Two converging paths: behavioural sciences and social marketing for better policies

François J Dessart,René Van Bavel

doi:10.1108/jsocm-04-2017-0027

Abstract

PurposeThis commentary argues that social marketing and the application of behavioural sciences to policy constitute two converging paths towards better policies. It highlights points of convergence and divergence between both disciplines and the potential benefits of further embedding social marketing principles and methods within the recent trend of applying behavioural sciences to policy.Design/methodology/approachThe commentary relies on a review of the behavioural sciences and social marketing literatures and on an analysis of institutional reports reviewing cases of behaviourally informed policies.FindingsBehavioural sciences are increasingly informing policies to promote societal well-being. Social marketing has seldom been explicitly considered as being part of this phenomenon, although it is de facto. Both disciplines share similar end-goals, inform similar policy applications and are rooted in behavioural analysis. They diverge in their theoretical frameworks, their relative emphasis on behaviour change and the span of interventions they generate. Several benefits of embedding social marketing principles and methods within the current way of applying behavioural sciences to policy are identified.Practical implicationsScholars applying behavioural sciences to policy are encouraged, when appropriate, to use the insights and methods from social marketing. Social marketing can engage in a dialogue with behavioural sciences to explore how to pilot the convergence of both approaches in practice.Originality/valueThe novelty of this contribution lies in providing the first comparison of the application of behavioural sciences to policy with social marketing, and in using the policy-making cycle framework to map the contributions and complementarities of both disciplines.

Highlights

1.1 Behavioural sciences and policy Behavioural sciences study human behaviour in an attempt to understand the various factors that affect it (Berelson, 1995), and encompass psychology, behavioural economics, neuroscience and anthropology, among others
Points of convergence and points of divergence 2.1 Points of convergence To a large extent, social marketing and behavioural sciences applied to policy overlap
A similar, yet less developed, multidisciplinary approach exists in the field of behavioural sciences for policy-making, which has primarily applied insights from behavioural economics and social psychology (Shafir, 2013a)

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Behavioural sciences and policy Behavioural sciences study human behaviour in an attempt to understand the various factors that affect it (Berelson, 1995), and encompass psychology, behavioural economics, neuroscience and anthropology, among others. Because social marketing leverages behavioural insights to promote behavioural change (French and Russell-Bennett, 2015), it is de facto part of the growing trend of applying behavioural sciences to policy. Against a backdrop of top-down policy-making where individual preferences and behaviours are assumed, both social marketing and behavioural sciences take the citizen as the starting point for building policy interventions.

Results

Conclusion