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Conducting research into where prospective pools of talent can be found has helped Hughes Supply to identify and attract suitable candidates for leadership. Its “Manager In Training” program now produces managers who have a deeper understanding of the business.

Organizations across the globe are acknowledging that their current managers and leaders‐in‐waiting will one day leave their posts, be it to retire or because a more appealing job offer has arisen. With this in mind, many companies are development increasingly effective strategic methods for training their high‐potential employees.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate barriers to pro-social behaviour in the form of blood donating using self-determination theory.

Respondents were recruited through intercepts at a major international university and at points within the community in a capital city in Australia. Sampling was conducted over a three-week period resulting in a sample of 617 respondents.

Results show intrinsic motivations positively influence intentions towards blood donation, self-identity, and locus of control. Further, despite positively influencing other factors, external regulation positively influenced amotivation indicating the more likely people feel pressured to donate blood, the less likely they will be motivated to donate blood.

This would suggest one way to influence more people to become donors is to place greater focus on the positive emotional feelings they derive from the act of donating blood and the control they have over that donation. Using external regulation strategy which often suggests people “must” or “have-to” donate blood may be limiting blood donation numbers.

Recognising current, significant rates of youth sexual violence and abuse (YSVA) and the need for more comprehensive prevention approaches to combat this social issue, new approaches are required to ensure that agency is given to the people who are most affected and who know their lives the best. This paper aims to report a youth-led (Young Voices United [YVU] Committee) participatory design approach aimed at delivering the highest level of engagement to understand what people agree is needed to reduce YSVA in their own communities.

The seven-step co-design (Trischler et al., 2019) process was implemented following ethical clearance. Over five months, 13 group co-design sessions involving 102 young people aged 12–25 years, 17 parents/caregivers (including young mums) and 9 teacher/guidance officers were conducted. Purposive sampling was undertaken to ensure that young people who had previously experienced YSVA or were most at risk of experiencing YSVA were overrepresented. Convenience sampling was used to gain wider community involvement in co-design. Four sessions were facilitated by YVU members, who were aged between 12 and 25 years, and more than 66 people helped the design team. Inductive thematic analysis identified emergent themes across completed co-design sessions.

New ideas and solutions to prevent YSVA can be identified by young people who have previously experienced violence, carers, other young people and community members. A core finding in this study is the need for positive relationship role models and an enhanced understanding of consent. Education and training, a community promotional campaign, sector involvement, capacity-building and consideration of the unique needs of different target audiences were key ideas emerging from youth-led co-design. The YVU Committee provided recommendations for resource prioritisation.

This youth-led co-design process empowered the community. Project stakeholders have since formed partnerships won funding and used that funding to co-design and trial a new programme aiming to provide a safe haven for young people at risk of YSVA. The pilot programme delivers a safe and supportive environment for young people delivered at a time when it is needed most. Other geographical areas are now seeking to replicate the programme. The co-design processes and tools detailed in this study can be adapted to the design of programmes for those already engaged with the youth justice system and should be considered as part of a public health approach to effectively prevent and respond to YSVA and other youth crimes.

This paper advances understanding, providing a practical approach that ensures youth views are given weight [audience and influence described in Lundy’s (2007) participatory framework]. This paper explains how the YVU Committee, established at the commencement of the project, oversaw the community co-design effort, which followed Trischler et al.’s (2019) seven-step co-design process. Ideas were generated, and consensus views were consolidated, delivering the highest level of engagement according to Willmott et al.’s (2022) methodology, agent of change, training and engagement taxonomy. The participatory design method led to high levels of community engagement, and the success of the project is attributed to the establishment of the YVU Committee and stakeholder support.

This study aims to capture the views of executives about the merit of using the two segmentation approaches (quantitative vs qualitative). Furthermore, this study aimed to examine costs and benefits for two different segmentation approaches, using a minimax simple cost-benefit analysis (CBA) matrix.

A total of 16 semistructured interviews were conducted with executives within the University of Sharjah (UoS). Furthermore, a minimax approach was applied to the CBA study.

Evidence in this study found that the financial cost of quantitative segmentation approaches was higher than qualitative approaches. However, the decision-makers trusted the quantitative approach more regardless of the incurred costs. The study also found that there was a limited knowledge about social marketing and segmentation among executives.

Limitations of this study relate to the methodology applied, the sample selected and the lead research. Another factor is selection bias, which limited this study to one organization’s executives. It is conceivable that middle-level management would have had the desire to participate because they make the recommendations to top management in decision-making. The researcher did not collect precise data on time taken to design, implement and analyses the two segmentation studies, which qualified the precision of the CBA. Also, the fact that the sample includes participants from a relatively narrow range of disciplines should be noted as a limitation of the study.

The current study provides a case study demonstrating how CBA provides a dollar amount estimate permitting alternate segmentation approaches to be compared and contrasted, assisting in the value estimation of any social marketing project.

The paper draws upon two streams of the literature: social marketing and CBA. The paper focused on the understanding of the literature, CBA offers a technique applicable to demonstrating cost savings that can be derived from choosing one method over another. Moreover, CBA assists in understanding the benefits or potential opportunity cost both financially and nonfinancially.

This paper presents one of the first studies conducting a CBA to compare and contrast two segmentation approaches in social marketing. The study provides interesting insights into the perceptions of management executives over alternative research methods, although the results are limited to a case study.

Responding to the call for an extension of social marketing scope and application, this paper aims to outline implementation of a multi-stream, multi-method formative research approach to understanding human trafficking in the global South context of Nigeria.

Data were collected using a multi-method, multi-stream research design. The study used alternative methods allowing a critical perspective to be taken.

Contradictions between upstream discourses and the lived experiences of trafficked individuals emerged. Specifically, moral and rational agency ideology, which conflates human trafficking with prostitution, unintentionally promotes human trafficking and underrepresents other forms of trafficking was evident. Experiences of socioeconomic oppression, traditional practices and an aspirational culture fuels positive attitudes towards human trafficking. The lived experience of human trafficking survivors while varied was underpinned by the common theme of job seeking. Participants perceived human traffickers as benevolent users rather than oppressors, and their rescue as oppressive and disempowering.

Application of a multi-stream approach is limited by research context, sample size, time and cost constraints. Future research extending the multi-stream research approach to other research contexts and groups is recommended.

Multi-stream formative research design assisted to yield wider insights, which informed the design of a multilevel pilot intervention to combat human trafficking in Nigeria.

Extending understanding beyond individual, myopic approaches that have dominated social marketing formative research.

This study aims to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit middle managers' experience of uncertainty management during organizational change.

The approach is qualitative and involved interviews with 40 middle managers from a range of organizations.

Analysis revealed that at the pre‐implementation stage, uncertainty focused on the strategic concept of the change, whereas at implementation, uncertainty related to the appropriate procedures to implement. Middle managers’ uncertainty management was found to be important in assisting their employees in the change transition. The factors identified as being either facilitators or barriers to uncertainty management focused on themes related to the design of change, communication with both senior management and their own staff, support from senior management, role conflict, and peer interaction. A model was created to link facilitators and barriers with uncertainty to guide future research.

Implications for organizational change research along with practical implications are discussed.

This study provides insight into the positive contributions middle managers can make during change, along with suggesting what factors are facilitators or barriers to this positive role.

The purpose of this study is to investigate children’s school lunchboxes and explore the influence of carer’s perceived benefits and barriers towards healthy eating on the food contents packed for lunch.

Drawing on exchange theory, the study explores the relationship between carer’s perceived benefits and barriers towards healthy eating and the lunchbox contents a carer packs for their child. An online survey was completed by 876 parents and carers. Statistical analysis techniques, including one-way ANOVA and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to analyse the data.

The analysis revealed that perceived benefits and barriers towards packing healthy foods had a significant impact on the reported contents packed for lunch. Results indicate the segment with the highest perceived benefits and the lowest perceived barriers towards packing healthy lunches reported packing healthier foods than the remaining three segments.

Social marketers should develop interventions to promote the benefits of healthy eating, while overcoming the perceived (and real) barriers that prevent healthy lunches from being packed. Study limitations and future research directions are outlined.

Drawing on exchange theory, the current study demonstrated how simultaneous measurement of benefits and barriers that are later divided into high and low groups impacts lunchbox packing behaviours (Nelson et al., 2010). This study contributes to the literature providing further empirical evidence that use of commercial marketing theories in social marketing is warranted and that theoretically derived segmentation approaches are available for social marketing practitioners.

This study aims to review the extent that social marketing principles are applied in interventions targeting children published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2014.

A systematic literature review was conducted to identify peer-reviewed social marketing studies targeting children under the age of 12 years as their main audience. Twenty-three interventions were identified and analysed using Andreasen’s (2002) social marketing benchmark criteria including behavioural objective, audience segmentation, formative research, exchange, marketing mix and competition.

All of the interventions analysed in this review targeted behaviours associated with either physical activity or healthy eating among children under the age of 12 years. Sixteen of the studies reported positive behavioural outcomes. None of the studies used all six of the Andresean (2002) benchmark criteria.

With growing concerns about the prevalence of obesity among children, social marketing is emerging as an effective approach to increase physical activity and healthy eating, which in turn may assist to lower obesity. Extending the application of the social marketing benchmark criteria in social marketing interventions will assist to increase effectiveness.

This paper presents the first attempt to review the extent that social marketing principles are used in interventions targeted at children aged 12 years and under.