Social marketing : an answer for cyberbullying in Singapore

• Main Authors: Ang, Xue Ling, Koh, Cecilia Peck Hoon, Soh, Anders Yiming
• Other Authors: Gerard Dionicio Gonzales
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Marketing::Social
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48302
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cyberbullying, referring to the wilful, deliberate and repeated harm through the use of electronic devices such as computer, cell phones and other electronic devices, has increased in prevalence with the rising usage of the Internet and social media. Unfortunately, this social issue is not extensively studied in Singapore and hence this research study aims to obtain an in-depth and holistic picture of the cyberbullying scene in Singapore. A two pronged approach was adopted in this study. Interviews were first conducted with local field experts to obtain a greater understanding of the cyberbullying situation in Singapore. After which, a pre-designed questionnaire was distributed to respondents to obtain their attitudes and motivations of cyberbullying, as well as their perspectives of certain social marketing strategies. A total of 294 responses were collated. The findings of this research has revealed that Singapore youths tend to engage in indirect cyberbullying behaviours instead of direct cyberbullying behaviours and they prefer taking a preventive approach when dealing with cyberbullying. Insights in social marketing strategies include the effectiveness of personal recount as a campaign message strategy, the importance of counsellors in addressing this social issue and social media being an effective campaign promotional tool to Singapore youths.