William J. Ashton and Rajesh V. Manchanda
This paper aims to report a research approach that explores how to use evaluations of previous social marketing efforts to assess and guide a new shelterbelt program called…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report a research approach that explores how to use evaluations of previous social marketing efforts to assess and guide a new shelterbelt program called Working Tree. By targeting farmers, this new program aims to gain benefits from enhancing and expanding on-farm tree shelterbelts on the Canadian prairies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a novel method that relies on secondary data from six completed social marketing cases as data for a comparative analysis with the new program. A conceptual framework is proposed and applied. This framework incorporates process and outcome indicators of evaluation, key dimensions of the rational choice theory and proven practices from experience.
Findings
Analysis suggests key parameters of the Working Tree program to be appropriate, with some modifications. However, limitations in the data also point to avenues for future research to deepen the authors’ understanding of assessing a new social marketing program in the prelaunch phase. More research is needed on what works, where and why.
Research limitations/implications
The seven indices are a modest set for comparatives and are not exhaustive. Six selected cases are small samples that are unable to fully reflect the environmental nature of the new program; yet, they contained critical data for the comparative analysis. Financial data are not in constant dollars, which would be needed when further analysis is undertaken.
Practical implications
This paper illustrates the importance of the evaluation stage of the social marketing process. It demonstrates the practicality of being able to effectively draw upon previous evaluations to inform new program investors and social marketers at the prelaunch stage.
Originality/value
The conceptual framework and method present a novel approach to use evaluation data to guide new program funding and initiatives. It is offered with the hope that others might draw upon the ideas presented here and advance them.
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E. Joy Mighty and William Ashton
Management development programs are often regarded as essential for the preparation of managers who are presumed to be responsible for the future success of their organizations…
Abstract
Management development programs are often regarded as essential for the preparation of managers who are presumed to be responsible for the future success of their organizations. At other times, such programs have been criticized as being irrelevant to the actual practice of management. This paper explores the effectiveness of one management development program from the perspective of its graduates, who reported that the program positively impacted them as well as their organizations. In particular, they perceived that the program had an enormous impact on their career advancement and professional development. Many of the graduates did not believe that the program helped their organizations with management succession planning and achieving gender equity in management. However, the majority perceived that it did increase their organizations’ capacity to remain relevant to their changing environment and to deal with future management challenges, including the management of change.
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We wonder if, in the history of the world, any conference devoted to the intellectual interests of mankind has ever been held in such circumstances as made memorable the Fortieth…
Abstract
We wonder if, in the history of the world, any conference devoted to the intellectual interests of mankind has ever been held in such circumstances as made memorable the Fortieth Annual Meeting of the Library Association. For the whole week before those in and near London had been submitted to an ordeal well calculated to try the strongest nerves; an ordeal borne, it is true, with remarkable stoicism, but, nevertheless, one not likely to induce that calm, judicial frame of mind in which library topics should be discussed. Fortunately, however, the night before the opening meeting was the last of that particular series of air attacks, and the whole meeting passed in peace, so far as London was concerned. Raids and rumours of them may have reduced the attendance somewhat; it is fair to suppose that they did; yet the attendance, when all things are considered, was creditable to the Association.
IT is rarely possible to place on record expressions of appreciation concerning Municipal Libraries. More often than not remarks are heard about these institutions being an…
Abstract
IT is rarely possible to place on record expressions of appreciation concerning Municipal Libraries. More often than not remarks are heard about these institutions being an incubus and a burden on the rates, merely the haunts of loungers, and so forth. A public‐spirited citizen has, however, come forward at Halifax, and in a most interesting leader in the local paper has paid a splendid tribute to the library service of that town. Speaking of the public libraries, he says: “But in one respect we really do lead, and strangely enough it is the one thing that our local patriots rarely mention, perhaps because the subject is outside their sphere. I refer to our Municipal Libraries, which I believe are the finest, or certainly among the finest, in the country; and as I like to be patriotic when I can, and would rather speak well than ill of anything or anybody, I propose to pay a little tribute to these institutions. But just let me say that if we have finer libraries in Halifax than many much larger places possess, we owe it almost entirely to our Chief Librarian and those who work under him.”
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EVERY librarian in his inmost heart dislikes newspapers. He regards them as bad literature; attractors of undesirable readers; a drain upon the limited resources of the library;…
Abstract
EVERY librarian in his inmost heart dislikes newspapers. He regards them as bad literature; attractors of undesirable readers; a drain upon the limited resources of the library; and a target against which the detractors of public libraries are constantly battering. From the standpoint of the librarian, newspapers are the most expensive and least productive articles stocked by a library, and their lavish provision is, perhaps, the most costly method of purchasing waste‐paper ever devised. Pressure of circumstances and local conditions combine, however, to muzzle the average librarian, and the consequence is that a perfectly honest and outspoken discussion of the newspaper question is very rarely seen. In these circumstances, an attempt to marshal the arguments for and against the newspaper, together with some account of a successful practical experiment at limitation, may prove interesting to readers of this magazine.
That the health of the body is very closely connected with the nature and quantity of the food we take is a statement in the nature of a self‐evident proposition. When we desist…
Abstract
That the health of the body is very closely connected with the nature and quantity of the food we take is a statement in the nature of a self‐evident proposition. When we desist from eating food, starvation sets in after a longer or shorter period, according to the individual; when we eat too much or drink too much, distressing symptoms as inevitably supervene. Moreover, the quantity of food or drink consumed is not the only factor. The quality also is a matter of supreme importance, as in cases of malnutrition, while the various forms of blood disease, more or less loosely classed together as anæmia, appear to be associated to some extent with the question of nourishment. Without going so far as extreme partisans do who would seek to prove that all diseases are ultimately due to the consumption of unsuitable food, as witness, for instance, the views of the more advanced vegetarians and fruitarians, who attribute cancer and other maladies to the eating of meat, it is obvious that a very close connection exists between the health of the body and the nature of our food supply.