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CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Issue – March 2016
Corporate Social Marketing

Guest Editors: Nancy Lee and Sameer Deshpande

Social Marketing Quarterly will be investigating the practice of corporate social marketing (CSM) in an upcoming special issue. Kotler, Hessekiel, and Lee (2012) define CSM as an activity that “uses business resources to develop and/or implement a behavior change campaign intended to improve public health, safety, the environment, or community well-being” (pp. 111). According to the authors, in a CSM initiative, “behavior change is always the focus and the intended outcome.” Examples of CSM include UK Anglian Water promoting disposal of kitchen oils, food scraps, and sanitary wipes among heads of households at a special event launch in city square; Best Buy in the U.S. promoting recycling of old, unused, or unwanted consumer electronics at its stores; and Maruti Suzuki India improving road safety by training women through its national network of high-quality driver training program.

While the role of government and nonprofit organizations has been extensively investigated by social marketing scholars and practitioners, there remains a significant gap in investigating the role of for-profit businesses in carrying out social marketing activities. This special issue intends to better define and understand the theoretical, ethical, effectiveness, efficiency, and other practical implications of CSM. Possible case studies and research topics include, but are not limited to:

• How do social marketing efforts undertaken by businesses differ from those undertaken by governments and nonprofits?
• There are many corporate social responsibility (CSR) options available to businesses. Using Kotler, Hessekiel, and Lee’s (2012) typology, these include cause promotion, cause-related marketing, CSM, corporate philanthropy, community volunteering, and socially responsible business practices. Compared to other CSR options, what advantages and challenges do businesses experience when employing CSM initiatives?
• What is the role of business in supporting positive behavior change? Is CSM a contradiction for a business? Does it make sense for a business to get involved in a CSM activity?
• Under what market conditions and internal organizational conditions should businesses decide to undertake CSM initiatives?
• What criteria should businesses use when selecting a CSM effort to support?
• What ethical implications will a business and its stakeholders experience when it undertakes CSM efforts?
• What skepticism will a business face from stakeholders (especially the target audience) when undertaking CSM efforts?
• What socio-psychological models explain consumer reactions to a company’s CSM initiative?
• How do “social marketing” initiatives influence company and product/service brand value and how do they compare to “commercial marketing” activities?
• Can a multinational corporation internationalize a CSM initiative and run it in several countries?
• Are CSM initiatives effective and efficient? Do we have case studies?
• What is the commercial value of a well-executed CSM initiative sponsored and linked to a corporate brand? Do we have case studies?

Reference:

Kotler, P., Hessekiel, D., & Lee, N. R. (2012). Good Works: Marketing and Corporate Initiatives That Build a Better World…And the Bottom Line. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Submission Process:

For additional instructions on manuscript submission, please visit:

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Manuscripts should be submitted through Manuscript Central

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our online submission software.

Point of Contact:

To discuss ideas not mentioned above, or for any questions, please contact Ryan Hollm (rhollm@fhi360.org), managing editor of SMQ.

Deadline:

Manuscripts must be submitted by June 30, 2015.

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