Social Marketing

This article examines the development of social marketing research from 1998 to 2012. Drawing upon journal and database searches, 867 articles were retrieved and then analyzed in the light of the content analysis method. The article indicates that social marketing has captured increasing research attention, as evidenced by the growing number of articles published. U.S.- and U.K.-based researchers and institutions have contributed significantly to shaping knowledge in the field. Public health has predominantly been the research topic and hence more articles have been published in health-related journals than in marketing-related journals. Substantial research has focused on downstream social marketing, while the upstream and critical dimension has been given limited attention. Behavior change theories underlying social marketing studies were not always reported, leading to difficulties in identifying common factors in effective interventions. Social marketing research has been dominated by qualitative methods, although both quantitative and mixed methods are gaining prominence. Limitations to the article are discussed and gaps for further research indicated.