To what extent do organisation-public relationships (OPRs) affect behaviour change in social marketing campaigns promoting physical exercise?

Dobson, Howard Robert (2025) To what extent do organisation-public relationships (OPRs) affect behaviour change in social marketing campaigns promoting physical exercise? Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This study conducted an experiment to investigate the degree to which organisation-public relationships (OPRs) between an integrated healthcare partnership and members of the public influence behavioural intention within a social marketing campaign promoting physical exercise. The study paid particular interest to the effects of affective trust, an OPR dimension previously untested in public relations literature. The experiment responded to calls by the World Health Organization (WHO) for effective communications to address the health problems associated with the rising incidence of obesity and sedentary lifestyles across the globe. Social marketing typically seeks to issue the most effective message frame via a social exchange, often opting for an affective message. However, matching effects theory dictates that communications messages should be tailored to factors at the level of the individual, such as cognitive/affective attitude base, elaboration likelihood and attitude certainty. This study tested whether the persuasiveness of OPRs leads to an alternative approach to optimal message frame selection. The conceptual model therefore combined variables from the popular persuasion model the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA), the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), matching effects theory and OPR theory. As the assumption of homogenous data characteristics is unrealistic, respondents, recruited via Facebook in Bedfordshire, UK, were divided into four clusters, by elaboration likelihood (high/low) and attitude certainty (high/low). These variables acted as moderators. Respondents were shown one of four marketing message frames at random (cognitive/affective, positive/negative) to quantify the varying influence of message frame within the clusters. Hence message frame was also included as a moderator. Analysis using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) found that OPRs with an integrated health partnership played a persuasive role in a cluster characterised by low elaboration likelihood and low attitude certainty following a negative cognitive message frame. This included a pathway from affective trust to behavioural intention. This was not the most persuasive message frame in that cluster. As predicted by matching effects theory, respondents in the cluster preferred a mismatching positive affective message frame. However, the rationale for selecting the most effective message frame in the cluster was challenged due to the persistent persuasiveness of OPRs, and also self-efficacy, both offering social marketers more enduring behaviour change. The negative cognitive message frame also offered higher levels of post-message exposure attitude certainty compared to the leading message frame, this also associated with more enduring behaviour change. Practitioners should consider issuing a negative cognitive message frame for this cluster rather than an affectively based message frame. Although OPRs did not play a persuasive role in other circumstances, they potentially play a key persuasive role for 50% of adults on a customer journey from low to high attitude certainty with regard to physical exercise. Results within other clusters suggested that a negative cognitive message frame may also be the most effective overall. Researchers are advised to use an updated scale for measuring OPRs including indicators for affective trust. Recommendations for future research include investigating further the conditions for which OPRs have a persuasive influence following the issuing of communications. Future research could also study the relationship between behavioural intention and behaviour over time for physical exercise social marketing when OPRs have a persuasive influence.