Can ‘market transformation’ lead to ‘sustainable business’? A critical appraisal of the UK's strategy for sustainable business

This paper traces the origins and development of the concept of ‘market transformation’, from its beginnings as a part of energy policy in the USA, to its subsequent development in the UK. It discusses whether it could become a strategic option for British business in pursuit of sustainable growth. Drawing together themes from the academic literature on marketing, consumer behaviour, business, and energy policy, together with data from national programmes, and British government sources, the paper argues that such an approach would be based on a twin false premise – that selling energy efficiency to consumers is in accordance with modern marketing thinking, and that it has much to do with achieving sustainable development. It concludes that while achieving sustainable development will certainly encompass the transformation of markets for many products, ‘market transformation’ itself cannot be seen as a key driver for change. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Breaking the cycle of marketing disinvestment: using market research to build organisational alliances

Many marketers find their programmes fall victim to disinvestment, both financial and psychological. While most marketers are avid students of consumer psychology, they tend to overlook the dynamics of organisational psychology, just as the literature on market orientation often fails to emphasise the organisational identity politics and power struggles that frustrate marketing. Discussions of market orientation focus on leadership and team‐building issues, favouring highly visible cases of organisational success at the expense of analysing common factors in marketing failure, many of them grounded in organisational psychology. Allied with knowledge of organisational epistemology, market research can be used as a critical resource in marketers' internal marketing programmes to strengthen market orientation. Ongoing collaborative market research can build positive organisational alliances that contribute to the internal support needed to sustain a successful marketing programme. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Charity brand personality: can smaller charitable organizations leverage their brand's personality to influence giving

The importance of establishing a strong brand identity has been the focus for consumer brand managers for decades. Organizations develop and communicate a distinctive brand personality as a means of attracting consumers and cultivating long‐term relationships. While the concept of branding has gained recent attention as an important strategy for nonprofit practitioners, little empirical data exist on the role a charity's brand personality might play in attracting donors. A few recent studies of large national charitable organizations provide support that charities exhibit distinctive personalities. This study explores whether smaller, local scope charitable organizations, without the benefit of national brand recognition, also exhibit distinctive brand personalities and whether such brand personalities influence donors. Results from five charitable organizations, from four distinct categories of cause, find that brand personality traits that are both differentiating and relevant to donors influence charitable giving. The findings provide nonprofit practitioners with valuable insights for leveraging their brand's personality to turn donor awareness into commitment and establish a stronger market position. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What messages does social marketing advertising send? A content analysis of advertisements aiming to minimise harm from alcohol consumption

• While excess alcohol consumption remains one of the most pressing problems for government and society in many countries, the role of social marketing as a tool for shaping a responsible alcohol consumption culture has grown in significance. This research focuses specifically on the communication aspect of social marketing in the form of social marketing advertising. This study seeks to explore what types of approaches and messages are most prevalent in social marketing advertising campaigns that aim to minimise harm from excess alcohol consumption. This study applies the content analysis method to identify the main themes and messages in a sample of social marketing advertisements. A total of 14 social marketing advertising campaigns, including 29 advertisements, was identified. The analytical framework for this research included both positive and negative consequences of alcohol consumption, and two main social marketing advertising approaches identified in the literature: empowering and patronising. This study found that the patronising approach and a strong focus on the negative consequences of alcohol consumption are prevalent in contemporary social marketing campaigns aimed at minimising harmful drinking behaviours. Social marketing too often takes a patronising approach to encouraging behavioural change. More social marketing efforts should be directed towards identifying how to facilitate and support behaviour change through empowerment by providing consumers with alternative behavioural options.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the impact of self‐construal and cultural intelligence on alcohol consumption: implications for social marketing

• There is enormous cross‐cultural variation in alcohol choices and drinking behaviour. Because of the inherent differences in historical drinking culture, as well as differences in alcohol policy globally, similarities and differences in drinking patterns have long been a focus of interest among public health and social marketing researchers. Thus, the purposes of this study are (1) to explore differences between groups (Australian and non‐Australian‐born respondents) on self‐construal, cultural intelligence and alcohol consumption and (2) to investigate the impact of self‐construal and cultural intelligence on alcohol consumption in Australia. Data for this study were collected through a large public university in Australia (N = 669). The paper found that people with interdependent self‐concept were less likely to drink alcohol than people with independent self‐concept and cultural intelligence was not significantly related to hazardous alcohol use, harmful alcohol use and dependence symptoms. Variations between Australian‐born and overseas‐born groups were evident. Limitations of the current study and an agenda for future research are outlined.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND HUMAN CAPITAL: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract Grossman proposed an individual's health can be viewed as one aspect of their human capital. Following this line of thought a number of recent papers have reported a positive impact of alcohol consumption on earnings. The rationale for the existence of such a relationship is the positive impact of alcohol on physical and mental health. We conduct a meta‐analysis to determine whether such factors as: the estimation technique, the presence of ex‐drinkers in the sample, possible sample selection bias and publication bias may all contribute to these findings. An additional suggestion for the positive relationship between alcohol and wages is the presence of a common set of personality traits that determines drinking behaviour and also leads to higher earnings. We examine this relationship by reviewing the literature that investigates if the personality influencing aspects of alcohol consumption influences measures of human capital. We also survey the significant body of research that has examined how alcohol consumption has been found to influence educational outcomes and the work force participation of problem drinkers.     

The role and application of social marketing in managing water consumption: a case study

• Water shortages are an increasingly significant social and economic issue in many countries. Increasing the supply of water is one solution (e.g. desalination plants, new dams), but such measures are expensive. Using price to manage household water demand may be viewed as socially unequitable and politically contentious. Social marketing campaigns, where voluntary behaviour change is the goal, provide the potential to foster sustainable consumption of an increasingly scarce yet essential resource. This paper details a case study of successful water demand management in a drought affected region of South‐Eastern Australia. In this region, water consumption was reduced to more sustainable levels through a targeted and successful social marketing campaign. This case is of significant relevance to the field of Social Marketing where there are increasing calls for research into environmental issues in general and water consumption in particular (Kotler, 2011). The extant research literature and this case study are integrated to form several propositions about household water consumption behaviour. Consequently, this paper contributes to the literature by providing a conceptualisation of how residents respond to water conservation related social marketing campaigns. Key issues include the potential for reciprocal behaviour by consumers when a water authority is perceived to manage the water problem effectively, and linking behaviour change through structural approaches (e.g. subsidies and restrictions) and voluntarist approaches (e.g. attitudinal change).

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nasty or NICE? The National Institute for Clinical Excellence and technology assessment

This paper explores the political dynamics that have surrounded the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) since its creation in 1999. Using theories of political marketing, the research presented here explains the behaviour of NICE in the technology appraisal process as the result of the pressures to pursue different marketing strategies. It finds that organisations can follow multiple strategies of political marketing depending upon the identity of their target audience. The government originally designed NICE to pursue a ‘product‐oriented’ strategy based upon its biomedical expertise. However, in the face of resistance from stakeholders (pharmaceutical companies and patient groups) NICE has begun to pursue a more ‘market‐oriented’ strategy. Using analysis of its decision‐making procedures and an empirical analysis of its guidances and appeals decisions, this paper demonstrates how NICE garners information from and is responsive to the interests of its target audiences. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Nonprofit marketing: the key to marketing's ‘mid‐life crisis’?

This paper examines the use of marketing exchange theory in the nonprofit sector and argues that current mainstream marketing theory is ill equipped for such use. It is argued that this is due to its continued reliance on neoclassically derived assumptions of human behaviour, resulting ina dominant instrumentalist exchange paradigm. As the basis of this is individual rather than socially determined utility maximisation, achieved exclusively through the medium of exchange, it can be seen as inappropriate for application to this sector. Finally, the paper proposes that emergent, alternative nonexchange behaviours such as one‐way transfer and expressive behaviour, sit more naturally within a post‐Keynesian paradigm. It is suggested that this could be adopted by nonprofit marketing. In this sense nonprofit marketing could start to drive theory development in mainstream marketing rather than, as is too often the case, the other way round. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

Golden goose or wild goose? The hunt for the green consumer

The green consumer has been the central character in the development of green marketing, as businesses attempt to understand and respond to external pressures to improve their environmental performance. Marketing practitioners and academics are attempting to identify and understand green consumers and their needs, and to develop market offerings that meet these needs. So far there is little consensus about the identity and nature of green consumers, except that they have been something of a disappointment to the marketers who have pursued them. These difficulties perhaps reflect the folly of trying to understand green consumption and green marketing by viewing it as simply a variation on conventional marketing. This article proposes some different ways of looking at green consumption and green marketing, which have the potential to prevent the hunt for the green consumer from deteriorating into a wild goose chase. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

What drives organic food consumption in Lebanon?

To increase the sparse knowledge about what drives organic food consumers in developing markets, Lebanese consumers' reasons and motives for buying organic food are studied in the framework of means‐end chain theory. A sample of N = 180 Lebanese consumers was interviewed in several retail outlets using a hard laddering questionnaire. The data were subjected to frequency analysis, cluster analysis, and structural equation modelling. Hierarchal value maps constructed from the laddering interviews revealed that “quality of life,” “pleasure,” and “peace of mind” are the main values driving organic food consumption in Lebanon. Frequent organic consumers displayed higher concern for their family's health and for the environment, whereas occasional organic consumers cared more about their own pleasure and were more likely to perceive organic food as a traditional and nostalgic product. Structural equation modelling revealed that “care for nature” and “care for children's health” significantly affect consumers' (self‐reported) purchasing behaviour. The found means‐end chains are a useful basis for marketing campaigns for organic food products in the Lebanese market. One focus of marketing campaigns should be raising consumers' awareness on the environmental benefits of organic production and the fact that it does not allow the use of harmful chemical products.     

Collaborative energy partnerships in relation to development of core business focus and competence – a study of Swedish pulp and paper companies and energy service companies

Several aspects of the growing market for energy‐related collaboration between pulp and paper industries (PPIs) and energy service companies (ESCOs) in Sweden were investigated through in‐depth interviews with PPI and ESCO managers. Aspects of concern are the different forms of co‐operation established, the managers' views on the recent changes made regarding competence and business focus, the managers' views on the opportunities and risks with energy related co‐operation and the implications for sustainable industrial energy management. The study shows that there is a mutual belief among PPI and ESCO managers that co‐operation can provide opportunities for improved competitiveness through a more rational distribution of competences between companies. The main two barriers against the utilization of this potential are that ESCOs must prove that they can bring added values other than capital to pulp and paper mills, and the lack of competition between external energy service providers. Furthermore, we argue that adding aspects related to competence and inter‐firm partnering can improve the existing theory surrounding barriers and opportunities for sustainable industrial energy management in manufacturing industries. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Hip‐hop Urbanism Old and New

The sustained connection between hip‐hop and urban identity stems in part from the origins of hip‐hop culture in post‐industrial American cities during the late twentieth century. But hip‐hop urbanism cannot be reduced to nostalgia or respect for previous traditions, as changing spatial demographics and the evolution of hip‐hop production and consumption force a disaggregation and reconsideration of ‘urban music’. Contemporary hip‐hop research in the United States must focus not only on the black and Latino communities responsible for hip‐hop's genesis, but on modern‐day race‐ and class‐based power dynamics, as well as on communities and social networks that are not typically considered urban. Ethnographers are especially well‐positioned to lead this field, thanks to methodological and theoretical tools that allow them to focus on smaller and emergent musical communities in flux.     

Charity shops as second‐hand markets

This paper considers several implications of the fact that charity shops are part of the wider class of second‐hand markets. This approach attempts to complement research on other features of charity shops like the distinctive nature of voluntary work and the identities of charity shop consumers. It is argued that the functioning of second‐hand markets highlights some limitations in traditional models of consumer behaviour. This gives charity shops (and second‐hand markets in general) an important role in developing more effective theories of consumption. At the same time, there are more practical reasons for being aware of the limitations of existing theories. In particular, marketing for charity shops will be ineffective if their functions are misunderstood. The paper also illustrates how these theoretical insights have practical implications. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Effectiveness of cause‐related marketing for differential positioning of market entrant in developing market: An exploratory study in Indian context

Cause‐related marketing is being increasingly used for forging strong relation between the brand and the customer. It is primarily being used by the well‐established brands to further strengthen their position in the market as it leads to a positive image of the brand, and customers are more receptive towards such brands because they tend to provide them with tangible as well as intangible benefits. This study tends to identify the effectiveness of cause‐related marketing as a marketing tool for newly launched products in developing market of India, which has so far remained a less explored area. A sample of 150 consumers was taken, and case studies were undertaken for validating these findings. The findings suggest that cause‐related marketing campaigns, even at early stages of brand development, can lead to customer trial and differential positioning thus providing these new entrants with an opportunity to interact with the customers. The proposed framework can provide useful insights to brand managers to design cause‐related marketing campaigns for newly launched brands. The results and findings have been deduced from real‐time market research, and it can help in furthering research in the field of cause‐related marketing in India and other developing economies with similar market conditions.     

基于农村居民消费升级的企业营销策略创新

由于收入增加、消费观念转变等因素,农村居民消费升级是企业必须正视的事实。一方面我国农村市场具有巨大的市场潜力,另一方面对企业对农场消费者的关注度还有待加强。企业的营销策略还不能很好满足农村居民消费者的需要。基于以上的事实,文章分析了在农村消费升级背景下,农村居民消费购买的新特征。基于这些新特征,在营销战略和营销策略层次提出具体的对策建议以帮助企业更好地制定营销组合。     

Consumers' processing of mindful commercial car sharing

Commercial car sharing offers a form of market‐mediated, access‐based consumption with a markedly lower impact on the natural environment than that of car ownership. Consumers adopting such alternative transportation modes are manifesting a marketplace behavior that can be said to be mindful because of the innovative and sustainable nature of car sharing. This study employs behavioral reasoning theory to examine how consumers' value orientations, as well as reasons for and against car sharing, might be used in consumers' processing of mindful commercial car‐sharing adoption. Findings suggest that subjective norms (thoughts of important others for consumers, such as co‐workers) serve an important mediating role for both consumers' value orientations and reasons for car sharing in their relationship with car‐sharing behavior. These results provide marketing researchers important knowledge about green consumption and suggest that practitioners would do well to emphasize the social dimension when marketing environmentally oriented services, such as car sharing.     

Film marketing in Europe: bridging the gap between policy and practice

Concerns with US domination of European cinema screens and the apparent lack of success of policy makers to support sustainable development of the film industry has meant that these issues have remained topical for policy makers and researchers. This is also evidenced by both media attention and an increased research focus on the film industry, particularly from a marketing perspective.^1–7 To date, neither policy nor empirical research has had a significant impact on the development and understanding of the industry. This paper seeks to bridge the perceived gap between policy and the practice of film marketing in Europe. The interface between film marketing policy and practice in Europe offers an interesting venue to explore. While the macro‐environment is invariably emphasised in terms of its impact on marketing, many marketing academics and practitioners neglect the role that policy plays in shaping the practice of marketing. This paper undertakes an historical analysis of protectionism in the US film industry from its inception and highlights the likely impact of similar protectionism in the European context. It also explains how Hollywood studios control domestic and international markets. The historical overview shows the importance of vertical integration in producing a successful marketing campaign. An exploration of the debate focusing on the call for liberalisation of the global audiovisual market is also undertaken from an industrial and cultural perspective to assess the possible impact that this will have upon film marketing in Europe, in addition to the implications for European cultural identity. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Personality and the creativity of frontline service employees: linear and curvilinear effects

Abstract

Previous studies have investigated the relationship between the Five-Factor model of personality and creativity. As this model has been criticised for providing a limited account of an individual’s personality, this study considers additional personality traits that have recently been investigated in the literature as determinants of employee behaviour. Moreover, we also contribute to the existing body of literature by conducting this study in a service setting, for which we predict personality traits will exert differentiated effects on creativity when compared to other settings. Finally, while past research has focused on linear effects, this study examines the existence of non-linear effects between personality and creativity. The results indicate that personality traits apart from the Five-Factor model have an impact on creativity and that the effects of several personality traits on the creativity of frontline service employees differ from those obtained in other settings. Lastly, the findings also show that five of the personality traits have non-linear effects on creativity, and this may be a stimulus for a new stream of research in the human resources literature.     

负面人格特质对领导个体行为的影响

负面人格特质是指在压力或危机下个体表现出的趋向人格障碍的个性特质，这些负面人格特质会导致领导者做出不同的个体行为，进而影响领导者的绩效表现。本文从领导者的决策行为以及人际互动行为两方面回顾了国内外有关负面人格特质对领导个体行为影响的实证研究，并对研究方法、理论依据存在的不足进行评述，提出未来的研究应该：（1）基于具体情境，研究负面人格特质与领导个体行为之间的关系；（2）从组织一员工双向视角考察负面人格特质对双方影响的动态过程。