Systems-thinking social marketing: conceptual extensions and empirical investigations

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Social marketing
• systems theory
• behaviour change
• scale
• causation

Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 289066. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Additional information

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. [289066].

Notes on contributors

Christine Domegan

Dr Christine Domegan is Head of Marketing at the National University of Ireland, Galway; Visiting Professor, Florida Prevention Research Center; and Fellow and Associate of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Social Marketing and Social Change at the University of South Florida. Christine is the European editor for the Journal of Social Marketing and co-author of Social Marketing: From Tunes to Symphonies, 2014, which draws upon her work as lead social innovation methodologist on a number of European Union (EU)-funded projects, including Sea for Society and Sea Change.

Patricia McHugh

Dr Patricia McHugh, PhD, is a Sea Change Social Innovation Postdoctoral Researcher with the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway. Patricia holds a PhD on the Development and Measurement of Process Indicators for Science Communication using Social Marketing and Social Innovation Theory. She previously held a postdoctoral position with Sea for Society, an FP7 EU-funded project with the responsibility to design, develop, analyse and report on SFS mobilisation activities, using social innovation indicator measurements, within a EU marine context. Her current work involves designing, training and implementing Social Innovation Participation Processes within an Ocean Literacy context for Sea Change, a EU H2020-funded project. In Sea Change, Patricia is also responsible for the design and coordination of a Collective Impact Assessment Framework to monitor and track the progress of the project over its lifetime.

Michelle Devaney

Michelle Devaney has a BA, HDBS and MSc in Marketing from NUI Galway. Michelle is Projects and Operations Manager with MANA Digital in Galway. Prior to that, Michelle was the lead research assistant for EU-funded Sea for Society and Sea Change projects.

Sinead Duane

Dr Sinead Duane was awarded the inaugural Research Fellowship with safefood, completing her PhD in the area of social marketing partnerships in 2012. She joined the Discipline of General Practice, National University of Ireland, Galway, as a Social Marketing Postdoctoral Researcher on the SIMPle study. The SIMPle study aimed to improve the quality and quantity of antibiotics prescribed for urinary tract infections and was one of the largest non-pharmaceutical trials ever implemented in Ireland. Since February 2016, Dr Duane has worked as a postdoctoral researcher specialising in recruitment to clinical trials through the Health Research Board Trials Methodology Research Network.

Michael Hogan

Dr Michael Hogan is a senior lecturer and researcher in the Psychology Department at NUI Galway. His research foci include individual, social and technology factors contributing to child and adult learning, motivation, and collaborative performance. A key designer of the collective intelligence stakeholder engagement methodology in the EU-funded Sea for Society project (2012–2014), in EU’s ROUTE-TO-PA project (2015–2017) and in projects applying innovative technology in classrooms, he is an active member in international networks and is currently working on four EU projects.

Benjamin J. Broome

Benjamin J. Broome is Professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, where he teaches courses in intercultural communication, group facilitation and conflict resolution. His research focuses on the third-party role in facilitating dialogue in intercultural conflicts. He has been involved with peace-building efforts in Cyprus since 1994, working closely with groups of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in conflict resolution, problem solving and interactive design. In addition to his work in Cyprus, he has facilitated workshops with a number of government agencies, business organisations, professional associations, educational institutions, Native American Tribes and community groups in the United States, Mexico and Europe, including Sea for Society.

Roger A. Layton

Roger A. Layton is Emeritus Professor in the School of Marketing, Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. He was appointed Foundation Professor of Marketing at UNSW in 1967. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Marketing Research, European Journal of Marketing, Australasian Marketing Journal and Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. He was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to marketing and is an Honorary Citizen of Guangzhou in China in recognition of his contribution to higher education in China.

John Joyce

Dr John Joyce, having obtained his PhD while working at the Fisheries Laboratory at Lowestoft in the UK, moved to Dublin to join BIM – the Irish Sea Fisheries Board – in the development of the Irish aquaculture industry. He left BIM to become the CEO of the Irish Salmon Growers Association and is a former President of the European Aquaculture Society. He founded the trade magazine ‘Aquaculture Ireland’ and is a recipient of a number of awards including the Glaxo Fellowship for EU Science Writers for Ireland and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland’s Gladys McNevin Award. As Communications Manager of the Marine Institute, he led a team that set up the ‘Explorers’ national primary school marine education programme. He is a keen cartoonist, writer and the author of five novels, three screenplays and four marine-themed books for children including Black John the Bogus Pirate – Cartoon Workbook of Marine Beasts. John was Senior Scientific Project Manager with Aquatt for Sea for Society.

Marzia Mazzonetto

Marzia Mazzonetto is completing a PhD at the Athena Institute for Research on Innovation and Communication in Health and Life Sciences of the VU University of Amsterdam. Prior to that, Marzia was Project Manager at Ecsite (European network of science centres and museums), coordinating projects financed by the European Commission, such as VOICES and Sea for Society. She holds a degree in Communication Studies and a Master in Science Communication. Her main fields of interest are science communication and social innovation processes, such as citizens and stakeholders participation in scientific research and policy making (Responsible Research and Innovation, RRI).

Joanna Piwowarczyk

Joanna Piwowarczyk is a research assistant in the Department of Ecology at Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. She is an economist by training; she graduated in 2002 from the Faculty of Management, University of Gdansk. Her research focuses on the ecosystem approach to marine spatial planning, societal governance and marine ecosystem services, their indicators and valuation methodologies. She has been involved in many EU-funded projects, including Sea for Society and co-authored several scientific papers on biological valorisation, use of the sea space and the perception of climate change.