The effect of Systembolaget’s communication on Swedish students consuming behaviour

Background: Systembolaget is one of the distinctive features of Sweden. It is the only store allowed to sell alcohol above 3.5% of alcohol by volume. The aim of this government-owned company is to educate Swedish customers to engage into responsible drinking patterns. To do so, they make use of advertising strategies depicted on several channels with the purpose of increasing individuals’ knowledge and thus, enhance public health. Besides, Scandinavian cultures are associated with high-risk behaviours regarding the average amount of alcohol drunk. Several studies underlined that students regularly engage into binge drinking and other irresponsible behaviours. Purpose: The aim of this study is to emphasize the effect of Systembolaget’s communication strategy on the attitudes, intentions, and behaviour of Swedish students. To fill the research gap and fulfil the objectives, a combination of the Health-Belief Model and the Theory of Reasoned Action is an adequate mean. Method: To gather the material needed for the research and uncover new insights, we chose an exploratory design. The semi-inductive approach allows to investigate the theoretical concepts while being able to use induction and thus, use the theory to both collect and analyse the data. We conducted semi-structured personal interviews on a sample of 20 Swedish students since they are familiar with Systembolaget and considered as a high-risk population in the drinking habits. To distil the data, we selected content analysis allowing the categorisation of the information in the different theoretical concepts. Conclusion: Systembolaget’s communication has a notable effect on Swedish students. It has been uncovered that the messages create favourable attitudes and thus, intentions to reduce alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, individual experiences, beliefs, and other factors of influence imply that there is an important intention-behaviour gap. Systembolaget displays information and appeals to influence the beliefs and knowledge of individual to educate them and not directly triggers specific behaviours