Back in 1975 a chap called Bagozzi introduced the Marketing Theory of Exchange that has become essential to all elements of marketing research and practice. He posited that there were three types of exchange: Restricted, General and Complex. What we are going to now do is see how it relates to social marketing.
The first, ‘Restricted Exchange’ (see figure 1) refers to a two party reciprocal relationship and is the classical customer (A) to salesman (B) association or in the context of social marketing the targeted individual and the social marketing organisation.
Figure 1: Bagozzi’s Restricted Exchange.
The second ‘Generalised Exchange’ (see figure 2) involves at least three parties who do not directly benefit from each other: an example could be a health charity (B) receiving a quantity of drugs from a pharmaceutical company (A) for use on individuals (C) in a third world country. (A) would use the stories gathered from (C) to promote their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.
Figure 2: Bagozzi’s Generalised Exchange.
The third, ‘Complex Exchanges’ (see figure 3) is where all parties have a mutual relationship, i.e. shared goals: an example could be England’s Department of Health (A) funding a breast feeding programme which local GP surgeries (B) would deliver to new mothers (C) to support with the growth of healthy children, providing a benefit to the whole healthcare system.
Figure 3: Bagozzi’s Complex Exchange.
The theory of exchange has now become essential to all social marketing research and practice, you now need to select which is the most appropriate for your particular campaign.
To find out more about this theory please review: Bagozzi, Richard P. “Marketing as exchange.” The Journal of Marketing (1975): 32-39.
Other articles you might find interesting:
- Understanding Social Marketing.
- What is Social Marketing?
- The Social Marketing Dilemma.
- Social Marketing – A Definition.
- Social Marketing Campaigns within the NHS.
Credits:
The lead picture is an adaption of the work by arztsamui:
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/
Alan Shaw
Latest posts by Alan Shaw (see all)
- What is social listening and why it is an important tool for researchers? - July 31, 2021
- COVID-19 and Remote Learning: Experiences of parents supporting children with SEND during the pandemic. - June 30, 2021
- Using Netnography To Evaluate The Launch And Collapse Of The European Super League - April 21, 2021
- Developing Semi-Structured Interview Questions: An Inductive Approach. - April 9, 2020
- Developing Semi-Structured Interview Questions: A Deductive Approach - April 9, 2020