Impression management in the market for residential care for children and youth in Sweden

Emelie Shanks,Stefan Wiklund,Tommy Lundström,Gabrielle Meagher,Marie Sallnäs

doi:10.1111/spol.12613

Emelie Shanks, Stefan Wiklund + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12613

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Abstract

AbstractIn what has become quite a turbulent quasi‐market for residential care for children and youth, providers now compete for public contracts. To create visibility and attract customers, many providers use marketing activities to project the desired impression of themselves to maintain or strengthen their market position. In this article, we analyse how companies that provide residential care for children manage the impressions they project on their websites and in advertisements. The results reveal that residential care providers use a range of impression management strategies to enhance their organizational image and to respond to potentially damaging or threatening images. The information providers choose to disclose leaves customers—in this case, the social workers responsible for choosing and purchasing care on behalf of clients—with rather limited opportunities to evaluate the quality of care. This is a significant problem considering other, more reliable, sources of information are difficult to access.

Highlights

The field of residential care for children and youth in Sweden has changed considerably during recent decades
We examine the strategies that treatment-oriented residential care organizations use as they manage impressions of themselves on websites and in advertisements
Like other organizations operating in markets, residential care companies need to create visibility to attract customers and to project the desired impression of themselves and their services to customers and other stakeholders, such as the public, and potentially users (Drew, 2013; Taneja & Toombs, 2014; Winter et al, 2003)

Summary

Introduction

The field of residential care for children and youth in Sweden has changed considerably during recent decades. The mechanism of “consumer choice” used in childcare and eldercare markets is largely absent, resulting in a separation of customer and end-user in the residential care market, as local authorities both choose and purchase services on behalf of end-users. Service users are mainly children with a range of social problems and, many are placed with consent, service is sometimes provided against the will of the child and their family. Purchasing decisions in this market are made within a system governed by a mix of professional, political, bureaucratic and market norms and procedures, including procurement requirements decided by national and local politicians and administered by local bureaucrats

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