MSc International Business Management

Dissertation Module– Formative Assessment

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Project title: The impact of social media influencers on consumer’s purchase intention towards
cosmetics products.

Project Background:

Topic introduction:
In the industry 4.0, digital marketing has been strongly influenced on consumer’s brand perception,
especially during the pandemic situation, consumers now are spending more time online than before,
and hence, it is important for organizations to implement successful digital marketing strategies to
enhance business growth.

Out of all kind of digital marketing strategies, social media marketing has been widely applied by
organizations especially in the cosmetics industry. In the cosmetics industry, social media has been
taking the industry by storm, the rise of beauty influencers has been impacting the industry in both
organization and consumer’s end.

Research background:
Cosmetics brands now need to aware the consumers’ needs and expectation in order to ensure the
brand to be success, and most importantly, previous studies shown that cosmetics consumers like to
listen to social media influencers (SMIs) instead of company ads (Forbes, 2019) thus influencer
marketing is widely applied in the industry, because of the influence effect, it is becoming clear that
influencers have the power to influence consumers brand perception (Booth and Matic, 2011).

However, how organizations should choose the right influencers to target their consumers and
communicate their brands? Recent research has shown that finding the right influencers to promote
brands and products has becoming one of the greatest challenges for marketers, 56% of brands have
reported that it is fairly difficult to find the right influencers, while 22% of brands have stated that it is very
difficult (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2022), thus it is important for organizations to understand the key
factors of SMIs which influence their consumers and hence on purchase intention.

Scope of the study:

Whilst previous study shown that SMIs’ product match-up, meaning transfer, credibility and attitude have
positive impacts on consumer purchase intention (Lim, Mohd Radzol, Cheah, and Wong, 2017; Rai and
Verma, 2021), there are still limited scope of study to evaluate the key factors of SMIs which impact
consumer purchase intention in the cosmetics industry especially on a larger area scope. The aim of the
study is to investigate the key factors of SMIs which impact consumer’s purchase intention towards
cosmetics products, so that cosmetics marketers could consider thoroughly on the crucial factors when
choosing SMIs to market their product.

The scope of the study limited to measure 300 cosmetics consumers across Asia, North America and
Europe who are social media users, with questionnaire survey conducted through email, WhatsApp,
Instagram direct message and Facebook messenger. The questionnaire survey will be conducted for a
maximum of 1.5 months and will end when either the 300 surveys are collected or when the 1.5 months
have passed.

Operation definitions:
approximately 200

Research significance:
The significance of this research is that it will be beneficial for both the customers as well as the
company. From the customer’s perspective, this research will help them to choose the right platform for
making their purchase decision regarding the best available cosmetics in this competitive as well as
deceptive market. Also, the research hypothesis is set as per the prevalent cosmetics industry and the
social media influencers and draws a specific conclusion regarding the best available option for all. From
the organisations perspective, this research is significant as it helps them analyse the current needs of
the customer and to make changes in their advertising strategy or products as per the demands/needs of
the customer.

Statement of the Problems / Objectives of the Study / Research Questions

Problem Statements:
Cosmetic brands have been made aware of the potential of social media, and increasingly start to display
their products on these platforms (Binwani and Ho, 2019). Prior research has revealed that a presence on
social networks improves brand awareness, and produces positive WOM (Barreda et al., 2015). Aspects
such as artificial intelligence, visuals, and the communication on social media platforms play a big role in
the cosmetics market, and have reshaped the industry, as they increase brand awareness, incorporate low
marketing costs, and also allow companies to target more refined segments (Mwaisaka, 2017; Binwani
and Ho, 2019). Cosmetics brands are strongly represented on social media platforms for various reasons,
one of them being the great communication between the brand and its consumers (Mangold and Faulds,
2009). Through social media, companies have the opportunity to find out about their customers´ opinions
on their products and services, and therefore gain the ability to improve their business and relationships in
multiple ways. This research is designed to evaluate the impact of social media influencers on
consumer’s purchase intention towards cosmetics products.

Research Objectives:
Evaluate the impact of social media influencers in the customers purchase intention of a cosmetic
product.
Understand which social media influencers characteristics have a higher influence in the customers
purchase intention.

Research Question:
What impact does social media marketing have on customers´ purchasing intentions in the cosmetics
industry?
How do online reviews affect customers´ purchasing intentions in the cosmetics industry?
How does influencer marketing impact customers´ purchasing intentions in the cosmetics industry?

Literature review, Research framework and Hypotheses:

This research paper will be divided into four sections. The following part will concern the literature
review, which discusses the current knowledge of topics such as Social Media and the respective
platforms that are relevant in this study, Traditional Forms of Marketing, Social Media Marketing,
eWOM, Influencer Marketing, Consumer Behavior, and the Cosmetics Industry. Next, the methodology
of this thesis will be discussed, followed by the results section, where the researcher analyzes the
collected data. Finally, this thesis will end with a conclusion and evaluate the relevance of this work.
2.1. Social Media
https://www.modul.ac.at/uploads/files/Theses/Bachelor/Undergrad_2021/
BSC_2021/1821054_HOEFER_Laura_Thesis_no_sig.pdf
This research paper is going to have a specific focus on the influence of social media on customers´
purchasing intentions; therefore a thorough investigation of the term social media is of essence. According
to the official Cambridge Business English Dictionary (Cambridge Dictionary, 2021), the term social media
is defined as “forms of media that allow people to communicate and share information using the internet
or mobile phones”. Some of the most used networks include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube,
Snapchat, and TikTok, this paper however only focuses on the channels: Instagram, Facebook, and
Twitter (Statista, 2021). This internet communication tool has revolutionized customers´ daily lives and
how business is conducted (Dollarhide and Drury, 2021). The majority of social networks embrace
opinions, interactions and participation, which is why they have features that allow members to like,
comment, and share posts that are of interest to them (Venkateswaran et al., 2019). Additionally, those
social networks give users the opportunity to stay connected and up to date with their families, friends,
acquaintances, and other people who they share interests with, to meet and interact with new people, to
give instant feedback to other participants’ content, or to express themselves in a creative way (Aras and
Çolaklar, 2015; Ben-Shaul and Reichel, 2018). Social networks can be accessed for entertainment, private
matters, or work-related purposes, however most of them aim to create online communities through
incorporating both. Social media is a two-way street and the place for users and businesses to promote
their brands, organize events, communicate their opinions, and to engage in campaigns or other activities
(Iblasi et al., 2016). Due to the global rise of technology, far-reaching communication and
feedback/opinion-sharing between users became effortless and the aspect of interactivity has taken on
great importance. The emergence of social media has created multiple new possibilities for media
consumption, enabling individuals to gain information from numerous different platforms, forums or
users and to exchange opinions about the knowledge gained. Social media has built a potential market
which displays impressions about companies, making it easier for them to build their reputation, image,
brand, and credibility.
2.1.1. Facebook
The first social network this research paper will investigate is Facebook, which was founded in 2004 by
Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes (Agnew
and Sindhav, 2009). The platform´s initial purpose was to enhance networking among Harvard students;
however, it did not take the creators long to understand the potential of their service, therefore they made
it public in 2006. With an unbeatable number of 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook represents the
largest social medium in the world. Over the years, Facebook acquired several companies, including
Instagram and WhatsApp, accounting for a cumulative total of 3.3 billion users (Tankovska, 2021). The
social medium enables consumers to create a profile and afterwards share personal information, images,
videos and life updates with other users that they follow (Agnew and Sindhav, 2009). Facebook vastly
relies on interactions between users, which is why they provide several features for their members to
interact through likes, comments or shares, including stories, livestreams, private messages, group chats,
and a news feed (Facebook, 2021e). The social networking service is a popular tool for marketers to
advertise their products and services (Agnew and Sindhav, 2009).
2.1.2. Instagram
With its platform consisting of more than one billion monthly active users, Instagram represents one of
the most popular social networking services and is based on visual aesthetics and the sharing of photos
and videos, making it an appropriate platform to promote beauty products and luxury brands (Jin et al.,
2019). The social medium offers multiple different features to its users in order to enhance engagements
and interactions between them, which also aids members to express themselves and connect with others.
The first aspect is “Stories”, which are posts (images or videos) that are presented in a slideshow, last for
24 hours only, and can be accessed on the home feed (Facebook, 2021b).
2.1.3. Twitter
The third platform this research paper takes into consideration is called Twitter. This social network
allows users to interact with each other and share links, as well as posts of up to 140 characters, which are
referred to as “tweets”, with the aim of making a positive impact on society (Reiff, 2020). Marketers have
the possibility to place targeted ad campaigns, which helps them achieve their marketing goals, such as
increased brand awareness or conversion (Lambrecht et al., 2018). Additionally, Twitter provides tools for
businesses to analyze their performance in terms of impressions, cost-per-click results, and engagements,
which helps them with the optimization of their ad campaigns. With the help of Twitter´s Tweet- and
Video Activity Dashboards, the social platform supplies companies with statistics and metrics of their
posts, regarding numbers of retweets, likes, and replies, retention, as well as view- and completion rates.
2.2. Traditional Forms of Marketing
Traditional Marketing includes all types of offline marketing, such as print, direct sales, broadcast, or mail
(Das and Lall, 2016). These classic methods have a powerful presence within the population and a high
reach, as they also address audiences that do not have a great affinity for the internet. The downside about
this practice, is that the placement is invariable, meaning that marketers pay for an advertisement at a
specific location or section, but the numerous people who are exposed to it might not even be part of the
company´s target group, leading to a high scatter loss (Todor, 2016). Online advertisements, on the other
hand, give businesses the option to be displayed on particular pages or for specific groups of recipients,
making it easier for brands to market their products and services to their previously defined target
audience (Das and Lall, 2016).
2.3. Social Media Marketing
The global rise of technology has led many companies to shift their focus towards incorporating social
media into their marketing strategy, and consequently reducing the use of traditional marketing (Sharma
and Kalra, 2020). Social Media Marketing is defined as “methods for advertising products, services, or
brands using the internet, by attracting the interest of groups of people who discuss them, make
suggestions about them, etc. online”, according to the Cambridge English Business Dictionary. The goal
behind most social media marketing strategies is to get consumers to share companies´ posts and therefore
amplify brand exposure and expand customer reach (Simić et al., 2019). Social media platforms have
transformed into a powerful marketing tool and provide numerous benefits for business purposes (Iblasi et
al., 2016). However, there are vast differences between the various social networks and for this reason
organizations need to decide on which platforms are the most effective for them in terms of target
audience, available resources, and objectives. As of 2020, more than 3.6 billion people worldwide are
using social media and this number is predicted to grow to approximately 4.1 billion by the year 2025
(Statista, 2021c). Due to this enormous userbase, Social Media Marketing gained popularity among
advertiser.
2.3.1 Electronic Word-of-Mouth
The emergence of social media and its rising popularity have influenced consumers´ buying behavior, as
they do not depend on company disclosed information anymore, but rather seek additional and credible
knowledge from consumers, who already have experience with the marketed product or service (Cox et
al., 2009). For this reason, consumers increasingly turn to social media in order to read about other users´
experiences, recommendations and opinions, therefore automatically seeking electronic word-of-mouth
(eWOM) (Jalilvand et al., 2011).
2.3.2 Social Media Influencer Marketing
Social media influencer marketing is a subcategory of online marketing and refers to a mixture of old and
modern marketing tools, combining the concept of celebrity endorsement with social networking services
(Jin et al., 2019). De Veirman et al. (2016), defines influencers as “people who built a large network of
followers, and are regarded as trusted tastemakers in one or several niches”. Global influencer marketing
was estimated to be worth $6.5 billion in 2019, with the market size doubling to $13.8 billion in the
subsequent three years (Statista, 2021g). Brands increasingly discovered the importance of this new type
of marketing, and quickly started to partner up with famous online personalities fitting their target
audience to promote their products and services, as well as to spread their messages (Saima and Khan,
2020).
2.4 Consumer Behavior
Due to the emergence of the world wide web and social media, it is easier for consumers to access large
quantities of information, influencing them to make better purchasing decisions. Social media is crammed
with reviews, opinions, and recommendations from consumers, offering shoppers the opportunity to read
honest testimonials about products and influencing the stages of customers´ purchasing decision
processes. As pointed out by Jepsen (2007), the more time users spend on the internet, the more they will
utilize it for information search about products, as well as for decision making purposes regarding
purchases. Social media aids consumers in learning about new products and brands that are of interest to
them, effecting their buying behavior positively (Powers et al., 2012). As social networks form online
communities, connect individuals with similar interests, and foster interactions between them, consumers
increasingly exchange product related information and opinions, helping them make better buying
decisions (Ashman et al., 2015).
2.5. Cosmetics Industry
For the purpose of this thesis, the researcher defined the cosmetics industry to include the following
categories: skincare, haircare, make-up, fragrances, and hygiene products. Skincare products are highly
requested nowadays, and experienced a shift in demand, as these products do not only target higher age
groups, but also younger ones who have the goal of slowing down signs of aging (Mwaisaka, 2017).
According to Ridder (2020), the cosmetics scene is dominated by only a few multi-national corporations,
such as L'Oréal, Shiseido Company, Procter and Gamble Co., Unilever, The Estee Lauder Companies,
and Lancôme. . For these reasons, this paper will focus only on the cosmetics industry in a social media
environment, investigating the impact of social media marketing on a customer’s purchasing decision.
2.6. Research Framework

2.7. Research Hypothesis

Finally, the researcher defined three relevant hypotheses, which are stated below:
H1: Online reviews have a significant impact on customers´ purchasing intentions in the cosmetics
industry.
H2: Influencer marketing has a significant impact on customers´ purchasing intentions in the cosmetics
industry.
H3: Online reviews have a greater influence on customers´ purchasing intentions than influencer
marketing in the cosmetics industry.

Research Methodology
The practise of finding, choosing, and applying suitable procedures in the study – those that would
successfully aid in the acquisition of valid and trustworthy results – is known as the methodology in the
research field. A discussion on the selection of research approaches, design, questionnaire, strategy, and
sampling and data collection/analysis methods for this research issue will be included in this chapter.

Research philosophy
According to Ryan (2018), research philosophies assist researchers by guiding them in the selection of
the most appropriate data collection methods and, ultimately, the evaluation of the most beneficial
findings. During the course of the research, realists, positivists, and interpretivists always have a role to
play in different ways. When it comes to doing research, different schools of thought use a range of
organisational structures and methodologies. Additionally, it contributes to increasing public awareness
of the core research topic of the study.
According to the interpretivist philosophy, the present study is significant since it enables researchers to
gather information while also investigating the participants' points of view and opinions. Furthermore,
positivism is a style of data collection that necessitates the researcher concentrating on issues that can
occur while also obtaining practical experience (Kennedy, 2017). Furthermore, the philosophy of realism
places a focus on the acquisition of facts that is important to reality and belief. As opposed to positivism
and realism's research theories, there is no need to adhere to a rigid methodology in this investigation
(Delen and Zolbanin, 2018).

Research approach
As stated in the study by Alase (2017), the approaches to research are defined in relation to the subject
matter under consideration. Each of the ways is reliant on the nature of the assessment issue, which must
be appropriate for the strategy being used. Inductive and deductive techniques to study are two distinct
sorts of research methodologies. As long as the researcher is dedicated to using an inductive research
approach, he or she will have more flexibility in conducting the study; in which it starts with the theories
and recognitions – which are planned for the conclusion of all the information – it will be easier to
conduct a study flexibly. In the assessment of the inductive method, there is no necessity for the research
to include the development of a hypothesis, and no theories are required to be applied before the study
may be evaluated. The deductive method, on the other hand, is diametrically opposed to the inductive
research technique in almost every way. It emphasises the need of following highly defined
methodologies in the investigation, as well as the goal of developing a hypothesis over the course of the
study. The deductive method does not employ a flexible approach to completing the study, and it is
typically employed for resolving problems that have not been satisfactorily addressed in previous studies
or when there are insufficient studies available on the particular research subject under consideration
(Tuffour 2017). According to the specific study, the researcher is using an inductive research
methodology to fulfil the study's aim while also addressing the research challenges, rather than employing
highly organised ways to resolve the problem. Therefore this research will be implementing the deductive
research approach for the formulation of proper hypothesis.

Research design
As stated by Yin (2008) research design is “the logical sequence that connect the empirical data to a
study's initial research questions and, ultimately, to its conclusions”. In this research both primary and
secondary research will be undertaken to answer the research questions and to achieve the objectives of
the research as laid down in the previous chapters.

Questionnaire design

Research strategy

Selection of the sampling methods

Sample size
The sample size for this research will be 300 people.

Pilot test

Data collection method

Questionnaire survey conducted through email, WhatsApp, Instagram direct message and Facebook
messenger.

Data analysis method

For the purpose of analysing the survey, the data will be analysed by making use of charts, so as to
present the collected data in a statistical manner. This will be done to adopt a simplified approach of
undertaking this research and to ensure that even readers with lack of understanding of complex data
analysis methods, could read and interpret the results of this study.

Ethical consideration/ Ethics approval:

The research study should be completed with all ethical considerations followed. The overall research
process shall follow strict guidelines and no actions which harming any legal proceedings shall be taken.
It is important to ensure that no survey participants are being forced to take part in the survey
questionnaire. In addition, a consent form should be provided to the participants to confirm before the
survey is conducted. The consent form will act as a proof of confirmation from participant to take part in
the research at their own will. The questionnaire design will not be containing any form of logos or
branding which will promote advertisement for any organisations. All research content and result should
be guaranteed by the researcher that it will be used for academic purpose only. All research data and
content should be stored at researcher’s laptop safely and only the researcher and the University of
Sunderland should have access to the data. All secondary information on the research paper should
include correct referencing and citation to avoid plagiarism and respecting the original writer / author. The
research data should not be kept for the use by another researcher and all data should be kept until the
research has been completed.

Timeline:
The planned timeline for this study will be 44 weeks, including general reading on topic, formulating
research questions and objectives, literature review, planning on time-scale, selecting, devising and
drafting on research methodology, designing and drafting survey questionnaire, Data collection and
analysis, drafting findings, conclusion and recommendations et cetera. In order to ensure the study will
be carried our within the set timeline, key activities are listed along with time-scale to be taken for the
planned action are listed in the below Figure 1.
Figure 1: Dissertation Timeline

Key Activities Time-scale Resources required

(Milestones) (Plan of (Equipment, software,
action) personnel etc)
General reading on the topic 8 weeks Computer,
University Library Site
Formulating research questions and 2 weeks Computer,
objectives Microsoft Office Software
Drafting the literature review, 4 weeks Computer,
creating Gannt chart and Microsoft Office Software
planning on time-scale
Selection on methodology, 2 weeks Computer,
Devising the method to be used, Microsoft Office Software
Drafting the methodology
Drafting and developing questionnaire 1 week Computer,
Microsoft Office Software
Submit final research proposal form 1 week Email
and
research ethics approval form
Proposal approval by supervisor 2 weeks NIL
Data Collection 6 weeks Computer, Email,
WhatsApp, Instagram direct
message, Facebook
messenger, Google Form
Data Analysis 4 weeks Computer,
Microsoft Office Software
Drafting the findings and analysis 4 weeks Computer,
Microsoft Office Software
Drafting the conclusion and 3 weeks Computer,
recommendations Microsoft Office Software
Submission to supervisor for 1 week Email
feedbacks
Supervisor review and comment 2 weeks NIL
Revising on work and format 3 weeks Computer,
submission, Microsoft Office Software
Final proof read and review
Project submission 1 week Computer,
University submission portal
Total: 44 weeks
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