Abstract
Social marketing, conceptualized by Kotler and Zaltman (1971) as a means to promote social objectives and causes more effectively, has the potential to be the catalyst for addressing the disparity and creating positive perceptions. Social marketing is a significant means to address communication, conceptualization, and intellectual gaps between groups, which often results in clarifying differences in product and value outcomes; and the need for change and shifts in paradigms associated with practitioner-academician interaction (Hanna, 2001). Primary and secondary research conducted showed that there is fragmentation within the sport industry between academicians and practitioners, resulting in a large intellectual gap. It was evident that a majority of practitioners understood the concepts of research and consumer behavior, but do not understand how to utilize these concepts in the application of promotions, advertising, and sponsorship. There also seemed to be differences based on the divergence of beliefs between sociological theorists who look at the big picture and marketers who only look at the application aspect. These findings led to the determination that there is a need for further analysis of theoretical research and application methods related to this interaction between academicians and practitioners. Through the analysis of documented research and current best practices, the goal is to help understand the disparities between academia and practitioners and provide a conduit that would serve as a catalyst to create real change in the sport industry.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
DOI
10.20429/jamt.2011.020205
Publication Date
11-2011
Recommended Citation
Schwarz, Eric C., and Branch, Dallas (2011). Social marketing as a catalyst for building new relationships between sport practitioners and academicians. Journal of Applied Marketing Theory, 2(2), 56-67. ISSN: 2151-3236. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/jamt/vol2/iss2/5