William Peter Andrews, Andrew Alexander Parsons, Heather Rawle and Julie Gibbs
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the treatment effects of Quest cognitive hypnotherapy (QCH) on anxiety and depression, and make comparisons with published data from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the treatment effects of Quest cognitive hypnotherapy (QCH) on anxiety and depression, and make comparisons with published data from the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) project.
Design/methodology/approach
Adult clients of QCH therapists were invited to enrol in a Practice Research Network (PRN) and completed pre- and post-therapy measures of anxiety (GAD-7) and depression (PHQ-9).
Findings
Post-treatment scores were available for 83 of the 106 clients reaching caseness (above the clinical cut-off on either or both measures) on their pre-treatment scores. Totally, 59 clients had moved to recovery, representing 71 per cent of cases where post scores were available and 56 per cent of the intent to treat (ITT) population (106 clients). Additionally, including all cases (both above and below cut-offs) 118 clients had post-treatment measures. In total, 86 (73 per cent) clients improved reliably. The mean number of treatment sessions was between three and four. This compares favourably with 2012-2013 IAPT findings using the same measures.
Research limitations/implications
This study was exploratory involving a client group paying privately for treatment. There was no randomised control group or attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of specific components of therapy.
Practical implications
QCH may offer a brief effective treatment for clients with clinically significant levels of anxiety and/or depression, widening client choice.
Originality/value
As the first study to explore the effectiveness of private QCH this study offers an example of how to use a PRN to compare with published IAPT data using the same measurement tools.
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Keywords
Ann-Marie Kennedy, Joya A. Kemper and Andrew Grant Parsons
This paper aims to provide guidelines for upstream social marketing strategy on to whom, how and when social marketers can undertake upstream social marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide guidelines for upstream social marketing strategy on to whom, how and when social marketers can undertake upstream social marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This article is a conceptual piece using academic literature to justify and conceptualise an approach to communicating with and influencing upstream actors.
Findings
Specifically, it looks at the characteristics of policymakers targeted, then targeting methods, with a special focus on the use of media advocacy. Finally, a process of government decision-making is presented to explain message timing and content.
Practical implications
Specific criteria to judge time of decision-making and implementation guidelines are provided for social marketers.
Originality/value
In the case of complex social problems, such as obesity and environmental degradation, structural change is needed to provide people with the ability to change (Andreasen, 2006). Strategic social marketing has identified upstream social marketing as a method to influence structural change through policymakers (French and Gordon, 2015); however, literature in the area tends to be descriptive and there are no clear guidelines to its implementation (Dibb, 2014). This article seeks to provide those guidelines.
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Ann-Marie Kennedy and Andrew Parsons
The aim of this article is to explore how social engineering and social marketing are connected, and how social marketing is a tool used to achieve adherence to social…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to explore how social engineering and social marketing are connected, and how social marketing is a tool used to achieve adherence to social engineering.
Design/methodology/approach
Through examination of contemporary and historical thinking around social marketing, we present a conceptual argument that social marketing is another tool of the social engineer, and that social engineering, through methods such as social marketing, is pervasive throughout all societies in positive ways.
Findings
We develop a conceptual model of social engineering and social marketing, which goes beyond behaviour change to incorporate the essentials of society and the influencers of those essentials. In doing so, we show that social marketing influenced behaviour lies within the social engineering influenced laws, codes and norms of society, which in turn lie within the morals, values and beliefs of society.
Originality/value
This article provides for the first time a conceptual grounding of social marketing within social engineering, enabling academics and practitioners to contextualise social marketing activities in a broader societal framework.
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Common promotional activities employed by shopping mall marketers were ranked by a sample of customers on their likelihood of encouraging increases in the two key performance…
Abstract
Common promotional activities employed by shopping mall marketers were ranked by a sample of customers on their likelihood of encouraging increases in the two key performance indicators used by shopping malls – sales and visits. Results suggest clear distinctions between sales drivers and visit drivers and show possible combinations that would be effective in generating optimum customer behaviour. Some traditional promotions (fashion shows and product displays) are shown to be poor performers in generating either response, whilst school/community displays appear to be encouraging non‐customer visits. Whilst mall‐wide sales are the preferred promotion, a combination of general entertainment and price‐based promotions are found to be a strong alternative way to encourage visits and spending. Actual sales, visits, and promotional types for a three‐month period were analysed to assess the degree to which customers’ behaviour matched stated behaviour likelihood, with supportive results.
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Andrew Alexander, David Cryer and Steve Wood
This paper seeks to evaluate the particular conditions informing locational decision making and related network planning in the charity retail sector. Its purpose is to identify…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to evaluate the particular conditions informing locational decision making and related network planning in the charity retail sector. Its purpose is to identify both differences and commonalities with related debates that have been focussed very largely on the grocery sector and the superstore format. Its wider purpose is to contribute to the growing literature on charity retailing which has not considered this aspect of retail management in detail.
Design/methodology/approach
Details the particularities of charity retailing locational decision making and network planning through a detailed case‐study consideration of a hospice charity's emerging retail store network.
Findings
Finds that existing conceptual and practical considerations pertaining to locational decision making in retailing require a nuanced re‐revaluation in relation to the locational and network planning of charity retailers. Identifies the importance of supply chain (stock donators) and workforce factors together with the customer demand in informing locational decision making.
Originality/value
Detailed academic consideration of location planning in the charity shop sector is absent in the literature. The paper addresses this.
Details
Keywords
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Approaches to the sociology of culture have largely been constituted around the long tradition of functionalism in sociology. This has hampered the field greatly. Among other…
Abstract
Approaches to the sociology of culture have largely been constituted around the long tradition of functionalism in sociology. This has hampered the field greatly. Among other shortcomings, this intellectual foundation has led to a limited understanding of ideology and civil society, a conservative political orientation and an overdeterministic view of social action and the actor. In this paper, I explore and then apply a new approach to the sociology of culture, one that attempts to conceptualize more robustly the dynamics of ideology, ideological conflict and civil society. As part of this project, I endeavor to map out a critical cultural perspective that establishes a multidimensional understanding of the contingency of social action.
Andrew G. Parsons and Paul W. Ballantine
A common complaint about shopping malls is the “sameness” of them. Despite this, shopping mall groups are increasingly using group branding as the basis for promotional…
Abstract
A common complaint about shopping malls is the “sameness” of them. Despite this, shopping mall groups are increasingly using group branding as the basis for promotional activities, emphasising the security for the customer of knowing that they will receive the same level of mix, no matter which “branch” is shopped at. This research examines the effectiveness of group versus local promotional activities, with the premise that level of local market dominance will impact on the effectiveness of both promotional types. The two key performance indicators of sales and foot traffic were used to measure effectiveness. Findings suggest that promotional type and level of market dominance have significant effects on sales and traffic. Managerial implications are offered, along with suggestions for future research extending this study to other retail groups.
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Ann‐Marie Kennedy and Andrew Parsons
The purpose of this paper is to show how macro‐social marketing and social engineering can be integrated and to illustrate their use by governments as part of a positive social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how macro‐social marketing and social engineering can be integrated and to illustrate their use by governments as part of a positive social engineering intervention with examples from the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that uses the case of the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign to show that macro‐social marketing, as part of a wider systems approach, is a positive social engineering intervention.
Findings
The use of macro‐social marketing by governments is most effective when it is coupled with other interventions such as regulations, legislation, taxation, community mobilization, research, funding and education. When a government takes a systems approach to societal change, such as with the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign, this is positive use of social engineering.
Research limitations/implications
The social marketer can understand their role within the system and appreciate that they are potentially part of precipitating circumstances that make society susceptible to change. Social marketers further have a role in creating societal motivation to change, as well as promoting social flexibility, creating desirable images of change, attitudinal change and developing individual's skills, which contribute to macro‐level change.
Practical implications
Social marketers need to understand the structural and environmental factors contributing to the problem behavior and focus on the implementers and controllers of society‐wide strategic interventions.
Social implications
Eliminating all factors which enable problem behaviors creates an environmental context where it is easy for consumers to change behavior and maintain that change.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is in extending the literature on macro‐social marketing by governments and identifying the broader strategy they may be undertaking using positive social engineering. It is also in showing how marketers may use this information.