Davide C. Orazi

Public sector leadership: new perspectives for research and practice

In this article, we aim to portray the state of the art in public sector leadership in order to recommend directions for research and training practice. To this end, we review the scattered strands of literature on public sector leadership (PSL) and classify them in a single framework. The results of the study suggest that public sector leadership is emerging as a distinctive and autonomous domain in public administration/public management studies, although the debate is still underdeveloped compared to business administration studies. Leadership skills truly do matter in improving the performance of public sector organizations, and it is highly likely that the optimum leadership style is an integrated one: Public sector leaders should behave mainly as transformational leaders, moderately leveraging transactional relationships with their followers and heavily leveraging the importance of preserving integrity and ethics in the fulfillment of tasks. Points for practitioners This study on public leadership suggests that administrative leaders in the public sector behave differently from their counterparts in the business world, and as a result there is a great need for leadership development programs which focus on these differences instead of merely mimicking programs designed for leaders in the private sector.

Empowering social change through advertising co-creation: the roles of source disclosure, sympathy and personal involvement

Despite the emerging trend of adopting co-creative approaches in public and non-profit advertising, research has overlooked participatory approaches in non-commercial settings. This research extends current knowledge on consumer-generated advertising to communications fostering positive social change. The results of an experimental study show that the disclosure of consumer participation in the ad creation process results in positive ad evaluations and reduces positive attitudes towards unhealthy eating. The main effect of source disclosure on ad evaluations is mediated by sympathy towards the ad creator. In addition, floodlight analyses show that the main effect of source disclosure on ad evaluations and attitudes is amplified when the audience is highly involved with the advertised issue. Implications for theory, practice and public policy are discussed.

No Rest for the Wicked: The Epidemic Life Cycle of Wicked Consumer Behavior

Wicked consumption behavior, namely the inflated consumption of unhealthy commodities such as tobacco and soft drinks, constitutes a leading risk for noncommunicable diseases including cancer and diabetes. Despite the fatal impact of wicked consumption on societal welfare, both the social marketing literature and the public policy literature lack a systematic framework capturing the unfolding of the wicked consumption cycle and providing guidance on when and how to intervene upstream. Drawing on historical data on tobacco and soft drink consumption in the U.S., we propose a four-stage epidemic life cycle of wicked consumer behavior. The biological and habitual factors that make different types of wicked consumption appealing to consumers are reinforced by the marketing activities of the manufacturers. To overcome the strong resistance posed by habitual wicked consumption, we articulate a typology of upstream intervention parameters and provide guidance on when and how to intervene depending on the desired long-term equilibrium.

A multi-stakeholder IMC framework for networked brand identity

Purpose Past integrated marketing communications (IMC) frameworks have established brand contacts as important sources of information and feedback. This paper aims to discuss how the presence of multiple brand stakeholders and the proliferation of digital media increase the amount of brand information generated exponentially. When a firm fails to harness this information, it risks misalignment between brand identity and brand image, which, in turn, tarnishes brand-equity. Design/methodology/approach Past IMC frameworks are reviewed and extended to identify specific brand contact points between multiple stakeholders that hold significant potential to dynamically reconfigure brand identity. Theoretical propositions regarding the IMC function’s role in managing these contact points to generate brand-equity are offered. Findings The brand contacts described and their successful integration into a firm’s brand-equity strategy extend current IMC-based brand-equity models and suggest fruitful, novel avenues for creating brand-equity. Further, these brand contacts offer practical examples of how the scope of marketing communications can be redefined. Originality/value This paper contributes to the body of research on the elevation of IMC to a strategic level function. In addition to the synergistic communication of the brand offering, IMC needs to play a pivotal role in coordinating the contacts between the brand and stakeholders, and in extrapolating relevant brand insights from these contacts.

Make It More Authentic: The Drivers of Positive Ad Evaluations in Co-created Health Communications

The reported lack of research on consumer-to-health department interactions (Andersen et al. 2012) and the audience’s perceptions that many health campaigns greatly exaggerate health risks (Cancer Vic 2012) suggest that increased consumer involvement in the design of health messages and increased message authenticity may enhance the persuasiveness of many, limitedly successful public health campaigns (e.g., Darrow and Biersterker 2008; de Gruchy and Coppel 2008; Kerr et al. 2013). Source effects literature (Wilson and Sherrell 1993) suggests that positive message evaluations may be strengthened when the audience develops a sense of identification with the message source. Similar, audience evaluations may benefit from messages that are perceived to be more authentic, since message authenticity enables self-referencing to the scenarios depicted in the health message (Ertimur and Gilly 2012).