect people and to enhance transparency in the supply chain of an industry. Thompson further asserted that previous studies showed limitations in providing information for ethical branding and consumerism, which was fast gaining popularity. His research, therefore, demonstrated the view of ethical branding contrary to the known perspective as well as integrating the concept of ethical marketing and ethical branding..

As defined earlier, ethical branding involves creating sustainable measures to take care of the environment through the provision of products and services. Ethical branding, therefore, borrows leaf to green consumerism. Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla and Paladino (2013) showed that green consumerism was becoming popular because of cases of Green Washing among corporations, which refers to misleading the public or consumers on the environmental obligations of a company resulting to failure or remittance of actionable feedback on the company’s sustainability welfare. The environmental obligation. Nyilasi Gangadharbatl and Paladino (2013) also demonstrated the role of government in ethical branding and preventing greenwashing. In specific, they stated that companies with more sustainable production measures are subjected to a thorough scrutiny to ascertain the realities of their statements. The authors said that there is a relationship between ethical branding and green marketing. In other words, Mofettes, for example, can only remain as natural phenomena unless proper marketing on them as a tourist attraction site is done (Nyilasi Gangadharbatl, & Paladino, 2013)

Corporate reputation entirely relies on the brand name created by brand. Corporate reputation is the market perception created by past decisions and future strategies by all stakeholders in the industry. Corporate reputation is a critical factor for the company as it enables the company to have either increased sales volumes, which translates to profits, respectively. According to Hoq, Ali, and Alwi, (2010), there is a notable relationship between corporate reputation and ethical branding. In their studies, they established that ethical branding increased the value of the goods or services a company was selling and also boosted the social performance of the same products of their services. In other words, Hoq, Ali, and Alwi (2010) established that ethical branding increased the market value for the specific product or services offered but also increased the customer affinity towards acquiring the product or service. These findings agree with the results of Fan (2010), who also stated that brands today are looking to capture the socio-cultural aspects of their customers’ lives to customize their packages fit in their customers’ experience holistically.

Customer Perception of Ethical Branding

           According to Vito (2018), ethical branding is responsible for the positive reception of the brand in the market. In her study on the effect of marketing influences on brand perception by customers, Vito (2018) established that companies are becoming more and more focused with the customer feedback and lifestyle hence companies are practicing ethical marketing processes with respect to the data they have concerning customer behavior and to help improve their marketing principle thus increasing their market share. The findings of Vito (2018) resonate with the results of Hoq, Alwi, and Ali (2010), which focused on the influence of ethical branding on customers’ affinity. The two studies provide a new insight on ethical branding whereby companies are employing tactics to understand the social settings of their customers and provide them with products or services that suit their basic social and cultural needs (Vito, 2018; Hoq Alwi & Ali, 2010). More customers are becoming weary with ethical branding and as indicated by Nyilasy, Gangadharbatla, and Paladino (2013). With sustainability becoming a top priority in business today. Customers have become careful to verify the information they get from branding purposes. The findings agree with those of Vito (2018), who agreed to the challenges of ethical marketing and that formulation of a code of ethics for marketers will help in counterchecking of the ethical marketing and branding purposes.

Current Integration Frameworks for Ethical Branding

Lee and Jin (2019) established that a proper marketing mix was a crucial factor in attaining customer loyalty. Lee and Jin (2019) also asserted that conventional corporate marketing strategies increase the competitive advantage and the market share for the product. However, ethical branding, in this case, provides a chance to increase the competitive advantage further and making ethical Branding perfect marketing strategies. Conventionally, marketing involved the study of physical marketing demographics from which marketers will then formulate the ideal marketing strategy. Currently, ethical branding goes further, and with the aid of technology such as social media, brands can understand the emotional perception of their customers regarding the prices, usefulness, among other vital features. Understanding the psychological and the socio-cultural set up of their customers has, therefore, led to product customization according to customer needs, thus increasing their market share (Lee and Jin (2019).

3. Research Aims and Questions
4. What is the relationship between the perception of consumers and ethical branding?
5. What is the relationship between marketing strategies and reputation of a firm?
6. What is the relationship between marketing strategies, integrated ethical branding, and marketing strategy?
7. Research Design, Sampling, and Access

Various approaches form the premise of the study, namely deductive, deduction, and abduction. However, for this research, the researcher will use the deductive method. The deductive approach of logic from single or multiple statements to come up with a reasonable and confident affirmation (yyyyyy). The rationale for using the deductive method is the upcoming study is to attain a direction of the study questions and then associates the premises with a deduction (yyyy). The researcher can formulate a hypothesis and test them using the deductive approach of reasoning (yyyy). The researcher will be able to link this quantitative and qualitative study with the plan in coming up with numerical figures for analysis.

Secondly, the method to be used in this study is mixed-method research. The researcher acknowledges that means of studies such as mix method research or multiple methods comprise both qualitative and quantitative methods. The merit of using mixed methods is because it grants an avenue for using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study. The quantitative study is the use of systematic empirical techniques using observable events or variables through computable, mathematized, or statistical methods (yyyy). The rationale for using a quantitative method of the study lies in its merits. For instance, it provides an avenue for mathematical and statistical data analysis to come up with a dynamic analysis. Secondly, the method is cheap because one can administer it online. Another merit is that it lacks intense biasness when properly used. However, the process is time-consuming and requires computation techniques.

Also, the qualitative study, on the other hand, is the use of scientific techniques to make an observation and then generate thematic information through narrowing down to the most useful data. The method is advantageous because it will incorporate the interviews within the research as the quantitative method provides an avenue for administering questions to the participants from a varied geographical sphere. So, the integration of both quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study will maximize the successful attainability of the study objectives.

Thirdly, studies follow two suitable study frameworks, namely longitudinal or cross-sectional. For this future research, the researcher intends to use the cross-sectional design where the study will examine the association between ethical branding and corporate reputation as well as other variables such as marketing strategies from a defined population. The targeted population is corporate or employed individuals. The study takes place within the shortest time (about three months maximum). Besides, the researcher uses a cross-sectional design since it makes use of the survey whose outcomes undergo analysis from an estimated subset or sampled population.

Fourthly, the researcher uses a probability-sampling strategy to collect the data needed. Probability sampling techniques entail the use of randomized sample subjects from the total sample space. The subset chosen is randomly chosen as long as they meet the inclusion criteria. The targeted sample space comprises of participants from any corporate firm such as banks, healthcare, teaching, retailers, and others. The researcher anticipates 200 volunteered members to complete the study. However, the number can increase or slightly decline depending on the participants’ turnout.

The 200 participants will comprise of members who have met the following inclusion criteria. First, one must be working in a corporate organization, or in other words, he or she must be an employee in a firm. Secondly, the participant must be over above seventeen years of age as this study involves those working legally by the laws of the land. Thirdly, the participant must accept the procedure, and the data collection technique willingly. Any participant who will meet the three criteria will be involved in the research. As noted, the selection of the participants will be random without any bias. Another divide of the participants will receive questionnaires and undergo interviews, that is, at least a third of the targeted sample.

5. Data Collection Methods

The researcher intends to use mixed-method research, which implies that the data collection procedure will also focus on the use of two instruments of data collection. Hence, the data collection instrument to be used includes the use of questionnaire courtesy of quantitative method and semi-structured interviewed courtesy of the use of the qualitative method. Also, while using the semi-structured interviews, the participants will have to follow the same structural procedure set for the questionnaires lot.

The data collection procedure will be defined. The first part is choosing the site for undertaking data collection or administering questions. Also, the participants that that are reachable from the existing local businesses will receive questionnaires after the approval of consent through the mail so that the voluntary information is permanently stored. On the other hand, the same procedure applies to the local and corporate management who will be randomly selected to complete the study. Upon receiving the consent of the participants, they will receive the questions in which the researcher will allocate one week to complete the survey and then return two the same channel, either physical or online. In the same way, the interviewees will voluntarily declare when they are free to conduct the interview process, which will take either a maximum of fifteen minutes through physical or telephone because it will be free will research.

The questions on both the interview and the questionnaire will be in two categories, namely, the demographic survey and the objective study questions. The objective study questions will be defined according to reflects the overall goal of the study. The structure of the questions will be from simple to the most sophisticated ones, which are the study objectives ones for both interviewees and the survey cohorts.

6. Data Analysis Methods

The data analysis methods to be used in this research will follow the suits of the method and data collection instruments. The analysis will constitute both the quantitative and qualitative techniques, that is, the use of both SPSS software to conduct a relation between the study variables and the use of thematic or content analysis. The numerical information will be generated from the questionnaires while the thematic or content analysis ones will be made from the interview outcome. The analyzed data will be pilled and presented in the results and findings section starting with the quantitative ones followed by

1. Research ethics (1fivty)

This section should present a clear and critical discussion of the potential ethical issues related to the topic of your project and its design. You need to consider different moral problems that might emerge at various stages of your research and suggest how you might deal with them.

1. Limitations of your research (170)

This section should present a critical account of possible limitations of your project, including its design, methods, and procedures. In particular, you need to discuss the issues of research quality (i.e., validity, reliability, generalisability) and how it might be compromised in your project.

References