Bringing 5 A Day Consumers into Focus: Qualitative Use of Consumer Research to Guide Strategic Decision Making

Establishing a Relationship between Behavior Change Theory and Social Marketing: Implications for Health Education

“…The social marketing discipline suggests that for behavior change to be successful, the appropriate marketing mix (i.e., product, price, place, and promotion) must be established in context of the consumers' preferences (McCormack-Brown et al, 2000;Smith, 2000). Therefore, the question is posed as to whether programmatic decisions should be based on what behavior change theory suggests affects behavior, or based on consumer preference for the marketing mix.…”

“…Although several variations of core social marketing components have been advanced (Lefebvre &Flora, 1988;Maibach, Shenker, & Singer, 1997;Smith, 2000), comparatively few models or step-by-step approaches have been proposed. For example, Walsh, Rudd, Moeykens, and Moloney (1993) describe a three-phase social marketing process.…”

“…Behavior change theory provides an understanding of precursors related to a problem or behavior of interest, and social marketing provides the framework to apply the theory and modify the behavior. However, relatively few peer-reviewed, published social marketing articles describe behavioral theory as part of the social marketing program development (e.g., Lindenberger & Bryant, 2000;McCormack Brown et al, 2000).…”

“…In these approaches the exchange concept is not readily apparent. It is suggested that for behavior change to occur (for the exchange to take place) the social marketer must understand the consumer's preferences for the product, price, place, and promotion, or the 4Ps (McCormack-Brown et al, 2000). Smith states that each of the Ps makes an "irreplaceable" contribution to successful behavior change (pg.…”

“…For example, in developing the national 5-a-Day campaign, using the Transtheoretical Model, researchers asked questions appropriate for the contemplation and preparation stages, specifically about benefits; barriers; confidence; intention; attitude; perceptions; and interest in fruit and vegetable consumption (Loughrey et al, 1997). If social cognitive theory was the theoretical basis, formative research questions would include inquiry about reciprocal determinism (opportunities that exist to engage in behavior; environmental factors that prohibit or encourage behavior); behavioral capability (current knowledge level; current skill level; sources of information; preferences for training); expectations (beliefs about the result of engaging or not engaging in the behavior); selfefficacy (confidence to perform a specific behavior in various circumstances); observation learning (who are their peers; who are role models); and reinforcement (social support system; preferences for rewards; intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors).…”