Contents
Title
Investigating Stakeholder Requirements for Designing an Effective Online Research Community Platform
Author
Carmen Acatrinei, Laura Daniela Roșca (Tănase), Oana-Maria Secară, Traian Alexandru Năstase
Classification JEL
M31.
Abstract
Online research communities offer collaborative environments where organizations can interact with consumers in real-time to gain insights, build innovation projects, and access relevant audiences passionate about providing impactful responses. This research paper aims to uncover key insights from stakeholders for designing an online research community platform. To achieve this objective, the study conducted research among relevant stakeholders, including market research agencies, advertising agencies, professional associations, researchers, private marketing specialists, and future members/participants in the online community as respondents in the studies conducted. The specific objectives were to identify stakeholders’ needs for tools and technical solutions to design an online research community platform, pinpoint specific needs for online communities, and identify desired functionalities regarding the online community platform. The ideal online community platform should offer various functionalities to cater to different users’ needs. The platform must be user-friendly, with intuitive and easy-to-understand features for users at different experience levels. A pleasing visual design that is simple and airy with clear identification of each button/element on the page is necessary to create a perfect environment for interaction with participants. Overall, the findings from this research study provide valuable insights into stakeholders’ needs for an online research community platform. By identifying these needs and desired functionalities, the study guides the development of an effective and user-friendly online research community platform that can compete with foreign platforms, bring together research agencies, interested brands/companies, and members-consumers, whose input is valuable and crucial in today’s business world.
Keywords
online research community platform, qualitative research, stakeholder insights, marketing, virtual communities.
Full Text: download pdf
Cite: download citation (for EndNote, Reference Manager, ProCite)