For this study, eleven dealers of the case company were approached, and interviews were conducted with eight of them. The three dealers who did not participate either did not answer at all, or did not answer within the timeframe set to conduct this study. The criteria for choosing the interviewees required that they were operating outside of Finland, and that they represented as many different countries as possible in order to get diverse and geographically broad sample. The contact information of interviewed dealers was provided by the case company. Interview questions were sent beforehand via email, in order to give the interviewees possibility to get familiar with the subject and consider their answers beforehand. Data was also acquired from multiple informal conversations with the international sales manager and marketing manager of the case company, as well as from different public channels of the case company, such as website and social media.
Interviews can be executed in multiple ways, and they can be categorized as structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and unstructured or in-depth interviews. Structured interviews use standardized set of questions, and the questions are asked and answered in strict order, without further social interaction excluding only preliminary explanations related to questions. In semi-structured interviews, the questions and themes are listed, but the order and content can vary between interviews based on the context and flow of conversation. Semi-structured interviews might require asking additional questions, and the discussions should be captured by audio-recording or notes. Unstructured interviews are informal and questions are not predetermined, and the interviewee can talk about events, behavior, and beliefs related to the topic without limitations. Structured interviews can be referred as quantitative research interviews, and semi-structured and unstructured interviews can be referred as qualitative research interviews. (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2007, 311-312)
In this study, semi-structured interviews were used to get deeper understanding of the importance of digital content marketing in B2B context. Semi-structured method was chosen since it was suitable for the qualitative nature of the study, and it was vital to present the most important themes and main questions of the interviews for the interviewees in order to keep the discussion relevant, but it was also vital to let the discussion flow freely without strict structure since all interviewees had different situations and opinions, and some were more familiar with certain topics than other. Semi-structured discussion enabled each interviewee to focus on the parts they had the most knowledge and opinions. Non-standardized interviews are used to gather data that helps to answer “what” and “how”
questions, and also to put emphasis on “why” questions (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2007, 313). Due to the nature of this study and the interviews, predetermined set of questions was vital to ensure that the gathered data is relevant. Interview questions were based on the theoretical part of this study, as well as the current situation of the case company and its dealers, since those provide the context and background for this case study. Interview questionnaire is attached to Appendix 1.
The case company and their dealers, the interviewees in this case, were kept anonymous.
For background information, the industry is mentioned in the case company introduction, and the background information of the interviewees include the job title of the interviewee and experience in that position, how long personal experience the interviewee has with the case company, and how long relationship the organization that the dealer represents has with the case company. The interviewees were first contacted via email by a representative
of the case company, and after they had agreed to participate, the author of the study contacted them to arrange a suitable time for the interview. The questionnaire was sent beforehand via email to ensure that the interviewees were familiar with the themes of the interview. Since all interviewees were located outside of Finland, the interviews were done via Skype, mobile phone, or WhatsApp call based on the preference of the interviewee.
Interviews were done in English with the exception of the interview with Estonian dealer, which was done in Finnish. All interviews were recorded.
Out of eleven dealers contacted, eight agreed to participate in the study. One out of these eight interviewees could not find suitable time for the interview, and sent answers to questions briefly via email. Details about the interviews can be seen from Table 5 listed in the order in which the interviews were conducted. The countries where certain dealers operate are excluded from Table 5 due to wishes of the case company. The countries included in this study in an alphabetical order were Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia.
After each interview, the recorded files were transcribed by the author in order to categorize and analyze the material. Transcribing was generally done immediately after each interview and verbatim, since this allowed objective and reliable view of the interview-situation. The procedures conducted in analysis of qualitative data often include categorization, unitizing data, identifying relationships and developing categories, and testing and developing theories to reach conclusion. Acquired data is usually grouped into categories before further analysis, which allows the researcher to comprehend and manage the data, integrate data from several transcripts and notes, identify key themes or patterns, develop and/or test theories, and draw and verify conclusions. (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2007, 474, 479) Since semi-structured interview method was used and each interview had a different flow and order depending on the interviewee, the data acquired from the interviews was first organized loosely to match the theoretical part of the research, as data related to each different form of content and channel were separated. The second part of handling the data included categorization of the data to the main themes, emerging both from the theoretical and empirical part. After the analysis and categorization of the data, answering the research questions was rather straightforward.