CONTENTS Introduction 1 - Amazon Web Services€¦ · The New Public Relations: Integrating Marketing and Public Relations Strategies for Student Recruitment and Institutional Image

Volume 7Number 42000

CONTENTS

Introduction 1Don Self

Channel Design for Early Intervention Services:Is There a Role for Brokers? 3

Douglas L. Fugate

Parents or caregivers of children with disabilities are responsible for makingimportant choices about who will provide developmental services to their child.Unfortunately, the demands of this decision often occur when the parent is leastprepared to make an objective and reasoned decision. Potential conflict of interestissues among channel members are also common at this time. The use of a brokerseems to offer a practical resolution to this problem. The broker would beinformative, neutral, and helpful. As a result, children with disabilities shouldbenefit from being placed with the most appropriate service provider.

KEYWORDS. Children with disabilities, channel design, channel captain, broker,IDEA, early intervention services

The New Public Relations: Integrating Marketing and PublicRelations Strategies for Student Recruitment and InstitutionalImage Building–A Case Study of the University of Texasat San Antonio 17

Amiso M. George

Marketing Alliances Between Non-Profits and Businesses:Changing the Public’s Attitudes and IntentionsTowards the Cause 33

Linda I. NowakJudith H. Washburn

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent corporate and non-profitalliances can impact the public’s attitudes and intentions to support a cause.Through the use of experimental design four types of alliances were examined:(1) low affinity cause aligned with company with strong reputation, (2) low affinitycause aligned with company with weak reputation, (3) high affinity cause alignedwith company with strong reputation, and (4) high affinity cause aligned withcompany with weak reputation. Results of paired sample t-tests indicatedsignificant changes for only one type of alliance, that which is between a lowaffinity cause and a corporate sponsor with a strong reputation. The low affinitycause experienced increased: (a) customer trust in the non-profit, (b) intentions tosupport the cause, (c) evaluations of cause importance, (d) personal feelings ofresponsibility to help the cause, and (e) evaluations of consequences for societythrough providing support. For the remaining three types of alliances changes werenot significant.

KEYWORDS. Cause marketing, alliances, non-profits, corporate sponsorships,donations, consumer support

SERVPERF Utility for Predicting Neighborhood ShoppingBehavior 45

Kimball P. MarshallJ. R. Smith

Marketers addressing customer perceptions of service quality have developed theSERVQUAL and SERVPERF scales and have shown these to be correlates ofperceived service quality in a variety of consumer industries including retailshopping. This study applies SERVPERF items to urban community developmentissues by considering the utility of the SERVPERF items in predicting a propensityto shop neighborhood stores as compared to a propensity to shop in areas outsidethe neighborhood. The results suggest specific SERVPERF issues that mayinfluence neighborhood shopping.

KEYWORDS. SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, consumer behavior, retailing

Examining the Landscape of Managed Behavioral Health CareThrough the Market Paradigm 59

Michael L. HallRobert H. Keefe

The purpose of this article is to examine the market paradigm’s impact on privatepracticing social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists who are reimbursed forservices by managed behavioral health care organizations (MBHCOs). Fivehundred eighty-two private practitioners from across the nation responded to amailed survey in which they were asked a series of questions concerning changes intheir business practices subsequent to joining MBHCO provider panels. Resultsindicate that despite the concerns about MBHC, these practitioners have sustainedtheir practices. The market paradigm’s use in explaining MBHC’s impact on theprivate practitioners was found to have limited utility.

KEYWORDS. Managed behavioral health care, private practitioners, psychotherapy

Factors Affecting the Adoption of the Internetin the Public Sector 77

Julie NapoliMichael T. EwingLeyland F. Pitt

Research in the area of electronic marketing has focused considerable attention onconsumers’ and advertisers’ perceptions of the Internet as a marketingcommunication medium. Whilst such research has been undertaken mostly in theprivate sector, it is important to recognize, and attempt to understand, the growingnumber of public sector organizations that have an Internet presence. Results of astudy of the perceptions of managers in public sector organizations of the Internetas a marketing communication tool are reported. Findings suggest that decisionmakers in the public sector who feel that there is a need for their organizations tohave an Internet presence, are more inclined to adopt the Internet as part of theirmarketing communications program. Furthermore, they are more likely to feel thatuse of the Internet will improve their overall marketing effectiveness. It is alsointeresting to note that the perceived complexity of using the Internet has asignificant effect on both the adoption of and attitude towards the Internet as amarketing communications tool. This suggests that there is still some uncertaintyamongst public sector organizations as to the usefulness of the Internet inmarketing their services.

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Introduction

This issue concludes volume seven of JNPSM and includes sixdiverse articles and a call for papers for an upcoming special issue onSocial and Cause Related Marketing, which will be edited by MikeEwing at Curtin University in Australia. Readers are encouraged tocommunicate with Dr. Ewing concerning this topic.

The first article in this issue is ‘‘Channel Design for Early Interven-tion Services: Is There a Role for Brokers?’’ by Douglas L. Fugate ofWestern Kentucky University (USA). Professor Fugate proposes abroker function as an additional element in the distribution system forservices for children with disabilities. The proposed model might bean addition to many managed care services.

The public relations function is often separated from other market-ing functions in nonprofit organizations. A case study for integratingfunctions is presented by Amiso M. George of The University ofTexas at San Antonio (USA) entitled ‘‘The New Public Relations:Integrating Marketing and Public Relations Strategies for Student Re-cruitment and Institutional Image Building–A Case Study of the Uni-versity of Texas at San Antonio.’’

Linda I. Nowak (Sonoma State University, USA) and Judith H.Washburn (Bowling Green State University, USA) contribute ‘‘Mar-keting Alliances Between Non-Profits and Businesses: Changing thePublic’s Attitudes and Intentions Towards the Cause.’’ The authorstest the relative importance of the cause and the relative reputation ofthe firm in defining the success of the alliance.

The SERVQUAL and SERVPERF scales have been widely used tomeasure the correlates of perceived service. Kimball P. Marshall andJ. R. Smith (both of Jackson State University, USA) apply SERV-PERF to urban community development in ‘‘SERVPERF Utility forPredicting Neighborhood Shopping Behavior.’’

Michael L. Hall (The Sage Colleges, USA) and Robert H. Keefe(Syracuse University, USA) contribute ‘‘Examining the Landscape of

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, Vol. 7(4) 2000� 2000 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

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JOURNAL OF NONPROFIT & PUBLIC SECTOR MARKETING2

Managed Behavioral Health Care Through the Market Paradigm.’’Five hundred eighty-two for-profit practitioners were surveyed con-cerning their concerns with managed behavioral health care.

Finally, Julie Napoli, Michael T. Ewing, and Leyland F. Pitt (all ofCurtin University, Australia) report on perceptions of public sectormanagers concerning marketing on the internet in ‘‘Factors Affectingthe Adoption of the Internet in the Public Sector.’’

Don SelfEditor

Channel Designfor Early Intervention Services:

Is There a Role for Brokers?

Douglas L. Fugate

ABSTRACT. Parents or caregivers of children with disabilities are re-sponsible for making important choices about who will provide develop-mental services to their child. Unfortunately, the demands of this deci-sion often occur when the parent is least prepared to make an objectiveand reasoned decision. Potential conflict of interest issues among chan-nel members are also common at this time. The use of a broker seems tooffer a practical resolution to this problem. The broker would be infor-mative, neutral, and helpful. As a result, children with disabilities shouldbenefit from being placed with the most appropriate service provider.[Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document DeliveryService: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: Website: ]

KEYWORDS. Children with disabilities, channel design, channel cap-tain, broker, IDEA, early intervention services

INTRODUCTION

Thousands of America’s infants and toddlers are receiving earlyintervention services in order to prepare them for future educationaland training experiences. In many instances, it is likely that the provid-ers of these services are only nominally selected by parents who maynot be particularly well equipped to make such decisions. Under such

Dr. Douglas L. Fugate is Professor of Marketing, Department of Economics andMarketing, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101.


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circumstances, an independent specialist might be useful to negotiateexchanges between buyers and sellers of early intervention services.Children with disabilities would benefit from better decision makingand the public would benefit through better utilization of its humanand financial resources.

BACKGROUND OF THE ISSUE

In 1997, the 105th Congress authorized passage of the Individualswith Disabilities Education Improvement Act or IDEA ImprovementAct. This Act, first passed in principle in 1975 (All HandicappedChildren Act PL 94-142) with several subsequent reauthorizations, isdesigned to ensure that all children with disabilities have free, ap-propriate public education that meets their unique needs and preparesthem for employment and independent living.

At the time of PL 94-142, it was estimated that one half of childrenwith disabilities did not receive appropriate educational services andthat over 1,000,000 children with disabilities were excluded entirelyfrom public education (IDEA, Sec 601 (c) (2)(B)(C).

During the last two decades the title has expanded its scope withincreased emphasis on early intervention services for infants and tod-dlers; defined as individuals under three years of age. Early interven-tion services are intended to meet the developmental needs of infantsand toddlers in the following areas: physical; cognitive; communica-tion; social or emotional; or adaptive development. Early interventionis widely recognized as reducing the educational costs to society,minimizing the infant or toddler’s potential for developmental delay,and increasing the potential for independent living in society (IDEA,Sec. 631(a)).

Unfortunately, the implementation of programs to locate, identify,and provide children with disabilities the appropriate educational ser-vices has achieved only limited success. The framers of the Act blame‘‘low expectations’’ and ‘‘an insufficient focus on applying replicableresearch on proven methods of teaching and learning for children withdisabilities’’ (IDEA, Sec 601(c)(4). However, the limited success ofthe Act may have as much to do with channel management as it has todo with performance of educational protocols. Social services do notsimply ‘‘wind up’’ in the right hands because of good intentions andassertion. Channels of distribution must be planned and executed by

Douglas L. Fugate 5

public policy makers just as carefully as they plan for the product. AsFine (1990, p. 116) points out, ‘‘in P&NPOs (public and non-profitorganizations), [channel] leadership is frequently left to chance, andhence is overlooked completely.’’

PROVIDING FOR DISTRIBUTIONOF EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES

IN A PUBLIC MARKETPLACE

The law governing early intervention services is quite specific on anumber of issues. First, each state must implement a comprehensivechild find system and a public awareness program (IDEA Sec635(a)(5)(6)). This requires a formal mechanism for identifying po-tential users of early intervention services. Informed parents, teachers,community leaders, the medical community and others who mightbecome aware of an infant or toddler with one or more developmentaldelays should clearly be a part of the mechanism. A more thoroughdiscussion of these issues can be found in Fugate and Fugate (1995,1996). In this context, the child with disabilities is the ultimate con-sumer and the parent or parents would be part of the decision makingunit. The larger community of physicians, day care workers, socialservice employees, nurses, etc., would be responsible for generatingmarketing communications regarding the need to have childrenscreened at an early age, as well as the availability of the early inter-vention services product.

Second, there is to be a central directory of information on earlyintervention services, resources and experts available in each state(IDEA Sec 635(a)(7)). In effect, this is a listing of vendors or suppliersof early intervention services operating in that market.

Third, there is to be a comprehensive system of personnel develop-ment to ensure a pool of trained early intervention service providers(IDEA Sec 635(a)(8)). The law encourages recruitment, preparation,and retention of providers as well as maintenance of practice stan-dards. In effect, this is equivalent to an industry certification system toensure that all vendors or suppliers in the marketplace meet minimumexpectations of quality and service. The certifications vary from stateto state although there is some reciprocity and continuity.

Fourth, there are to be procedures to ensure that services are pro-vided to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families in a


timely and coordinated fashion. It is here that the inadequacy of chan-nel management begins to be noticed. The principal components of adistribution channel are apparent: a set of service (early intervention)products, customers (children with disabilities), various suppliers (ser-vice providers) of the products, a purchase decision making unit (fam-ily or caregiver) for each child with disabilities, and a promotion(public awareness) system that helps parents recognize that a need forearly intervention services exists and even what types of services areprovided. Unfortunately, the law does not provide decision makingunits with much to help them make the proper choice from amongcompeting early intervention service vendors. Taxpayers who fund theservices and children and families who receive the services wouldbenefit if more attention were focused on the decision making aspectof early intervention services.

THE PARENT AS CHANNEL CAPTAIN

The concept of a channel captain seems to have applicability in themovement of early intervention information and services from provid-er to user. Briefly, the traditional view of a channel captain is a channelparticipant who insures that all parties in an independent distributionchannel perform assigned duties in a responsible fashion; whetherthey want to or not. The channel captain is able to ‘‘command’’ due tosome relatively secure power base such as access to money, products,markets, or key brand names. Power plus informed decisions by anenlightened channel leader is supposed to result in satisfactory returnsto all participants.

While commercial channel structures are currently shifting from an‘‘arm’s length negotiation’’ model based on relative power to an ‘‘inte-grated partnership’’ model, the traditional channel model may still beappropriate in many social marketing situations. The reasoning isfairly straightforward. Profit driven channels are constantly seekingcost efficiencies, time reductions, profit increases, and competitiveadvantages. It is relatively easy to convince participants to compro-mise and cooperate for the promise of survival, growth, and profitabil-ity.

The blend of profit and non-profit channel participants often foundin public/social marketing produces different priorities and fewercommon threads. The unifying goal of mutual business success is not

Douglas L. Fugate 7

uniformly present. Therefore, it is an easy step to place parents at thehead of the channel and confer channel leadership upon them since thewelfare of the child with disabilities is the key unifying factor and thusthe source of legitimate power. This focus on a goal-driven, captain-managed, channel design is implicitly recognized by Federal and stateregulations cited above, i.e., empowered parents are entitled to makedecisions that are in the best interests of their children with disabilities.Unfortunately, successful channel leadership in this instance reliesheavily upon expert power; not the exercise of legitimate power. Par-ents typically are not well prepared for this role, morally and legallyappropriate though it may be.

Parents of children with disabilities often reside in historically un-derrepresented populations, particularly minority, low-income, inner-city and rural populations. Families from lower socio-economicgroups are often overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for thechild, are frustrated and angry, or lack the expertise to fully compre-hend all physical and psychological implications of the disability andthe remediations available. Any combination of these and other limit-ing factors, severely restrict the ability of parents to act as a channelcaptain in a structure that delivers provider-generated information andservices to the user. Having higher parental education and incomelevels may lessen some problems but they are seldom eliminated. Theinitial reconciliation between what parents desire and the reality theymust face does not easily lead to reasoned and independent decisionmaking. Many parents simply are not in a position to ‘‘captain’’ achannel of distribution for early intervention services since their legalrights (or legitimate power base) are typically only supported by theirparental wishes to do what they believe is in the best interest of theirchild.

THE RISE OF THE BROKER

Historically, the condition of imperfect market knowledge led to therise of brokers. In economic model, free markets cannot exist withoutperfect information. Brokers are essentially information specialistswho gain and sell access to this key decision making resource. Web-ster (1984, p. 190) writes, ‘‘The middleman typically has some re-sponsibility for providing market information both to his customersand to his suppliers, including information about availability, product


quality, competitive conditions, customer needs and so on.’’ In thefor-profit sector, brokers are still quite common in real estate, financialsecurities, fresh produce, lumber, leather and hides, and a multitude ofother industries. Even in our current ‘‘information-rich’’ environment,there are still many areas where individual buyers and sellers simplydon’t know each other, what they want or need, and where they arelocated. Brokers function on neutral ground; often representing nei-ther buyer nor seller, since their perceived objectivity regarding infor-mation is their greatest asset. Commissions are earned on completedtransactions resulting from buyers and sellers learning of each other’sneeds through the broker. The information age will probably eliminatethe need for some brokers by allowing buyers and sellers to gather andexchange information directly electronically. Ironically, in other cases,the proliferation of information will simply insure the need for special-ists who can efficiently and effectively collect, process, analyze anddistribute this burgeoning resource. In the service sector, ‘‘The focusin service distribution is on identifying ways to bring the customer andprincipal together. The options for doing so are limited to . . . brokers’’(Bitner and Zeithaml, 1996, 336).

IS THERE A ROLE FOR BROKERSIN THE EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICE MARKET?

The traditional broker of goods and the broker of services do notvary that much in principle. Both are expected to provide prompt andefficient service, have integrity, maintain a record of good client expe-riences, supply information, and acquire/update appropriate qualifica-tions (c.f. Yau, Ip and Chan 1995).

Many of the same conditions that gave rise to brokers in the busi-ness markets also appear in the nonprofit and public sector market.First, there is the issue of imperfect competition. Admittedly, certifica-tion standards do exist to insure that providers do possess a minimumset of credentials. However, because early intervention services areoften based on specialized human generated inputs, there is greatvariability between service providers and their levels of training, ex-pertise, and experience; as well as their skills in dealing with youngchildren (Gallagher, Malone, Cleghorne and Helms 1997). Since pro-viders are not interchangeable commodities, parents need access toknowledgeable resource persons who can accurately evaluate or at

Douglas L. Fugate 9

least assess qualitative differences between providers and their offer-ings. ‘‘Buyers [parents] could perform this market search for them-selves but the use of a broker allows this search to be conducted muchmore efficiently’’ (Maister and Lovelock 1982, p. 20).

Additionally, the competitive environment is often a mix of profitand not-for-profit providers. This means that the providers offeringintervention services often operate under different mission or charterstatements. Some are profit oriented firms, some are privately man-aged in a not-for profit mode, and some are publicly controlled, non-profit agencies. Thus, individual providers may have different motiva-tions, cost structures, objectives, and procedures which create a morecomplex competitive environment and thus decision environment forparents of infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Second, there is the problem of anonymity. The whole area ofchildren with disabilities is cloaked in confidentiality. This may serveto protect the identity of the child and their parents, but it also tends togreatly reduce the amount of information openly flowing betweenproviders and purchasers. Providers cannot easily contact or solicitusers since customary marketing devices like mailing lists or personalselling are not usually available and mass media advertising is not costeffective. Without the normal informative and persuasive function ofpromotion available, many parents cannot make more informedchoices between suppliers since they may not know of their existence,or if they do, may not have much information on evaluative criteria. Abroker who was able to maintain a knowledge of both users andsuppliers while still providing confidentiality would be a very usefulmarket mechanism.

Third, there is the issue of imperfect information. While this is aproblem in many market transactions, it is especially critical in provid-ing early intervention services. Children with disabilities may requirea range of services for a variety of disabling conditions. A partial listwould include: treatment for mental retardation, hearing impairments,speech or language impairment, visual impairments, serious emotionaldisturbances, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury,specific learning disabilities, and other health impairments (IDEA Sec602 (3) (A)). The likelihood that any parent would have a workingknowledge of a specific disability and its appropriate treatment isfairly low; even lower when there are multiple disabilities. Manyparents would not be able to make appropriate choices about the skill


level of providers even when the identity of providers is known. Bro-kers typically offer advice. ‘‘Their clients seek assistance in evaluatingalternative courses of action and the various factors that may influencethe buying . . . decision’’ (Maister and Lovelock, 1982, p. 20).

‘‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?’’

Every state and territory has the responsibility and opportunity todevelop their own procedures for insuring timely delivery of servicesto infants and toddlers with disabilities. In general, there is some sortof ‘‘in-take’’ office (or point of entry) which receives initial referrals.Diagnostic tests to determine program eligibility may or may not havebeen performed at this time. If diagnostic evaluations have been pre-viously conducted, evaluation results will be used to determine eligi-bility to receive program services. If not, then diagnostic evaluationbecomes part of the services received by the parent and child (if initialscreening suggests the likelihood of a disability).

After evaluation and consultation, families are expected to committo one or more providers depending upon their child’s disabilities andthe comprehensiveness of provider offerings. Depending upon thestates’ funding arrangements, parents may make these choices withthe assistance of an ‘‘intake’’ coordinator or staff member. Familiesare considered the primary decision maker in IDEA and are empow-ered by the Act to make choices in the best interest of the child and hisor her family. While they are the appropriate decision making unit, thefamily may be poorly prepared to make good decisions at this time.Many parents are simply overwhelmed and do not understand many ofthe technical terms and choices presented to them. As a result, infor-mal field reports suggest that parents often make spurious decisionsusing invalid selection criteria.

To further exacerbate the problem, in states where a dedicated ‘‘in-take’’ coordinator is not funded, the ‘‘in-take’’ office staff are oftenpersonnel from some of the larger service providers. While qualifiedto perform their evaluative and diagnostic duties, it is hard to imagethat employees of specific service providers can objectively educatefamilies and help them select the most appropriate provider from thetotal set available. This would be akin to having General Motors runthe automobile loan department in the banking system. Most assured-ly, car loans for GM cars would receive preferential treatment.

Douglas L. Fugate 11

Other states allow the families to select a service coordinator (SC)for the child at this time who then assists the families in selectingservice providers. Again, there is a potential problem since manyservice coordinators are employees of comprehensive service provid-ers and are not independent. SCs may be ‘‘encouraged’’ to directfamilies toward the comprehensive provider who is their employer.Even if they are independent contractors, they may feel some pressureto ‘‘spread the wealth’’ around in order to maintain good workingrelationships with the primary service providers in the area. Manyservice coordinators also provide intervention services themselves anddepend on service providers in the area for referrals and subcontractwork. In most states, the parent or caregiver depends heavily on per-sonnel who face potential conflict-of-interest issues.

So where does this leave the family of the child with disabilities? Atbest, receiving services from the most appropriate providers in themost appropriate settings; at worse, receiving services that are primar-ily designed to enhance the revenues and workloads of service provid-ers who either operate or substantially influence the referral decisionsystem.

SUGGESTED REMEDIESUSING A MARKETING-BASED BROKERAGE SYSTEM

First, the referral brokers (hereafter referred to as the broker) shouldbe independent of both buyer and seller (provider and families) inorder to be effective. As has been discussed, the current referral sys-tem relies heavily on those who have some express or implied connec-tion to service providers. Under such conditions, it is likely that somefamilies of children with disabilities will be referred to favored, ratherthan the most appropriate, service provider. An independent brokerwould have no such ties and could better act in the best interest of bothparties. Thus, brokers should only perform this one function, shouldnot be employed in any capacity by any other service provider, andshould receive no payments of any kind from provider or families.

Second, the broker must be motivated by some incentive system inorder to avoid the pitfall of expediency. If brokers are rewarded on thebasis of piecework, there will be tendency to place families withconvenient providers simply to generate volume and thus more reve-nue. Clearly this will be one of the larger hurdles to overcome. In


personal selling, it is common to pay on commission. However, toavoid paying commissions for poor quality sales work (pressure tac-tics, selling inappropriate products, selling inappropriate quantities,etc.) where the customer is likely to complain, return the goods orsimply refuse to buy again, the employer often delays commissionpayment until the customer indicates some degree of satisfaction withthe purchase. In this case, third party payees (except on some slidingscale type treatments), could pay brokers an initial fee for every intakecase that resulted in an intervention service referral. After some ap-propriate time has elapsed, the families would be asked to evaluatetheir service provider(s). If there were no complaints, brokers wouldreceive an additional payment. If there were substantiated complaints,brokers would not receive the second incentive payment. It would bein the financial best interest of brokers to refer children with disabili-ties to service providers who would generate customer satisfaction.This payment system would also motivate service providers to providecustomer satisfaction if they expect to receive future referrals from thebroker.

Third, the broker must be knowledgeable about the capabilities andskills of service providers and the nature of disabilities. Just as anymarket-driven broker, e.g., real estate or mortgage brokers, must passa certification examination, referral brokers could also be adminis-tered a state run proficiency examination in order to receive theirbrokerage license. However, competent brokers will continue to edu-cate themselves far beyond the minimum criteria in order to gainbusiness, earn money, foster favorable word of mouth communica-tions and gain job satisfaction.

Fourth, brokers must operate in a competitive environment. There isno reason for a broker to excite his customers unless consumers have achoice in choosing who would provide this service. This is not alwaysa familiar concept among public and nonprofit agencies who do nothave a tradition of competition. Even among private, profit-driven,provider agencies, there is often a tacit understanding that competitionis somehow not in anyone’s best interest. For example, if a serviceprovider employee leaves one agency for another, the employees areexpected to leave their client families and children with their formeremployer. In the free marketplace, this behavior is not expected andwould likely be considered restraint of trade. Marketplace customersare usually free to follow their choice of service provider from one


employer to another; e.g., a stockbroker to another firm, a beauticianto another shop, a personal trainer to another fitness center. Whyshould early intervention services be any different?

STEPS IN THE FACILITATING PROCESS

According to Maister and Lovelock (1982), there are nine manage-rial tasks in their conceptualization of the facilitating process. Briefly,implementation of these tasks in an early intervention system arediscussed below:

Encouraging Contact with the Firm. Brokers would be certified andtherefore a list of area brokers would be readily available to ‘‘intakeoffice’’ personnel who would provide this information to parents ofchildren with disabilities. Brokers could use mass media or focusedmedia as well as other non-media type promotions. Personal referralswould probably be important in word-of-mouth communications with-in, for example, parent support groups.

Screening Prospective Clients. While early intervention brokerswill not have the same discretion in selecting clients as their commer-cial counterparts, brokers should carefully evaluate the probability thatprospective clients will ultimately complete a transaction betweenthemselves and a service provider. This minimizes wasted effort byboth parties.

Signing Up Clients. Brokers must persuade prospective clients touse their services. Brokers must accurately identify and successfullypredict satisfaction of the evaluative criteria parents use in the provid-er selection process. This may require some consumer research as wellas managerial insight.

Diagnosing Client Needs. This requires close cooperation betweenthe intake-office, the diagnosticians, the parents, and the broker. It isnot the role of the broker to specify early intervention services, that isa clinical responsibility that appears later in an Individualized FamilyServices Plan (IFSP). However, the broker must be able to offer expertinformation and advice on how to make choices, how to evaluatealternatives, what realistic expectations from providers might be, andwhat considerations appear to be relevant in this particular referralsituation. The mental, financial, social, and educational state of theparents might easily be part of this assessment phase.

Search for Potential Matches. The broker should maintain a cur-


rent, comprehensive data bank on all early intervention service provid-ers within a geographic area. Since some services are homebound,some center-based, and some tied to a specific location (e.g., a pediat-ric clinic), the notion of proximity is quite relevant. The broker issupposed to be knowledgeable and able to find early interventionservice providers whose characteristics match the needs of the clientfamily and child.

Making a Tentative Match. This step typically involves arranging aface-to-face meeting between the service provider and the servicebuyer. Service providers would be required to successfully marketthemselves to prospective client families and could not assume anycurrent or future proprietary ‘‘rights’’ to any client family.

Encouraging Completion. At this point the broker must persuadethe client family that nothing more is to be gained by continuing thesearch. In effect, this is a personal selling effort that is quite risky. Ifthe match is made and leads to customer dissatisfaction, the brokerwill be blamed and will suffer both reputational and financial losses.This step should only be pursued when the broker is confident thatboth buyer and seller understand the demands of the transaction.

Evaluating the Reasons for Failure. This step simply recognizesthat not all prospective client-seller meetings will result in a positiverelationship. Brokers should constantly strive to arrange buyer-sellermatches that will result in agreement.

Assisting with Completion of a Match. Brokers who wish to main-tain good relationships with both parents and providers must continueto monitor the relationship and assist either party with supportingservices.

THE MODEL BROKERAGE FIRM:CONCLUDING COMMENTS

As presented, the model brokerage firm is independent, knowledge-able, motivated and competitive. It operates primarily to improve thequality of care that is given to our infants and toddlers with disabilitiesand secondarily to improve the efficiency with which limited andsometimes scarce public and volunteer resources are spent on thissocial need. Some may question how interjecting another link in thechannel of distribution can be efficient or necessary. In practice, thechannel functions of the proposed broker are not new, they are simply


being consolidated in a known location where they can be best per-formed and monitored. The additional costs of adding another channellevel are recovered through greater effectiveness of intervention ser-vices, improved parental involvement, and more competition in thereferral system.

The combination of powerful early intervention service providersand relatively unskilled parents as consumers have provided less thanoptimal results. It is believed that a brokerage system would greatlyremedy that problem. Public administrators are encouraged to serious-ly consider the merits of the brokerage system outlined above and bothadopt and adapt it according to the point-of-entry and service coor-dination structure found in their state.

REFERENCES

Bitner, Mary J. and Valarie Zeithaml (1995), Services Marketing, New York: TheMcGraw-Hill Companies.

Fine, Seymour (1990), Social Marketing, Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon,116.

Fugate, Douglas and Janet Fugate (1995), ‘‘Helping Parents of Young Children withDisabilities Become Consumers of Early Intervention: A Marketing Approach,’’Infants and Young Children, 8(2), 71-80.

Fugate, Douglas and Janet Fugate (1996), ‘‘Putting the Marketing Plan to Work:Practical Suggestions for Early Intervention Programs,’’ Infants and Young Chil-dren, 8(4), 70-79.

Gallagher, Peggy D., Michael Malone, Marie Cleghorne, and Kay Helms (1997),‘‘Perceived Inservice Training Needs for Early Intervention Personnel,’’ Excep-tional Children 64(1), 19-30.

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The New Public Relations:Integrating Marketing and Public Relations

Strategies for Student Recruitmentand Institutional Image Building–

A Case Study of the Universityof Texas at San Antonio

Amiso M. George

INTRODUCTION

Marketing Public Relations, (MPR) is defined as

the process of planning, executing, and evaluating programs thatencourage purchase and consumer satisfaction through crediblecommunication of information and impressions that identifycompanies and their products with the needs, wants, concernsand interests of consumers. (Harris, 1991)

Touted as a necessary and practical approach to public relationspractice, MPR has also been identified as Integrated Communications

Amiso M. George, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Division of English, Classics,Philosophy & Communication, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 6900 NorthLoop 1604 West, San Antonio, TX 79249 (E-mail: [email protected]).

Special thanks to Robert Burdick, Vice President for Institutional Advancementat the University of Texas at San Antonio, who provided the author with all theofficial University information needed for this article. Thanks also to Carol VanNatta, Special Assistant to the President, for her help in locating information aboutthe University’s Silver Anniversary.

This manuscript was presented at the 1999 conference of the Atlantic MarketingAssociation and is published with the permission of the Association.



(IC) or Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), an amalgam ofcommunication functions such as marketing, public relations, adver-tising, sales promotion and direct promotion. (The terms MPR, IC orIMC will be used interchangeably.) These terms, increasingly used bycommunication practitioners and some communication scholars, de-note the inevitable direction of traditional public relations practice.Among the key reasons for an integrated approach to communicationare the deficiencies associated with communication strategies de-signed to sway an audience in complex situations, the symbiotic rela-tionship between advertising, marketing, and public relations; and theimportance of centrally controlled communication in a campaign(Caywood 1997; Strenski 1991; Harris 1991; Harris 1993; Miller andRose 1994). Successful institutions, governments, and corporationsuse a combination of the subtlety of public relations and the aggres-siveness of marketing and special promotions to persuade an audienceto see their point of view, participate in their events, use their servicesor buy their products (Duncan and Everett 1993).

The term Marketing Public Relations (MPR) entered the lexicon inthe 1980s when a Wall Street Journal article characterized publicrelations as a ‘‘promotional technique to better reach market seg-ments’’ (Harris 1991, p. 12). The terms Integrated Communications(IC) and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) became knownin the 1990s as more practitioners recognized the effectiveness andefficiency of blending the functions of marketing and public relationsto achieve organizational goals (Miller and Rose 1994). In spite of thesuccesses achieved by this new approach, some public relations puristshave criticized the marriage of marketing and public relations strate-gies in promoting, enhancing, or creating an image in the minds of theaudience (Ehling, White and Grunig 1992). Critics argue that publicrelations functions are submerged by marketing activities in an orga-nization; its management functions disenfranchised; and its practition-ers relegated to the role of technicians.

Those criticisms notwithstanding, most organizations faced with anincreasingly competitive marketplace no longer rely on one form ofcommunication to promote their image, position themselves, or in-crease sales. An integration of public relations and marketing strate-gies designed to achieve effectiveness and efficiency is imperative(Harris 1993, Moriarty 1994).

Profit-oriented businesses and governments take advantage of the

Amiso M. George 19

integrated communication approach in designing campaigns or pro-moting their achievements. For instance, the State of Florida was nolonger content with relying on public service announcements (PSA)for its anti-smoking campaign, it invested $70 million in an aggressiveintegrated communication campaign that targeted youth. Post cam-paign results indicate significant drop in smoking among Florida’syouth (CNN 1999).

Another example is the federal government’s use of integrated com-munication techniques in its 1998 anti-drug campaign proposal thattarget America’s teenagers (Kane 1998). The federal government’sambitious campaign differs from previous ones because of the exten-sive use of marketing and public relations strategies. The decision tosponsor an aggressive anti-drug campaign marked a turning point forthe government as a mere observer of the dissemination of its ownpublic service announcements. The direct involvement of PresidentClinton, White House’s drug policy agency, and the choice of Ogilvy &Mather New York, a prominent advertising agency, to design andexecute the campaign, ensure tremendous publicity. The fact that theanti-drug campaign would run as advertising instead of public serviceannouncements guarantees that it would reach the target audiencethrough the right channel, and at the appropriate time slot (Elliot1998). The campaign outcomes are yet to be evaluated, but the crucialissue is the recognition and use of marketing and public relationsstrategies in a planned and systematic way to promote an idea or toreach a specific public.

The University of Texas at San Antonio is no different. It, too, usesmarketing and public relations strategies to enhance its image in itscommunity and among its target audience. This enhanced image isinstrumental in attracting and retaining students.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

This article examines how the University of Texas at San Antonio,the city’s only public university, used integrated marketing commu-nication campaign to enhance its image and recruit students. TheUniversity’s application of impression management techniques, suchas self-promotion and highlighting role in significant accomplish-ments, to achieve its communication goals is analyzed.


BACKGROUND

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA or the Universityhenceforth), a component of the University of Texas system was es-tablished by a Texas Legislative act in June 1969. The Universityannounced its first graduate-level courses and admitted the first gradu-ate student in March 1973. Initial enrollment for that first year wasabout 670 graduate students. Since then the population has grownexponentially to over 17,000 undergraduate and graduate studentsmostly from San Antonio and south Texas (UTSA Highlights 1998).Part of the growth is attributed to aggressive marketing and publicrelations efforts directed at the University’s target audience, whichinclude potential students, and secondary audience of civic, politicaland business leaders, and the immediate community. The goal of theintegrated marketing effort is to promote UTSA as the only four-yearpublic university in San Antonio established to ‘‘provide access andopportunity to the underserved.’’ A subset of that goal is to highlightthe leadership role taken by the university to circumscribe the future ofhigher education in San Antonio and south Texas (UTSA Highlights1998).

The University’s inventiveness in promoting itself as a leader inhigher education in San Antonio is evident in the establishment of adowntown campus linked to the main campus by distance learningnetwork and partnerships with area community colleges and selectedschools in Mexico. Such promotion is an attempt to enhance the insti-tution’s image in the community that is predominantly Hispanic; italso serves as a recruiting mechanism for potential students (UTSAHighlights 1998).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT THEORY

The positioning of the University as a leader in education andresearch on Hispanic issues illuminates the use of integrated commu-nication to create a positive impression of the University. Impressionmanagement theory is imbedded in social psychology and commu-nication. Among the pioneering work in impression management isGoffman’s (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Goffman

Amiso M. George 21

asserts that impression management entails efforts by people to directtheir social interactions and to minimize embarrassment. Impressionmanagement is also defined as ‘‘a broad phenomenon in which we tryto influence the perceptions and behaviors of others, by controlling theinformation they receive’’ (Rosenfeld, Giacalone and Riordan 1995,p. 7). The theory proposes that individuals or organizations create an(public) impression about themselves in order to convey or expressspecific information they wish others to know about them (Schlenker1980). In essence, the communication of the created impressions af-fects how the target audience perceives that individual or organization.Impression management proffers that reality is not based on the actualproduct or service, but on the consumer’s perception of that service orproduct, organization or individual (Spiegel 1961. Quoted in Haeder-ich 1993). The concept also infers that organizations, like humans, useimpression management techniques such as self-promotion, to en-hance or protect their images, and are rewarded with positive results(Elsbach and Sutton 1992).

Research in impression management can be found in the works ofTedeschi, Schenkler and Bonoma (1971) who emphasize the theory ofimpression; Schenkler (1980) and Tedeschi and Reiss (1981) whofocus on impression management in social and organizational settings.Applications of the theory in organizational settings are found in theworks of Giacalone and Rosenfeld (1989, 1991), and Rosenfeld, Gia-calone and Riordan (1995). The authors posit that impression manag-ers promote their organizations by highlighting or promoting theircontribution and relevance to the community, and their accomplish-ments.

The role of impression management in communicating actions of anorganization to its publics cannot be underestimated. The Universityof Texas at San Antonio is not unlike most organizations. It applies theacquisitive impression management technique in its effort to manage apositive impression. This technique includes self-promotion and high-lighting its role and important accomplishments in its community. TheUniversity does this through planned, systematic and deliberate in-tegration of marketing communication strategies. Research indicatesthat actions of an organization affect public perception towards it(Morley 1998). Thus, by using an integrated communication approachto enhance its image, UTSA joins the ranks of organizations that


recognize that link between a positive impression and an increase inthe value and loyalty to an organization’s services and products.

INTEGRATING COMMUNICATION EFFORTSTO MANAGE AND ENHANCE UTSA’s IMAGE

The University’s impression management efforts are designed toachieve synergy, consistency and the desired effects of an integratedcommunication campaign. In this case, the campaign primary goal isto enhance the University’s image as the leader in education andresearch on Hispanic issues in south Texas, while an underlying goalis to increase enrollment. In order for the campaign efforts to beeffective, the University researched its enrollment figures and its audi-ence; it identified communication campaign objectives and strategiesfor executing campaign objectives; and mapped out a campaign evalu-ation. The process is part of the work done behind the scenes to ensurean effective promotion of the University as one that exemplifies thevalues of its mission statement.

UNDERSTANDING THE ISSUES

University’s Image

In 1997 and 1998, the University received some negative presscoverage that highlighted internal turmoil. First, a faculty membersued the University and the President for sex discrimination in thetenure process; then the provost resigned over personal and profes-sional differences with the President (Russell 1997, 1998). The pressalso published allegations that the President and the University SystemChancellor pressured top administrators to make campaign donationsto selected public officials (Russell 1997).

These negative headlines were not limited to the local press, butresulted in scathing columns in major Texas newspapers against theUniversity’s leadership in south Texas and its snub of the Hispanicmajority in San Antonio (Guerra 1998).

University Enrollment

In order to promote itself as a leader in higher education in southTexas, the University had first to contend with negative press about its

Amiso M. George 23

leadership and internal squabbles. Despite the headlines, the Universi-ty’s Office of Communication did not allude to the string of negativemedia coverage as a motive for its integrated marketing communica-tion campaign to enhance its image and increase enrollment. Rather itpointed to its quest to fulfill its strategic goals, which include thecommitment to increasing minority enrollment, especially Hispanics.UTSA pledged to serve as a ‘‘national center of excellence for theeducation of Hispanics’’ (UTSA Highlights 1999); however, Hispanicenrollment in fall 1998 increased only slightly from its 1997 figures.Out of a student population of 18,400, Hispanics made up 7800 or42.4 percent, compared to 7090 or 40.5 percent of the student popula-tion in fall 1997’’ (UTSA Highlights 1998, 1999). Such figures are notheartening to a University that has pledged to serve as a magnet forHispanic education and research. Thus, the University acknowledgedthe imperative of identifying effective strategies to use to enhance itsimage among its target publics, Hispanics, and to increase enrollment.

University research findings indicate that the lag in Internet devel-opment and minimal use of multimedia to communicate with its targetaudience and secondary audience including potential students, par-ents, business, government, and community leaders, must be ad-dressed. Other findings indicate the need to train personnel to use newcommunication technologies to stimulate teaching and learning inorder to retain students. These findings led to the development of theUniversity’s Communication Strategic Initiative to address issuesraised by the research (University Communication Strategic Initiative1997-98).

University’s Target Audience

The University conducted periodic focus group interviews and sur-veys of its target and secondary audience in San Antonio and selectedsouth Texas communities. The research enabled the university to iden-tify the needs of these publics relative to UTSA and to gauge opinionsbefore and after developing marketing, public relations and advertis-ing messages. Research results and strong community support led tothe establishment of a downtown campus that offers courses andschedules tailored to the needs of students. Audience research alsoenabled the University to recognize the importance of utilizing com-munication technology, especially the Internet, in addition to othermarketing strategies, to promote its image and increase enrollment.


Ongoing evaluation of the University’s external and internal com-munication channels affirmed the importance of the Internet as aneffective tool for communicating with the target publics. Researchresults also led to the introduction of UTSA Update, an internal elec-tronic communication channel, and an enhanced and more compre-hensive Internet Home page. To further underscore the importance ofaudience research results, the University established the Office ofElectronic Media to coordinate the University’s communicationtechnology efforts.

Integrated Communication Campaign Goals and Objectives

The goal of the University’s integrated communication campaignwas to enhance and manage a positive impression of UTSA in SanAntonio and elsewhere. Another goal was to increase enrollment andpublic and private support (Burdick 1997). These goals were accom-plished through a series of objectives that include the following:

ñ To build a foundation for long running ad campaignñ To improve political relationships with key constituentsñ To underline UTSA’s commitment to and promotion of en-

rollment at the Downtown campusñ To create better understanding about the scope of the univer-

sity’s programs and mission in San Antonio and south Texasñ To improve relationship with the Express News (San Anto-

nio’s only daily newspaper) and other local print mediañ To create an ad campaign to specifically target market seg-

ments with the most potential to influence enrollment (UTSAAdvertising Plan, Burdick 1998).

The University’s use of integrated marketing communications strat-egies ensured that members of its target audience were exposed tomessages that create the ‘‘right’’ impressions about UTSA. The expec-tations are that a multi-pronged exposure to positive information aboutUTSA would lead to a change in behavior (enrollment). The inte-grated marketing communication strategies used by UTSA to meet itsobjectives are discussed in the next section.

Amiso M. George 25

USING INTEGRATED MARKETINGCOMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES

TO MANAGE AND ENHANCE UNIVERSITY’SIMAGE AND ENROLLMENT

Managing the Image

The University identified the creation and maintenance of a positiveimage as one of its primary objectives. Increased student enrollmentand student management was another primary objective (UTSA Adver-tising Plan 1997). Although the two objectives are inextricable, it is ofimport to note that colleges no longer assume that an enhanced imagealone will attract higher enrollment (Burdick 1998). The Universitycommunicates to its publics through traditional mass media; however,Burdick (1998) asserted that colleges and universities have becomemore sophisticated in marketing techniques. He noted that they havebecome more aggressive about crafting and delivering their messagesdirectly to specific audiences; thus in some cases, bypassing the newsmedia as the primary channel of communication to the public.

The use of self-promotion to attract specific publics in San Antonio,south Texas and other parts of Texas was an important part of theUniversity’s communication strategy. UTSA wanted its public to per-ceive it as the new comprehensive metropolitan institution that wouldserve as a model for linkages with city and region (with subsequentexpansions to other states and countries). This is already evident in thevirtual courses taught on-line and distance learning telecourses. TheUniversity also promoted itself as a potential center for internationalprograms with focus on Inter-American programs. Exchange and jointprograms with Mexican universities such as La Universidad NacionalAutonoma de Mexico (The National Autonomous University of Mexi-co) and Instituto Technologico de Monterey (Monterey Institute ofTechnology) further support UTSA’s claims of internationalization ofits programs (UTSA Highlights 1998).

The University engaged in specific actions to further enhance itsimage and attract students. First, it developed a University InternetHome Page and a campus Intranet to improve internal communicationand external communication, such as student recruitment and commu-nity relations. Secondly, it organized a special event, the 1996 SilverAnniversary celebration, to attract attention, raise the profile of the


University and raise funds for scholarships, endowed chairs and otherUniversity needs.

Other attempts at managing impressions were done at the communi-ty level. The University’s Office of Community Relations arrangedpresentations about UTSA to various organizations in the communitythrough its Speakers’ Bureau. The University’s Communication officealso monitored community perceptions of the University through openforums, and recommended ways to deal with community concernsbefore they reached crisis proportion. These communication actionsilluminate the University’s efforts to manage and promote a consistentpositive impression, increase awareness, and increase enrollment. Infact, the communication efforts exemplify the acquisitive impressionmanagement technique of self-promotion and applauding one’s part insignificant achievements.

In spite of its laudable efforts, the University suffered a tarnishedimage in 1997 and early 1998. As mentioned earlier, media reports ofa sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by a faculty member, the contro-versial relationship between the president and the provost, and thedissatisfaction with administration’s policies by some communitymembers contributed to heighten the university’s negative image inthe community (Russell 1998, Guerra 1998). The subsequent resigna-tion of both the provost and the president, and the appointment of anew president seem to have dampened media speculation and criticismof the University.

Rather than dwell on the negative stories, the University chose tohighlight its accomplishments and continues to work with communityand civic groups to identify ways of serving them better.

Managing Enrollment

Attempts at enrollment management are exemplified in the Univer-sity’s aggressive and comprehensive approach to attracting and retain-ing various categories of students. To attract first year freshmen duringthe campaign, the University used a combination of bulk mailing ofliterature, ads in local print media and radio, and recruitment visits tohigh schools. It tracked ad responses when potential students calledfor information. It also implemented tutoring programs to enable at-risk students to succeed in college, and established a new studentadmissions center at both campuses to provide professional service toall students.

Amiso M. George 27

Returning students were targeted through an offer of free advising,tutoring, provision of supplemental instruction, and waiver of applica-tion fee. Transfer students were reached through promotion and adver-tising of a 2 + 2 agreement, which enables graduates of selectedcommunity colleges to apply for and gain admission to UTSA. Strate-gies used to recruit graduate students include ‘‘individual recruitmentat the departmental level, increased advertising in print and radio,outreach to business and government employees downtown, minoritystudents in specialized career tracks and recent graduates’’ (UTSAAdvertising Plan 1998). The University also recruited graduate stu-dents with a special advertising focus on UTSA’s weekend MBAprogram and other graduate programs. The ads featured actual gradu-ate students who were also full time workers. The intent was to illumi-nate an MBA program that was designed to appeal to busy profession-als who want to increase their market potential while working fulltime.

Other recruitment efforts include the provision of academic pro-grams and course listings, scholarships, on-line campus directory andother official University information and statistics on the University’sInternet Home Page. This marketing approach has made it easier forpotential students and other publics to access information about theUniversity. Most importantly, University reports indicate a positiveresponse from students and potential students (UTSA Highlights1998).

Measurement of Outcomes

It is imperative to note that although the integrated marketing com-munications campaign to promote the image and increase enrollmentat UTSA is ongoing, periodic evaluations of the strategies are builtinto the process (Burdick 1998). The success of the campaign is de-pendent on the precise assessment of the campaign’s impact on thetarget audience. The Office of University Communication uses focusgroup interviews and market research to measure outcomes of market-ing and PR strategies. Other evaluation methods used include informalenvironmental scanning (listening in to what people say about theUniversity), tracking of coverage in key media outlets, surveys on useof campus network services, tracking the number of applications bye-mail, and tracking the use (hits) of University Web Site. Evaluations


also include the measurement of the quantity and quality of Web Sitecommunication.

The evaluations have resulted in amendments that continue to pro-mote the image of the University. Newspaper reports and internalnews reports illuminate a positive image of the University. Forinstance, UTSA received national exposure when it served as the hostinstitution for the 1998 NCAA Final Four (College basketball finals)in February 1998. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education citedthe University as a leader in awarding biological sciences degree toHispanics also helped to raise its profile (The Roadrunner 1 June1998).

Other results yielded from evaluation are evident in a summary ofthe University’s 1997-98 Enrollment Management Accomplishments,which showed a slight increase in new freshmen and minority enroll-ment for fall 1998. Freshman minority enrollment rose from 1965 in1997 to 2118, an increase of 153 students (UTSA Highlights 1999). Areport in the San Antonio Express News affirmed that by the year2010, UTSA is expected to become the second or third largest compo-nent of the University of Texas system (Gold, 1997). Although theevaluation of the effect of the integrated communication campaign isongoing, preliminary results of focus groups indicate that some of theenrollment increase may be attributed to UTSA’s effective use ofintegrated communications approach to promote its image.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTINUED USEOF INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

TO ENHANCE INSTITUTIONAL IMAGEAND INCREASE ENROLLMENT

The communication functions described earlier strongly support theassertion by many practitioners and some communication scholarsthat integration of communication activities–public relations, market-ing, advertising and publicity–to achieve institutional goals are neces-sary for success (Davies 1996, Harris 1991). Successes of the use ofintegrated communications abound. According to Philip Kolter(quoted by Harris 1991), large corporations such as General Motors,Proctor and Gamble and McDonald’s have integrated their publicrelations, marketing, and promotion functions to achieve their busi-ness objectives. These corporations use the integrated strategies to

Amiso M. George 29

promote themselves as leaders, strengthen old publics or markets andreach new ones, communicate benefits of services or products, buildrelationships with publics, and obtain media exposure (Harris 1991).The move by most corporations to do more with less has resulted ineither the downsizing of public relations departments or the merger ofboth public relations and marketing functions. In addition, clientsdemand more than public relations services from agencies; hence,some firms provide ‘‘full’’ service to clients. Such a service integratesall aspects of marketing communication to effectively serve a client.The efficacy of an amalgam of communication functions is furtherilluminated in a 1989 study of worldwide public relations serviceswhich reveals that ‘‘70 percent of the business handled by PR firms ismarketing-related’’ (Harris 1991).

The nexus among organizations that utilize integrated communica-tion is recognition of the synergy that results from cohesive andcentralized communication strategies. This centralization allows anorganization to present marketing, public relations, publicity, and ad-vertising information that support the same objective. Whether theinformation is presented in traditional or nontraditional media, theobjective remains the same albeit the approach may differ to suit thespecific medium.

UTSA recognizes the import of centralizing its communication ef-forts through the University Communication office to ensure that offi-cial communication reflects a positive image of the university. It alsorecognizes the crucial role of communication technology to meet itsaudience demands for more and faster access to information. Mostimportantly, the University understands the importance and effects ofintegrated marketing communications on its business objectives–thepromotion of a positive public image and increased enrollment.

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Marketing AlliancesBetween Non-Profits and Businesses:

Changing the Public’s Attitudesand Intentions Towards the Cause

Linda I. NowakJudith H. Washburn

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extentcorporate and non-profit alliances can impact the public’s attitudes andintentions to support a cause. Through the use of experimental design fourtypes of alliances were examined: (1) low affinity cause aligned withcompany with strong reputation, (2) low affinity cause aligned with com-pany with weak reputation, (3) high affinity cause aligned with companywith strong reputation, and (4) high affinity cause aligned with companywith weak reputation. Results of paired sample t-tests indicated significantchanges for only one type of alliance, that which is between a low affinitycause and a corporate sponsor with a strong reputation. The low affinitycause experienced increased: (a) customer trust in the non-profit, (b) inten-tions to support the cause, (c) evaluations of cause importance, (d) person-al feelings of responsibility to help the cause, and (e) evaluations ofconsequences for society through providing support. For the remainingthree types of alliances changes were not significant. [Article copies avail-

Linda I. Nowak, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Sonoma State Univer-sity. Her research interests are in brand management, corporate citizenship, relation-ship management, and cause-related marketing. She has published articles in theJournal of Services Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal ofEducation for Business, Health Marketing Quarterly, Journal of International BankMarketing, and the Journal of Small Business Strategy.

Judith H. Washburn, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Bowling GreenState University. Her research interests focus on relationships, particularly betweennonprofits and businesses and between co-branding partners. She has publishedarticles in the Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Education for Business, andHealth Marketing Quarterly.



able for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678.E-mail address: Website: ]

KEYWORDS. Cause marketing, alliances, non-profits, corporate spon-sorships, donations, consumer support

Cause marketing alliances are collaborative marriages between cor-porations and non-profit groups to pursue mutually beneficial goals. Aproperly planned and executed alliance has the potential to improvethe corporation’s image as a ‘‘good citizen’’ and increase the non-prof-it’s financial support. For example, Calphalon, a maker of gourmetcookware, aligns itself with the antihunger organization Share OurStrength (SOS). Consumers react positively to this alliance by reward-ing Calphalon with increased sales and SOS receives millions of dol-lars to help feed the hungry (Lorge 1998).

Carefully researched, structured, and implemented cause marketingalliances have the potential to allow non-profits to benefit by increas-ing awareness and support for the entire movement. According toStafford and Hartman (1996), when a popular corporate icon publiclysupports a social issue, its suppliers, customers, and competitors arelikely to follow. For example, shortly after the announcement of theStarkist-Dolphin Coalition agreement, Bumble Bee and Chicken ofthe Sea announced that they would also honor the fishing restriction.

It is imperative that non-profits identify key factors motivating thepublic’s behavior in successful cause marketing strategies. For a cam-paign to be successful, key constituents must have an affinity for thecause (Drumwright 1996). Companies considering the sponsorship ofa social or environmental issue should select the cause only afterexamining customer priorities and attitudes. For example, US con-sumers prefer local causes to national ones (Drumwright 1996; Lorge1998). Too direct of an association, and the company sponsor may beseen as having an ulterior motive (e.g., between an athletic equipmentmanufacturer and its promotion of physical fitness).

For the non-profits, the major goals of these marketing alliances areto increase awareness, educate, and gain support for a cause. Thevalue of a corporate sponsor’s overall positive image is seen in itspotential for assistance in these areas. Reputation is one facet of acompany’s overall image. A corporate sponsor with a good overall

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Linda I. Nowak and Judith H. Washburn 35

reputation owns valuable assets such as goodwill, customer loyalty(Herbig, Milewicz, and Golden 1994), and increased advertising cred-ibility (Goldberg and Hartwick 1990). Through public association,this positive corporate image may potentially be transferred to thecause.

The purpose of this research is to examine to what extent corporateand non-profit alliances can impact the public’s perceptions and inten-tions to support a cause. In other words, what happens if a corporationwhich possesses a strong reputation aligns itself with an important butnot so popular cause? Will this increase the popularity of the socialissue? What happens when a company with a weak reputation associ-ates itself with a highly visible and very popular cause? Does this hurtthe public’s trust and support for the cause?

BACKGROUND

Trust

Trust affects relationships with volunteers, employees, donors, cli-ents, and the general public. The topic has received much attention inseveral areas of the marketing literature, including buyer-seller bar-gaining relationships (Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh 1987; Schurr andOzanne 1985), commitment formation (Achrol 1991; Morgan andHunt 1994), services marketing (Berry and Parasuraman 1991), andintraorganizational relationships (Moorman, Zaltman, and Deshpande1992).

Trust is a component of overall image; an important aspect of anyorganization’s reputation. Trust affects the public’s intentions to sup-port an environmental or social issue (Osterhus 1997). According toOsterhus (1997), trust in the marketing source, in this case both thenon-profit and the corporate sponsor, interacts with consumer respon-sibility attributions and personal norms to influence consumer choicebehavior.

Consumers may become skeptical of pro-social claims when adver-tising and source credibility are questioned (Thorson, Page, andMoore 1995). For example, business and industry, usually because oftheir conflicts of interest, are considered the least believable sources ofinformation on environmental issues (Ottman 1992; Stisser 1994). Infact, some corporations have chosen to keep a low profile regarding


their pro-social or environmental programs because they do not wantto be perceived as abusers of cause-exploitative marketing (Garrett1987).

Behavioral Intentions, Personal Norms, and Responsibility

Social and personal norms have an important influence on prefer-ence (Fishbein and Azjen 1975; Miniard and Cohen 1983). Social andpersonal norms have been specifically addressed in Schwartz’s (1977)model of altruistic behavior and has been applied successfully to mar-ket helping behavior (Price, Feick, and Guskey 1995). When a socialnorm becomes internalized, it becomes a personal norm. In the case ofsocial responsibility, a personal norm could be characterized by no-tions of ‘‘I feel I should do something to help future generations.’’

Osterhus (1997) found that an important moderator of personalnorms, attributions of consumer responsibility, must be activated forpro-social positioning strategies to be effective. An attribution of per-sonal responsibility could be ‘‘I am responsible, in part, to contribut-ing to this problem.’’ High responsibility attributions increase thechance that personal norms will influence behavior and low responsi-bility attributions decrease the translation of personal norms into be-havior.

Societal Consequences

The translation of personal norms into behavior is strengthenedthrough an awareness of the consequences of action or inaction re-garding the behavior (Osterhus 1997). Consumers targeted with pro-social marketing strategies may feel that the costs of changing theirconsumption behaviors exceed the benefits either to themselves or tosociety as a whole (Rangan, Karim, and Sandberg 1996). Consumersare sophisticated enough to realize that benefits accrue for a socialcause when a large segment of the population supports it through theirbehaviors. A study conducted by Roberts (1996), indicated that per-ceived consumer effectiveness (the ability of individual consumers toaffect environmental resource problems) explained 33% of the varia-tion in ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Consumers per-ceive more benefit to the cause when corporate donations are larger(Dahl and Lavak 1995).

Linda I. Nowak and Judith H. Washburn 37

Cause Affinity

Affinity for a cause increases the probability of a successful cam-paign (Drumwright 1996). In a Cone/Roper study on cause marketing,78% of the adults surveyed said they would be more likely to buy aproduct associated with a cause that they cared about (Carringer1994). Consumers appear to prefer local causes to national ones(Lorge 1998; Ross, Stutts, and Patterson 1991; Smith and Alcorn1991), disaster relief or curing diseases (Ross, Stutts, and Patterson1991), and issues that involve kids and the environment (Lorge 1998).

Associations

Most research on cause marketing alliances has related to the poten-tial benefits for corporate sponsors or specific brands associated with apopular cause. Shimp, Stuart, and Engle (1991) noted that associativelearning is the mechanism that generates consumer thoughts and feel-ings towards brands. Grossman (1997) established a connection be-tween associative learning concepts and co-branding. Brown and Da-cin (1997) found that corporate social responsibility associations (e.g.,corporate giving and community involvement) influence the overallevaluation of the company, which in turn can affect how consumersevaluate products from the company.

Associative learning has been described as the way that consumerslearn about the relationships among events in the environment (Shimp,Stuart and Engle 1991) that is brought about through the linkage orfusion of two concepts (Murdock 1985). These linkages can be estab-lished via classical or operant conditioning, two well known associa-tive learning concepts. Aaker (1991) established that brand associa-tions are anything linked in memory to a brand, and that brands with ahigh number of positive associations have high levels of brand equity.He also cautioned that ill-conceived pairings can potentially damage apositive image.

Classical conditioning is frequently studied as a mechanism to es-tablish favorable consumer attitudes towards advertising. Throughadvertising, a consumer learns of an association between a condi-tioned stimulus (such as a brand), and an unconditioned stimulus(celebrity endorser or music). The conditioned stimulus can later elicita conditioned response (consumer likes the brand) that may be similar


to the unconditioned response (consumer likes the celebrity) (e.g.,Shimp, Stuart and Engle 1991).

As indicated in the preceding discussion, there appears to be arelationship between the consumer’s:

a. trust in the marketing source,b. evaluations of the importance of the cause,c. feelings of responsibility to help,d. ability to make a difference (consequences), ande. behavioral intentions toward the cause.

The premise being explored in this study is that associative learningcan be used in cause marketing to negatively or positively affect thesefive dimensions through the appropriate or inappropriate selection of acorporate sponsor. On the basis of this reasoning, the following hy-potheses are proposed:

H1: A high affinity cause adopting a corporate sponsor with astrong reputation will receive larger imp

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