- •The importance of cross-cultural differences in marketing communications within Russia and Ireland in tourism and hospitality industry
- •Iuliia Starokon
- •Candidate Declaration
- •Acknowledgements
- •Abstract The importance of cross-cultural differences in marketing communications within Russia and Ireland in tourism and hospitality industry
- •Iuliia Starokon
- •1.3 Research objectives
- •1Introduction
- •1.1 Overview
- •1.2 Research purpose
- •1.4 Research background and significance of the study
- •1.5 Structure of the dissertation
- •2Literature review
- •2.1 Overview
- •2.2 Cross-cultural marketing and its role in marketing communication context
- •2.2.1 The reflection of national features in promotion content
- •2.2.2 Cultural awareness about differences and similarities in marketing
- •2.1The impact of culture on marketing communication process
- •2.3.1 The influence of marketing promotional message on culturally different customers
- •2.3.2 The effectiveness of marketing communication mix
- •2.2Culture and cultural dimensions of Hofstede in marketing communication context
- •2.4.1 Defining culture
- •2.4.2 Hofstede’s dimensions and their application to marketing communications
- •2.5 Worldwide practices in addressing cross –cultural differences in marketing communications
- •2.5.1 “From smallest to largest” and “from largest to smallest” approaches
- •2.5.2 Emotional appeals
- •2.6 Online marketing as an important element of Integrated Marketing Communications with relations to cultural differences
- •2.6.1 The use of online marketing communications within Russia and Ireland
- •2.6.2 The effectiveness of using social media and word-of-mouth
- •2.6.3 Conceptual Framework
- •2.6 Conclusion
- •3Methodology and Research Design
- •3.1Overview
- •3.2Research Philosophy and Approach
- •3.3Research Strategy
- •3.4Collection Primary Data
- •3.5 Secondary data
- •3.5Access and Ethical Issues
- •3.6Approach to Data Analysis
- •3.8 Conclusion
- •4Presentation and Analysis of Findings
- •4.1 Overview
- •Findings and discussion
- •4.3 Theme 1: Cross-cultural marketing and its role in marketing communication context
- •4.3.1 Subtheme 1: The reflection of national features in promotion content
- •4.3.2 Subtheme 2: Cultural awareness about differences and similarities in marketing
- •4.4 Theme 2: The impact of culture on marketing communications
- •4.4.1 Subtheme 1: The influence and effectiveness of marketing promotional message on culturally different customers
- •Theme 3: Culture and cultural dimensions of Hofstede in marketing communication context
- •4.5.1 Subtheme 1: Hofstede’s dimensions and their application to marketing communications
- •4.6 Theme 4: Worldwide practices in addressing cross –cultural differences in marketing communications
- •4.6.1 Subtheme 1: “From smallest to largest” and “from largest to smallest” approaches
- •4.6.2 Subtheme 2: Emotional appeals
- •4.7 Theme 5: Online marketing as an important element of Integrated Marketing Communications with relations to cultural differences
- •4.7.1 Subtheme 1: The use of online marketing communications within Russia and Ireland
- •4.7.2 Subtheme 2: The effectiveness of using social media and word-of-mouth
- •4.8 Conclusion
- •5Concluding Thoughts on the Contribution of this Research, its Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research
- •5.1Implications of Findings for the Research Questions
- •5.2Contributions and Limitations of the Research
- •5.3Recommendations for future research and practice
- •5.4Final Conclusion and Reflections
- •References
- •Appendices Appendix a – Research Study- The importance of cross-cultural differences in marketing communications within Russia and Ireland in tourism and hospitality industry
3.4Collection Primary Data
This cross-cultural research required comparison at the country scale rather than at the individual level. Therefore, in order to obtain valid and extended results I interviewed tourism related companies and not tourists. Three companies were chosen as a result of their experience in the research area contributing the value to research. The firms are located in different countries, namely in Spain, Ireland and Russia bringing a higher degree of accuracy and insight for the research, because the issue was considered by professionals with different backgrounds and marketing approaches. Additionally, it is worth highlighting that the professionals from Hotel Chain “S”, Travel Agency “I” Travel Agency “R” have been working in that area for 10 - 15 years and this adds more trustworthiness and reliability to the findings.
The questionnaires were sent to recipients in advance so that they could understand the context of the interview.
Interviews are a way of gathering information by asking questions about a certain topic in person or using other sources of communications (for example phone, Internet communications). This tool of primary data collection is widely used due to its flexible approach as the interviewer is able to adjust or change questions so that the meaning is understood and results will be trustworthy (Sekaran, 2003). I carried out phone, Skype and email interviews.
As this is qualitative study, which is aimed at getting marketers’ opinions about tourists’ perceptions and reactions towards marketing communications, I believe that semi-structured interviews are the most appropriate research technique to apply. In connection with the interpretivism semi-structured interviews were implemented to get subjective answers from respondents with relation to specific situations and their experiences. This type of interview was helpful because there was enough knowledge about research subjects, but a lack of practical information. The questions created a structure of semi-structured interview in accordance with main themes from literature review, however interviewees were free to bring their ideas and views. Such technique covered not only main fields of research, but also provided new ideas(Sekaran, 2003).
In order to achieve the objectives of this paper 3 research questions as a guidance for interview questions were created:
How do companies advertise for Irish and Russian tourists?
Does practice match the implications of Hofstede’s dimensions?
What effect does online marketing generate in Russia and Ireland?
Overall, the semi-structured interviews were conducted by 10 questions (presented in Appendix A) on the sample of three organizations. The questions were formed to determine the influence of Irish/Russian culture on marketing communications.
3.5 Secondary data
Czinkota and Ronkainen (2007) stated that the main research objectives have to be applied as a guidance in order to find out the necessary information required and to create a general framework for the research. Taking into account the specificity of the research, it was reasonable to undertake it through two stages: secondary and primary data collection. Secondary data as existing theoretical material provided an overall sense and background for the research. What is more, it was suitable for international comparison and primary data support.
The research background was obtained from relevant books, published and electronic journals, reports and articles, and websites on the topic of culture, marketing communications with emphasis on online media and tourism and hospitality industry. Particularly I found out that previous articles about Hofstede dimensions applied to advertising context and international reports of TripAdvisor were relevant.
Consequently, secondary data was used to analyse, compare and contrast the research findings obtained by interviewing tourism related companies.