Research Proposal - Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Automobile Consumers Behaviour and Its Impact on UK Luxury Automobile Industry

Research Methods Assignment

Analysis of the Impact of Brand Perception on Consumer Buying Behaviour, A Case Study of Rolls Royce

Research Proposal - Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Automobile Consumers’ Behaviour and Its Impact on UK Luxury Automobile Industry

1. Introduction

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1.1 Background of the Research

Consumer behaviour is influenced by brands because they appeal to the "self-image" of those who use them. Advertisements portray the sorts of lives and degrees of enjoyment that customers aspire to, which serve as emblems of the brand's values. How customers perceive and connect to a brand has a significant impact on consumer behaviour. How customers feel about a product or service is determined by their perception of that product or service. What makes a difference to a brand's bottom line is how well its target market perceives it (Ahmed, 2021). After a favourable encounter with a brand, 77% of customers are more inclined to suggest it to others. Brands have a responsibility to know their customers and do what it takes to enhance their image. Create a branded TV commercial, YouTube advertisements or invite the consumers to write online product reviews to do this.

Consumers' opinions of a brand may be positively influenced by such encounters. It's possible that the owner of a brand believes they know precisely what their brand represents. That image, however, may only represent the goals of the company's employees and not those of the company's customers. As an example, a survey by Brain and Company found that although 80% of businesses feel they provide excellent services, just 8% of customers concur. Brand impression belongs to consumers, not companies. The brand is what customers believe and say about it, no matter what messaging the company uses to market it (van Hoek and Loseby, 2021). Customers' sentiments and ideas about a brand are shaped by their experiences with it. In the end, the sum total of these sentiments and ideas is what creates brand perception.

1.2 Research Aims and Objectives

1.2.1 Research Aims

Generally, this study aims to effectively and efficiently analyse the impact of brand perception on consumer buying behaviour. Through this, the organisations will be able to get sufficient knowledge and information about the enhancement of brand reputation in the market.

1.2.2 Research Objectives

• To implement different theories for consumer behaviour.
• To demonstrate information about brand perceptions.
• To analyse the impact of brand perception on consumer buying behaviour.
• To evaluate the importance of brand perception for the organisational growth of Rolls Royce.

1.3 Research Questions

• How Rolls Royce will be able to get information about consumer buying behaviour?
• How does brand perception impact consumer buying behaviour?
• How does consumer buying behaviour enhance Rolls Royce's brand image?
• What kinds of factors are considered by Rolls Royce to meet consumer demand?

1.4 Research Rationale

During the conduction of the research, the researcher will significantly evaluate the most crucial information regarding brand perception and consumer buying behaviour in the automobile industry. Moreover, by considering the organisation, Rolls Royce, the researcher will provide some specific information and knowledge about different kinds of significant facts and the utilisation of different theories and strategies by Rolls Royce for developing its brand perception and influencing consumers (Smith-Gillespieet al., 2019). In this way, the researcher will be able to proficiently develop and demonstrate rationalised, reliable and authentic information and data to the future learners and the researchers.

2. Literature Review

2.2 Evaluation of the Impact of Brand Perception on Consumer Buying Behaviour

According to the statement of Foroudiet al. (2018), customers' purchasing decisions are strongly influenced by their impressions of a company and the items or services it offers. Because they want to impact the views of their target customers in a positive manner. A firm may alter these impressions and encourage successful customer behaviours via careful planning and execution. To determine if a firm has value, customers continuously synthesise all the data they know regarding it. As per the statement of Spenceet al. (2019), customer satisfaction is an estimation of reality in a certain sense. – e.g. Some companies use deception and deception to skew public opinion, but most do it by portraying themselves in the best possible light. Customer perceptions of high value might lead to greater sales, for instance, when marketing emphasises the product's quality and convenience.A major aspect in shaping customer opinion is exposure.

Having more knowledge about a product makes buyers more confident in making a purchase. Therefore, firms do all in their power to get their products known. This, however, creates an issue: Consumers tend to tune out when businesses smother them with marketing messages. Based on the statement of Trivedi (2019), businesses may impact consumer perceptions by not just exposing their products to customers, but also by differentiating their offerings from the competition. When a consumer buys anything, successful firms don't let their guard down. As stated by Yuet al. (2018), as a consequence, people continue to cultivate beliefs that lead to beneficial outcomes. In the end, it's all about maintaining a positive brand image and cultivating customer loyalty. Because it reinforces the idea that the company really cares about its consumers, providing exceptional service is a successful strategy. With the consumers' loyalty, the corporation has a steady flow of money which makes it more difficult for its rivals to acquire new clients.

2.3 Demonstration of the Knowledge about the Impact of Consumer Buying Behaviour on the Organisational Growth

Ali (2020) stated that a company's ability to sell a product or service depends on its understanding of how customers make purchasing decisions. Customer behaviour research is figuring out what kinds of things different kinds of customers purchase and when and how they make purchasing decisions. Being able to anticipate and meet the requirements of the consumers as a small company owner is essential for their success. In order to figure out when, where and how to sell their goods and services, companies typically conduct research on customer habits. According to the viewpoint of Bouncken, Kraus and Roig-Tierno (2021), creating advertisements, social media sites, and marketing for the office supply business might help the business become a cultural icon if businesses understand that customers prefer office supplies from well-known companies. Then the companies will spend less time on advertisements and more time hanging posters at graduate schools and becoming Facebook friends with postgraduate programmes if the organisations are selling textbooks that only grad students purchase.

As per the viewpoint of Al-Omoush, Simón-Moya and Sendra-García (2020), organisations depend on customer behaviour to make decisions about what goods and services to produce or provide. An organization's ability to identify a gap in the market is enhanced if it knows what consumers buy and how they purchase it. Based on the viewpoint of (), a site where consumers may purchase and automatically download educational software would make sense if the business owns a technology firm and have seen that many of their consumers demand academic software from university bookshops around the beginning of the autumn and spring. As viewed by Liuet al. (2021), corporations should understand as much as possible regarding customers and the items they buy in order to come up with a great concept, according to Harvard Business Review. Consumers are more likely to return to their business if they comprehend their behaviour in connection to the things businesses are offering and how to best serve them.

2.4 Assessment of the Importance of Brand Perception for Organisational Growth

Krizanovaet al. (2019) viewed that It is important for a buyer to be able to recognise and remember a brand in a variety of contexts. Recall and recognition of a brand are two components of brand perception. If a customer sees a product category, they can quickly remember a brand's name, and if a customer can detect a brand cue, they have shown their ability to recognise a brand. That instance, if a customer notices or learns about a brand, they may report it to the proper authorities. In addition, the depth and breadth of a brand's perception may be distinguished. According to the opinion of Dsouza and Sharma (2020), how to make customers remember or identify a brand is referred to as "depth," while breadth refers to the fact that the brand name will pop into their heads as soon as they purchase anything Consumers will associate a certain brand with a specific product if the brand has both depth and breadth.

In other words, the products have greater brand recognition. Furthermore, the name of a company's symbol is the most important factor in brand perception. This means that if a product has an enviable brand image and is associated with that image, it will be more likely to be sold. As per the opinion of Roscoeet al. (2019), the name of a brand may help customers identify service providers and make predictions about the quality of the services they will get. Buying well-known and well-known goods has a substantial impact on the buyer's intention to buy.

Perceptions of a brand may help customers recognise a brand among a group of products and come to a purchase decision. Based on the opinion of Pandita and Ray (2018), the brand impression has a significant impact on product assortments and may serve as the foundation of a product category's prior research. Additionally, brand perception plays a significant role in the buyer purchase goal, and some brands will grow up in consumers' brains to influence the buyer's choice to buy. Consumers choose products with a high degree of brand recognition because they have a larger market share and a higher value rating.

2.5 Literature Gap

In this aspect, by considering the above-discussed literature study, it becomes evaluated that the researcher has not been able to access the knowledge and information about some specific organisational perspective. Therefore, the researcher has decided to conduct the research on the particular topic regarding “Analysis of the Impact of Brand Perception on Consumer Buying Behaviour, A Case Study of Rolls Royce”. Through this, the gap of evaluating specific data will be fulfilled in the future research study of the researcher.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Philosophy

Throughout the conduction of the entire study of the researcher, the researcher has highlighted that there is four fundamental research philosophical approach. These research philosophies proficiently help the researchers to conduct their research successfully (Browneet al., 2019).These research philosophies are positivism, realism, pragmatism and interpretivism. In this aspect, in order to successfully conduct and accomplish this study, the researcher will select the pragmatism philosophical approach. Through this, the researcher will be able to develop and demonstrate significant knowledge and information to the learners and future researchers.

3.2 Research Approach

Moreover, throughout the accomplishment and conduction of the entire research study, the researcher has highlighted three fundamental research approaches in the market. These research approaches are inductive, deductive and abductive.Among these three research approaches, the researcher will utilise the inductive research approach for successfully and efficiently conducting and accomplishing the entire study(Husni, 2020). In this way, by using the inductive research approach, the researcher will be able to prominently analyse the demonstrate some new, reliable and authentic facts and information regarding this particular study topic throughout the conduction and accomplishment of the research study.

3.3 Research Design

There are different kinds of research design methods are available that has been highlighted by the researchers. Generally, these research design methods are explanatory, exploratory, descriptive, case study, grounded theory, etc. In this aspect, among these research design methods, the researcher has decided to utilise and implement the exploratory research design within this study (Potter, 2018). Moreover, by utilising and implementing the exploratory research design within this study, the researcher will be able to effectively and resiliently explore some crucial and authentic facts and evidence for this study. Thus, by gathering a large range of knowledge and information for this study, the researcher will be able to successfully design the entire study.

3.4 Research Sampling

To establish a sample that is indicative of the total community, researchers utilise sampling to pick individuals from the target audience. Sample groups are necessary for researchers to establish generalisations regarding a sample group that may be applied to the whole target audience. There are several research sampling methods are available that potentially help to sample the study. In this aspect, in order to successfully and efficiently conduct and accomplish the entire research, the researcher will utilise the convenient sampling method (Cardno, 2018). Through this, the researcher will be able to conduct the survey among 50 consumers of Rolls Royce. This will help the researcher to gather authentic data and information regarding the study topic.

3.5 Data Collection Process

There are different kinds of data collection processes are available, which effectively help the researchers to collect the most reliable and authentic data and information for their research. Therefore, the researcher has decided to utilise and implement both the primary quantitative and secondary qualitative data collection methods within this research (Li, 2018). Thus, within the primary quantitative method, the researcher will conduct a survey among 50 consumers of Rolls Royce and within the secondary qualitative method, the researcher will access different evidence and ethical databases to gather knowledge from peer-reviewed journals, existing research papers, scholarly articles, PDFs, etc. relevant to this particular study.Generally, through email, the researcher will contact 50 customers of Rolls Royce for efficiently conducting the survey through google form by sending the survey questions through email to the consumers.

3.6 Data Analysis Process

In this way, by collecting and gathering the most evident and reliable and authentic information and data from different sources, the researcher needs to effectively analyse all the data and information to develop and demonstrate the most potential and effective knowledge to the readers. In this aspect, there are different kinds of data analysis methods are available like thematic analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis, statistical analysis, case study analysis, etc. (Mertova and Webster, 2019). In this aspect, in order to successfully and efficiently analyse all the data and information regarding this study, the researcher will utilise the thematic analysis method.

3.7 Ethical Consideration

When it comes to conducting human affairs, it is important to have a set of ethical standards and ideals in mind. The ethical concerns ensure that no one behaves in a manner that harms society or an individual. Violent behaviour is discouraged because of this rule. When doing research, the first and most fundamental ethical concern is the invalidity of research questions (Crayne and Hunter, 2018). To address a specific research topic, a researcher conducts a study. The answer to the research question posed at the outset must be found in the study's final findings. Every study needs a technique for doing research. It is possible to do research in several ways.

To carry out the investigation, the most suitable research approach is chosen. When it comes to ethical issues, choosing the correct study approach is crucial. The vast majority of studies involve human subjects. Before beginning any research, the researcher must get informed permission from all participants and ensure that they have been fully informed regarding the study's procedures (Holtkamp, Soliman and Siponen, 2019). The participants will be aware of what they're signing up for when they provide informed permission. They may choose whether or not to engage in the study if they are informed of its objective. In addition, participants have the right to seek clarification or reassurance at any time throughout the study if they have any concerns or questions.

4. Research Timeline

Periodic Activities	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7
Undertaking Research
Setting Aims and Objectives
Conducting Literature Study
Implementation of Methods
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Discussion
Submission
Feedback

(Source: As created by author)

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