A Social Marketing Framework for the Sharing Economy

Background: Socio-economic issues; such as social economic inequality, sustainability of resources, and environmental concern are major social concerns and the call for economic reforms to address these issues is growing louder. Sharing economy, as a socio-economic system, presents a solution to the current linear economic model having the potential to address the aforementioned socio-economic issues. Sharing, being environmentally friendly and sustainable in nature, bridges the gap of social economic inequality prevalent in society. The attributes of the sharing economy are different from the traditional economic model which is more "social" in nature, hence making social marketing techniques more suitable than the conventional marketing approach. Focus of the Article: The conceptual paper is focused on the application of social marketing in the sharing economy to address socio-economic issues and in doing so presents a framework to achieve its goal. Research Question: How can social marketing effectively influence social behavioural changes as they relate to socio-economic changes? Program Design/Approach: The framework developed outlines three levels of intervention for the successful implementation of social marketing in the sharing economy. The downstream intervention focuses on influencing consumer behavioural traits necessary for the adoption of the sharing economy by applying an appropriate marketing mix strategy. The upstream intervention focuses on policy and lawmakers, social and economic institutions, environmental groups, advocacy bodies, and lobbying organisations capable of addressing the root cause of the issue. The midstream intervention focuses on integrating upstream intervention with downstream through service providers. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: The research paper extends social marketing application from influencing social behavioural issues to addressing and influencing socio-economic issues with its proposed application in sharing economy. The study provides a framework to address key socio-economic (social economic inequality) and consumer behavioural issues (materialism and ownership) that are prevalent in society. Method: The proposed social marketing framework for the sharing economy is created after carrying out a systematic literature review on social marketing and sharing economy. The extant literature analysis focussed on key definitional parameters and their evolution over time. With the identification of key elements and benchmark framework, the three levels of social marketing intervention are developed and presented for the actionable implementation of a successful marketing strategy. Future Research: The research paper provides an initial framework for the social marketing intervention in the sharing economy and in influencing socio-economic change which opens the door for future research direction; what additional upstream and midstream social marketing intervention is necessary to bring socio-cultural and socio-economic change to tackle the issue of social economic inequality? Paper type: Conceptual paper.