Most
of public policies aim to change behaviors. Indeed, their performance
manly
depends on their capacity to
make effective change in habits of people. In this view,
marketing has often been used
as a “tool box” that was available to influence behaviors of
public policy targets as it was
done with companies’ targets. However, marketing could also
be very helpful for public
performance if it was more focused on the comprehension of
consumer behavior. Thus, some
researches were developed in order to improve the
development and evaluation of
the impact of public policy instruments on consumer decision-
making process, notably for pro
environmental behaviors.
Traditionally,
marketing researches aim at understanding the impact of marketing
strategies on consumer’s
behavior and decision process. From this perspective, public policies
are seen as external
constraints or opportunities. However, although profit orientation of
a
company differs from political
authorities objectives, their actions contribute jointly to impact
the consumer's decision
process. A simplified model based on which market research suggests
that public policy creates
a set of rules which impact the
behaviors of companies. These latter integrate these rules into
their production and their
promotion policy, which in turn impact the consumer. Thus, there is a
feedback loop between consumers, companies and
governments that corresponds to
the four stages of the initial model for the impact of public
policies on consumers For
example, regarding the use of seat belts, the
government is trying to force
consumers to use these belts. The public policy measures are
thus passed on to consumers,
especially through the mass media (1). Consumer reactions in
terms of claims and types of
communication are transmitted to the Government (2). It may
modify its original intentions
before implementing a set of rules that will target companies
(3). They will then adapt their
strategies. For example, they may consider making automatic
seat belts in vehicles, which
will ensure the final adoption of desired behavior (4)
The
segmentation of this model shows that different groups of consumers
adopt different behaviors according to the segment they belong to.
Then, the
consumer’s
response can be
integrated as an indicator which
will then be evaluated and integrated with the following
policy. This type of survey is
also frequently used to design of public policies. Thus the model can
be seen as a stimulus-response model where governments send
stimuli to consumer segments
over a period of time. Such studies, however, can’t be achieved
prior to the implementation of
all public policies designed to influence consumer behavior.
Decisions regarding the choice
of alternative instruments are based more often on
assumptions and intuitions on
consumer behavior. The assumptions on which they are based
are the model of rational
choice of the consumer who is also the basis of the instruments used
by public policies. However, for
pro environmental behaviors, rational determinants are not sufficient
to explain
the complexity of these
behaviors. Thus, the study of environmental policy tools by
environmental psychologists
focused on environmental significant behaviors with a deeper
understanding of their impacts.
Their purpose is to deepen the understanding of the impact of
different instruments on
consumer behavior that has a significant environmental impact. It
integrates the rational behavior
but also extends to other approaches, including normative and
affective determinants.
The
study of the impact of the instruments of public action on behavior
offers four alternatives The first suggest analyzing the direct
impact of the instruments of public action on the
motivations leading to the
adoption of behavior for the target behavior.
A second alternative proposes
to consider that the psychosocial factors have a mediating role
in the impact that the
instruments have on behavior .
A third alternative considers
that the contextual factors of the instruments of public action
have a moderating effect on the
relationship between intention to adopt the behavior and
actual behavior .
The final alternative considers
the moderating effect of contextual factors which are perceived
as an independent predictor
that interacts with factors of attitudes to determine the likelihood
of adopting a target behavior .
This approach helps to consider
the broader impacts of public
policy tools on the overall relationship of the decision process.
These four alternatives hold as
a framework for analysis of internal and external
motivational factors such as
the instruments of public action on behaviors. The accuracy of
these frameworks depend s on
the nature of behavior, as well as the cultural context of public
policy. They should be adapted
to focus on the comprehension of different public policies
instruments on individual
decision process leading to the adoption of behavior that are
targeted by public policies.
Thus, it could improve the effectiveness of public policies
performance with the use of
consumer behavior and marketing knowledge in public sector.
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