advertising and society essay

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Chapter 11: Advertising Industry

61 The role of advertising in society

Advertising is the paid promotion that uses strategy and messaging about the benefits of a product or service to influence a target audience’s attitudes and/or behaviors. Between online, television, radio, and print platforms, the average American sees hundreds, even thousands of advertisements daily.

Although many consumers find them annoying, advertisements play a prominent role in shaping opinions about everything from products to politics. A Forbes article (2012) stated: “Advertising plays the same role in your media diet that vegetables play in your regular diet; most of us would prefer to skip that course and go straight to dessert. But, just like veggies, advertising plays an important role in sustaining a body; in this case, a diverse body of content” (para. 1). Advertising heavily supports many institutions, including news media outlets, the television industry, search engine companies, and social media websites. For example, advertising contributes up to 80 percent of revenue for newspapers and therefore is critical to maintaining the circulation of the press (Newspaper Association of America, 2014).

The advertising industry is also lucrative. According to eMarketer (2016), the United States spent approximately $190 billion on advertising in 2015. About a third of that figure went to television advertisements, and another third went to digital advertising. With its economic and cultural function in society, the advertising industry has an expansive reach.

Writing for Strategic Communication Industries Copyright © 2016 by Jasmine Roberts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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9 (page 122) p. 122 The Role of Advertising in Society

• Published: June 2010
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Can advertising be moral? The tripartite of advertising (advertisers, media, and agencies) ought to include a fourth element: the public. This is the group the critics of advertising are concerned about when they question the morality and benefits of advertising. The public should be viewed as overlapping and interacting with the other three groups. To explore the morality of advertising it is necessary to explore how advertising affects people. What is the role of advertising in society? It creates employment, provides the public with free and inexpensive media, it supports media independence, it provides information, it pushes prices down and quality up, and it spreads awareness of brands.

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Advertising & Society Review

In this issue.

• Volume 1, Issue 1, 2000

Formerly Advertising & Society Review , through volume 17, 2017 (E-ISSN: 1534-7311).

Advertising & Society Quarterly (ASQ) , the successor to Advertising & Society Review , is a scholarly journal devoted entirely to advertising and its relationship to society, culture, history, and the economy. Published quarterly online, ASQ features articles, essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, and other scholarship relevant to a broad, interdisciplinary audience interested in advertising.

published by

Viewing issue, table of contents.

• Editorial Introduction
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0025

Historical Perspectives

• Materialism and the Modern U.S. Christmas
• Russell W. Belk
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0001
• From Salvation To Self-Realization: Advertising and the Therapeutic Roots of the Consumer Culture, 1880-1930
• T. J. Jackson Lears
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0009
• Advertisements as Social Tableaux
• Roland Marchand
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0020
• Reflecting on Ethnic Imagery in the Landscape of Commerce, 1945-1975
• Faith Davis Ruffins
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0014

What Is Advertising? (and/or Social Consequences of Advertising)

• Advertising as Religion: The Dialectic of Technology and Magic
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0005
• The Distorted Mirror: Reflections on the Unintended Consequences of Advertising
• Richard W. Pollay
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0012
• The History and Development of Advertising
• Frank Presbrey
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0021
• Advertising as Capitalist Realism
• Michael Schudson
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0023
• "But first, a word from our sponsor"
• James B. Twitchell
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0002
• Advertising: the Magic System
• Raymond Williams
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0016

Advertising and Consumerism

• Marketing Eight Hidden Needs
• Vance Oakley Packard
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0011
• I'm the Greatest, Yes Sirree, That's All You'll Ever Hear from Me!, and: Falsity without Deception: As Possible As the Law Says, but Not As Probable
• Ivan L. Preston
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0013

Subliminal Advertising

• The Mass Media's Illusion of Reality
• Wilson Bryan Key
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0007
• Can't Ignore Subliminal Ad Charges
• Jack Haberstroh
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0018

Comparative Perspectives

• "No, No" to Making a Cake in a Rice Cooker: Modernization Is Not Synonymous With Westernization
• George Fields
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0003
• Print Advertisements and Nation Making in Metropolitan Papua New Guinea
• Robert John Foster
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0022
• The Content and Consumption of Advertisements
• Daniel Miller
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0019
• The Airbrushing of Culture: An Insider Looks At Global Advertising
• Marcio Moreira, William M. O'Barr
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0024

Marketing Perspectives

• Viewer Miscomprehension of Televised Communication: Selected Findings
• Jacob Jacoby, Wayne D. Hoyer
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0004
• Relatedness, Prominence, and Constructive Sponsor Identification
• Gita Venkataramani Johar, Michel Tuan Pham
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0006
• A Model For Predictive Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness
• Robert J. Lavidge, Gary A. Steiner
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0008
• Are Product Attribute Beliefs the Only Mediator of Advertising Effects on Brand Attitude?
• Andrew A. Mitchell, Jerry C. Olson
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0010
• How Advertising Works: A Planning Model. .. putting it all together
• Richard Vaughan
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0015

Interpreting Advertising

• A Currency Of Signs
• Judith Williamson
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/asr.2000.0017

Volume 1, Issue 2, 2000

Additional Information

Copyright © 2000 The Advertising Educational Foundation, Inc.

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Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society Essay

Even though people are rarely aware of that, advertising has already deeply rooted in their day-to-day lives. Ads are placed in magazines and newspapers, on the streets and roads, in grocery stores and schoolyards. To tell the truth, ads are almost everywhere. The question is, do we want to see so many advertisements around us? Probably a lot of people would agree that the answer to this question is negative. As today’s reality shows, the advertising industry does not work for the community’s sake or even consider our needs and desires; instead, it crosses a lot of boundaries that should not be crossed and even show its disrespect to people.

One of the strongest arguments against advertisements is the fact that people are forced to see those. In his article called A Death Spiral of Disrespect , Gary Ruskin states that advertising has already become coercive, and that is hard to argue with. If you want to watch a TV program or a movie, you have to put up with commercial breaks. Waiting in line to see a doctor, you see advertisements near his cabinet. When you are going to a store to buy groceries, you see plenty of ads both on the way to and inside it. And the list of examples can be greatly expanded. People see dozens of advertisements on a daily basis, even though no one has even asked them if they want to.

In addition to the fact that people have no choice whether to see advertisements or not, those are not always positive. In fact, ads can be even disrespectful or humiliating. As a prime example, Charlie Minato, in his article in Business Insider , provides a list of ten recent advertisements that are considered to be racists. It is hard to argue with him when you see a billboard, which says that “white is coming” and shows a picture of a taller white woman menacingly holding a black woman under her chin (Minato par. 16). Even though that is the twenty-first century, and people claim that they are colorblind when it comes to the skin color, the advertising industry continues releasing ads filled with racism and disrespect. I see no reasons why people should put up with that.

Making disrespectful ads is not the only boundary that the advertising industry crosses. Even though advertising companies deny that, they use children and young adults to increase sales of the advertised products. As Joseph McLaughlin states, children are much more impressionable than grown-ups are, which is why they are more likely to ground for advertisers (par. 2). Moreover, sometimes they do not even see any difference between a TV program and a commercial; also, a few children are actually aware of the persuasive intent of advertisements (McLaughlin par. 4-9). All of that makes the young audience an easy target for advertisers, who obviously take advantage of that. In addition to the fact that children see lots of ads on TV and the Internet, in supermarkets or just on the streets, even schools are not always free from advertisements. Because of such amount of ads, children make their parents spend more money, which is exactly what advertising companies are trying to achieve. Hence, people are manipulated with the help of advertising, sometimes through their own children.

In addition to everything mentioned above, advertising has damaging effects on public health. Gary Ruskin states that Americans are suffering from many marketing-related diseases, starting with obesity and ending with type 2 diabetes. Moreover, the most vulnerable audience is children because their attitudes and desires are more likely to be influenced by ads. As an example, many children eat lots of junk food and drink Coca-Cola because they regularly see those on TV. Consequently, they get used to such kind of food, undermining their health and breaking down the metabolism, which, in its turn, usually results in overweight and countless diseases related to it.

Finally, junk food and the risk of obesity are not the only negative sides of advertising when it comes to public health. A lot of harm is also done because of alcohol and tobacco advertisements, which are the most common in the United States, according to the American Public Health Association (par. 8). In their commercials, advertising companies usually link alcohol and tobacco products with appealing leisure activities, success, attractiveness, sexuality, and many other attractive things, which is why those products are not only advertised but also promoted. Seeing that, people become more and more attracted to bad habits.

To conclude, advertising indeed has a lot of negative sides and effects, which people can not escape because ads are almost everywhere. Advertisements have an adverse impact on public health (especially that of children), take advantage of the young audience, which is more vulnerable to external influence, and are not even always respectful. Considering all of this, people should try to regulate the amount of ad they read during their regular day on their own.

Works Cited

American Public Health Association. “Advertising and Promotion of Alcohol and Tobacco Products to Youth.” APHA . Online.

McLaughlin, Joseph. “Researcher Shows Negative Effects of Advertising on Children.” Fordham University . Online.

Minato, Charlie. “10 Recent Racist Ads That Companies Wish You Would Forget.” Business Insider . Online.

• Junk Food and Drinks: Ban on Advertising
• The Junk Food Issue in Australia
• Advertising' Damaging Effects in Society
• Kids Advertising: Market Failure and Intervention
• International Advertising' Effects in Developing Countries
• Gender and Sexuality in Cosmetic Advertising
• The Use of English in Advertising in the UAE
• Significant Role of Advertising
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, August 24). Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advertising-and-its-damaging-effects-on-society/

"Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society." IvyPanda , 24 Aug. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/advertising-and-its-damaging-effects-on-society/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society'. 24 August.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society." August 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advertising-and-its-damaging-effects-on-society/.

1. IvyPanda . "Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society." August 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advertising-and-its-damaging-effects-on-society/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Advertising and Its Damaging Effects on Society." August 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advertising-and-its-damaging-effects-on-society/.

Essay On Advertisement

500 words essay on advertisement.

We all are living in the age of advertisements. When you step out, just take a quick look around and you will lay eyes upon at least one advertisement in whichever form. In today’s modern world of trade and business, advertisement plays an essential role. All traders, big and small, make use of it to advertise their goods and services. Through essay on advertisement, we will go through the advantages and ways of advertisements.

The Various Ways Of Advertisement

Advertisements help people become aware of any product or service through the use of commercial methods. This kind of publicity helps to endorse a specific interest of a person for product sale.

As the world is becoming more competitive now, everyone wants to be ahead in the competition. Thus, the advertisement also comes under the same category. Advertising is done in a lot of ways.

There is an employment column which lists down job vacancies that is beneficial for unemployed candidates. Similarly, matrimonial advertisement help people find a bride or groom for marriageable prospects.

Further, advertising also happens to find lost people, shops, plots, good and more. Through this, people get to know about a nearby shop is on sale or the availability of a new tutor or coaching centre.

Nowadays, advertisements have evolved from newspapers to the internet. Earlier there were advertisements in movie theatres, magazines, building walls. But now, we have the television and internet which advertises goods and services.

As a large section of society spends a lot of time on the internet, people are targeting their ads towards it. A single ad posting on the internet reaches to millions of people within a matter of few seconds. Thus, advertising in any form is effective.

Benefits of Advertisements

As advertisements are everywhere, for some magazines and newspapers, it is their main source of income generation. It not only benefit the producer but also the consumer. It is because producers get sales and consumer gets the right product.

Moreover, the models who act in the advertisements also earn a handsome amount of money . When we look at technology, we learn that advertising is critical for establishing contact between seller and buyer.

This medium helps the customers to learn about the existence and use of such goods which are ready to avail in the market. Moreover, advertisement manages to reach the nooks and corners of the world to target their potential customers.

Therefore, it benefits a lot of people. Through advertising, people also become aware of the price difference and quality in the market. This allows them to make good choices and not fall to scams.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of Essay On Advertisement

All in all, advertisements are very useful but they can also be damaging. Thus, it is upon us to use them with sense and ensure they are entertaining and educative. None of us can escape advertisements as we are already at this age. But, what we can do is use our intelligence for weeding out the bad ones and benefitting from the right ones.

FAQ on Essay On Advertisement

Question 1: What is the importance of advertisement in our life?

Answer 1: Advertising is the best way to communicate with customers. It helps informs the customers about the brands available in the market and the variety of products which can be useful to them.

Question 2: What are the advantages of advertising?

Answer 2: The advantages of advertising are that firstly, it introduces a new product in the market. Thus, it helps in expanding the market. As a result, sales also increase. Consumers become aware of and receive better quality products.

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Framing the fourth sector – dystopia or future contours?

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 27 May 2024

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Marisa R. Ferreira   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4194-9127 1 ,
• Vítor Braga   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3644-3992 1 ,
• María Isabel Sánchez-Hernández   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6806-1606 2 &
• Joana Gomes 3  

Nowadays, society faces complex social, economic, and environmental problems which the traditional sectors of activity (public, private and third sector) are not able to solve alone. To respond to these challenges, their missions and strategies have been converging, leading to a phenomenon known as the blurring of boundaries between sectors. Together, they give rise to a new and promising sector in society: the fourth sector. The literature on this new sector is still scarce, even though its impact is already being felt all over the world. The concept of the fourth sector is in itself broad and clearly lacking defined borders. In addition, there are three currents in the literature that use this term with different meanings.

This paper aims to contribute to the theoretical knowledge on the fourth sector by clarifying its definition and framing its activity. A qualitative methodology was carried out by using the papers featuring the topic “fourth sector”, indexed to the Web of Science, to generate a textual corpus that led to a similarity analysis. Subsequently, written interviews were conducted with seven academic specialists on the fourth sector topic, selected through the snowball sampling method, to complete the data obtained through the literature review. These data were added to the initial textual corpus, and a new similarity analysis was generated. It is concluded that the fourth sector as a spectrum of hybrid organizations is currently the most accepted approach, and the existence of an activity that combines a business framework with a social purpose seems to be its main characteristic. So, the main implication is related with significant opportunities that have yet to be fully explored, considering the extensive rise of the fourth sector.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Traditionally, organizations are categorized into the public, private, and third sectors (Avidar, 2017 ; Carswell et al., 2012 ; Hyde, 2023 ), and have long shaped our collective landscape by reflecting the cultural patterns, values and norms of the society in which they emerged. Nevertheless, globalization, the shifts of technological advancement, and the growing complexities of contemporary societies have reshaped the narrative of organizational existence (Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ; Pires, 2017 ; Rask et al., 2020 ).

Nowadays, society faces complex problems, dispersed on a global scale (Carswell et al., 2012 ; Stötzer et al., 2020 ) of economic, social and environmental nature, such as corruption, global warming and even a pandemic crisis (Martins et al., 2021 ), not to mention a large disparity between rich and poor, and traditional sectors (public, private sector, and the third sector) by themselves are not able to respond to these challenges, forcing them to work together (Guerrero & Hansen, 2018 ; Howlett & Lejano, 2013 ). Increased awareness of social and environmental issues, and the desire of individuals and organizations to address these issues in a meaningful way have led to a shift in values, as more and more people prioritize the impact of their actions on others and the planet. Given their complexity, these deep and progressive changes in society imply new ways of thinking and acting, triggering the emergence of activities that do not fit into traditional sectors and constitute new organizational configurations (Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2021a , b ). At the same time, we now face a growing trend of migration to urban areas, which has led to increased demand for services and support, thus creating opportunities for organizations to address pressing social and environmental issues in urban settings. Several authors call this phenomenon the blurring of boundaries between traditional sectors (Avidar, 2017 ; Carswell et al., 2012 ; Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ; Sabeti, 2011 ).

In the public sector there has been a slimming down of the state, for sometimes we face the inability of governments to fully address social issues on their own, and other times we have smaller governments and the delegation of some responsibilities characteristic of the welfare state to third-sector entities (Laurett & Ferreira, 2018 ), with a concomitant reduction in funds, privatization and decentralization of services (Carswell et al., 2012 ). States intervene on a national scale, but social problems go beyond borders, are globalized and multicultural (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ). In the profitable sector, companies have adopted more socially responsible and sustainable stances to respond to the demands of their stakeholders who are attentive to their practices (Carswell et al., 2012 ). Third-sector organizations find themselves in an increasingly competitive environment, and have to respond to growing social problems with less state funding (Faulkner et al., 2023 ; Pärl et al., 2022 ). Thus, they are forced to turn their practices to the market to obtain alternative forms of financing (Song, 2022 ; Zhu & Sun, 2020 ). They increasingly use the strategy of creating networks of partners that allow them to obtain added value (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ). It is in the context of this convergence of missions from the various sectors that a new entity emerges, the so-called fourth sector (Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ; Sabeti, 2011 ). The fourth sector is a new and promising sector of society, marked by a dual purpose: to generate profit and social impact by using different strategies, such as intersectoral collaboration and hybrid organizations (HO) (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ). As it is a relatively recent phenomenon, the fourth sector remains shrouded in ambiguity, with definitions dispersed amidst a sparse landscape of literature. Therefore, it is clear that we need a more holistic and collaborative approach, and in this study, we start from the following research proposition: The fourth sector arises from the intersection of the three traditional sectors, and it is defined by pursuing social objectives but with profit-making purposes (Fig. 1 ). This work aims to clarify the definition and frame the scope of its activity, generating a theoretical contribution to the existing knowledge on the fourth sector and main related concepts.

The fourth sector as the intersection of traditional sectors.  Source: Author’s creation, adapted from Sánchez-Hernández et al. ( 2021a )

2 Literature review

In broad terms, the fourth sector refers to a new type of organization/model that exists alongside the traditional three sectors of the economy — the public sector, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector —, and is characterized by its focus on social and environmental impact, rather than solely on profit (Rask et al., 2020 ). There are currently three main approaches (see Table 1 ) that use the designation fourth sector, despite having very different characteristics.

The first approach (Williams, 2002 , 2005 ) associates the fourth sector with informal volunteering (IV), also called one-on-one, which is distinct from that associated with third-sector organizations (Heley et al., 2022 ). It is characterized by a spontaneous movement of people towards their community.

The second approach, Hybrid Organizations (HO), is in line with our research proposition. It is the most devoted to organizations that do not purely belong to any traditional sector. It arises from the premise that today’s most significant social problems cannot be addressed without the participation of the three traditional sectors (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ; Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2021a , b ). It is in this proximity of missions from the various sectors that a new entity emerges, the so-called fourth sector. In this approach, it is defined as “a new protagonist in the socioeconomic sphere that results from the convergence of various sectors in organizations and business models that seek to respond to social and environmental problems through social innovation” (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 , p33). In this approach, the fourth sector revitalizes the concept of the social economy (Ávila & Campos, 2018 ) by encompassing the traditional sectors (Rubio-Mozos et al., 2019 ). Under the hybrid business string (Zurbano et al., 2012 ), the identification of the fourth sector generally applies to one of the following alternatives:

i) Social organizations with economic results: Organizations that generate economic and social value in the market, such as social enterprises (Borzaga et al., 2020 ), but also traditional companies with aspirations that identify themselves as companies that go beyond classic CSR.

ii) New ways of doing business (from the point of view of positive social and environmental impact), and those entities in the public sphere that try to be more oriented to the specific needs of people, but also those that intend to innovate regarding the participation and involvement citizens in the co-creation of public services by using market methods (Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2021b ).

The third approach, called self-organized civic activism (SOCA), refers to civic movements spontaneously generated in the community that use new technologies and social networks (Raisio et al., 2019 ). According to Rask et al. ( 2018 ), its main characteristics are spontaneity, great dynamism, the absence of bureaucracies, a horizontal structure without hierarchies, and dissociation from formal organizations. The same author states that these movements are criticized for their potential risk, since these are initiatives based on goodwill, but lack knowledge and coordination.

According to Rask et al. ( 2018 ), these various approaches can be summarized to try to find an integrative perspective, by considering them as a growth regarding the level of organization and stability over time. The integrative definition is the following: “the fourth sector is an emerging field, composed of actors or actor’s groups whose foundational logic is not the representation of established interest, but rather, the idea of social cooperation through hybrid networking” (Rask et al., 2018 p.46).

To sum up, the fourth sector works in a spectrum of HO. At one end of the spectrum there are third-sector organizations with profitable activities, social enterprises at the center and, at the opposite end, companies whose activity has significant social impact. These organizations bear characteristics such as greater or lesser presence in the market, and different degrees of focus on social concerns (Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ). These HO have a dual purpose: on the one hand, they are economically viable and, on the other hand, their purpose goes beyond profit and seeks ethical and sustainable goals, as well as creating benefits through their activities for society as a whole and the planet (Rubio-Mozos et al., 2019 ). Sabeti ( 2011 ) summarizes some of these characteristics: having a social purpose, a business method, transparency, social and environmental responsibility and giving fair compensation to employees. These main arguments consider that can generate returns for investors and shareholders if they do not jeopardize their ability to act in favor of their mission. These hybrid entities combine the best that each of the traditional sectors has to offer, in order to respond to shared social objectives in a sustainable and lasting way, through social innovation (Avidar, 2017 ; Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ; Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2021b ). Sabeti ( 2011 ) considers that these HO feature a new model of entrepreneurship, developed by entrepreneurs motivated by social causes, which are not exclusively profitable or non-profitable, and can be called “for benefit”, since they generate income, but prioritize the social mission, acting in a variety of areas, such as poverty, social exclusion, health, decent work, among others. In the fourth sector, initiatives can exist without a formal organizational structure, constituting themselves merely as “entities” that fill the empty spaces left by traditional sectors and also as forms of cooperative and networked functioning (Escobar & Gutiérrez, 2011 ).

The fourth sector can be considered a transition towards sustainable businesses by introducing social purpose into the strategic management line of organizations (Rubio-Mozos et al., 2019 ). To sum up, and according to the Ibero-American Secretariat General of the IE University, the fourth sector “is a complement, not a substitute, to the other sectors” (IASG, 2019 , p. 21) that works to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Consequently, sustainability is the heart of the emerging fourth sector. At this point, it is important to mention that it can be challenging to measure the performance and the impact of the fourth sector (Núñez-Barriopedro & Llombart Tárrega, 2021 ), as it may involve intangible outcomes, such as increased social cohesion or improved quality of life. As such, it is important for organizations in the fourth sector to be transparent about their impact measurement processes and to continuously strive to improve the quality and reliability of their data.

In general, the distinction between the third and fourth sectors lies in their fundamental purposes, organizational structures, and orientations towards profit and social impact. The third sector, often referred to as the nonprofit sector, comprises organizations that operate primarily to address social, environmental, or cultural needs, rather than to generate profit. These organizations, including charities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community groups, typically rely on donations, grants, and volunteer efforts to sustain their operations (Stühlinger & Hersberger-Langloh, 2021 ). The third sector plays a crucial role in filling gaps left by government and business in addressing societal challenges and advocating for social change.

The fourth sector represents a novel paradigm that bridges the gap between traditional for-profit and nonprofit sectors by integrating social and environmental objectives into business models (Piedrahita et al., 2021 ). Fourth-sector organizations, which might be dubbed as social enterprises or impact-driven businesses, aim to generate revenue while simultaneously addressing social or environmental issues (Martins et al., 2021 ; Rask et al., 2020 ). They operate under a hybrid model that emphasizes both financial sustainability and positive social impact. The fourth sector encompasses a wide range of entities, including B Corporations (B Corps), social purpose corporations, and cooperatives, all of which prioritize the triple bottom line — people, planet, and profit.

While the third sector focuses primarily on addressing social needs through philanthropy and community service, the fourth sector represents a more integrated approach to social change by leveraging market mechanisms and entrepreneurial strategies. Both play vital roles in advancing social progress and addressing complex challenges, but they differ in their approaches to resource mobilization, governance structures, and models of social impact (Sanzo-Pérez et al., 2022 ; Zhu & Sun, 2020 ). As the boundaries between sectors continue to blur, understanding the distinctions and synergies between the third and fourth sectors is essential for developing effective strategies to address pressing global issues and promote sustainable development.

3 Methodology

We used an innovative approach by combining a very specific literature review with the opinion of experts on the topic via a similarity analysis. Our research is based on a qualitative methodology, using content analysis performed through the IRaMuTeQ software. Content analysis is a research method used in qualitative studies and encompasses different techniques to generate knowledge in a systematic and rigorous way, based on textual information generated during the investigation (White & Marsh, 2006 ). In the context of the IRaMuTeQ software, similarity analysis refers to the examination of similarities or patterns within textual data, particularly in qualitative analysis, such as text mining and content analysis (Camargo & Justo, 2013 ). The software employs various techniques for lexical analysis, including frequency counts, co-occurrence analysis, and concordance analysis; subsequently, similarity is measured and the software offers visualization tools to represent it graphically. The similarity analysis involves a method called Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), which we will use in our analysis, and the software arranges the data into a hierarchy of clusters based on their similarities. At each step of the process, the algorithm merges the two most similar clusters, until all data points are grouped into a single cluster.

A qualitative methodology combining content analysis and expert interviews can be well-suited to achieve the objective of contributing to the theoretical knowledge (Döringer, 2021 ) on the fourth sector by clarifying its definition and framing its activity, because (i) this allows exploring deeply into the content of papers and interviews, potentially uncovering nuances, patterns, and themes within the data that may not be apparent through quantitative methods; (ii) as a relatively new and evolving concept, the fourth sector requires an exploratory approach; (iii) by analyzing the content of relevant papers and conducting interviews with experts, we gain a deeper understanding of how the fourth sector is conceptualized, operationalized, and practiced in different contexts and settings, and this contextual understanding is crucial for framing the activity of the fourth sector within its socio-economic, political, and cultural contexts.

The selection of articles included in the sample is presented in Fig.  2 . At first, the Web of Science (WoS) database was used to search for the term “Fourth Sector”, resulting in a total of 31 results over the period from 1996 to 2023. Only scientific papers were included in the sample. After a brief reading, all those papers that did not correspond to the concept under study were excluded. This selection resulted in 13 papers, dated from 2011 to 2020, associated to the database through the areas of study of management, economics, sustainability, and public policies (Appendix 1 ). Finally, the abstracts of these papers were formatted in a document that constitutes the textual corpus, imported to the IRaMuTeQ program and subsequently analyzed. To understand which concepts stand out in the summaries of the literature analyzed and the relationship between them, a similarity analysis was carried out, the result of which can be seen in Appendix 2 .

Selection of articles included in the sample

Subsequently, written interviews were conducted, consisting of two open-answer questions to seven academic specialists regarding the definition of the fourth sector, its main characteristics, and what distinguishes it from more traditional sectors of activity, as well as a practical example of what that could be considered a fourth sector entity. These specialists were selected through the snowball sampling method to complete the data obtained through the literature review. Firstly, we identified two specialists and sent them emails because of their research proximity to this topic under study. We requested them to respond to our questions and to recommend a colleague who works closely on the topic. We ceased the identification of new specialists upon reaching saturation, meaning that we began to hear the same themes, patterns, or information repeatedly across the interviews. This indicated that the data collection process had sufficiently captured the range and depth of experiences or perspectives related to the research topic. We had 4 Portuguese and 3 Spanish experts, from the areas of economics (3), geography (2), social economy (1) and marketing (1), as we can see in Table  2 . These data were added to the initial textual corpus, and a new similarity analysis was generated (see Appendix 3 ); the insertion of the data regarding the experts’ interviews has caused some changes in the similarity analysis.

The data collected originated two similarity analysis. Similarity analysis A (Appendix 2 ) refers to the content of the abstracts of the papers included in the sample, and similarity analysis B (Appendix 3 ) cumulatively encompasses the textual data of the papers and the answers to the interviews carried out with experts on the field of the fourth sector. The interviews were completely transcribed and added to the software.

4.1 Similarity analysis A

The abstracts of the articles included in the analysis originated 3 clusters with 11 distinct related sections. The sections are potential thematic or conceptual grouping of textual data that identify patterns and /or relationships. Two of the clusters were equivalent to the previously identified theoretical frameworks (HO and IV), and the third one was devoted to the third sector (TS cluster). The number of occurrences for the same word ranged from 18 to 3.

1st) HO cluster, including most of the sections:

Section 1 – The central concept is the research term “fourth sector”, either because it is the most frequent (18 times), or because it has the most sections that are directly associated with overlapping (5 times in total). Associated with the concept “fourth sector”, there is the word “emergence” (4 times). Also directly associated with this are words that refer to the various traditional sectors of activity, namely “government”, “third sector” and “company”. The word “company” occurs a total of 16 times, and it is the central concept of Sect. 2, responsible for bridging the gap between Sect. 1 and several other Sects. (3, 8, 9, 10, 11). Less expressiveness is found for the concepts “government” and “third sector”, with 3 and 4 occurrences, respectively, thus occupying a secondary position within this section. Also noteworthy is the word “purpose” associated with the “fourth sector” concept.

Section 2  – The word “company” is very central, and we have the word “contribute” (7 occurrences) linked with “planet” (4); “person” (4) and “community” (3). Concepts related with sustainability concerns are “sustainability” (6) “sustainable development goals” (8) “corporate social responsibility” (4), and “sustainable strategic management model” (3) feature prominently in this section, and are shared with the adjacent Sects. 3 and 4.

Section 3 – Highlights the intersectoral relationship characteristic of one of the trends in the fourth sector. The most prominent concept is “business”, centrally positioned between the concepts “for-profit” (7) and “nonprofit” (5). The term “nonprofit” branches out into concepts such as “for-benefit” (4), “benefit corporation” (6), “structure” (8), “legal” (3) and “entrepreneur” (5). From the concept “for-profit”, words such as “environmental” (4), “social” (8) and “economy” (4) are linked through the word “combine”. This section highlights the dual purpose of the fourth sector to generate profit and social impact.

Sections 4 ,5 ,6 ,7 – These represent examples of fourth-sector initiatives, such as the protection of coral reefs (Cruz-Trinidad et al., 2011 ) and collaboration between universities, industry and technology in Saudi Arabia (Shin et al., 2012 ). As they are specific cases in the literature, the concepts that represent them have little prominence in the general panorama, and are notable for their small frequency and ramification.

2nd) TS cluster, including the following 3 sections:

Section 8 – Emerges as a transition section between the sections of empirical approach to the fourth sector (1, 2, 3) and Sects. 9 and 10, which feature theoretical content. As concepts of connection to the first group, words such as “sustainable development goals” (8) and “management” (5) can be highlighted, which branch out into theoretical concepts, such as “model” (12) and “academic” (5).

Sections 9 and 10 – These are theoretical sections, featuring “notion” (14) and “concept” (16) as central concepts.

3rd) IV cluster for one isolated section: 

Section 11 – This is one of the most distant sections from Sect. 1. It does not share concepts or overlap with any other section. It is linked to Sect. 3 through the word “public” (10), which will branch out to the concept “policy” (14). At the far end appear concepts related to the definition of the fourth sector presented by Williams ( 2002 ), which refer to informal volunteering, namely “micro-volunteering” (6) and “volunteering” (4).

The HO cluster is the most important one. It should be noted that of the 3 traditional sectors of activity, the most referred to is the private sector, with a high frequency of words: “company” (16), “business” (10), “for-profit” (7), “corporate” (4), “corporate social responsibility” (4), and “private” (4), with a total of 45 references. Even so, the reference to the involvement of the three traditional sectors are clear, which, given the new dynamics of action, gives rise to the fourth sector. On the side of the public sector, we can find occurrences of several terms such as “policy” (13) “public” (8) and “government” (1), with a total of 22 references. Non-profit organizations are represented by terms such as “social economy” (9), “social” (10), “nonprofit” (5), “third sector” (4), in a total of 28 references.

4.2 Similarity analysis B

The insertion of data related to the interviews with experts in the previous textual corpus presents some remarkable modifications:

In similarity analysis A, there were 11 sections, while B is composed of 12. The term fourth sector lost some of its centrality, and now there are two distinct groups. Thus, the HO cluster involving the term “fourth sector” (Sect. 1) is spatially separated from a new cluster (HO business) involving the concept of “business” (3-a).

Section 3, whose most prominent terms is “business”, undergoes changes compared to the previous similarity analysis, and concepts that lacked great prominence in this section, gain greater preponderance in this new analysis, giving rise to 3 distinct and overlapping Sect. (3-a, 3-b, and 3-c). Section 3-c has as its central term the word “social”, and Sect. 3-b the word “for-profit”, which denotes that there is a subdivision of types of business, some pursuing a social purpose and others an exclusively economic purpose.

Section 4 in the first analysis ceases to exist as an autonomous section and the words that constitute it are integrated into Sect. 3, thus losing relevance. This was expected, as experts were informing about the topic but avoiding examples or specific practical evidence. These words were mostly related to a particular case study, having little impact on the overall picture.

Section 11 subdivides into Sect. 1-a and Sect. 1-b (a new cluster for the relationship between the public and the private sector, the PL-PR cluster). In addition, Sect. 1-a continues to encompass the definition of the fourth sector as informal volunteering. Section 11-b, which is the new PL-PR cluster, becomes the transition section between Sect. 1 “fourth sector” and Sect. 3-a “business”. The central words are “sector”, “public” and “private”, and the supporting word “integrate” also appears, coming from the concept “third sector” that appears at the far end of Sect. 1 “fourth sector”. This list of words once again suggests the intersectoral collaboration of the fourth sector.

The connection of Sect. 1 “fourth sector” to transition Sect. 1-b (“private” and “public”), and subsequently to section business, is the word “third sector”, suggesting that it is particularly this sector that makes the connection between everyone and enhances their collaboration in market initiatives.

5 Discussion

Analyzing the two similarity analyzes, it is possible to verify the prominence of terms such as “emergence”, defined as the emergence or becoming prominent, directly associated with the term “fourth sector” denotes the novelty that it constitutes.

One of the objectives of this research was to clarify the definition of the fourth sector, and the results obtained point to the majority trend in the scientific literature to use the term as a spectrum of hybrid organizations (HO). In the similarity analyses, concepts that could be associated with the fourth sector, such as self-organized civic activism (Rask et al., 2020 ), were not evident. Therefore, in the context of the fourth sector, civic activism underscores the idea of citizen-led efforts to drive social innovation and impact, thus blurring the lines between traditional sectors and fostering collaborative, community-driven solutions to complex problems, although this bottom-up approach was not clearly present in the similarity analyses.

The definition of the fourth sector as informal volunteering was mentioned in a single paper, and therefore is of little significance for the results, with only two associated terms — “micro-volunteering” (6) and “volunteering” (4). In these cases, the term fourth sector is used as a synonym for informal volunteering (Williams, 2002 , 2005 ), and, more recently, it has been used in the context of organizations that promote social good through business initiatives (Cuthill & Warburton, 2005 ). In this context, informal volunteering (individual-based help) is as prevalent as formal volunteering (group-based help), and is predominant among deprived populations, although the third-sector approach should be complemented by a fourth-sector approach that focuses on one-to-one aid, because while affluent populations engage more in voluntary groups for social reasons, lower-income groups rely heavily on one-to-one aid to improve their material circumstances (Williams, 2002 ). Nevertheless, the scarcity of more recent papers that support the definition of informal volunteering is quite evident. Therefore, the data obtained in this research corroborate the idea that the definition of the fourth sector as informal volunteering is in disuse.

The presence of terms related to the three traditional sectors of activity, which appear in various sections, related to each other and associated with the concept of fourth sector, are a contribution to the premise that the growing dimension and complexity of emerging socioeconomic problems greatly exceeds the capacity of organizations, and the public, private and social sectors alone are not able to generate adequate responses (Austin & Seitanidi, 2012 ). Thus, organizations from various sectors (public, private and social) are pressured to collaborate in multi-sector partnerships (MacDonald et al., 2019 ). However, the presence of terms such as “business” and “company” is obvious, which could suggest a special focus on the private sector. These terms are associated with words such as “for-benefit”, denoting the central role of HO in the fourth sector. Despite having a strong focus on the market, these are a new model of entrepreneurship, developed by entrepreneurs motivated by social causes — which are not exclusively profitable or non-profitable — and are called for-benefit, as they generate income and prioritize the social mission, acting in a variety of areas such as fighting against poverty, health, environment, among others (Sabeti, 2011 ). Therefore, the data are suggestive and present a fourth sector that does not fully overlap with the concept of multi-sector partnerships. In addition to the convergence of missions and planned joint action, the existence of profitable activity and focus on social problems seems to be essential for it to be considered an entity in the fourth sector. This same perspective is mentioned in the literature (Wilburn & Wilburn, 2014 ) when referring to the fourth sector as a new business model that enables a structure that helps (1) the expansion of third-sector organizations, (2) a profitable sector whose activity is intrinsically linked to social responsibility, and (3) entrepreneurs who intend to invest in businesses committed to transforming society. Despite this evidence, another explanation for the prominence of terms related to the profit sector is the fact that market-oriented organizations, such as the Benefit Corporation (Koehn & Hannigan, 2016 ), are more legally supported than others (e.g., networks and multisectoral partnerships), thus being easier to identify and study, and therefore resulting in a greater number of scientific papers.

The results found seem to suggest that the main role of the public sector in the fourth sector is the creation of policies and laws that regulate this sector. This focus on the “policy” concept may be due to the existence of three papers by the same author (Rubio-Mozos et al., 2019 , 2020a , b ) in a small sample. The authors advocate the need for a systemic approach, including governments, the academic community, the entities of the fourth sector and civil society. The proposed approach is called “4s SME’s engagement ecosystem”, which involves small and medium-sized companies in the fourth sector. The aim is to contribute to its development and the measurability of this “sustainable welfare economy”. Other authors corroborate this emphasis on the inexistence of basic policies for this sector. This trend has emerged organically, without a base structure to support it (Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ), and there is no environment prepared with adequate legislation, market regulation, accountability systems, among others, that are specific to this new sector of activity (Sabeti, 2011 ). The inexistence of these specificities will force entrepreneurs to fit into existing structures for other sectors, thus blurring their mission and objectives, increasing the bureaucracy and complexity of structures, and unnecessary expenditure of resources, resulting in a competitive disadvantage (Fourth Sector Network, 2009 ).

Economic, social and environmental sustainability were highlighted in the results obtained, and have been mentioned before (Ávila & Campos, 2018 ; Rubio-Mozos et al., 2019 ; Ventura, 2020 ). The fourth sector can catalyze society’s role in the pursuit of sustainability (Carswell et al., 2012 ), which is defined as “the development that seeks to respond to the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations to respond to their own needs” (United Nations, 1987 ). Carswell et al. ( 2012 ) state that sustainability is triple bottom-line, requiring a balance between people, the planet and profit, and these same words were found in our similarity analyses. Although the two similarity analyses are relatively overlapping, there is something significant that differentiates them. There is a more marked separation between the “fourth sector” section and the “business” section, with the bridge being mediated by the term “third sector”, which will produce an island cluster, which includes the terms “public” and “private”. To note that the first similarity analysis was performed using international data, with papers from Europe, Asia, and America, while the second one includes data provided exclusively by Spanish and Portuguese specialists. As mentioned above, there is specific legislation at the international level that directly relates the fourth sector to the market, such as benefit corporations. However, this type of legislation does not exist in both countries, where the tradition of social causes is closely related to the third sector. Thus, it seems that, in Spain and Portugal, this fourth sector appears to be mediated by the third sector, which forms the bridge between the third and the public and private sectors. Thus, it seems that the second similarity analysis reflects the culture and legislation of both countries, in the sense that it gives greater prominence to the third sector as the main player in the emergence of the fourth sector. Two of the articles included in the sample (Cruz-Trinidad et al., 2011 ; Shin et al., 2012 ) refer to case studies that have little impact on the presented sections, even lacking associated concepts in similarity analysis B.

6 Conclusions and limitations

This study suggests that both the literature review and the opinions of experts converge to affirm that the definition of the fourth sector as a spectrum of hybrid nature organizations is the most accepted approach on the topic. The definition of the fourth sector as voluntary actions seems to be currently out of favor. Finally, there is no clear evidence of the association of the fourth sector with any kind of civic activism.

The results obtained corroborate the fourth sector as an emerging sector made up of actors from the three traditional sectors (public, private and third sector) that collaborate closely with each other. The focus on the business, especially from the experts’ side, is evident, and this practice seems to be the main factor that defines belonging to this sector. However, profit is not an objective in itself, as there must be a social purpose arising from the activity. The data obtained suggest that the main contribution of the public sector to the fourth sector is the creation of policies that legally frame its activity.

The widespread emergence of the fourth sector offers great potential that still remains largely untapped. Contrary to the American model, social enterprise in Europe and neighboring nations arises primarily from ingrained organizational structures and values intrinsic to European societies (Borzaga et al., 2020 ; LaVoi & Haley, 2021 ). These values encompass solidarity, self-help, participation, and the pursuit of inclusive, sustainable growth. Consequently, social enterprise thrives as a collective endeavor, embodying a communal entrepreneurial spirit. Many EU Member States exhibit imbalanced ecosystems, often neglecting critical components, such as capacity-building, networking, and cooperation. Therefore, a holistic ecosystem must prioritize improving public procurement processes (Borzaga et al., 2020 ).

The concept of sustainability closely intersects with the fourth sector, which represents a hybrid sector that blend elements of the public, private, and non-profit sectors. The SDGs established by the United Nations provide a framework for addressing global challenges, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. Achieving the SDGs requires the active participation of various sectors, including government, civil society, and the private sector, namely the emerging fourth sector. Therefore, in this context, the fourth sector plays a crucial role in advancing sustainable development by integrating social, environmental, and economic considerations into its practices. Organizations operating within the fourth sector strive to create positive impact across multiple dimensions while ensuring long-term viability and resilience (IASG, 2019 ).

This study was delimited by specific keywords to guide the research, and therefore this targeted approach may not capture the totality of the scholarly discourse within this field. The main difficulties of our research were the limited number of papers available in the WoS database at the time of survey, which weakens the robustness of the results obtained, and consequently of the conclusions presented. We can also mention limitations related to the interviews, like the existence of preconceptions that might have influenced the answers, as well as the social desirability bias, where interviewees may have given answers that they believe are socially acceptable rather than reflecting their true thoughts or experiences.

However, the scarcity of research papers dedicated to the fourth sector justifies the analysis and makes this article a valuable contribution to shed light on this emerging field. We understand that having done the research only in the WoS database, despite its extensive citation analysis tools, has some limitations that might affect the comprehensiveness of the literature available on a given topic. Therefore, future research might include other databases and other classification criteria to ensure a more comprehensive and wide coverage.

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Acknowledgements

Marisa R. Ferreira and Vítor Braga gratefully acknowledges financial support from FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), national funding through project UIDB/04728/2020.

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Appendix 1 – Papers included in the sample

Appendix 2 – similarity analysis a.

Similarity analysis generated through IRaMuTeQ from textual corpus 1

Appendix 3 – Similarity analysis B

Similarity analysis generated through IRaMuTeQ from textual corpus 2

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Ferreira, M.R., Braga, V., Sánchez-Hernández, M. et al. Framing the fourth sector – dystopia or future contours?. Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-024-00406-9

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Received : 25 October 2023

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Published : 27 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-024-00406-9

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