The case for social support in social marketing

Purpose This paper aims to reinforce the arguments for applying the social support concept in social marketing. Design/methodology/approach This paper aims to conceptually outline the potential positive contribution of social support for social marketing practice as a tool to induce behavior change. Findings This paper focuses on the philosophical principle of social exchange, highlights the consumer-centered perspective of social marketing, which implies the natural evaluation of the social networks of influence and support and presents social support as a mechanism to induce long-term behavior change. Research limitations/implications No empirical (qualitative or quantitative) investigations were used to test the application of the concept in practical interventions. Practical implications This paper provides significant insights for intervention developers that can be used to program and theoretically justify future social marketing interventions applying the social support concept. Social implications Empirical research concluded for a positive relation between social support and human health and well-being. Thus, increasing the use of the concept in social marketing can serve to attain these social goals. Originality/value The concept of social support has gained considerable interest in the areas of behavioral medicine and health psychology. Despite such interest, it is still not clear how it can be approached in social marketing as there is a lack of conceptual literature discussing social support from a social marketing perspective, the number of social marketing interventions operationalizing the concept is limited and, till date, no research has focused in comprehensively establishing a theoretical rationale to operationalize the concept in social marketing.