Josephine Previte

Dr Josephine Previte’s research examines how marketing, services and technology shape people’s everyday lives, wellbeing and participation in society. Her work brings together social marketing, transformative service research and social entrepreneurship to examine how people experience complex systems, and how organisations can respond with more inclusive, ethical and effective forms of change. Current projects extend this agenda through research on disability-inclusive services, homelessness, mission-led social entrepreneurship and changing alcohol cultures, including shifts toward low- and no-alcohol consumption. Across these projects, her research focuses on how people navigate complex systems and how organisations can design more responsive, equitable and human-centred interventions. Applied research is central to this agenda, bringing marketing insight to behaviour change and service-system challenges. Her methodological expertise spans qualitative and mixed-method research, with a strong interest in alternative and innovative methodologies. This includes expertise in using Q methodology, videography, digital and technology-enabled research approaches, and interpretive designs that reveal the complexity of people’s lives. Across this work, Josephine is committed to research that generates practical insight, strengthens social change efforts, and brings meaningful benefits to people, organisations and society. Transformative Service Research for Social Impact: Services shape people’s access to care, dignity, inclusion and wellbeing. My research examines the social impact of service systems, with a focus on how organisations, frontline actors and communities respond to vulnerability and exclusion. Current projects investigate disability-inclusive service and accessibility readiness, alongside service responses to homelessness, to understand how services can create more equitable and transformative social outcomes. Social Marketing for Behavioural and Social Change: Changing behaviour is rarely a matter of simply changing minds. My research examines how social marketing can address complex health and social issues by engaging with lived experience, social norms, market systems and policy contexts. It includes sustained work on alcohol-related behaviour change and low- and no-alcohol consumption, alongside research into gendered experiences, inequalities and social change. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Innovation: A distinctive contribution of qualitative inquiry is its capacity to reveal the complexity of people’s lives. My methodological expertise is grounded in context, empathy and meaning, using qualitative approaches to understand lived experience, social practices and how people make sense of change. It extends to methodological innovation through Q methodology, videography, visual methods and interpretive research design. Health Service Experience and Systems Change: Health services are experienced through complex interactions between people, providers and systems. My research integrates social marketing and service thinking to understand health service access, engagement and impact from multiple perspectives. It includes research in women’s health, alongside current work examining mental health service experiences, provider challenges and opportunities to design more responsive, person-centred systems of care. Technology, Markets and Everyday Life: Technology is reshaping everyday life, from how people connect and consume to how markets collect data, personalise experiences and influence choice. My research examines consumer and societal engagements with technology, including platform use, data-driven marketing, privacy, trust and consumer wellbeing. It also extends to digital and technology-enabled methodologies for understanding contemporary market and social life. Mission, Markets and Systems Change: Social enterprises often work where existing systems fall short. My research examines how founders and leaders balance mission and money while creating sustainable responses to complex social issues. It connects social entrepreneurship with systems social marketing to understand how market-based, community-centred and socially innovative approaches can support broader systems change.

[2023] Enabling a service thinking mindset: practices for the global service ecosystem. Alkire, Linda, Russell-Bennett, Rebekah, Previte, Josephine and Fisk, Raymond P. (2023). Enabling a service thinking mindset: practices for the global service ecosystem. Journal of Service Management, 34 (3), 580-602. doi: 10.1108/josm-02-2022-0070 [2025] Mission and money: a scoping review of social enterprise business models as a solution to sustaining health-promoting food and nutrition-based initiatives. Fathi, Leila I., Walker, Jacqueline, Dix, Clare, Previte, Josephine, Olgacher, Dilara, Woodside, Jayne and Truby, Helen (2025). Mission and money: a scoping review of social enterprise business models as a solution to sustaining health-promoting food and nutrition-based initiatives. BMC Public Healt