Systems-thinking social marketing: conceptual extensions and empirical investigations. Issue 11 (23rd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Domegan, Christine; McHugh, Patricia; Devaney, Michelle; Duane, Sinead; Hogan, Michael; Broome, Benjamin J.; Layton, Roger A.; Joyce, John; Mazzonetto, Marzia; Piwowarczyk, Joanna
• Is Part Of: Journal of marketing management. Volume 32:Issue 11/12(2016)
• Page Start: 1123
• Page End: 1144
• Publication Date: 2016-07-23
• Subjects: Social marketing -- systems theory -- behaviour change -- scale -- causation; Marketing -- Management -- Periodicals; Marketing -- Management; Periodicals; 658.8005
• DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2016.1183697
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0267-257X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Systems thinking dominated the 2015 World Social Marketing conference with the premise that a more holistic approach takes into account all the issues at play for effective change. Augmenting the broadening social marketing literature, we contend that systems-thinking social marketing enhances the field's conventional behavioural change with concepts of scale, causation, and iterative co-creating change processes for complex health and environmental problems. The results of our empirical Sea for Society study, a sustainable European marine ecosystem examination of what the barriers to change are and how they are interrelated, find systems-thinking social marketing offers the potential to strategically and critically reinforce, not replace, behavioural change campaigns. With systems-thinking social marketing, a coherent theory of change becomes a possibility. Orchestrating social change may become a reality.