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University of Stirling Alcohol Marketing and Young People's Drinking University of Stirling Stirling Management School Institute for Social Marketing Alcohol Marketing and Young People’s Drinking: The Role of Perceived Social Norms Patrick Kenny Submitted for fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2014 This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Tom O’Gorman. May 1974 – January 2014. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal. 1 Abstract There has been substantial scientific debate about the impact of alcohol marketing on consumption. Relying mainly on econometric studies, the alcohol industry has traditionally maintained that alcohol marketing does not influence consumption, but is merely limited to brand level effects. Public health advocates, on the other hand, point to consumer-level research that shows a relationship between exposure to marketing and alcohol consumption, especially amongst the young. Recent longitudinal research has firmly established a causal relationship between alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption, giving the upper hand to the public health critics of alcohol marketing. The new consensus forged by these recent cohort studies has led to two separate, but related, debates. In the first instance, having answered the question of whether marketing influences drinking behaviour, there is a need to establish how and when such effects occur. Secondly, in the face of the mounting longitudinal evidence on the effects of marketing, representatives of the alcohol industry have sought to move the debate away from marketing by explicitly highlighting peer influence as a more significant causal factor in problematic youth alcohol consumption. This thesis tackles both of these new questions simultaneously by harnessing insights developed from social norms theory. An online survey (N = 1,071) was administered to undergraduates of the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland, and mediation relationships were tested with logistic and 2 multiple linear regression methods as appropriate. Amongst other findings, the main contributions of this thesis are: (1) that marketing may play a key role in establishing perceived social norms around alcohol consumption, and that these perceived norms may act as an indirect pathway for the influence of marketing on behaviour and (2) that the association between alcohol marketing and consumption may increase as levels of engagement with marketing increase; this engagement appears to be at its most potent when marketing facilitates simultaneous interaction between the consumer, the brand and the consumer’s peers in an online social media environment. This thesis helps to move the field of alcohol marketing scholarship beyond questions of whether marketing influences alcohol consumption to how and when that influence occurs. By showing how peers may act as perpetuators and magnifiers of marketing influence it also undermines the argument that peers matter more than marketing, and suggests that peer norms can act as a powerful marketing tool. 3 Acknowledgements I owe so much to the many different people who have assisted me in various ways throughout the course of this research, and I can only feel a sense of deep gratitude for the help I have received from many quarters. In the first instance, many thanks to my supervisor Professor Gerard Hastings. His advice, patience, encouragement and excitement at every stage of the process have been invaluable. I have been singularly fortunate in having him as my supervisor. Many thanks also to Anne Marie MacKintosh for her superb advice, help and patient assistance, especially in terms of questionnaire design and statistical analysis. Thanks are due to the more than 1,000 Dublin Institute of Technology students who took the time to complete my questionnaire, and in particular to the 5 students who took part in lengthy cognitive interviews at the questionnaire development stage. Many thanks to Dr Vicki Livingstone for her patient advice on statistical analysis and for preparing a number of the statistical tables. I appreciate the assistance of many colleagues in the DIT who have assisted me with the travails of part-time PhD research – I have benefitted enormously from their experience, collegiality and flexibility. Thanks also to the DIT’s College of Business (Director and Dean Paul O’Sullivan) and the School of Marketing (Head of School Kate Uí Ghallachóir) for financial, moral and practical support throughout this process. 4 I am very grateful to my many friends for their companionship and support. One hesitates to mention specific individuals. However, special thanks are due to my friend of over 20 years, Tom O’Gorman, to whom this thesis is dedicated. Tom was the one friend with whom I discussed my progress on the thesis most. I’m not exactly sure why that was! After a day of writing in the library I would text him a record of the word count produced that day, and he always had some words of encouragement or congratulations, depending on that day’s report. Tom died on the night of 11 January 2014. He is sadly missed and fondly remembered. Finally, many sincere thanks to my family – my mother Eileen, my late father John and my brother David for their support across many years. Special love and thanks to all my girls: Marian, Lucia and Gemma for all their hugs and constant sense of fun and laughter, and to my wife Rachel for her love. 5 Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 4 Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 The context: alcohol consumption in Ireland .......................................................... 10 1.3 The problem: alcohol-related harm .......................................................................... 12 1.4 The debate: alcohol marketing and consumption ................................................... 17 1.5 The politics: alcohol marketing regulation .............................................................. 28 1.6 The agenda: The structure of this thesis................................................................... 36 Chapter 2: Overview of social norms theory .......................................................................... 38 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 39 2.2 The nature of social norms ........................................................................................ 41 2.3 Social norms influence behaviour ............................................................................ 48 2.4 Downstream social marketing: social norms marketing campaigns ..................... 59 2.5 Upstream social marketing: social norms and marketing regulation .................... 70 2.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 77 Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................................... 80 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 81 3.2 The aim of this research............................................................................................. 82 3.3 Overview of core Research Propositions and hypotheses ...................................... 85 3.3 Philosophical assumptions........................................................................................ 90 3.4 Research ethics ........................................................................................................... 92 3.5 Sampling strategy ...................................................................................................... 94 3.6 Online research .......................................................................................................... 97 3.7 Justification for measures used in questionnaire .................................................. 107 3.8 Survey pretesting ..................................................................................................... 130 Chapter 4: Data overview, preparation and analytical approach ....................................... 150 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 151 4.2 Data overview .......................................................................................................... 152 4.3 Data screening .......................................................................................................... 153 4.4 Response rate ........................................................................................................... 156 4.5 Overview of the respondent characteristics .......................................................... 159 4.6 Data manipulation ................................................................................................... 162 6 4.7 Assumptions underlying regression analysis ....................................................... 174 4.8 Mediation analysis: background and analytical technique .................................. 177 Chapter
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