Analysis Of The Marketing Activities In The Blood Service: Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the marketing activities of blood service for over the last 20 years. The main purpose of the research is to understand the content and characteristics of existing research in the field of marketing in blood service to determine the direction of future research for both scientists and practitioners. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem of marketing in blood service indicates that a large amount of research in the field of marketing activities of blood service for the last 20 years requires a synthesis of existing research. The relevance of this scientific problem decision is that one of the criteria for the health level of the country’s population is the availability of a sufficient number of blood donors (Global, 2017). Moreover, marketing activities of blood service allow to attract and retain the required number of donors and receive from them a sufficient amount of blood and its components. Investigation of the topic of the marketing activities in the blood service in the paper is carried out in the following logical sequence: it was determined the influence of authors, journals, and articles about marketing in the blood service, studied and identified marketing clusters in the blood service, conducted the content analysis and presented the visualization of scientific literature on marketing activities in the blood service. Methodological tools of the research methods were 2000-2019 years. The object of research is 262 relevant articles published in 25 journals over the period 2000–2019 because, namely, they explain the essence of marketing activity in blood service facilities. The paper presents empirical analysis publications on marketing in the blood service during the last 20 years, which showed that the most influential journals were Transfusion, Vox Sanguinis, and Transfusion Medicine Reviews. The most famous authors are Wakefield M.A., Gillespie T.W., Glynn S.A., Lemmens K.P.H., Bednall T.C., Sojka B.N., Masser B.M. The classification literature on marketing in the blood service is presented in the areas of recruitment and retention strategies, influence, and incentives for planned behavior, decision-making on donation. Each five-year plan covers research in the following areas: understanding donor behavior to develop engagement and use strategies, finding ways to recruit new donors, marketing tools to work with donors, focusing on donor retention, and using modern marketing communication tools. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that it is advisable to focus on the introduction of the most modern tools of marketing communications (messengers, mobile applications, ringtones on mobile phones, social networks) in combination with traditional (radio, brochures, videos, SMS messages, motivational interviews, and loyalty programs). It is also recommended to pay attention to average when building the loyalty of existing donors to increase the amount of blood donated by more donors and improve the quality of donors and blood safety. The results of the research can be useful for blood services and companies who promote unpaid voluntary donation. Keywords: blood donor, blood service, marketing, marketing activities, motivation, promotion, recruitment, retention.