Julia Thaler

On the Effectiveness of Social Marketing—What Do We Really Know?

Social marketing continues to play an important role, as societies are facing diverse social problems. Therefore, scientific findings on the effectiveness of social marketing are particularly interesting. A rigorously elaborated, structured, state of the art covering two aspects—not only the currently observed restricted focus on health campaigns, but also the whole spectrum of topics and the diversity of applied methodologies—is needed. Accordingly, this article aims to identify and categorize relevant findings on the effectiveness of social marketing in a tentative holistic model, with a main focus on framing determinants. A research agenda, which includes research propositions on framing determinants in social marketing effectiveness, to enhance scientific progress in the field, is deduced from this state of the art.

Does Motivation Matter for Employer Choices? A Discrete-Choice Analysis of Medical Students’ Decisions Among Public, Nonprofit, and For-Profit Hospitals

Physicians are crucial resources for medical service provision, and aggravated physician shortages enhance the need to understand employer preferences and thus perceived employer attractiveness. Our study analyzes how differences in individual motivational factors explain intentional employer choice in the hospital industry. This study focuses on medical students who are faced with their first employer selection. Using a large-scale survey of medical students (n = 563) in Germany, we analyze these choices using multinomial logit models. The analysis shows that heterogeneity exists in students’ preferences for hospital ownership type and an employer’s highlighted benefits. The likelihood of making certain choices is significantly related to both other-related motivational factors, such as altruism and commitment to public interest, and self-oriented motivational factors, such as financial security and work–life balance. The results are discussed, and management implications for nonprofit and other hospitals are derived.

Theoretical Framework of Social Marketing Effectiveness: Drawing the Big Picture on its Functioning

Social marketing involves campaigns that aim to change individual behavior as well as prosocial behavior in diverse fields, such as health prevention and environment protection. Restricted public funds, debates about the social responsibilities of governments, nonprofit organizations and societies, as well as financial crises have increased interest in effective social marketing as a means of mitigating existing social problems. This article aims to draw the big picture on social marketing effectiveness by developing its theoretical framework. This framework brings together fragmented findings on social marketing effectiveness and incorporates a framework as a theoretically grounded process from relevant stimuli to intended responses. It provides a basis for further research. Recommendations for improved social marketing campaigns are derived. Managerial implications have great relevance for public and nonprofit management, as social marketing strongly influences the work and mission of public and nonprofit organizations.

Do Codes of Conduct and Ethical Leadership Influence Public Employees’ Attitudes and Behaviours? An experimental analysis

Abstract Corruption, political scandals, and the spreading adoption of management practices in the public sector contribute to a decline in public trust. Worldwide initiatives promoting good governance can be observed. At an organizational level, management of ethics has gained in importance as codes of conduct and ethical leadership are promoted. However, public management research has hardly analysed the impacts of these measures. To address this research gap, we conduct a between-subjects experiment among public administration employees. Our results reveal that only ethical leadership has a positive effect on employees’ organization-related attitudes. Our findings suggest avenues for further research.

Public–private partnerships as instruments to achieve sustainability-related objectives: the state of the art and a research agenda

ABSTRACT The growing importance of public–private partnerships (PPPs) suggests the need to assess their contributions to sustainability-related objectives. With a systematic review of business and public administration literature, this study elaborates on whether empirical evidence indicates that PPPs are appropriate instruments to accomplish the sustainability objectives of governments and which success factors are crucial for this purpose. Results reveal that business research on PPPs rarely integrates sustainability concepts; findings pertaining to their contributions to sustainability remain inconclusive. However, various success factors show the potential of PPPs, if appropriately managed. These findings suggest an agenda for research on PPPs in the context of sustainability.

Satisfaction with and Success of Employee Training from a Public Service Motivation Perspective

ABSTRACT New public management requires modernization processes, including modern human resource practices, to enhance public sector performance. According to human capital theory, well-qualified and highly motivated public sector employees improve institutional performance; this study investigates the extent to which employee training as human resource practice can enhance one component of employees’ public service motivation (PSM), namely public interest, and their competencies as employee outcome. We examine public interest as a mediator or a moderator of the relationship between satisfaction with employee training and the resulting competence gain. The findings indicate a positive direct effect of satisfaction with employee training on competence gains and a mediating effect of public interest.

Besonderheiten und Managementimplikationen der Kundenintegration in Nonprofit-Organisationen

Seit den 1990er Jahren wird die Kundenintegration im Dienstleistungsmanagement wissenschaftlich intensiv diskutiert (Engelhardt et al. 1993; Kleinaltenkamp 1996; Bendapudi/Leone 2003; Flies 2004; Kleinaltenkamp 2007; Buttgen; Etgar 2008). In jungster Zeit wurde diese Diskussion insbesondere durch die Arbeiten von Vargo/Lusch (2004, 2008) bereichert, die argumentieren, dass Unternehmen kunftig nicht mehr nur Kunden aktiv in den Leistungserstellungsprozess integrieren („co-production“), wobei der aktive Managementpart beim Unternehmen liegt, sondern Kunden die Rolle eines Partners zukommt und somit beide Akteure zu gleichen Teilen zur Wertschopfung einer Dienstleistung beitragen („co-creation of value“).