Search results

The purpose of this study is to propose environmental efficacy as the perception of social, physical resource and temporal factors at one’s disposal that promote or impede behavior. In this exploratory study, four focus groups and a two-country survey provide support for a new environmental efficacy construct as an adjunct to self and response efficacies.

This research examines environmental efficacy within the context of workplace safety. The research engaged participants from four focus groups as well as a survey of 358 young Canadian males and 494 young American males to test the proposed construct.

First, qualitative responses from the focus groups supported environmental efficacy as a viable construct. Second, a factor analysis demonstrated environmental efficacy is distinct from self- and response efficacies. Third, regressions demonstrated that environmental efficacy predicts motivation to act, above and beyond self- and response efficacies.

As an exploratory study, only a limited number of scale items were included. The research was conducted within the workplace safety context, using young males, and the stimuli involved the use of fear appeals. These restrictions warrant additional research in the area of environmental efficacy.

This study suggests that further development of the environmental efficacy construct may offer social marketers a more effective means of identifying and addressing barriers to desired behavior change. Such a measure should allow social marketers to improve understanding of the importance of environmental forces.

This research introduces a novel concept, environmental efficacy, and demonstrates that it is a distinctive and useful concept for understanding motivation to act. This concept is potentially valuable to social marketers seeking to enhance the effectiveness of their programs. It offers a tool to help identify barriers that can thwart the effectiveness of interventions.

This article aims to propose that increased guidance on the implementation of social marketing principles for sustainability issues can advance both implementation and empirical evaluation. The primary goal of this paper is to ignite further empirical investigation of social marketing for sustainability by first presenting benchmark criteria for one social marketing model – community-based social marketing (CBSM) – and second, applying this framework to the case study of musician Jack Johnson’s “All at Once” (AAO) campaign.

The research design is twofold. First, based on Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s CBSM model, a series of 21 benchmarks for assessing the key components of an effective CBSM initiative was developed. Second, this tool was applied to information gathered from Jack Johnson’s extensive outreach promoting AAO initiatives including reports, videos as well as interviews and in-person meetings with the Jack Johnson team.

Application of the benchmark criteria to the Jack Johnson case study showed that seven out of the 21 benchmarks were integrated into the AAO campaign; seven were partially integrated and seven were not integrated in the program’s design. In particular, the use of commitments, incentives, norms and social diffusion was clearly present as was a final evaluation of the full-scale implementation of the campaign.

The CBSM benchmarks are meant as a starting point to further assess and compare the effectiveness of CBSM initiatives. Further research should be done to explore how criteria should be weighted and which of the 21 principles need to be present in the design and implementation of an effective CBSM program.

The purpose of this paper is to identify, summarize and assess literature focused on developing social marketing programs for Aboriginal people.

The authors conducted a literature search and review of research papers concerning social marketing and Aboriginal populations over the period 2003-2013.

The research reveals very little published research (N = 16). The literature points to a wide range of findings including the importance of segmenting/targeting and avoiding pan-Aboriginal campaigns; cultural importance of family and community; the importance of multi-channels; universal value of mainstream and Aboriginal media outlets, use of print media, value of elders and story-telling for message dissemination; increasingly important role of Internet-based technology; need for campaign development to reflect Aboriginal culture; and importance of formative research to inform campaign development.

Considerable research is warranted to better develop more effective social marketing campaigns targeted to Aboriginal audiences to improve health outcomes for such groups across the globe.

This paper provides a baseline foundation upon which future social marketing research can be built. It also acts as a call to action for future research and theory in this important field.

This paper aims to illustrate the need for both upstream and downstream social marketing in relation to condom merchandising in the Vietnamese context.

A mystery shopper audit of condom merchandising practices and retail outlets was undertaken in a number of locations throughout Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In addition to the audits, a series of depth interviews with retailers of condoms on barriers and facilitators for purchase was undertaken.

The research highlighted some very interesting dynamics in relation to condom retailing in Vietnam. Condoms are not always made easy to purchase, through both the merchandising and other choices made by the retailers. While accessibility to condoms is no longer an issue in urban Vietnam considering the increase of condom retailing outlets, lack of easy access is highly problematic and may interfere with actual condom obtainment. As sex is still a taboo topic in Vietnam, this is a serious concern for social marketing in the sexual and reproductive health domain.

Given the capacity to portray taboo topics in Vietnamese media context, social marketing will be challenging. The development of a social marketing strategy for macro-, meso- and microlevels will be necessary for successful social marketing. Stigma associated with safe-sex practices and condom use may require a consideration of a social norms social marketing campaign.

This research is the first of its kind in the Vietnamese context. While there are a large number of non-governmental organisations campaigning in the region, safe-sex practices and condom use within the general population remains a concern. This research demonstrates that access and availability are key components of the social marketing mix.

The purpose of this paper is to, with increasing recognition of the importance of upstream factors in individual behavior, provide an example of how the Community Readiness Model (CRM) was used as a tool to understand the barriers within the broader environment to achieving reductions in the use of alcohol by college students and how this resulted in identifying upstream social marketing strategies. Downstream social marketing approaches have been broadly implemented on college campuses to curb alcohol use and binge drinking, with mixed results.

Using the CRM protocol, assessments to measure the community readiness to address issues related to college alcohol use were conducted for each of 12 campuses belonging to a Midwestern state university. Six key informants at each campus were interviewed. Interviews were scored for each of six dimensions, and they were also analyzed for themes. Results were then used in a workshop to develop action plans based on social marketing principles.

All campuses received high scores for the efforts dimension and, to a lesser extent, resources. However, leadership readiness levels varied significantly across campuses, while community climate and knowledge of the issue readiness levels were relatively low. Top leadership and faculty were identified by campuses as specific areas to target using social marketing principles.

The CRM is an accessible and inexpensive method for gathering data on upstream factors related to social issues, such as college drinking. It can be used in conjunction with other data gathering tools (e.g. prevalence surveys) to better understand the macroenvironment in which behavior takes place.

The article aims to illuminate this issue by applying the cultural capital theory to the processes of health production and distribution. It questions social marketing’s role in addressing cultural resources as barriers to and/or facilitators of behavioural change. Social marketing is often criticized for its limited ability to enhance social goals and for aiding the reproduction of social inequalities.

The theoretical framework of this conceptual paper is based on the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of human capital forms. It establishes an association between cultural capital and social marketing in solving social problems.

All social marketing interventions affect cultural resources that people might use in the field of health. The findings endorse the utilization of cultural capital as a strategic analytical tool in social marketing.

The article demonstrates how Bourdieu’s capital theory can be applied to help social marketers make important strategic decisions. In particular, it argues that using specific notions of embodied cultural capital and objectified cultural capital can inform decisions on adopting a downstream, midstream or upstream approach.

A relatively neglected concept in the social marketing field is introduced: cultural capital. It aims to contribute to the theoretical debate with regard to strategic social marketing orientations.

This review aims to examine how photography and video have been used in a variety of fields.

The paper examines how these visual methods have and can be used in marketing.

Photography and video have important strengths. They help us overcome the typically fleeting nature of observation. They also allow us to record behavior in its situational context, allow for reflection, informants, coding, and use of the behavior or situation for illustration. In addition to their analysis of behavior, visual methods can also be used for the purpose of analysis of environments. Photographs and videos can also reveal insights into the interpretive side of the equation – examining people's focus and interpretation of their behaviors and rituals. This visual information can be qualitative – aiming for naturalistic, descriptive, and “rich” data; they can also be used to quantitatively measure circumstances and events.

Understanding the potential uses of photography and video in observational research as well as their strengths and weaknesses will allow us to gain the most value from their application.