Toward Auto-netnography in Consumer Studies

COOMBES, Philip and JONES, Scott (2020). Toward Auto-netnography in Consumer Studies. International Journal of Market Research.

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer an argument for a wider acceptance and adoption of online auto-ethnography - or auto-netnography as an alternative social media research method to online ethnography - or netnography - when undertaking consumer research. As an online research method, netnographies have attracted increasing attention from researchers in various inter-disciplinary studies during recent years but the method is still not considered mainstream. Whilst the proliferation of online communities using various social media platforms is increasingly supporting consumers when making product/service choices, the adoption of netnographies appears to leave room for an extension towards the consideration by consumer researchers of how auto-netnography could highlight these researchers' own personal experiences in online communities. Auto-netnography allows the researcher to capture their own online experiences as a consumer would through social observation, reflexive note taking, and other forms of data. Contemporary technology can also provide a more innovative approach with artificial intelligence offering an alternative dimension. We contend there is a need for consumer researchers - both academic and practitioner - to further reflect on and discuss the deployment of auto-netnography in order to contribute to further exploration of online communities through the qualitative lens.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Marketing; 0806 Information Systems; 1505 Marketing
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1177/1470785320923502
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	12 May 2020 11:33
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2021 12:30
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26303

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