title: Promoting Active School Travel: A Theoretically Grounded Social Marketing Study
Creators: name: Pang, Bo
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Social marketing study
subject: Active school travel

description: Active School Travel (AST) has been extensively researched over the last 10 years (Carve et al., 2013; Panter et al., 2008). Numerous studies have been published showing the benefits of AST (Reilly and Kelly, 2011; Sirard and Slater, 2008), and interventions have been implemented to reverse the decline in active forms of school travel including (but not limited to) walking and cycling (see Chillon et al., 2011 for a review). However, important limitations associated with AST studies are noted. Firstly, social marketing has never been substantially implemented in the AST context, although social marketing has been recognised as a credible behaviour change discipline and has been widely adopted to foster social change (Rundle-Thiele, 2015). Secondly, theory use is scant, both in formative research and intervention stages. Lu et al. (2014) note that theory use in AST formative research is superficial and Chillon et al. (2011) indicated that AST interventions failed to report theory. In an attempt to address the limited use of theory in social marketing interventions and streamline the process of utilising theory Manikam and Russell-Bennett (2016) recently proposed a four-stage Social Marketing Theory (SMT) based approach including information search, evaluation of theories, theory selection, and theory-based design. Building on Manikam and Russell-Bennett’s work, the main objective of this research is to deliver a theoretically-grounded social marketing formative research project by reviewing, evaluating and selecting the most suitable theory to explain active school travel behaviours among Australian primary school children. First, a systematic literature review was undertaken as part of information search to identify what theories have been used in AST interventions and what are the main characteristics of successful AST interventions carried out between 2010 and 2016. Seven databases were searched and a total of 40 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2016 reporting 18 AST interventions were identified, all of which were then analysed in terms of their intervention design, methodological quality, and effectiveness. The systematic literature review identified that 23% of current AST interventions used policy and 38% used environmental changes, with positive effects for both elements observed. Weak methodological design and lack of reliable and valid measurements were identified as key limitations. An increase in objective assessment was observed (Chillon et al., 2011). Only one third of the included studies used theory. Next, two parallel cross-sectional studies adopting two competing theories were undertaken to answer the question what theory offers the most explanatory potential in order to promote walking-to-school behaviour in Australia? Two theoretical frameworks, the Theory and Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) and the Ecological and Cognitive Active Commuting (ECAC) (Sirard and Slater, 2008), were selected. An online survey of 1064 Queensland and Victorian parents with primary school children was conducted to explore factors associated with children’s AST behaviours. The entire sample was used to test the TPB model and the Queensland sample was used to test the ECAC model. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling in AMOS. Cross-sectional studies using the TPB and ECAC models both indicated that social norms in particular injunctive social norms, were the most influential factor explaining children’s walking to school behaviours, which is consistent with previous studies (Panter et al., 2010; Salmon et al., 2007). The TPB’s explanatory potential (R2 of 35.7%) was higher than other studies (27%) (Armitage and Conner, 2001). The ECAC model explained 53.4% of variance, exceeding the TPB and other studies in the AST field. The ECAC model also indicates perceived risks have a direct impact on AST and mediates social norm’s influence on AST. This study delivered a theoretically-grounded social marketing formative research study in the AST context. This research presents an important initial step towards empirically applying the SMT-based model to address identified gaps in AST research, social marketing, and theoretical utilisation, providing an evidence-based literature informed enquiry to guide future intervention design to better and more effectively promote AST.