DE LA OPERACIÓN COLOMBIA VERDE Y EL PCIM

The first section to the questionnaire served to characterise the respondents. Correspondingly, the twenty-one respondents taking their degree in marketing were between nineteen and twenty-six years of age, with the majority (thirteen students) aged between nineteen and twenty, that is, rather young and hence with little or no professional experience. Despite this, responses from younger and more mature students did not differ significantly in content. As regards gender, there was a balance with ten males and eleven females again without any relevant differentiation in their opinions and perceptions.

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As regards the thirteen students attending the master’s degree in marketing, a majority (seven students) had already graduated in marketing and were continuing in the same field in the second study cycle. However, of the other six students, four were management graduates, one in sociology as well as one in media studies. Such diversity might be expected to generate distinctly diverse visions on the same phenomenon (social marketing), given their different academic backgrounds, nevertheless, analysis of the answers given did not produce this result. In terms of gender, females predominated (nine against four males) even if there were no particular differences in the responses given. In relation to age, the range of this latter sample ran from twenty-one to thirty-three with a majority aged between twenty-one and twenty-two (seven students). Once again, the age of respondents did not reflect any disparity in response and demonstrating that both younger and elder students held similar perceptions as regards the research theme.

On the concept of social marketing, the main objective of this research, the results obtained were:

(a) Social marketing is directed towards society and targets human relationships and social awareness (eighteen citations).

This finding demonstrates how students relate social marketing to the benefits for society, with a focus on the relationships between individuals (Exchange) and on citizen awareness (influence) as regards the problems that society faces. This perception was to the fore among undergraduate degree students (twelve citations), with Master’s degree students also on various occasions mentioning (six citations, the second most frequent response) social marketing as something that prioritises human beings and awareness about living in society (individual and collective benefits). It became clear from interviewee responses that they often considered social marketing across only one facet, communication, or merely as one of the marketing P’s (Fox and Kotler 1980).

(b) Social marketing is concerned about social causes and the surrounding environment, promoting social actions and drawing public attention to a particular problem or situation (fifteen citations). This latter vision, the second most common in respondent answers, approaches social marketing as a means of warning society about social or even environmental problems. It was master’s degree students who mostly conceived of social marketing in this fashion (nine citations). It should be highlighted that the majority of interviewees related social marketing to social propaganda in presenting examples of advertising campaigns that targeted social or environmental problems, as already emphasised by Andreasen (1993) who holds that there is frequently confusion between the concepts of social propaganda, social communication and social marketing.

(c) Social marketing is marketing by non-profit organisations (thirteen citations).

This definition of social marketing, among the most commonly reported, especially among undergraduate degree students (10 citations by this student group), reveals some confusion between social marketing and the marketing carried out by non-profit organisations. Despite the respondents perceiving these as synonymous, social marketing is not exclusive to this group of organisations. Such conceptual misunderstanding was previously identified by Andreasen (2002) on observing how social marketing was not accurately perceived with a lack of comprehension as to the extent of its applicability. (d) Social marketing is connected to charity and helping our fellow citizens (10 citations).

Also commonly referred to by undergraduate degree students (7 citations), social marketing was related to social welfare and support. Campaigns to raise charitable donations or social promotion were examples of what they considered social marketing as connected to social solidarity and assistance to fellow citizens. Once again, confusion appears between social communication, social propaganda and social marketing (O’Shaughnessy 1996), in addition to relating social marketing to social welfare, hence revealing difficulties in grasping the meaning as to what social marketing stands for (Jones and Putten 2008).

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(e) Social marketing fosters changes in behaviours and attitudes (6 citations).

This definition, most present in master’s degree student answers (5 citations) than in undergraduate degree students, was the closest to the definition set out by Kotler et al. (2002) and that defined social marketing as the utilisation of marketing principles and techniques so as to influence a specific target audience in order to voluntarily accept, reject, modify or quit a specific behaviour type for the benefit whether of the individual, group or society as a whole. The definition presented by these students significantly resembles the concept established by Kotler et al. (2002).

(f) Social marketing is a resource for constructing a positive company image among its consumers (4 citations).

A fairly uncommon response provided to the questionnaire raised by only four students (two degree and two master’s degree students) related social marketing to the constructing of a good company image among its consumers, implying some sort of confusion between the social image of the company and social marketing.

In summary, there was a certain difficulty, particularly among undergraduate degree students, in distinguishing between social marketing and other types of social action, such as social propaganda, social communication, social assistance and societal marketing. This confusion, already highlighted by Andreasen (2002), shows how the concept of social marketing still needs to be worked on and refined both by the academic community and by marketing professionals. For social marketing to prove of worth to organisations, to individuals and to society in general, it needs to be understood by professionals in the area. However, the results attained here show that there is still much work to be carried out by academics specialising in social marketing.

On the perceived importance of social marketing attributed by interviewees within the prevailing context, the following results were returned:

(a) Social marketing is important for helping people in general and for the resolution of social problems (twenty-two citations).

Once again, the answers relate social marketing to social welfare. The most common response given by interviewees, especially by undergraduate degree students (fifteen citations) expresses the importance of social marketing for leveraging social welfare. Considering the definitions of social marketing present in the literature, it is clear that respondents understand social marketing as a mechanism to be deployed to generate individual and collective benefits.

(b) Social marketing proves relevant as a means of warning society about current social problems (15 citations).

Another example of confusion found in answers was in considering social marketing to be synonymous with social propaganda. This response was the most common among master’s degree students (eight citations) and the second most frequent among undergraduate degree students (seven citations). In terming the importance of social marketing as a means of conveying social propaganda to warn society as to current social problems, the concept is perceived as merely one of the four marketing P’s, the P of promotion, necessary to render social marketing instrumental. However, the students do not consider the other P’s that also make up part of social marketing (Fox and Kotler 1980).

(c) Social marketing is important for helping companies to survive and grow in demonstrating their social responsibility to the public in general (14 citations).

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Once again, this shows how the concept and implementation of social marketing is not clearly perceived by professionals in the field (Brennan and Binney 2008). In this case, both master’s degree (seven citations) and undergraduate degree students (7 citations) related social marketing to corporate social responsibility thereby highlighting its importance to the survival and growth of organisations. This is another typical confusion: social marketing and corporate social responsibility. Despite many confusing one with the other, these are different and not even necessarily interrelated. While social marketing focuses on the behavioural change of a specific target public for the benefit of the individual, group or society as a whole (Kotler et al. 2002), corporate social responsibility fosters the construction of strong, credible and reliable relationships based on ethical and moral values and the good reputation of the company with all third parties with the objective of perpetuating its own success (Friedman and Miles 2006). The difference between these two concepts does not seem to have been grasped by students participating in this project.

(d) Social marketing is important for stimulating consumption among company clients (eight citations). In this case, the importance attributed to social marketing derives from a supposed capacity to boost consumption among company clients. Such importance was awarded both by master’s degree (4 citations) and by undergraduate degree students (4 citations). Hence, to these respondents, social marketing is nothing more than a tool for boosting the sales of a specific company and thus closer to the traditional core of marketing, which has always had as a key goal stimulating a rising level of consumption by clients of an organisation (Kotler 2005). However, looking at more recent definitions of social marketing (Dann 2008), we may see that social marketing may often be deployed to reduce certain forms of consumption that prove harmful to either individuals or even the environment. Respondents lacked this perception.

(e) Social marketing is of fundamental importance in demonstrating the human and social character of companies to society (6 citations).

Once again, we encounter a mixture of social image, social propaganda, social communication and social marketing. These are four different concepts that seem able to cause significant confusion. In this case, the importance attributed to social marketing by master’s and by undergraduate degree students (three citations apiece) is related to the image that the organisation wishes to convey to the market, a facet that is not attributed to the fundamental concept of social marketing (Andreasen 2002), as previously discussed.

In summary, this approach demonstrated that difficulties in defining social marketing are directly related with its sheer importance to the prevailing context. Where a marketing professional does not understand the essence of social marketing, then it is hardly to be expected that the individual will attribute the necessary importance to the practice of this branch of marketing, as has already been emphasised by Andreasen (2002) in identifying the barriers existing to the growth and maturing of social marketing within the current organisational context.

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CONCLUSIONS

The objective of this project was to research and explore the level of understanding that future marketing managers hold as to the concept of social marketing in conjunction with the level of importance they attribute to its application in current society.

Correspondingly, we seek to contribute towards the management of knowledge within organisations in clarifying what is the real understanding of this concept among marketing students, the future professionals in this field. The purpose also extends to making a contribution towards higher education institutions identifying the actual level of understanding of marketing students on this theme. There are also ramifications for the academic field deriving from the description as to how the concept of social marketing is perceived by future marketing professionals.

Hence, it was found that marketing students, despite having studied content on social marketing within the scope of their course programs, hold fairly different perceptions on this concept. Sometimes it is

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associated with central concepts found in the definitions of various researchers in this field, such as changing behaviours, social and individual benefits, marketing programs and influence. However, it is also frequently confused with other concepts especially those relating to social propaganda, societal marketing, corporate social responsibility and even social action. Indeed, this may result from the confusion present in the literature itself.

Correspondingly, it would seem important for academics in this field to progress with their efforts to clearly delineate the content of social marketing and its applicable scope in the field.

Furthermore, the fact that students associate the importance of social marketing in many situations with a means of “cleaning up the organisational image” or even turning over a profit reawakens the debate on the ethical facet of social marketing, already raised by Laczniak et al. in 1979, in association with the teaching of ethics on marketing study programs.