New Ways to Make People Save: A Social Marketing Approach

In this study, we use a social marketing approach to develop a planning aid to help new employees at a not-for-profit institution contribute to supplementary pensions. We employed different methods, such as surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews, to "listen" to employees' needs and difficulties with saving. Moreover, we targeted specific groups that were less likely to save and contribute to supplementary pensions, such as women and low-income employees. The program we developed is not only effective but also inexpensive. While this program was implemented at a single institution, it is suitable to be applied to a variety of employers and demographic groups.

Value from Regulatory Construal Fit: The Persuasive Impact of Fit between Consumer Goals and Message Concreteness

This research investigates the relationship between regulatory focus and construal level. The findings indicate that promotion-focused individuals are more likely to construe information at abstract, high levels, whereas those with a prevention focus are more likely to construe information at concrete, low levels (experiments 1 and 2). Further, such fit (vs. nonfit) between an individual's regulatory focus and the construal level at which information is represented leads to more favorable attitudes (experiments 3 and 4) and enhances performance on a subsequent task (experiment 3). These outcomes occur because fit enhances engagement that in turn induces processing fluency and intensifies reactions. (c) 2009 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Transforming Consumer Health

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is intended to transform the U.S. health care system. Its success will require the transformation of consumers ’ views about health and their willingness to participate in healthful behaviors. Focusing on three barriers to consumers ’ engagement in healthful behaviors, the authors review the research literature and suggest opportunities for further research. Using a social marketing perspective, they suggest actions for health care providers