OUR ROLLERCOASTER THESIS JOURNEY

Hello, dear Hivers! How have you been? I hope you’re all in good shape right now. For today’s blog, allow me to share with you our thesis journey. It has been totally like a no-walk in the park, where it felt like we were only trekking through a dense academic jungle with no stopovers. During the making of our study, we have undergone a lot. We've been through exhausting, stressful, and depressive times. But now, seems to be so unbelievable to me, that this has finally come to an end, concluding this journey with lots of learnings for us and stories to share.

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I’m a Business Ad marketing student, and one of our requirements for completion is a thesis study in fulfillment of our Marketing Research 1 and 2 courses. We have done several researches and business plans for different businesses, but this study is one of the most challenging papers to do. I’m the leader with four members in my group, and on this bumpy road journey, we’ve encountered plenty of twists and turns, and I’ll now share it with you.

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The first thing we did was find for a business, those that are still start-ups or not yet an established brand, especially those in a competitive market, that we could help and provide practical implications right after. At first, we started from coffee shops but turned to have many other studies already conducted by other groups. Thus, we didn’t push through it. After everything, we are led to Busy Cup in Mandaue City, a start-up business. We went there and asked permission to have their fast-food restaurant be our research subject and environment.

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I commend this restaurant because the staff, manager, and owner had a very welcoming nature. We talked with the operational manager and the owner. Thankfully, we had been given the privilege and permission to conduct the study.

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Sadly and unfortunately, as we had our research proposal last September 27, 2023, our study was deferred. I don’t know, but that’s the term our instructor used. Overall, our research study has never been rejected but we have to refine and revise those parts indicated as errors. It was mind-blowing and chaotic because unlike what’s common having 3 panelists, ours have 8. 😫 The sad part is when the study is considered deferred, you’ll instantly get removed from the Latin honors. I’ve been depressed these times for the reason that I lost my chance of graduating with a Latin honor in just one snap, which I’ve been working hard for years. I’ve done my best and have even compromised my health for it. I’ve experienced many times a 24-hour no sleep, going to school with no breakfast, and going home very late. What saddened me was that I’ve invested and compromised my overall well-being for it. I take that Latin honor as a reward to my ever-hardworking parents, sister, and self. I’m almost there, but I didn’t make it.

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I lost interest in everything for a certain time. Thankfully, I’ve been able to accept and cope immediately with the undying comfort and love of the people surrounding me. The same goes with my members. I take it as something that’s not meant for me, this time. I came up with a realization that letting myself dwell on that situation, won’t ever change anything. Hence, I stood up firmly again, considering that I’m the group leader and I need to radiate a hopeful vibe to my members.

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With all that, we’re already running out of time and we have to be twice as fast since we weren’t given time for refinements and revisions, thus we have to catch up with others. Pushing through Busy Cup is not already feasible since we already have a few weeks left for data gathering and we cannot collect the required number of responses anymore given that the customers will be our survey respondents. We went to Busy Cup, gave them a letter, and we dined to show gratefulness and appreciation. Nonetheless, we ended up with a new study entitled, “Influence of Psychological Ownership on Customer Loyalty at Korean barbecue restaurants in Cebu City”.

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We started our data gathering on October 25, 2023. We went to different places within Cebu City to gather responses from random people who have recently tried dining in Korean barbecue restaurants in Cebu City. Our target sample size to represent the entire population is 300 respondents. What we exactly did was approach everyone one by one in their comfortable seat and ask them if they had recent experience. We had a hard time since some people with experience were not willing to participate in the survey, maybe for some significant reasons. However as student researchers, we continued the journey with full determination and perseverance.

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We went back and forth to busy places like Colon, Plaza Independencia, IT Park, and Ayala Cebu. We did the same routine for many days and have also conducted surveys during the evening since there will be more respondents in those specific places. We researchers split and then met. For a total of 11 days, we successfully finished the survey. All those responses were gathered specifically on October 25-26-27-28-30-31 and on November 6-7-8-9-10. As of around 8 p.m. on Friday, November 10, 2023, we had successfully reached 300 respondents.

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Our study is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) which is a complex type of research. Thus, we consistently sought help from our very humble and kind statistician. Our collective meeting usually occurred afternoon or night because that’s his usual time availability. We were taught everything, our questions addressed, and successfully obtained the results of the study on our own.

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Since the other group members weren’t approved by their parents for an overnight, we just made everything at school. Thankfully, the university has a free wifi. We usually go home very late in the evening, 8-9 pm and it’s very exhausting since the travel time would take a lot of time. But because we’re driven by our goals and dreams in life, we remain resilient and motivated.

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There were instances when students were not allowed to enter the campus especially if there were exclusive events. So, we just went to a café where we could sit in comfortably and continue doing our paper. Usually, @ikaycutie, the youngest of the group and of the whole class which I call “baby”, would bring chocolates and any snacks for us.

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Of course, as we constantly do, we visit church, asking Him for guidance and strength.

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Here comes the most challenging part hahaha. The moment of truth finally came, we had our final defense just last January 10, 2024. My group was the last presenter for the morning session, and given that, we initiated the serving of snacks for the panelists. The same goes with the first presenters, they would handle and take care of the lunch. We went to the mall with my group and bought snacks.

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After that, we had a quick question and answer rehearsal for the possible that might be asked by the panelists.

I’ve collated everything and printed it out. I’ve put “KAYA MO YAN” or “YOU CAN DO IT” in the paper, a form of words of affirmation that I believe could somehow lessen their anxiousness, boost their confidence, and trust in themselves. Thankfully, thankfully, after all the hurdles that we’ve been through, we now magnificently made it!

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We only had minor revisions for our paper, and every one of us honestly had our not-so-easy phase of making panelists sign our approval sheets hahaha. Right after everything, we already printed our paper ready for a hardbound.

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This thesis journey has instilled in me a lot of learnings and experiences that I’ll surely use as I delve into the real world, especially in the marketing field. I love this study since it adds to the existing body of knowledge that customer loyalty in the context of Korean barbecue restaurants is not just influenced by the 4 or 7Ps of marketing — product, price, promotion, place, people, packaging, and process, but instead it’s also driven by the psychological ownership felt by the customers within the restaurant most especially through customer-company identification and sense of belonging. Our study has just proved the untapped strength of psychological ownership which was honestly not given attention by most businesses in terms of their relationship marketing.

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Overall, I’m grateful for this experience and for the people who lend a helping hand to us in completing this academic venture.