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EXPOSÉ

The user generated content influence on the holiday decision making process

Submitted by Axelle Bette

European Master in Business Studies University of Kassel

Kassel, Germany November 2014

The user-generated-content influence on the holiday decision making process

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Table of content

Abstract ......................................................................................................................... 3

Title ....................................................................................................................... 3

Keywords............................................................................................................... 3

Background ........................................................................................................... 3

Purpose .................................................................................................................. 3

Method................................................................................................................... 4

I. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5

II. Literature review ................................................................................................... 7

III. Theoretical background ................................................................................... 13

A. The holiday decision making process .............................................................. 13

B. The social learning theory (Bandura, 1971) ................................................... 14

Basic concept ....................................................................................................... 14

IV. Problem statement and research questions ...................................................... 16

A. Problem statement ........................................................................................... 16

Previous findings ................................................................................................. 16

The research ........................................................................................................ 16

Adaptation of SLT to social media and holiday decision making process ......... 17

B. Research questions........................................................................................... 18

Sub-questions and Hypotheses ............................................................................ 19

V. Methodology ....................................................................................................... 22

Setting/sampling .................................................................................................. 22

Participants .......................................................................................................... 22

Procedure ............................................................................................................. 22

VI. Overview of the chapters ................................................................................. 23

VII. Work schedule ................................................................................................. 24

Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 25


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List of Figures

Figure 1 The travel planning process (Cox et Al.2009). ............................................ 13

Figure 2 Scheme of the adaptation of the SLT to social media and holiday decision

making process ........................................................................................................... 18

List of abbreviation

UGC: Customer Generated Content

WOM: Word of Mouth

E-WOM: Electronic Word of Mouth

SLT: Social Learning Theory


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Abstract

Title

The user-generated-content influence on the holiday decision making process.

Keywords

User-generated content, social media, holiday decision making process, social learning

theory

Background

Nowadays, Facebook is reaching more than 1,300 million active users in the world,

Twitter 217 million of active users and Instagram 200 million. Social media are

becoming increasingly used and important in customer behavior research. It has been

proved that the increasing exchange of information though social media change the

customer behavior during the decision making process. The tourism industry has been

particularly affected by the emergence of these new forms of word-of mouth (Litvin,

Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008) and it has become important for tourism companies to

understand the impact of the social media on the holiday decision process. Several

studies have already shown the impact of the user-generated content on domain-

specific websites. The results on the influence on the holiday decision making were

quite significant.

Purpose

Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to analyze the influence of user-generated

content on the users of domain independent social media, for instance Facebook or

Instagram. The objective is to understand how the content posted by the user’s

acquaintances will influence and change the behavior. The focus on the holiday

decision making process implies the focus on high involvement service, which

supposes the high concern of the consumer for the information gathered. This study

will also include all the phases of the decision process. The final objective being to be

able to create a sustainable and repetitive scheme, an adaptation of the social learning

theory (Bandura, 1971) through social media will be done, in order to structure and

understand the consumer behavior.


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Method

The required information will be collected through a quantitative study. Online

questionnaire will be created with the Sphinx Software and send to social media users.

The target of the study will be the users of social networking websites such as

Facebook and Instagram. The answers will be collected and analyzed with the various

tools proposed by Sphinx. The questions will be formulated in order to have clear

answers about the respondent’s behavior.

However, as the purpose of the study is to understand the influence of UGC on the

consumer when making holiday decisions, some qualitative components could be

missing. Therefore few qualitative interviews could be run in order to understand

deeper the consumer behavior and explain some variables.


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I. Introduction

For a few decades, the use of social media has been significantly increasing. Kaplan

and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications

that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow

the creation and exchange of User-Generated Content”. The term User-Generated

Content (UGC) is usually used to describe all the forms of content that answer to these

three requirements: the content is published on a public website or social network

accessible to a group of people, a creative effort was made to publish the content and

the content was created by an individual outside of the professional context (OECD,

2007). Several classifications of social media can be done according to various

dimension as the media richness and the level of self-disclosure (Kaplan & Haenlein,

2010) or the range, referring to the specificity of the social networking site (Bronner

& de Hoog, 2014).

Social media are becoming more and more important for consumer decision (Cásalo,

Flavian, and Guinaliu (2011, p. 622), Yang, Mai, and Ben-Ur (2012, p. 371) cited by

Bronner & de Hoog, 2014). The use of social media is transforming the way consumer

are seeking and share information. In many aspects of tourism industry, social media

have been playing an important role, especially considering the holiday decision

making process (Zeng & Gerritsen, 2014). As illustrated by Cox, Burgess, Sellitto, and

Buultjens (2009), the holiday decision making process includes the 5 key steps

proposed by Engel (1990), regrouped under three main phases: Pre-trip phase, During

trip phase and Post-trip phase. According to their stage in the travel planning process

and the kind of information researched, the consumer will tend to use various types of

social media (Bronner & de Hoog, 2014). However, even if this new form of word of

mouth seems very popular among the internet users, it appears from previous studies

that the consumers do not always consider the information provided on social media

as trustworthy and reliable (Cox et al., 2009; Jacobsen & Munar, 2012).

Several studies refer to the impact of social media on the holiday decision process. The

intention to use social media when planning a trip (Ayeh, Au, & Law, 2013), the

involvement and trust in social media and motivation to share on social media (Munar

& Jacobsen, 2014) for instance, have been already studied. However, the studies

referring to the influence of social media on the holiday decision process take into


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consideration, most of the time, only the early phases of the process – the pre-trip

phase. Also, the studies are mainly run through all kind of social media. Studies

examining the impact of travel user-generated content on social networking site such

as Facebook are lacking. As well, only few authors have been studying the impact of

social media by using theoretical framework, such as the theory acceptance model or

the theory of planned behavior (Augusto, Mendes, Tan, & Mills, 2012; Ayeh et al.,

2013; Hajli, 2013).

The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of user generated content on

social networking site (mainly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) on the overall

holiday decision process. An adaptation of social learning theory will be tested in order

to examine the possibility to create a sustainable behavior pattern of the UGC-user.

Therefore the general research question is

How the user-generated content on social networking sites influence all the phases of

the holiday decision making process?


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II. Literature review

The following literature review focuses on the previous studies that have been run

about social media and consumer behavior. The table is organized by themes and

includes the contribution of the paper to the academics. It constitutes the basis of the

research and other articles will be added.

Theme Title Author Published Year Purpose

Social

media

Users of the

world, unite!

The challenges

and

opportunities

of social media

Kaplan, A.M.

Haenlein, M

Business

Horizons

2010 Bring a classification

of social media

according to 2

dimensions.

Propose advices to

use social media

Social

media /

Tourism

industry

Electronic

word-of-mouth

in hospitality

and tourism

management

Litvin, S.W.

Goldsmith,

R.E,

Pan, B.

Tourism

Management

p.458-468

2008 Define the concept of

WOM.

Understand the use of

WOM in the

hospitality and

tourism industry

Understand the

influence of WOM

on the industry

Propose strategies to

exploit the potential

of social media in the

tourism industry

Social

media /

Tourism

industry

What do we

know about

social media in

tourism? A

review

Zeng, B.

Gerritsen, R.

Tourism

Management

Perspectives

2014 Comprehensive

literature

Recommendations

for future research


8

Social

media /

Consumer

Behavior

A study of the

impact of

social media

on consumers

Hajli, M.N.

International

Journal of

Market

Research

2013 Examine the impact

of social media on the

trust in e-commerce

Study the relationship

between trust and

intention to buy.

Try to find a

relationship between

trust and perceived

usefulness (PU) of a

site an intention to

buy.

Look at the influence

(direct or indirect) of

a social media and

intention to buy.

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior

Intentions to

use social

media in

organizing and

taking vacation

trips

Parra-López,

E.

Bulchand-

Gidumal, J.

Gutiérrez-

Taño, D.

Díaz-Armas,

R.

Computers in

Human

Behavior

p.640-654

2011 Propose a theoretical

model to understand

the factors

influencing the

intention to use social

media for the panning

and realization of a

vacation trip.

Presentation of the

previous tourist's use

of the technology

The study presents

also some of the

motivation factors

that plays when using

social media.


9

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

Social media

and consumer

choice

Bronner, F.

de Hoog, R.

International

Journal of

Market

Research

2013 The research try to

determine which kind

of social media is

used according to the

type of trip-research.

Expose the

implications of the

findings to the area of

concern for

marketing: channel

management and

organization web care

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

The role of

user-generated

content in

tourists' travel

planning

behavior

Cox, C.

Burgess, S.

Sellitto, C.

Buultjens, J.

Journal of

Hospitality

Marketing &

Management

2009 Understand how the

consumer use the

UGC website and

their role in the

consumer

information search

and travel behavior

The research catches

the perceptions of the

travel consumer and

the way they value

and relate the

information found on

the web 2.0

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

Motivations

for sharing

tourism

experiences

through social

media

Munar, A.M.

Jacobsen, J.

Kr. S.

Tourism

Management

2014 Understanding the

motivation creating

User-Generated

Content, and the

condition of creation.


10

Social

media /

Consumer

Behavior /

Tourism

industry

Trust and

involvement in

tourism social

media and

web-based

travel

information

sources

Munar, A.M.

Jacobsen, J.

Kr. S.

Scandinavian

Journal of

Hospitality

and Tourism

2013 The purpose of the

paper is to analyze

the trust the

consumer have in the

information provided

by Web 2.0.

Find out how the

consumer are

involved in sharing

process implied by

social media.

Also to understand

the impact of the

social media on

consumer living in

countries with a high

level of adoption and

use of ICT.

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

The impact of

social media

on the

consumer

decision

process:

implications

for tourism

marketing

Hudson, S

Thal, K.

Journal of

Travel &

Tourism

Marketing

2013 Describe the new

consumer decision

process.

Explain the

advantages of social

media involvement

for the tourism

marketers.


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Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

User -

generated

content and

travel

planning: An

application of

the theory of

planned

behavior

Augusto,

L.M

Machado, T.

Felix, B.

Mills, A.

Revista

Brasileira de

Pesquisa em

Turismo. São

Paulo, 6(3),

pp. 280-289

2012 Propose a conceptual

model of online

consumer behavior.

Examine the roles 3

determinants

(attitude, subjective

norm and perceived

behavior control) in

respect of travelers’

intention to use UGC

when making travel

plans.

Weight the factors

that are the most

important for the

UGC context in

travel industry.

Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

Predicting the

intention to use

consumer-

generated

media for

travel planning

Ayeh, J.K

Au, N.

Law, R.

Tourism

Management

2013 Examine the

cognitive factors that

influence the

consumer's intention

to use UGC for travel

planning.


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Social

media /

Consumer

behavior /

Tourism

industry

Tourist

information

search and

destination

choice in a

digital age

Jacobsen, J.

Kr. S

Munar, A.M.

Tourism

Management

Perspectives

p.39-47

2012 The purpose of the

study is prove the

impact of web 1.0

and 2.0 on the

tourists' destination

decision making.

Analyze the impact

of certain variables as

repeated visitor, or

first time visitor and

the level of

independency on the

holiday location

selection, depending

on the information

source chosen.

Consumer

behavior

and

tourism

Consumer

goals in

vacation

decision

making

Decrop, A.

Kozak, M.

Journal of

Travel &

Tourism

Marketing

2014 Understand the

objectives of the

consumers when they

are making decision.

Investigate how the

objectives can be

different according to

the kind of

product/services and

the social level of the

decision in the

consumer decision

process.


13

III. Theoretical background

A. The holiday decision making process

As mentioned in the abstract, the thesis will focus on the holiday decision making

process. The holiday decision making process refers consumer decision making theory

but applied in the particular case of holiday (Engel, Blackwell, & Miniard, (1990) cited

by Cox, Burgess, Sellitto, & Buultjens, 2009). Therefore some specifications need to

be taken into consideration. The following model is the model proposed by Cox et

al.(2009) and that will be used for this thesis. The model includes three main steps:

Pre-trip phase, During trip phase and the Post-trip phase.

Figure 1 The travel planning process (Cox et Al.2009).

Note. Adapted from Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard (1990) and Woodside and Lyonski (1989)


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B. The social learning theory (Bandura, 1971)

Basic concept

The Social Learning Theory (SLT) is a behavioral theory proposed by Bandura (1971).

It states the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and

emotional reactions of others. The social behavior of an individual is learned by

observing and imitating the actions of others. It tries to explain that the individual’s

behavior depends on reciprocal interactions between cognitive, behavioral and

environmental influences. Banduras, during the “Bobo doll experiment” observed that

a kid will reproduce the observed behavior of an adult in the same situation. After this

study, Banduras was able to profile 3 types of models:

Live model: An actual person is demonstrating the desired behavior,

Verbal instruction: A description of the desired behavior is made in details

which explains the individual how to perform the behavior,

Symbolic: the model is conveyed through media like movies, television,

Internet, literature, and radio. The model can be real or fictive.

Moreover, Banduras stated three main principles going along with the theory:

The observation learning achieves the highest level first by the organization

and the repetition of the observed behavior and then by adopting it overtly.

Transforming the behavioral model into words, labels or images results in

better retention than the simple observation.

If the outcome is valued by the individuals, then they are more likely to adopt

the modeled behavior.

The individuals will have a tendency to adopt the behavior of a similar model,

who has admired status and the behavior presents a functional value.

The process that allows the learning is the modeling process. This includes four

different steps:

Attention: if an individual wants to learn he has to pay attention. Elimination

of any source of inattention has to be done. The degree of attention is implied

by both the model’s characteristics and the individual’s characteristics.


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Retention: This steps refers to the observer’s ability to retain information

about the behavior that he observed before. This phase is an important part of

the learning process.

Reproduction: This steps is the moment when the individual performs the

behavior observed. Improvement comes from the repetition of the behavior.

Motivation: This is what makes the individual repeating the behavior

observed. This step includes the notions of external, vicarious and self-

reinforcement that will encourage the individual to perform the behavior.

The purpose of this thesis is to see if such theory is valid for the use of social media in

the context of holiday decision making process. Therefore an adaptation of the theory

is necessary.


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IV. Problem statement and research questions

A. Problem statement

Previous findings

As mentioned in the introduction, many studies have been examining the role of social

media during the holiday decision process. In the literature review proposed by Leung,

Law, van Hoof, and Buhalis (2013) some findings need to be pointed out. First, it

appears that the travelers are using mainly the social media during the pre-trip phase.

As the tourism services belong to category of high-priced, high- involving, and well-

differentiated services, the users are using the e-word-of-mouth in order to reduce the

risk of making a wrong decision. However, the information provided is not always

considered as trustworthy and reliable, partly due to the low level of information

disclosed by the information sources. During the during-trip phase, the users are using

the social media to validate their decision. Social media allows the transmission of

information through narrative content and storytelling, which have a substantial impact

on the consumer behavior. Also, the during trip phase can also be perceived as the start

of the content sharing, especially on social networks, due to the development of the

new technologies (Munar & Jacobsen, 2014). Finally, the post-trip phase is mainly

dedicated to sharing experience on social media.

With the introduction of social media to our lives, there has been a fundamental change

in understanding of delivering the messages to the recipients. Now consumers as one-

sided can define the worth of information and also the value of the interactions for the

purpose of a dialogue. Here the messages with appropriate dialogue competence can

steer the recipients in an intended direction and able to persuade the consumers in

aimed direction by the way of communication through the social media. (Wagner,

2013)

The research

As most of the studies already proved the influence of social media, I would like, in

this thesis, to examine the influence of social media on the holiday decision making

process under another approach. The purpose would be to analyze the influence of

social media through the spectrum of the social learning theory proposed by Bandura,

(1971). The following chapter proposes an adaptation of the SLT to social media and

holiday decision making process. The research will test this model and the related


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assumptions. The final objective would be to propose a sustainable and repetitive

scheme of consumer behavior that links the use of social media with the phases of the

holiday decision making process.

Therefore, the general research question is:



Adaptation of SLT to social media and holiday decision making process

I am surfing on Facebook, and the pictures of my friend in week-end in Rome with her

boyfriend appear in the last posts. I have never been to Rome and the pictures looked

very nice. She visited some very attractive places like the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain

and ate delicious meals. Two months after, this is Easter week end, I have a few days

off and I would like to travel. The pictures of my friend in Rome come back to my mind,

and after asking her some advices, I decided to book the plane ticket and the hotel to

Rome. During my trip I post a picture of me in front the Coliseum. When I come back

I upload all my pictures on Facebook, and advice my friends to try the Italian “gelato”

from Groom. They are curious and ask me more details about the trip.

Starting for this random example, it is possible to link use of social media with the

social learning theory. If we consider an individual active on networking social media

as Facebook or Instagram, the step of the modeling process can be adapted as follow.

Attention: The attention of the observer can be caught by the pictures, status, videos

of the holidays of the model, or even by the model social status. The model is someone

active on the social media as well and part of the environment of the observer as the

observer is able to see his publications.

Retention: The content on social media can be found at any time. Also, very often the

content appears several times on the page. The functions “like” and “share” on the

network prove the observer has seen the content and appreciates it. It is possible also

to see the opinion of the peers concerning the content. It is a way to retain the

information for the future holidays.

Reproduction: As the observer is going on holiday, and as the pictures posted by his

“friend” (the model) seemed attractive, the content influences the final decision.


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During and after his trip, the observer will post pictures or status and share them with

his friends.

Motivation: By traveling and posting pictures of his trip, the observer respond to a

need. It seems to him by adopting the same behavior as the model, he will gain the

same reward: self-esteem, peer-esteem, social recognition…

Figure 2 Scheme of the adaptation of the SLT to social media and holiday decision making process

B. Research questions

As previously seen, the research topic leads to the following research question.



Attention - Pre-trip Phase

•UGC: pictures, videos, status about the trip

•Importance of the model

Retention - Pre-trip Phase

•UGC redondent

•Use of the fonctions "Like" "Share" as retention tools

Reproduction - During trip Phase & Post trip Phase

•The observer travels as well

•Post pictures, status about his own trip

Motivation - Post trip Phase

•Achieve the same degree of popularity

•Self-esteem or self accomplishement


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Sub-questions and Hypotheses

Setting up the definitive sub-questions and the hypothesis at this stage of the research

is a difficult exercise. Therefore, the following sub-questions and the hypotheses are

subject to modification after further researches.

The previous section presents the adaptation that could be made of the model of

Bandura (1971). However, the adaption of the model implies several sub-questions.

The sub-questions are made to decompose the various stages proposed by the model.

The hypotheses proposed in the following part aim to validate the model proposed in

the section before. If the model is validated, this could bring to the academics and

professionals a model of consumer behavior. The model would bring a better

understanding of the consumer pattern when using social media. The professionals of

the tourism industry could use this knowledge in order to improve the use social media

for their advertisement.

First, it is important to understand which factors are retaining the attention of the

observer. That leads to the following sub-question.

1. What is catching UGC user-observer attention?

This question can be transformed into hypotheses. According to the researches I read

about social media, several factors can retain the attention of the consumer. The type

of content, pictures, videos, status etc. can be the first factor (Munar & Jacobsen,

2014). Another factor of attention could be the sources of the content. The person

posting the content is someone that arouses the attention of the observer, as observed

in the theory of Bandura (1971)– the model needs to present attractive characteristics

for the observer. Therefore, the following hypotheses can be made.

H1a: The attention of the observer is caught because of the type of content posted.

H1b: The attention of the observer is caught because of the sender of the content.


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The second sub-question refers to the second step of the process. It means it concerns

the retention phase of the information. The purpose of this question is to find out the

factors that contribute to the retention of the information. We can suppose that the

activity of the observer toward the content (“sharing”, “liking”…) could have an

influence on the retention of the information. (Romero, Galuba, Asur,and Huberman,

2010)

2. What does make the UGC user-observer remembering the behavior of the

model-user?

H2a: The semi-permanent access to the user-generated content on the social media

makes the UGC user-observer remembering the behavior of the model.

H2b: The functions (“Like” “Share”) proposed by the social networks makes the

observer remembering the content posted.

The third sub-question is related to the reproduction of the behavior, which implies the

choice of the trip and the sharing of the experience on social media. What is important

here is to know if the observer finally chooses to reproduce the behavior or not as

proposed in the social learning theory of Bandura (1971). This leads to the following

sub-questions and hypothesis.

3. Is the observer choosing the same holiday as the observer?

4. Is the observer sharing his experience on social media?

H3: The user-observer choose the same vacation trip as the model.

H4: The user observer posts content about his vacations on social media.

The final steps refer to the motivation factors that could drive the reproduction of the

behavior. The motivation can come from various sources. To start, it is important to

understand the factors motivating the final decision of the customer. Hence the fifth

sub question. To try to define a proper answer to this sub-question two hypothesis will

be tested. The first hypothesis refers to the trust the observer has in the user sharing

the content on social media. The greater is the trust in the recommendation the greater

is the influence on the social media user (Munar & Jacobsen, 2013). The second

hypothesis refers to the research of Bandura about the social learning. This supposed

that the observer will reproduce the model’s behavior because he expects the same

outcome. (Bandura, 1971, 2001).


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5. What are the factors influencing the final decision of the user-observer?

H5a: The observer choose the same vacation trip as the model because he trusts his

recommendations.

H5b: The observer choose the same vacation trip as the model because he expects the

same outcome.

The last sub-question refers to the benefits the user withdraw from sharing its travel

experience on social network. Several motivation factors can explain this tendency to

share content on the social media. First Bandura (1971) supposed that if the observer

reproduces the behavior, it is because he expects the same benefits as the model such

as recognition from the pairs. Also Munar and Jacobsen (2014) suggest that the users

are sharing content on social media in order to obtain social support and help other

travelers. Therefore, the following hypotheses can be formulated.

6. What are the benefits of sharing travel experience on social media?

H6a: The observer is sharing on social media because he is looking for social

recognition.

H6b: The observer is sharing on social media because he is looking for social support.

H6c: The observer is sharing on social media because of altruistic reasons.


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V. Methodology

At this point in the research concerning the topic, a mixed method seems to be the best

adapted to obtain reliable information. Indeed, the use of a quantitative study permits

the large collection of data that will be used to create a general profile of consumer

behavior. However, it can induce a lack of qualitative component. Therefore few

qualitative interviews could facilitate the understanding of the consumer behavior and

explain some variables, but the necessity is still to be determined.

Setting/sampling

For the quantitative study, the sample should be around 370 respondents responding

to an online questionnaire. If the qualitative study is effective, the data will be collected

through 4 or 5 personal interviews and run though Skype or personally if feasible.

Participants

The participants will be social network users, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

The sample will take all gender, income, ages, and professions into account. I expect

mainly French respondents as the questionnaire and the interviews will be run among

my acquaintances.

Procedure

First the questionnaire will be created on the software Sphinx and diffused on social

networks such as Facebook, as the target is the social network users. When the size of

the sample will be reached, the data analysis will start. For the analysis, the statistics

tools proposed by the software Sphinx will be used. In conclusion, the results will be

summarized and generalized.

If necessary, semi-structures interviews will be run to complete the questionnaire. The

interviews will be recorded and then transcribed into a document for further analysis.

The analysis method will have to be determined.


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VI. Overview of the chapters

At this point in my researches, it is not possible to establish the clear and detailed

structure of the final thesis. The following structure is the first draft and will be

subject to modifications.

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical framework

2.1. Online social network

2.2. The holiday decision making process

2.3. The impact of social media on the holiday decision making process

2.4. The social learning theory

3. Research question and hypotheses

3.1. Problem statement

3.2. Research question

3.3. Hypotheses

4. Research methodology and data analysis

4.1. Method

4.2. Quantitative analysis

4.3. Qualitative analysis

5. Conclusion

5.1. Implications

5.2. Limitations of the study

5.3. Suggestions for further researchers

6. Bibliography

7. Appendix


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VII. Work schedule

The table below describes the different step to follow for the realization of the final

master thesis. The sub-tasks are included the main “sections” but are not written down

yet due to a lack of information. This table presents only the most important

milestones.

Sections Time Phases Explanation

1. 01-08-2014

01-09-2014

Find a master thesis topic Elaborate 3 main master thesis

topic to propose to the

professors

2. 01-09-2014

13-10-2014

Elaboration of the

Exposé

Find the main research question,

hypothesis, list of the articles

and the draft of the chapters

3. 14-10-2014

15-12-2014

Theoretical phase

Intermediate presentation

Write theoretical part of the

thesis, focus on literature

Draft preparation

4. 01-12-2014

15-01-2015

Methodology phase

Implement the questionnaire

5. 28-01-2015 Intermediate presentation

6.. 15-01-2015

15-02-2015

Evaluation phase Evaluate the results obtained

7.. 15-02-2015

15-03-2015

Analysis phase Analyze and draw implications,

first results and conclusion

8. 15-04-2015

01-05-2014

Finalization phase (I) Finish the master thesis report

9. 01-05-2015

31-05-2015

Finalization phase (II) Correction, adaptation of the

work, preparation of the final

report and presentation

10. 01-06-2015 Final presentation Final presentation of the master

thesis (Leon, Spain)


25

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