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Shared leadership as a vehicle to healthy service eco-systems: practical or fanciful?

Clare Johansson (Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia)
Rowan Bedggood (Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia)
Karen Farquharson (Department of Education and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia)
Aron Perenyi (Department of Business Technology and Entrepreneurship, Swinburne Business School, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia)

Journal of Social Marketing

ISSN: 2042-6763

Article publication date: 8 March 2018

Issue publication date: 22 March 2018

520

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether a shared leadership governance arrangement facilitates improved outcomes within a social marketing service eco-system. The research was focussed on gaining an understanding of participants involved in a cross-institutional partnership. The case study selected to facilitate this exploration was a social marketing project that aimed to support aboriginal households in Victoria with regard to their energy efficiency. It thus investigated the meso-level insights experienced by partners and those delivering the service.

Design/methodology/approach

Interview (yarn-based) data from 20 individuals involved in an energy efficiency programme were collected and analysed. Participants shared their experiences via informal “yarns” that were conducted in the first 12 months of the programme. This timing was chosen to gain their initial self-reflective perspectives and their interactions within the shared leadership model.

Findings

The results of the analysis identified six key themes that are interrelated and fundamental to building trust between all actors involved. The themes include relationship building, advocating rights, managing competing priorities, being community driven, using communication that translates and using community networks. Four of the themes were found to be components of relationship and trust building, which collectively lead to effectively accessing aboriginal communities. These findings extend current knowledge on the structures necessary to ensure healthy eco-systems are sustained throughout social marketing programmes.

Research limitations/implications

The authors established that shared leadership is well aligned with service-dominant logic, and the findings of this study reveal that it can positively contribute to meso-level service eco-systems and thus improve social outcomes for recipients of social marketing efforts. The findings also underscore the need for social marketers to recognise the importance of having a culturally acceptable value co-creation model in social marketing programmes when working with Aboriginal Australians.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to explore and develop the authors’ understanding of the efficacy of adopting a shared leadership approach in social marketing. Shared leadership has the potential to be an institutional arrangement that facilitates service-dominant logic and the value co-creation process, influencing positive behaviour change at the micro level in aboriginal communities. Specifically, it is the first to identify that “advocating rights” is an important component for partners to adopt in cross-cultural collaborations when collectively running social marketing programmes.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the time and energy provided by the project partners in developing relationships with them, including participating in the yarns. The project would not have been possible without them. The authors also acknowledge the Australian Commonwealth Government who funded the project. Lastly, they extend their appreciation to their reviewers, who provided insightful and helpful feedback, which improved this paper immensely.

Citation

Johansson, C., Bedggood, R., Farquharson, K. and Perenyi, A. (2018), "Shared leadership as a vehicle to healthy service eco-systems: practical or fanciful?", Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 159-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-03-2016-0009

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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