1 | P a g e RESEARCH IN MARKETING INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (70% OF TOTAL MODULE GRADE) 1

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1 | P a g e RESEARCH IN MARKETING INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (70% OF TOTAL MODULE GRADE) 1. BACKGROUND The clothing retail brand ‘KCLothing’ hired you as a marketing consultant to run a short survey to evaluate the word of mouth generated by the customers after visiting the retail store. Following several meetings, in which you discussed and agreed with your client the preliminary stages of the research process, you collected data by surveying a sample of 118 customers. More specifically, respondents were asked to evaluate on 7 points Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) their perception of: • Friendly staff [ Friendly staff] (Question: The staff in the clothing retail store is friendly) • Wide range of clothing lines [Product range] (Question: The retail store offers a wide range of products) • Return policy [Return policy] of clothes in store (Question: The brand’s return policy is fair) • Quality of the product [Product quality] (Question: The apparel lines of this brand are of a good quality) • Price [Price] (Question: The retail store has reasonable prices) • Word of mouth [Word of mouth] (Question: I would recommend the brand to friends and family) The results of this survey can be found on KEATS in the file RIM_KCLothing.sav [Indicates variable names in the SPSS dataset]. 2. YOUR TASK The company asked you to analyse the data collected and produce a report that can help them to improve the overall word of mouth generated from the customers. In particular, they are interested in addressing the following questions: • How well do the key factors that were measured in the survey (i.e., Friendly staff, Product range, Return policy, Product quality and Price) predict customers’ word of mouth? • Which is the best predictor of word of mouth? The brand managers have also asked you to write a brief background section on the issues that retail stores are facing nowadays. They also want you to review the existing academic literature on word of mouth to ensure results are contextualised and discussed in an informed manner. You will formalise your response to this brief in a written report of 2500 words. 3. ASSIGNMENT DETAILS and REPORT STRUCTURE Your report should include the following sections: 1. Title Page: title of your report, student name, student ID (not included in the wordcount) 2. Executive Summary: this section introduces the main issues, outlines the conclusions from analyses, and details the main recommendations (not included in the wordcount). 2 | P a g e 3. Introduction and background (approx. 500 words): briefly summarise the research problem, the research questions and write a brief background on the issues that retail clothing brands are facing nowadays. (e.g., threats, opportunities, economic, social factors etc). The aim is this section is to clarify what you are doing and to justify why the research problem is important (i.e., retailer brand must engage physically and digitally with customers because…etc.). Focus on using 4 to 6 market research reports (use KCL e-library) or leading industry publications (e.g. reports and white papers from leading consultancy firms). Avoid generic internet sources as your grade will be penalised. 4. Brief review of the literature on word of mouth (approx. 500 words): now focus on the academic literature and discuss previous studies on word of mouth. What are the key antecedents of word of mouth? What are the effects of word of mouth? Overall, why is word of mouth important according to the academic literature. We are not expecting an extensive literature review. Try to read and review 4 to 6 article published in peer-review journals which you can access via KCL e-library. Avoid generic internet sources as your grade will be penalised. 5. Data analysis method (approx. 500 words): in this section you will discuss and justify the method used to analyse the data and answer the research question. You should also discuss the key assumption behind the selected method. Note: you are not required to discuss sampling and data collection as these issues are already described in this assessment brief. Simply focus on the data analysis process that you followed. 6. Data analysis and interpretation (approx. 500 words): in this section, you will analyse the dataset and address the research questions presented in this brief. In particular, you should: • Begin by conducting an initial data screening (e.g. missing data, errors, outliers etc.) • Run some preliminary analysis (e.g. descriptive statistics) to get a better idea of the composition of the sample and of the responses to the questions (use descriptive statistics, tables and charts as appropriate) • Analyse the data by using the appropriate statistical methods discussed in the previous section. Report and discuss the results and address the two research questions presented in this brief. 7. Discussion, limitation and conclusions (approx. 500 words) • Discuss the results of your analysis in light of the insights that emerged from your analysis of the practitioners literature (background section) and the academic literature (literature review section). What can your client, KCLothing learn? • Discuss some potential limitations of the present study (including limitations of the data analysis approach employed) • Suggest ideas (1 or 2) for future research that might help your client to better understand customers’ word of mouth. 8. Reference List (not included in the wordcount) 4. GENERAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS • Total word count: 2500 words • The word count includes all text from the first word to the last word of your report. It does not include: title page, executive summary, tables and charts in the report (including titles, descriptions and sources of the tables), reference list and appendices. • Any sources referred to must be cited in the text and listed in the reference list (Harvard Referencing). 5. MARKING CRITERIA 3 | P a g e All assessments are marked out of 100 in accordance with the specific criteria listed here, the module specific marking criteria (available on KEATS) and the generic KCL PG marking criteria detailed here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/governancezone/Assets/Assessment/Marking%20Criteria,%20Taught%20Postgr aduate.pdf. All formal grades in this module are awarded in accordance with the King’s Business School’s marking and moderation policies. Assessment Topic Description Sections in which the criterion is primarily evidenced Understanding and data analysis Knowledge and understanding of marketing research concepts and methods. Ability to apply relevant market research tools and techniques to the analysis of data. • Data analysis methods • Data analysis interpretation Depth of knowledge Identification and investigation of relevant and appropriate sources. Examination, interpretation and synthesis of concepts, data and information to support analysis and discussion. • Introduction and background • Brief review of the literature on word of mouth • Discussion, limitation, and conclusions Structure, communication and presentation Communication of key messages and ideas in a clear format. Ability to report results by following the appropriate conventions. Clarity of structure. Formatting and visual presentation. Application of Harvard Referencing conventions. All sections