Uncertainty in process innovations : A case study on the adaption of search engine optimization

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Uncertainty in process

innovations:

MASTER

THESIS WITHIN: Business administration NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30

PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Digital Business AUTHOR: Jonathan Samuelsson & Lovisa Skoglund JÖNKÖPING May 18, 2020

- A case study on the adaption of search engine

optimization

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Master Thesis in Business Administration

Title: Uncertainty in process innovations: A case study on the adaption of search engine optimization

Authors: Jonathan Samuelsson and Lovisa Skoglund Tutor: Ryan Rumble

Date: 2020-05-18

Key terms: Process innovation, uncertainty, uncertainty management, SEO, SME

Abstract

Process innovation is an important topic in business research. It enables competitive advantages for companies if managed properly. It is previously acknowledged that uncertainty in process innovation is common and previously research show that it has a negative impact on process innovation projects, as it can cause a waste of resources for the company. For SME’s, where resources are limited, it is imperative that uncertainty do not affect process innovation projects negatively. Previous scholars do not identify sources of process innovation uncertainty in SME’s or how it can be managed, thus leave a gap in theory that is important to fill. The purpose of the study was to investigate how uncertainty in process innovation arises in an SME and how it can be reduced by an investigation on how SEO, as an instance of process innovation, was perceived before and after an implementation process and if a change in perception was related to uncertainty. A single case study with qualitative interviews, combined with an implementation process of SEO, was used to investigate the topic and generate in-depth knowledge. Our findings identify sources of process innovation uncertainty in SME’s, arising from either a resource perspective or from an organizational perspective. Furthermore, we suggest how to manage the identified sources of uncertainty through either information, communication or results. Organizations can use these findings to manage process innovation uncertainty before it arises, thus achieve successful process innovation.

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2.4.2 SEO as a concept ... 16 2.5 Synthesis of literature ... 18 3 Methodology ... 20 3.1 Research philosophy ... 20 3.2 Research approach ... 21 3.3 Research strategy ... 22 3.3.1 Case method ... 22 3.3.2 Selection of case ... 23 3.4 Data collection ... 24 3.4.1 Primary data ... 24 3.4.2 Implementation process ... 26 3.5 Analysis of data ... 26 3.6 Research quality ... 28 3.7 Ethical considerations ... 29 4. Empirical findings ... 31

4.1 Initial perception of SEO and innovation ... 31

4.1.1 General perception of SEO ... 31

4.1.2 Adaption of new innovations at an SME ... 33

4.1.3 Future of SEO ... 35

4.2 The effects of an implementation process ... 36

4.2.1 The implemented SEO technique ... 36

4.2.2 Change in perception ... 38

4.3 Uncertainty at an SME ... 40

4.3.1 Sources of uncertainty ... 40

4.3.2 Difference in uncertainty based on company characteristics ... 44

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5. Analysis ... 52

5.1 The ascend of uncertainty at an SME ... 52

5.1.1 Resource uncertainty ... 52

5.1.2 Organizational uncertainty ... 53

5.1.3 Summary ascend of uncertainty ... 55

5.2 Reduction of uncertainty ... 56

5.2.1 Reduction of uncertainty by information ... 57

5.2.2 Reduction of uncertainty by communication ... 58

5.2.3 Reduction of uncertainty by clear results ... 59

5.2.4 Summary reduction of uncertainty ... 60

5.3 Uncertainties influence on perception ... 61

6. Conclusion ... 65

7. Discussion ... 68

7.1 Theoretical implications ... 68

7.2 Practical implications and recommendations ... 69

7.3 Limitations of the study ... 70

7.4 Suggestion further research ... 71

Reference list ... 72

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Figures

Figure 1. Visualization of synthesis ... 19

Figure 2. Example of coding process adapted from Gioia et al. (2012) ... 28

Figure 3. Sources of uncertainty in process innovations at an SME ... 56

Figure 4. Reducing uncertainty in process innovation ... 61

Tables Table 1. Summary of requirements ... 24

Table 2. Overview interviews ... 25

Appendix Appendix 1. Topic guide first round of interviews ... 78 Appendix 2. Topic guide second round of interviews ... 79 Appendix 3. Letter of consent ... 80 Appendix 4. SEO implementation process ... 81 Appendix 5. 2nd order themes and aggregated dimensions ... 83

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1. Introduction

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In this chapter, we introduce you to the background of our thesis. Secondly, we explain our research problem, and why it is relevant to study. Lastly, we present our purpose and research questions.

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1.1 Background

Since the commercial use of the Internet and the World Wide Web began, the business landscape has changed at a frenetic pace (Kannan & Li, 2016; Verhoef & Bijmolt, 2019). Many global giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba were unheard of twenty years ago, but today, they have emerged as key players in shaping the modern economy. Additionally, online sales and the overall retail spending is constantly increasing every year, which highlights the importance of creating a so-called digital relationship with consumers (Kannan & Li, 2016). Many retail giants from the pasts, like Toys “R” Us, RadioShack, have gone bankrupt in today's ever-changing business landscape, which makes it clear that digital developments indeed have a huge impact on customers, markets, and existing players within these markets (Verhoef & Bijmolt, 2019).

This shift in doing business has led to changes for most professions across all industries, and marketers are no exception. The competitive advantage of traditional marketing has gradually disappeared, and marketers today must act digital and rely on data (Zhu & Gao, 2019). However, researchers suggest that a combination of digital marketing together with traditional campaign marketing is the best working model in order to achieve their business goals (Todor, 2016). Digital marketing can be defined as:

“the practice of promoting products and service in an innovative way, using primarily

database-driven distribution channels to reach consumers and customers in a timely, relevant and cost-effective manner” (Varbanova, 2013, p. 161).

Digital retailers nowadays must break out of the traditional marketing concepts, and instead combine it with digital marketing in order to be successful marketers in today’s business landscape (Zhu & Gao, 2019). Internet marketing and social media has a

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significant impact of both how consumers behave, but also the way companies do business, and is a must to adapt to reality (Todor, 2016). Moreover, there are many advantages with digital marketing strategies, compared to traditional ones. It is more cost efficiency, has an infinite audience, easier to measure, and makes it possible to personalize the actual marketing content (Todor, 2016). This is especially important for small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s), who often operate with a rather small budget, compared to the global giants described above. The limits for an SME are 11-250 employees and 50 million euro in turnover (EU commision n.d) Therefore, effective digital marketing strategies are of huge important for online retailers that are classified as SME’s. SME’s are one of the most important drivers for economic growth in the world, and they therefore play an important role in the economic development worldwide (Seo & Chae, 2016). The e-commerce sector is growing bigger each year. In 2019, retailing online accounted for 14.1% of worldwide retail sales and the forecast shows that it will only continue growing (Statista 2020a). The apparel market is no exception, as clothes is one of the most popular thing people buy online (SCB 2016) and more companies are entering the market every year. The expansion of the industry makes it even more imperative for companies to be seen by consumers and chosen over competitors. With an appealing digital marketing strategy, companies within the e-commerce sector can increase customer interaction and attract more traffic to their websites, thus get advantages against competitors. To be able to create such marketing strategy, companies must adapt to the constantly changing digital environment and become innovative in their mindset.

1.2 Problem discussion

A constantly changing business landscape requires companies to continuously develop their business models. The introduction of a new technology or method that will help a company to remain competitive is referred to as process innovation (Rouse 2015). Moreover, process innovation is also described as a process of technological and organizational change (Reichstein & Salter, 2016). In marketing, technology have enabled many new solutions for businesses to implement to promote products or services. Hence, new technological innovations within marketing can be connected to process innovation, and process innovations are necessary for a company’s survival.

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Although process innovation is imperative if a company want to stay competitive, there are issues connected to the topic. Previous scholars recognize uncertainty towards process

innovation as common (Parida, Patel, Frishammar

& Wincent, 2016). Uncertainty about process innovation prevent companies from developing the business, and with the previously mentioned growing e-commerce business, this might become a problem to keep up with the changing business environment and competitors. Sicotte and Langely (2000) confirm with their research that process innovation uncertainty can cause time delays and waste of resources. Previous research acknowledge that SME’s downfalls are due to limited resources as well as absence of a proper strategy (Seo & Chae, 2016). Moreover, limited resources have also been identified as an obstacle for SME’s when it comes to implementing successful digital marketing strategies (O’Dwyer & Gilmore, 2018). Thus, it can be argued that process innovation uncertainty becomes a problem for SME’s if it causes waste of resources, since limited resources is already established as a reason for SME’s downfall in marketing strategies. Although previous scholars emphasize the affect process innovation uncertainty have on business performance (Frishammar, Kurkkio, Abrahamsson & Lichtenhaler, 2012), literature about different sources of process innovation uncertainty within SME’s is scarce. Previous research indicate that Organizational and resource uncertainties are two types of uncertainties that are often found within process innovation (Frishammar et al., 2012). However, there is a gap in research on ascended of process innovation uncertainty at SME’s and how such uncertainty can be reduced. By investigating this topic, valuable contribution to the topic of uncertainty management can be attained, as the research will provide insights on how uncertainty arises and how it can be reduced, thus give the opportunity to prevent the situation before it occurs. As SME’s are facing problems with limited resources, and process innovation uncertainty can lead to a waste of resources, it would be of both theoretical and practical interest to explore how process innovation uncertainty arise in SME’s and how it can be properly managed.

There are many forms of process innovation projects across industries, and digital marketing techniques can be seen as an instance of it.In recent years, search engine marketing is a digital innovation that has become a popular digital marketing strategy. Because of the digitalization of the society,

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consumer behaviour has changed, and consumers nowadays use digital technology to search for products and services online (Grant, Clarke & Kyriazis, 2007) and as much as 75% of the traffic to a website comes from search engines (Kumar & Gupta 2016). Hence, search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo plays an important role in a competitive market and the search engine result pages (SERP’s) and the ranking on these has become an evident part of digital marketing. Existing research indicates that people who use search engines to search for products or services are influenced by the presentation of the result on the SERP’s and tend to click on the links that are ranked on the first page (Gudivada, Rao & Paris, 2015; Höchstötter & Lewandowski, 2009; Baye, Santon & Wildenbeest 2016).The ranking is based on different algorithms, where the search engines have spiders that crawl websites to determine which ones that are the most suitable for a certain search query (Berman & Katona 2013). In a society where people have access to an endless amount of information, it becomes vital for e-commerce businesses to provide essential information related to the search query of potential customers (Lee, Jang, Lee & Oh 2016). There are two strategies for companies to end up on the first page of the SERP’s; either via sponsored links or by the process of optimizing the website to rank higher in organic search, so called search engine optimization (SEO) (Berman & Katona 2013)

Research shows that most of the search engine traffic rather derives from organic search than from sponsored links (Baye, Santon &Wildenbeest 2016). Moreover, existing research within the area indicates that organic listing, in comparison with sponsored listing, gives a more accurate and appealing result for the consumer (Xu, Chen & Winston, 2012). One of the biggest advantages of SEO is that it does not require any extra cost (Kumar and Gupta 2016) and since it is a tool that is free to use it generates a lot of advantages at a low cost for companies (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2016). Successful SEO implementations will determine the visibility of a website, hence lead to a higher click-through rate (Killoran 2013). Moreover, a higher ranking at the SERP’s have a positive impact on the brand recognition (Dou, Lim, Su, Zhou & Cui 2010). However, some disadvantages with SEO have been recognized in previous research as well. For instance, some argue that SEO can be costly for companies in terms of time and lack of resources (Baye, Santos & Wildebeest, 2016). Additionally, some researchers claim that search engine’s revenues are typically lower when the focus is SEO rather than sponsored

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links (Berman & Katona 2013). Although SEO in the past years have increased in popularity among e-commerce retailers, statistics shows that SME’s are not fully adapting into this area of marketing. In the US, only 26% of responding SME’s use marketing implementation of SEO (Statista 2020b) and in Sweden only 22% of responding SME’s fully agree to the statement that SEO techniques are used (Statista 2020c). By looking at SEO as an instance of process innovation, the statistics makes it interesting to further investigate if process innovation uncertainty is an underlying reason that many SME’s do not develop an extensive SEO strategy.

1.3 Purpose and research questions

For retailers in the e-commerce sector, where the competition is high and the options are many, it is evident to be noticed by consumers in different digital marketing channels. Previous scholars acknowledge uncertainty process innovation and its impact on business performance. However, more in-depth knowledge about how process innovation uncertainty arises within SME’s and how it can be reduced is inadequate in previous research, thus leaves a gap in theory and opportunities to further explore the topic. As statistics shows that many SME’s do not use SEO, it is of interest to further investigate if uncertainty is a reason behind it and if it is possible to reduce uncertainty after an implementation process. Based on the problem discussion, this is the purpose of our thesis:

“The purpose is to investigate how uncertainty in process innovation arises in an SME and how it can be managed. More specifically, we will investigate how SEO,

as an instance of process innovation, is perceived before and after an implementation process and if a change in perception is related to uncertainty”

Our purpose translates into the following research questions:

• What are the main sources of process innovation uncertainty at an SME?

• How is it possible to reduce process innovation uncertainty for SME’s?

• How does an implementation of SEO techniques affect the perception of SEO at an SME?

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1.4 Definitions

In order to provide the readers with a better understanding throughout the thesis, concepts that are used are in this chapter explained. Firstly, process innovation is in the context of this thesis referring to ways of updating marketing strategies to deliver the product to customers in a new way by new technology. Secondly, the concept uncertainty refers to uncertainty that can be recognized in the context of process innovation. The concepts

customers and consumers are related to people who search for or purchase products

online. When mentioning search engines, Google is the main search engine discussed (e.g. in the findings chapter, the respondents often refer to Google). However, when discussing search engines in the literature review, it is the general concept that is discussed, including every search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.) Furthermore, there are some abbreviations that repeatedly occur in the thesis that we would like to clarify:

• SME’s – Small- and Medium enterprises

• SEO- Search engine optimization

• SERP’s- Search engine result pages

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2. Literature Review

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In this chapter, we will explain and introduce the background of the theoretical aspects of this thesis. We will discuss and describe theories connected to process innovation, uncertainty, Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) and Search Engine

Optimization (SEO). In the end of the chapter we present a synthesis of the reviewed literature.

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2.1 Process innovation

2.1.1 Definition of process innovation

Process innovation can be defined as the process of going through change within a company, both technological as well as organizational change (Reichstein & Salter, 2016). Process innovation allows for both efficiency as well as effectiveness and can be a key component in order to achieve long-term competitive advantages (Frishammar et al., 2012). Moreover, process innovation is perceived as one primary type of technological change, that will have an impact in economic growth and firm competitiveness (Edqvist, Hommen & McKelvey (2001). In order to achieve process innovation, a company must go through both organizational and technological changes, and it can be an important source in order to increase productivity within a company (Reichstein & Salter, 2016). Process innovation capability within firms is understood as the ability to develop, understand, transform and exploit technical resources and knowledge, for process innovation purposes (Frishammar et al., 2012).

In the context of this thesis, process innovation refers to the capability to adapt to new technologies within marketing, Therefore, it is of importance to highlight the possible antecedents of process innovation capabilities (Frishammar et al., 2012). These antecedents can be categorised in to three different categories: Strategy, collaboration and culture. In order to achieve an affective process innovation capability, companies should focus on having a strategic alignment, achieving collaboration among internal employees as well as with external partners (Frishammar et al., 2012). Furthermore, in regard to the company culture, it is important to emphasize an innovation climate within the company, together with having top management committed to the project (Frishammar et al., 2012). In accordance with these ascendants, Reichstein & Salter (2006) argues that strategy, cost

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and management involvement are factors that successful process innovation projects are depending on.

Moreover, Frishammar, Lichtenhaler and Richtnér (2013) argues that there are several challenges within process innovation as well. Firstly, it could be a costly and difficult practice, especially if the knowledge is lacking. They further on emphasizes the need of having a thorough implementation plan as well as a deep understanding of the project resources and intended outcomes. Lager (2000) explain that many companies do not have a set of working methods when it comes to process innovation and that there is a lack of effort and capital to invest in such initiatives. When introducing process innovation into companies, it starts with defining the process itself, followed by an implementation of projects, where the new process definition is implemented into existing processes (Frishammar et al., 2013). As previously stated, the definition of process innovation emphasizes the implementation of new technology (Reichstein & Salter, 2006) and is therefore applicable to the context of digital marketing, where new technology is used to improve companies’ ability to reach a broader audience.

2.1.2 Process innovation in an SME

There are several reasons for using process innovation within companies. SMEs often operates within markets that are highly competitive, with many actors that operates similar services (Beriska & Pula, 2015). When operating in competitive environments, SME’s need to use marketing in order to create value and sales (Gilmore, Kraus, O’Dayer & Miles, 2012). If conducting process innovation project related to marketing efforts effectively, companies often slow down competitors by giving themselves a company advantage from a quality of cost efficiency aspect (Frishammar et al., 2012). It is argued by Saridakis, Idris, Hansen and Dana (2019) that SME’s that are more innovative are more likely to internationalise, and that process innovation is associated with propensity of export. This means that SME’s that are aiming to reach a broader, international customer base are more likely to succeed if they are innovative. Khazhanci, Lewis and Boyer (2007) argues that organizational culture is the key to managing innovation, meaning that process innovation will thrive in SME’s with a supportive organizational culture. Martinez-Ros and Labeaga (2009) investigate persistence in process innovation and concludes that whatever form it takes, persistence is crucial to a firm. Further they

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argue that companies that are engaged in some type of innovation are encouraged to innovate by either investment reasons or market position reasons. This creates opportunities for SME’s to become more competitive also against global actors. Laforet (2009) emphasize that size of a firm will have an impact on process innovation, where Medium enterprises, in comparison with small enterprises, are more likely to invest in process innovation,

To successfully adapt to new technology in process innovation, it is important to have a high process innovation capability, since it is related to a firm’s ability to acquire, transform and exploit technically related resources, into procedures and knowledge for process innovation purposes (Reichstein & Salter, 2006). However, this is also perceived as one of the challenges of process innovations, where difficulties of developing and exploiting technical expertise is recognized (Slack, Brandon-Jones & Johnston 2011) Another important aspect to highlight is the fact that the increased level of process innovation also enables the evolvement of the company’s product, which emphasizes the important of have a structured and clear process innovation structure within the company (Reichstein & Salter, 2006). Additionally, Wheelwright (2010) brings up three external forces that are drivers for process innovation development within companies; intense international competition, fragmented and demanding markets, and rapidly changing technologies. As previously stated, SME’s are operating in markets with high competition (Berisha & Pula, 2015) where the market is changing and as new technology emerge so does the need of innovative initiatives, thus confirm that the external forces mentioned by Wheelwright (2012) are relevant in the context of SME’s.

One of the bigger issues for accomplishing process innovation projects is uncertainty (Frishammar et al., 2012).Therefore, process innovation at SME’s can be fraught with uncertainty, which might have a negative impact on the development of the company, as the loss of valuable resources is a risk that is not always possible to take. Hence, uncertainty management needs to be understood properly in the context of SME’s and process innovations.

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2.2 Uncertainty

2.2.1 Definition of uncertainty

Uncertainty is a broadly discussed topic and comes in various forms (de Weck & Eckert, 2007). Uncertainty can be defined as the difference between the information that is available, and the information that is needed, in order to complete a task (Galbraith, 1973). Uncertainty most often arises in situation that are non-routine based, meaning that uncertainty often arises in spontaneous projects (Daft & Machintosh, 1981). As one example, a high level of uncertainty within a given project can lead to difficulties in creating explicit and stable process designs, which often cause time delays, waste of resources, and lastly a failure of the project (Sicotte & Langley, 2000). For SME’s, if uncertainty would lead to a waste of resources, it is probably not a risk possible to take, keeping them from accomplish process innovation projects. Uncertainty is perceived differently in different contexts. In the production context as one example, it often is regarding uncertainty in technology. Therefore, many scholars argue that companies must be extremely careful of technology uncertainty, since it often directly affects the cost of the products, which could result in a negative effect of the development as well (Ragatz, Handfield & Petersen, 2002). Daft and Macintosh (1981) argue that uncertainty thrives in equivocality, meaning that information is interpreted differently between involved stakeholders. The results of that can in a worst-case scenario lead to even more misinterpretation, preventing a fostering business.

Another type of uncertainty is connected to the individuals themselves and are depending on the differences in behavioural and cognitive process of employees, which also nurture uncertainty. For example, if an employee lacks the knowledge, skills or information regarding a given task, it often leads to uncertainty from that employee for the given situation. (Daalhuizen, Badke-Schaub & Batill, 2009). Furthermore, scholars also highlight external uncertainty. External uncertainty often arises from a market context, meaning that a direct competitor, supplier or cultural contexts can be the source of the uncertainty (de Weck & Eckert, 2007). External uncertainty is often connected to the ability of companies to be able to forecast. Miller & Lessard (2001) argues that it is related to the ability to forecast the demand in resources, but also the financial prospective.

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To conclude, uncertainty is a recognized problem in business and there are several identified sources of it (Sicotte & Langely, 2000; Ragatz el al., 2002; Daalhuizen et al., 2009; de Weck & Eckert, 2007). However, these identified sources of uncertainty are not directly related to SME’s, leaving a gap in the understanding of how uncertainty arises depending on characteristics of an SME.

2.2.2 Uncertainty in process innovation

In the topic of process innovation, studies have highlighted uncertainty (Frishammar et al. 2012; Colarelli, O’Connor & Rice, 2013; Brettel, Bendig, Keller, Friederichsen & Rosenberg, 2014; Daalhuizen et al., 2009). These studies are not adapted to the context of SME’s but imply that uncertainty have an impact on technological adaption and needs to be better understood and managed.

There are two types of uncertainties that often are found within process innovation settings (Frishammar et al., 2012). These are organizational and resource uncertainties. Furthermore, organizational uncertainty is often found within and between project relationships, as well as in the transition from radical innovation to operations (Colarelli, O’Connor & Rice, 2013), whereas resource uncertainty on the other hand, is more focused on the gap in competence. When new products or technologies are being innovated and developed, the supplier of the product or technology also plays a significant role in reducing the uncertainty. If companies rather see the supplier as a member of their project, the uncertainties get easier to deal with, and the whole process innovation project also improves (Brettel et al., 2014). Furthermore, companies should be modelling the relationship between different uncertainty levels and design process outcomes, which can help in manage and handle design processes, as well as gain an understanding of potential delays (Wynn, Grebici & Clarkson, 2011). Another important factor to highlight is that knowledge badge behaviour, which is gained through trial and error, also reduces uncertainty (Daalhuizen et al., 2009). Therefore, companies must give the implementation of new processes time, in order to gain the right knowledge base. In addition to that, knowledge also changes quickly, and is important to address new situations, and build an understanding around current situation (Daalhuizen et al., 2009). In accordance with this, Wech and Eckert (2007) conclude that in planning, strategies and decision making, a bad

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performance have an impact on the evolvement of uncertainty. Additionally, some argue that in settings or environments which are of a so-called “non-routine” character, people cannot rely on their skills. In such circumstances, knowledge-based behaviour is even more important, in order to be able to reduce the uncertainty (Daalhuizen et al., 2009).

Earlier researchers have focused mostly on the information processing, in order to reduce uncertainty (Daft & Lengel, 1986). These researchers focus on the fact that companies must learn to balance the amount of information that is going to be processed, in order to be able to reduce the uncertainty. More resent research tends to focus on the fact to reduce uncertainty by networks and partnership, where stakeholders can share their knowledge (Brettel et al, 2014). Colerelli O’Connor & Rice (2013) elaborates on this, stating that the competence gaps that project leaders often must deal with, can be reduced heavily by information provided through partnership and networks. Additionally, suppliers seem to play an important role in reducing the uncertainty as well (Xenophon, Vonderembse & Jayaram 2005). Scholars argue that if companies start to see the suppliers as a member of their team, in the project, uncertainties often get easier to handle and deal with (Brettel et al., 2014). In addition to that, the actual process innovation project itself also improves by doing so (Ragatz et al., 2002).

In addition to that, early end-user involvement is one way to reduce the uncertainty within a given project. Early end-user involvement within a process innovation entails the involvement of personnel during early development, which often can be a key activity in order to gather necessary information that later on can reduce the uncertainty within the process (Gales & Mansour-Cole, 1995). Another important aspect to consider is the information processing, in order to reduce uncertainty within a process innovation (Daft & Lengel, 1986). It is easy to achieve too much information and gain so-called information overload. Companies must find a state where they balance the richness and amount of information with a given process innovation, which is suitable for that specific process, in that company. Companies can tackle the information overload in two different ways; either reduce the amount of information that needs to be processed, or increase the capacity within the organization, in order to handle more information (Gailbraith, 1973). At SME’s, process innovation uncertainty might cause a delayed implementation of new technology, meaning a loss of market share to competitors. Thus, an increased

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understanding of uncertainty and how it can be managed will help SME’s successfully manage marketing process innovation performance.

2.3 Marketing performance in SME’s

SME’s are of great importance to many economies in the world (Ren, Eisingerich & Tsai, 2015). There are many different definitions of SMEs, and the term is used differently in different parts of the world (Berisha & Pula, 2015). In the context of this thesis, SMEs are defined from the European standard, meaning a company that has 250 employees or less (Berisha & Pula, 2015). As one example, the definition varies in the United States, where many scholars define SMEs as a company with 1-499 employees (Berisha & Pula, 2015). This definition is furthermore applicable to the studied company of the case-study conducted on the online retailer ‘aim’n’ and is the overall definition that is mostly used by European scholars (Berisha & Pula, 2015). However, even though the number of employees is an easily and applicable criterion, it also comes with some limitations. The number of employees is dependent of the sector that the business operates within, which makes it hard to make generalized comparisons across sectors. As one example, a company in a huge market in a certain sector, can be considered small, whereas in a small market in any particular sector of the business can be medium, or even large (Berisha & Pula, 2015).

There are many factors that are interesting when it comes to SMEs and their marketing strategies. Digitalization and technology have brought huge opportunities for SMEs to reach new target audiences, and it has changed the way SMEs compete. SMEs abilities to learn and acquire knowledge fast is one major benefit for them, in terms of progressing to next stage development (Pradhan, Nigam & Tiwari, 2018). Technological innovation can help SME’s to achieve higher performance, not only nationally but also internationally (O’Cass & Weerwardena, 2009). Moreover, there are several benefits of acting as a SME in the context of the marketing landscape as well. As one example, SMEs often act faster than bigger companies towards innovation and market trends, since the decision-making process often are more impulsive and shorter in terms of time (Pradhan, Nigam & Tiwari, 2018). Additionally, small firms have been found to have higher rates of innovation, compared to bigger firms (O’Dwyer & Gilmore, 2018; Fritsch & Meschede, 2001) and innovation capability is seen as one of the strongest determinants

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for SME performance (Merrilees, Rundle-Thiele & Lye, 2011). SME’s with high R&D and market capabilities are more likely to have a high innovation performance (Ren, Eisengerich & Tsai 2015). Successful SMEs are often strongly associated with customer satisfaction as well as customer orientation (O’Dwyer & Gilmore, 2018). Laforet (2009) confirm that customer orientation has positive impact on innovation and that company size will affect the level of innovation capability.

However, SME’s often struggle with their marketing communication strategies, and the resources allocated to these strategies are often limited. 99 % of the companies in Europe are defined as SMEs, and therefore, the importance of these companies cannot be ignored (Taiminen & Karjaluito, 2015). Additionally, many SMEs fail to implement successful digital marketing strategies (O’Dwyer & Gilmore, 2018). One reason is due to the fact that SMEs must allocate their resources with many constraints, and the decisions are often owner or manager driven. SMEs operates within a dynamic environment, where decisions often are taking informal, spontaneous and reactive. Moreover, in general, SME marketing activities are driven by the manager / owner of the given company, and their personalities often reflect the strategy that the SMEs are conducting (O’Dwyer & Gilmore, 2018). Furthermore, SMEs often operates within a dynamic environment which often results in SMEs marketing decision being taken in a non-sequential and unstructured way. As stated before, SMEs often take impulsive owner or manager led decision, without having a thorough implementation plan in place. This can lead to a failure of the project, and in the long-run unnecessary allocation of resources. One solution could be using suppliers and external specialist (Knudsen & Srikanth, 2014). However, as for SMEs, this often results in costs that the company simply cannot afford. With the constraint of resources, process innovation that includes technology within marketing that offer SME’s a cheaper solution to reach a broader audience, such as SEO, can be vital for an SME’s competitive capabilities. As earlier clarified, SEO is an instance of process innovation in the context of this thesis. Thus, it is important to understand how SME’s successfully can manage uncertainty evoked in process innovation, so that technological marketing techniques such as SEO can be successfully implemented and increase business performance.

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2.4 Search engine optimization (SEO)

2.4.1 Search engines and search behaviour

Search Engines nowadays is one of the most important tools for markets to use, in order to meet the customers online (Smith, 2011). The search engine Google as one example, is the most popular website in the world, and was the first to achieve over one billion monthly unique visitors, back in 2011 (Baye et. al, 2016). The importance of being visible on a search engine is therefore crucial, since it is the main starting point for navigating the Web. The goal of a search engine is to view potentially relevant results to the user (Lewandoski, 2015). This means that there are no rights and wrongs in the result ranking, since a typical search query often generate thousands of results. Marketing literature has for a long time recognized the importance of understanding the search phase for consumers, due to several reasons (Kim, Albuquerque & Bronenberg, 2009).

Firstly, the search phase of a consumer is important to understand, since it is often the first phase of the interaction with a company, from the consumer perspective, but also since the search behaviour of consumers are fundamental to plan marketing communications strategies. Secondly, search engines dominate among the world’s most visited websites, making it extremely important to be visible on those them (Killoran, 2013). The users are influenced by the presentation of the result of the search engine result page, thus making it important for companies to also be visible on the first results page (Höchstötter and Lewandowski 2009). Users are provided with results that depends on the search query, and there are several ways for companies to be listed. the listing could be organic, which means that users are exposed for these ones because the content of the links has been calculated as relevant by algorithms (Jerath, Ma & Park, 2014). Furthermore, if the link is not ranked on the five top pages of a search query, it becomes difficult to obtain traffic to your website from organic search, since consumers tend to stick to the top results on the given search engine (Baye et al, 2016). However, there are other opportunities for companies to get listed on the top results, via sponsored listing. Sponsored listing means that companies are paying in order to get exposed for users (Jerath et al, 2014).

It is crucial for marketers to be updated regarding the changes of the algorithms which determines the ranking on the search engine result page, as they are constantly changing

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(Killoran, 2013). Furthermore, it is of huge importance to be updated to the most trending keywords in terms of the business landscape that the company is operating in. Specific keywords will generate more click than others, since potential customers often tend to use similar terms and phrases when searching for a specific product or service on a search engine (Baye et al, 2016).

2.4.2 SEO as a concept

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be defined as the process for content creators to orient their websites to accommodating and taking advantage of search engines and their ranking rules (Killoran, 2013) Berman and Katona (2013) further on states that SEO means that advertisers can increase their visibility in search engines, by implementing changes to their website, that suits the current algorithms for the search engine. However, as a response to this, the search engines constantly redefine their algorithms, in order to prevent content creators and their SEO specialist to undermining search engines logistic roles (Killoran, 2013).

Most of the marketing as well as the economics literature on search engines has focused on paid clicks, most of the traffic that online retailers receive through search engines are unpaid clicks on organic links (Jerath et al., 2014). Paid clicks are a concept where a company pays a given amount to the search engine provider, for each click on their links. However, as stated above, most traffic is generated through organic, unpaid links. Therefore, advertisers often engage in search engine optimization, in order to improve organic clicks, rather than purchase sponsored link in order to generate traffic (Baye et al., 2016).

There are several factors that plays an important role in the SEO strategy of a company. For SMEs, which often operates with a rather small budget in terms of marketing, it is therefore of importance to conduct a though through SEO strategy. Firstly, companies can organize their website structure and language, to better fit keywords that potential customers are searching for, giving a more accurate result, based on search queries (Xu et al. 2012). This is also the most common, and maybe the easiest part to implement as a part of the overall SEO strategy (Baye et al, 2016). Furthermore, companies can invest in

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website structure optimizations, site content optimization, website link optimization or image optimization (Yin, Xu & Zhao, 2014). A company’s website should be analysed and adjusted within these different implementations, in order to improve the ranking in the search engine result page. Gudivada et al. (2015) further states that a website can be optimized in two ways; on-page or off-page. On-page refers to the content and website structure, such as the anchor text, content, meta description tags, images and privacy policies as some examples. Off-page optimization refers to inbound and outbound external links, such as sitemaps, text links, robot meta tags, which will affect the overall result ranking. By implementing these above-mentioned steps, a website will more likely get a higher score in the algorithms of the search engine that determine its ranking position.

However, there are several “non-technical” aspects that is extremely important as well in order to attain a successful SEO strategy. One example is the brand equity of an online retailer, since it is an important driver for organic clicks. Marketers often overlook the benefits of including investments in the quality of the brand as well as the brand awareness of its site (Baye et al, 2016). There are some direct benefits of investments in brand equity, such as increasing the number of consumers clicking on your site, but also that the given company might attract a competitor’s potential customers as well. Furthermore, search engines tend to place online retailers who has a strong brand in better position on the results page, which then generates more organic clicks (Baye et al, 2016). However, it is a more costly SEO strategy, but one that are more likely to generate sustainable, long term improvements of a retailer’s organic traffic from search engines. Baye et al. (2016) also concludes in their research that consumers are more likely to click the link of an online retailer with the greatest brand equity. Consumers tend to click on online retailers that are more recognized, trusted, and that has established a reputation of providing value to consumers (Baye et al, 2016). Therefore, one can conclude that investments within brand equity of an online retailer, are an important component of the overall SEO strategy. It is also more likely that investments in brand equity are sustainable over time, rather than SEO efforts that only are focusing on rank. Additionally, as stated above by Jerath et al. (2014), Baye et al (2016) also highlights the importance of being on the first five pages. It is hard for an online retailer to gain organic clicks from a specific product search, if it is not observed on any of the first five pages. This means that making

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effective use of anchor texts, descriptive headings, meta tags, etcetera, are an important part of the overall SEO strategy.

As stated previously in the chapter, there are many opportunities and advantages when it comes to search engine optimization. SEO, if conducted correctly and in a strategic way, can have a positive impact of a business. The advantages are rather clear – an effective SEO strategy leads to a higher visibility on search engines, which in turn generates more traffic to your online retail site (Ping-Tsai Chung, Chung & Chun-Keung Hui, 2012). Moreover, there are also disadvantages of implementing SEO when lacking a solid strategy (Baye et al., 2016). Many SMEs often see SEO as a cost, rather than an income. This often leads to mediocre SEO projects and strategies in the SMEs, which in turn only end up as a cost for the company (Cole, DeNardin & Clow, 2017). This also leads us to the most common disadvantage of SEO. The costs of improving meta tags associated with certain keywords, advertising to improve the brand awareness of a site, and so forth, are costly (Baye et al., 2016). Therefore, many marketers experience uncertainty and rather choose other strategies instead of SEO, such as pay-per-click. One should take into account that if a SEO strategy is conducted well, with a clear goal and strategy in mind, it often results in a sustainable business outcome in the long-run (Baye et al., 2016; Cole et al., 2017)

2.5 Synthesis of literature

The literature is conceptualized in the model below. Our main topic for the study is process innovation, hence previous literature in that topic laid the foundation of the literature review. To develop understanding of the phenomena of uncertainty in process innovation and give an answer to our research questions, we also include a chapter presenting a definition of uncertainty and previous acknowledged sources of uncertainty in process innovation. Moreover, as the study focus on SME’s, the literature review present previous research about SME’s marketing performance. Search engine optimization (SEO) is in the context of this thesis an instance of process innovation. Thus, to provide a greater understanding of the thesis topic, literature about SEO is reviewed. Figure 1 visualize how SEO, as an instance of process innovation, might be affected by uncertainty in an SME’s adaption of it.

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3 Methodology

______________________________________________________________________

In the third chapter of this thesis, we introduce our research philosophy, approach and strategy. Furthermore, the case method and the selection of the case company is presented. Lastly, we present our data collection methods as well as the analysis of data.

______________________________________________________________________

3.1 Research philosophy

In order to properly design research, the philosophical factors of it must be taken into consideration. If philosophical issues are not well thought of, it can affect the quality of the research in a negative way (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson & Jaspersen 2018). The two main philosophical concepts are ontology and epistemology of research. The ontology of research does according to Bryman and Bell (2011), concern the nature of social entities. Furthermore, Easterby-Smith et al. (2018) describes ontology as the assumption the researcher makes about reality. The ontology of our research is relativism, which emphasizes that there are many truths and that facts are depending on the viewpoint of the observer (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018). This align with our purpose of the study, as we aim to investigate uncertainty and perception, which are two concepts that do not have one truth. In the contrary to relativism, realism suggests that there is only one truth, where facts can be revealed (Easterby-Smith 2018), which is not aligning with our aim of the research, hence make a realistic ontology an inappropriate philosophical viewpoint for our thesis.

The epistemology of research concerns how we know things and what knowledge is (Easterby-smith 2018). In our thesis, we are using a specific case as sample and aim to explore different human interests by collecting rich data and generalize through theoretical abstraction. This implies that social constructionism is an appropriate epistemological philosophy of our research, in accordance with how Easterby-Smith (2018) describes social constructionism. Additionally, it is argued that social constructionism and relativism are aligned. Moreover, the authors explain that the contrary to social constructionism is positivism, where results are presented in statistical probability and require a large number of samples, which do not align with our purpose of the thesis. As a conclusion, our research philosophy of this thesis is of relativistic nature, since we believe that there is more than only one truth, with the epistemological

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considerations of social constructionism, as we aim to collect rich data and use theoretical abstraction to generalize results.

3.2 Research approach

Considering our purpose and research questions, the research approach had to allow us to be explorative in our research. When discussing research approach, the two approaches that are usually mentioned is deductive or inductive. Bryman and Bell (2011) explains that in a deductive approach, the process usually starts with theory and from theory hypothesis are made and the research process is linear, going from step to step. Moreover, in the contrary an inductive approach enables a more explorative approach for the researcher since it is moving in opposite direction from deduction, meaning that findings from the research is fed back into theory, rather than extracted from it. As the aim of our research is to focus on the concepts of uncertainty in innovation, we want to enrich existing literature, rather than confirm existing theory, hence make an inductive approach more suitable. With a purpose to investigate the role of uncertainty about new innovations, it is more relevant to be explorative and open-minded to new emerging concepts , which is not something you are to the same extent when conducting research with a deductive approach, as the aim usually is to confirm hypothesis derived from theory. Moreover, a deductive approach would be unfeasible in our study as the topic we aim to do research on is limited in previous research, thus make it more difficult to ground in theory. Although we choose an inductive approach, it is important to point out, in accordance with Saunders Lewis and Thornhill (2009), that theory, is used from the beginning of the study and throughout the process to develop insights about the research topic.

An alternative approach discussed more recently is the abductive research approach. An abductive research approach allows the researcher to move back and forth between theory and empirical findings (Dubois & Gadde, 2002). Moreover, an abductive approach includes both deductive characteristics, with screening of theory before conducting research (Van Maanen, Sørensen & Mitchell, 2007), as well as inductive characteristics, exploring a new phenomenon (Dubois & Gadde, 2002). Although one can identify similarities between an inductive and an abductive research approach, we argue that an

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inductive approach still is more feasible. This is due to the fact that we do not want to feel dependent of previous literature, but instead seek to explore new patterns that are not based on previous scholars’ findings.

3.3 Research strategy

3.3.1 Case method

In business research, there are several strategies that can be used for qualitative research, such as action research, grounded theory or a case study (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018). According to Yin (2018) and Easterby-Smith et al. (2018), a case study is an empirical method that looks in-depth at a phenomenon within its real-world context. With the aim to investigate how uncertainty arises and how it can be reduced and managed, which can be argued is an in-depth phenomenon, a case study is an appropriate method to use in this thesis. The case study of our thesis is of qualitative nature, where data will be crafted from interviews. As our research ask for in-depth knowledge, interviews with employees at an SME was a proper to use method, as it would give nuanced answers to our research questions and generate in-depth knowledge when compared to existing literature. In qualitative research, data is deriving from words rather than numbers (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018). The choice of a case method also aligns with the social constructionist philosophy, where the sampling requires a small number of cases that are chosen for a specific reason and the analysis is within the case (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018).

A single case study enables the researcher to closely investigate the researched phenomenon (Yin, 2018). In comparison with a multiple case study, it can be argued that a single case study is more applicable to the context of this thesis for several reasons. Firstly, one of the research questions specifically require a closer investigation, as it includes a change in perception after an interaction with the company, thus justify the choice of a single case study. Moreover, it is also favourable in the context of the other research questions, as they aim to closely investigate uncertainty n process innovation. The choice is also confirmed by literature, where a case study can be seen as an intensive study with qualitative interviewing, where a group of employees in an organization can be the single case (Bryman & Bell 2011). The essential part of building theory from a case study is to compare the findings witch existing theory and literature (Eisenhardt,

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1989). To address this, we collected our data and analysed it with the findings from our literature review.

3.3.2 Selection of case

As the purpose of our thesis ask for insights of the arise and reduction of uncertainty in process innovation at a small-medium enterprise, we are interested in investigating opinions about uncertainty at an SME together with perception of SEO and how the perception can change during an implementation process. Hence, the case company must fulfil some requirements to suit our purpose of the thesis:

Size of company: Since the purpose of the thesis is based on an investigation of a

small-medium enterprise, the size of the company is evident. The definition of a small-small-medium enterprise is a company with 10-49 (small) or 50-249 (medium) employees with a turnover of less than €50 m (EU commission n. d.) Thus, to fit the purpose of the study, the company must align with the definition of an SME.

Industry: To be able to implement SEO strategies, the company is required to be in the

e-commerce sector and sell products via a website. It is favourable for the thesis if is the company is operative within an industry with high competition, such as earlier stated the apparel industry.

Digital marketing initiatives: To be suitable for the purpose of the study, it is of interest

to use a company that are using digital marketing initiatives, hence indicate that the employees at the company have relevant input for the study.

Implementation possibilities: Further it is of interest to find out if perception of SEO

can change when the company is going through an implementation process. Thus, it is imperative for the study that the company allow us as researchers to do SEO implementations.

Partly based on the presented requirements, and also based in an ad-hoc sampling strategy, which means that the case was selected based on the accessibility and due to the restricted time frame (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018), the company aim’n was selected as

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case company. In Table 1, a summary of the requirements and how they are fulfilled is presented. aim’n is a company within the e-commerce founded in 2014 and sells activewear for women. The company uses the brand name aim’n, hence that is how the company is presented in the thesis.

Table 1. Summary of requirements

Case

company Size of company Industry

Digital marketing

Allowing SEO implementations

aim’n Small (34 employees) E-commerce activewear/fashion Main marketing channel Yes 3.4 Data collection 3.4.1 Primary data

To able to contribute with new findings and knowledge, crafting primary data is necessary. As mentioned earlier, our study is qualitative and was based on qualitative interviews. A qualitative interview is a directed conversation with questions and answers about a specific topic (Easterby-Smith 2018 et al.). The primary data of this study is based on semi-structured interviews with employees at the company aim’n. A semi-structured interview allows the interviewer to be more flexible and a topic guide is suggested to give loose structure for the questions (Easterby-Smith et al. 2018). As we aim to answer research questions about perception and uncertainty, which are both two concepts that tend to differ a lot between different individuals, the flexibility is of great importance when crafting our data. Therefore, it can be argued that semi-structured interviews are the most suitable form of interviews. A semi-structured interview differs from a structured interview is that the questions are more general in their frame of reference (Bryman & Bell 2011). We followed the suggestion of a topic guide for the loose structure of the interview. Since we conducted two interviews, naturally we also created two topic guides, which can be found in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2. Easterby-Smith et al. (2018) suggests that the topic guide include opening questions (including consent and ‘ice-breakers’, questions around key topics and closing questions (appreciate the respondent). In accordance with this suggestion, we created our topic guides.

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The sampling of respondents was based on those who could allocate time to the interviews. The only criteria were that they had some connection to digital marketing inanities, so that they could provide us with valuable insights regarding the research topic. In table 2 there is a summary of the respondents, including position in the company as well as date and length of the interviews.

Table 2. Overview interviews

Interviewee Position

Date first

interview Length

Date second

interview Length

Person A CEO 20/3-20 55 min 27/4-20 65min

Person B Founder/marketer 25/3 50min 25/4-20 57min

Person C Customer service 27/3 47min 24/4-20 62min

Person D Content manager 20/3-20 45min 27/4-20 55min

Person E Marketing

communication associate

20/3-20 43min 23/4-20 63min

Person F Social media

marketer

27/3 35min 24/4-20 52min

The interviews were conducted in two rounds, one before an implementation process of an SEO technique and one after. The interviews were held in two rounds, in order to be able to analyse the possible uncertainty that arises before and after the implementation. the shift and to capture the change in perception. In total, there was 12 interviews conducted face to face through digital tools, such as Google meet and facetime. We asked the respondents to sign a consent form (Appendix 3) to protect them but also us as researchers before the interviews. Moreover, before the interviews were conducted, the interviewees got send one topic guide before each round of interviews to get the chance to prepare themselves regarding the topic. This was important in our study, since not all of the interviewees work with SEO, hence gave them the opportunity to ask before the interview if anything was unclear. The interviews were conducted in Swedish, which is the mother-lounge of both the researchers and the

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respondents. Easterby-Smith et al. (2018) argues that it is important to ensure that participants feel comfortable during the interview, and by letting them speak in their own language they could feel more secure and express themselves more accurate, thus lead to a lower risk of misinterpreting the answers. However, that means that all the quotations in this study is translated from Swedish to English.

3.4.2 Implementation process

In order to capture change in perception of SEO and to be able to explore how a change could be connected to uncertainty, an implementation process at the company was executed. The implementation was technological and is a specific technique of SEO, so called image optimization. Image optimization refers to optimizing images on a website with the aim to reach a higher ranking at image search result page. Image optimization is not only one specific technique, but includes many different aspects, such as naming images, describing images and optimize file size among other things. This specific implementation was to describe all the product images at the company’s German and Norwegian website, in order to make it possible for search engine spiders to recognize the images when crawling a website. The process included an exportation of product images from the websites to an excel file, where the Image Alt text was updated and then later the same excel file was imported back to the website. The process took approximately 7 hours per website, including research on best practise on how to write image Alt texts and find accurate key words. More specific examples of the implementation can be found in Appendix 4. Notably, one should be aware of that the process can vary depending e-commerce platform and, in this case, the company use Shopify.

3.5 Analysis of data

Easterby-Smith et al. (2018) explains that data need to be prepare and put in appropriated format before starting an analysis. To be able to analyse in our data, we recorded and transcribed all of the interviews. In qualitative research, thematical coding is commonly used. In or research, we coded the data in accordance with the approach of Gioia, Corley and Hamilton (2012). As we conducted interviews in two different rounds with the same respondents, we also divided the coding into two parts. Gioia et al.

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(2012) suggests that the coding process start with identifying first order codes. These codes are made from a little attempt to find categories, thus usually end up with a large number of codes. Second step is to create second order themes, emerging from the first order codes. In this step, theory is playing an important role, as these codes are supposed to help describe and explain the phenomena that the researchers are investigating. Lastly, after identifying second order themes, these will be investigated to see if it is possible to further develop them to aggregated dimension.

We started by coding the first interview, and from the 1st order concepts we found 2nd order themes in coherency with our presented literature in the literature review, connected to SME’s, SEO and perception. Uncertainty did not occur to the same extent, as it was not a part of the first round of interviews. After clustering the 1st order concepts into 2nd order themes, we sought to find aggregated dimensions. We ended up with the three aggregated dimensions perception of SEO, adaption of SEO and future of SEO. When coding the second interview, the 1st order codes led to 2nd order themes that was mostly related to the part about uncertainty in the literature review. These led to our aggregated dimensions process innovation uncertainties and reduction process innovation uncertainties. Moreover, we found 2nd_{order themes that was not related to literature but} still highly relevant, as we connected them with change in perception of SEO. Thus, the 2nd_{order themes in this round of coding led to the four aggregated dimensions change in} perception of SEO, differences based on company characteristics, process innovation uncertainties and reduction process innovation uncertainties. All the 2nd_{order themes and}

the aggregated dimensions can be found in Appendix 5. Furthermore, to give a better understanding of the entire coding process, Figure 2 show an example of the coding process including all the steps, from 1st_{order concepts to the aggregated dimension.}

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Figure 2. Example of coding process adapted from Gioia et al. (2012)

3.6 Research quality

When discussing quality in quantitative research, reliability and validity are two important criteria (Bryman & Bell, 2011). However, in qualitative research it is argued that it is more difficult to ensure high quality due to the concerns about replication and generalisation. Therefore, when discussing quality in qualitative research, trustworthiness is more commonly referred to. Guba (1981) present four criteria to make a study trustworthy; credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. To ensure the quality of our research and make it trustworthy, we applied these four criteria.

Credibility of the research is connected to ensures of that the research is carried out in good practise and that the participants are correctly understood (Guba, 1981). To validate that respondents’ opinions was interpreted correctly, the findings chapter was sent to all the participants to give them the opportunity to change any of the statement. Furthermore, the interviews were summarized and sent to the interviewees. if they felt it was not coherent with what they wanted to express. To ensure transferability, which according to Lincoln and Guba (1985) is that the results should be transferable to other contexts as well, we aimed to provide a thick description so that it is possible for others to make own judgements on the transferability of the findings. Dependability means that the researchers must adapt an auditing approach so that the study can be replicated by others

Uncertainty in process innovations : A case study on the adaption of search engine optimization