Department of Business Administration International Business Program Degree Project, 30 Credits, Spring 2020 Supervisor: Galina Biedenbach Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.1 Choice of Subject .............................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Problem Background ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Twitch.tv ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research Problem and Gaps ............................................................................................................................................. 6 1.5 Research Question ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.6 Purpose ............................................................................................................................................................................ 10 2. Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Brands and Branding ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Personal Branding ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Personal Branding in the Perspective of a Twitch.tv Broadcaster .................................................................................. 12 2.4 Third places ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Virtual third places .......................................................................................................................................................... 15 2.6 Virtual third places in a gaming setting .......................................................................................................................... 16 2.7 Twitch.tv as a Virtual Third Place .................................................................................................................................. 17 2.8 Outcomes of Personal Branding and Virtual Third places ............................................................................................. 19 2.9 Brand Loyalty ................................................................................................................................................................. 19 2.10 Customer Satisfaction and Delight ............................................................................................................................... 21 2.11 Conceptual Model ......................................................................................................................................................... 22 3. Scientific Methodology .......................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.1 Ontology ......................................................................................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Epistemology .................................................................................................................................................................. 24 3.3 Research Approach ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.4 Research Design .............................................................................................................................................................. 26 3.5 Pre-understandings .......................................................................................................................................................... 27 3.6 Literature search .............................................................................................................................................................. 28 3.7 Choice of Theories .......................................................................................................................................................... 28 4. Practical Method .................................................................................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................................................... 31 4.2 Sampling ......................................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.3 Transcribing .................................................................................................................................................................... 35 4.4 Thematic Analysis ........................................................................................................................................................... 35 5. Empirical Findings ................................................................................................................................................................. 37 5.1 Profiles of Interviewees .................................................................................................................................................. 37 5.2 Personal Branding ........................................................................................................................................................... 38 5.3 Virtual Third Places ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 5.4 Interactions and Engagement .......................................................................................................................................... 43 5.5 Customer Delight and Customer Satisfaction ................................................................................................................. 44 5.6 Loyalty ............................................................................................................................................................................ 45 5.7 Diffusion of Information ................................................................................................................................................. 46 5.8 Motivations to Watch / Stream ....................................................................................................................................... 47 5.9 Personality ....................................................................................................................................................................... 48 6. Analysis and Model Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 50 6.1 Thematic Network Analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 50 6.2 Personal Branding ........................................................................................................................................................... 52 6.3 Virtual Third Places ........................................................................................................................................................ 53 6.4 Customer Satisfaction and Delight ................................................................................................................................. 54 6.5 Brand Loyalty ................................................................................................................................................................. 55 6.6 Model Discussion ............................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................. 57 7.1 General conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................ 57 7.2 Theoretical contribution .................................................................................................................................................