The importance of shared beliefs for social marketing programmes

Abstract

Purpose When social marketing tries to influence behaviours to increase societal welfare, erroneous shared beliefs of the target audiences can become impediments to success. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to categorize shared beliefs that can be obstacles for social marketing programmes and to identify the main sources of those shared beliefs. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was used to examine the specific case of Type 1 diabetes. In-depth interviews with 12 experts and focus groups with 17 adults who had been living with Type 1 diabetes for five years or more were performed. The information was analysed applying thematic analysis. Findings The results indicated that there are two types of shared beliefs that can hinder social marketing efforts (misconceptions and ideological convictions) and three main influencers (primary groups, communication media and authority figures). Practical implications Target audiences can be segmented by their shared beliefs, and a specific message could be designed to reach each group. Social implications Obstacles that could prevent the audience from engaging in a desired positive behaviour could be identified. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that uses social representations to categorize erroneous shared beliefs that could be barriers for impacting behaviours, as well as the first to identify the main sources of those beliefs. This approach could provide guidelines for the design of social marketing campaigns that could achieve better public engagement.

The wicked problem of social cohesion: moving ahead

“…Yassim (2013) provided a discourse on the use of sport in connecting communities in which it was argued that participatory approaches, such as sports, provides a common platform where individuals from various backgrounds can come together to explore and reconcile their differences. This is also in agreement with the concept of shared beliefs where identifying shared beliefs that different parts of the community hold about a given issue can help bring people together to address a social problem (Calderon, 2019).…”

A Social Marketing Intervention to Improve Treatment Adherence in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

“…To identify the shared misconceptions about T1DM in Mexico to be addressed in the intervention, the results obtained by Calderon in 2019 [8] were analysed and, with the assistance of a paediatric endocrinologist, were clustered into five categories described in Table 1: (1) general fallacies about T1DM, (2) insulin, (3) diet, (4) exercise and (5) self-monitoring. Exercising is very dangerous for people with diabetes and should never be undertaken.…”

“…Several authors in the field of psychology have applied individual belief perspectives to the analysis of attitudes and behaviours of patients with diabetes [ 6 , 7 ]. However, analysis of the effects that shared beliefs (specifically misconceptions) have on treatment adherence, involving social marketing interventions, is still lacking [ 8 ]. The strong focus on individual health beliefs as determinants of complex chronic illnesses partially impacts several of the expected behaviours [ 9 ].…”

“…However, the theory has rarely been used in social marketing issues. Based on it, Calderón [ 8 ] argues that when a group accepts misconceptions as “the truth”, they may generate behaviours that affect social welfare. Regarding TIDM, shared misconceptions about it and its treatment may inhibit adherence to doctors’ instructions.…”

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“…Therefore, media should highlight the importance of staying at home most of the times to flatten the curve. Most importantly, the media should introduce this shared belief to public in the campaign [14].…”