A Comparison of Attitudinal Loyalty Measurement Approaches

The aim of this paper is to present the empirical tests of two measures of attitudinal brand loyalty to identify if they are items of a single construct or two distinct constructs. These two measures are an individual's propensity to be brand loyal, and attitude towards the act of purchasing a specific brand. This paper also seeks to determine which of these measures would be more useful for explaining purchasing behaviour. The results confirm the hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between the two measures in the business services market. This indicates that they are in fact not measures of the same concept but two separate concepts. Aggregating the scores from both measures to form a single score for attitudinal loyalty would reduce richness of explanation for marketing practitioners. in addition, the results suggest that the attitude towards the act of purchasing a brand can be used to explain or predict purchasing behaviour

Understanding carer's intentions for their child to walk to school: Further application of the theory of reasoned action

One quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese (ABS, 2010), putting them at increased risk of physical and psychological health problems (Reilly et al., 2003). Overweight and obesity in childhood tends to persist into adulthood and is associated with premature death and morbidity (Reilly & Kelly, 2011). Increases in Australian children’s weight have coincided with declines in active transportation, such as walking, to school (Salmon et al., 2005). Investigating the factors which influence walking to school is therefore important, particularly since walking to school is a low cost and effective means of reducing excess weight (Rosenberg et al., 2006) that can be easily integrated into daily routine (Brophy et al., 2011). While research in this area has expanded (e.g., Brophy et al., 2011; Giles-Corti et al., 2010), it is largely atheoretical (exceptions Napier et al., 2011). This is an important gap from a social marketing perspective given the use of theory lies at the foundation of the framework (NSMC, 2006) and a continued lack of theory use is observed (Luca & Suggs, 2013). The aim of this paper is to empirically examine a widely adopted theory, the deconstructed Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein & Azjen, 1975), to understand the relative importance of attitude and subjective norms in determining intentions to increase walk to school behaviour

A vacationer-driven approach to understand destination image: a Leximancer study

Destination image studies have largely centred upon conceptualizing destination image through a variety of methods that are predominantly researcher driven. Whilst this has furthered our understanding of how vacationers perceive a destination(s) on key reference criteria, the researcherdriven process may artificially increase the salience of some attributes. The purpose of this study was to showcase how a vacationer-driven approach employing Leximancer may be used to understand destination image by enabling vacationers to drive the attributes and sentiments of importance. Based on a sample of 517 vacationers to the Fraser Coast, respondents were able to identify nine themes. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications are presented and recommendations and future research opportunities are outlined

Moderating teen drinking: Combining social marketing and education

This paper outlines a pilot study that was undertaken in Australia in 2011 that combined social marketing with education. An intervention targeting 14-16 year olds to influence attitudes and behavioural intentions towards moderate drinking was developed and tested. Game On:Know alcohol (GO:KA) is a six-module intervention that is delivered to a year level cohort in an auditorium. GO:KA combines a series of online and offline experiential activities to engage (with) students. Following social marketing benchmark criteria, formative research and competitive analysis were undertaken to create, implement and evaluate an intervention. The intervention was delivered in one all boys' and one all girls' school in April and June 2011, respectively. A total of 223 Year 10 students participated in GO:KA with the majority completing both pre- and post-surveys. Paired samples t-tests and descriptive analysis were used to assess attitudinal and behavioural intention change. Attitudinal change was observed in both schools while behavioural intentions changed for girls and not boys according to paired samples t-testing. Post hoc testing indicated gender differences. The lack of a control group is a key limitation of the current research that can be overcome in the 20 school main study to be conducted in 2013-2015. The current study provides evidence to suggest that a combined social marketing and education intervention can change teenage attitudes towards moderate drinking whilst only changing behavioural intentions for female teenagers. Analysis of the intervention provides insight into gender differences and highlights the need for a segmented approach

Motivators of indiscriminate and unsafe supplement useamong young Australians

Background: There is growing concern about the self-administration of supplements, which can often be indiscriminate, counterproductive to health, and serve as a gateway to more harmful drugs and substances. Research suggests that high uptake of performance- and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) is correlated with body image to accentuate masculinity. This study provides insights into limiting unhealthy supplement usage. This research identifies reasons for casual unhealthy supplement use among young adult Australians through the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) lens, providing practitioners with insights into developing interventions to deter their use. Method: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with ten participants aged between 18 and 40, using a convenience sample. Leximancer analysis was used to assess word co-occurrence and map to TPB constructs. Results: Leximancer identified positive attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control towards supplement usage. Key themes that influenced supplement use were weight loss, body image, nutrition, training, education, challenges, need, and time. Furthermore, using TPB constructs, affective and instrumental attitudes and prevailing norms were observed when investigating what would cause an individual to use supplements in an unhealthy manner. Conclusion: Through understanding the motivations of indiscriminate supplement use across the Australian population, the study has uncovered several social factors that may reduce or limit the practice of unsafe supplement usage

Changing fertilizer management practices in sugarcane production: cane grower survey insights

Improved fertilizer management practice in sugarcane production is a key component in plans to improve Great Barrier Reef (GBR) water quality. Research focused on understanding wider systemic factors that drive behavioral change in agriculture is currently limited, with the domi-nant focus on individual farmer and psychosocial factors. Adopting a wider systems perspective, this study examines farming behavior change and the role of supporting services among 238 sugarcane growers (74,597 hectares) in Queensland’s Wet Tropics region who completed surveys reporting on changes in the method they used to calculate fertilizer application rates, along with information on their farm business, socio-demographics and self-reported importance ratings on a variety of topics. Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior., ssurvey data are analyzed us-ing regression models to identify factors influencing the change from traditional to improved practice, and early adoption of improved practice. Results indicate growers were less likely to change fertilizer practice if they regarded maintaining good relationships with other local growers as being extremely important, had off-farm income, or had not attended a govern-ment-funded fertilizer management workshop in the five years preceding the survey. Similar drivers acted to promote or delay early adoption of improved practice. Results demonstrate the influence of government-funded services to support practice change

Generating new directions for reducing dog and koala interactions : A social marketing formative research study

Koala populations are declining. Conservation of this Australian icon requires a whole of community approach. To effect change, researchers and practitioners must effectively engage the target community, be open to different ways of thinking, and be receptive to new ideas and directions that match the times. This article reports the application of social marketing to decrease dog and koala interactions. A comprehensive program of formative research including a systematic literature review, expert interviews, online surveys and co-design sessions were employed to identify novel ideas and audience-focused strategies that can be applied to reduce dog and koala interactions. Results indicate that dog owners seek a non-koala focussed, dog training program that shows them what to do and a targeted approach alerting them to koala presence in addition to education and awareness efforts favoured by experts. This study indicates the need for more human centred research, which has been absent to date, given identified incongruence between expert and community views. We propose that audience-focused behaviour management strategies will, in turn, increase target audience adoption, campaign reach and promote effective community engagement with programs

Indonesian healthy living intentions: Segmentation study insights

Obesity is a global epidemic. The very rapid growth rates of obesity prevalence observed in developing countries is alarming. Segmentation is under applied in social marketing and, when it is applied, it is based primarily on demographic data in samples drawn from developed nations. The current study adopts psychographic segmentation to understand lifestyle attitudes and intentions towards exercise and weight loss among an Indonesian sample. TwoStep cluster analysis (n = 499) identified 4 distinct segments (At risk, Conscious healthy, Overweight, and Tryers). The results of this study demonstrate that different groups exist in the larger population and that consideration of these groups may assist social marketers in creating service/intervention offerings that meet the needs of a broader range of people in the market, thus extending penetration of campaigns that address obesity