Personality, involvement and the preference for marketing communication tools : a study among Maltese politicians

Abstract

Democratic politics are dynamic, where negotiation and persuasion are vital processes. To attain these goals, a politician communicates with the electorate to share his/her political ideologies. The use of different marketing communication tools enables the politician to make his communication effective and dynamic. This dissertation focuses on the main marketing communication tools available to politicians. It investigates personality and involvement, and seeks to establish if these will have an effect on politicians' preferences in choosing their communication tools. This is an exploratory study in the area of political marketing which looks at the effectness of constructs that were previously tested in other contexts. The data analysis indicated that there exists a relationship between an extravert disposition and preference to choose "other communication tools" such as home visits. Conclusions from this research may contribute to the understanding of political marketing and can provide recommendations to assist political marketing practitioners.